We are getting closer and closer to Idiocracy everyday.
Posted on 12/01/2016 2:51:29 AM PST by expat_panama
Mr. Rensi is the former president and CEO of McDonald’s USA.
McDonald’s restaurant employees rally after walking off the job to demand a $15 per hour wage and union rights during nationwide ‘Fight for $15 Day of Disruption’ protests on November 29, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (David McNew/Getty Images)
As the labor union-backed Fight for $15 begins yet another nationwide strike on November 29, I have a simple message for the protest organizers and the reporters covering them: I told you so.
It brings me no joy to write these words. The push for a $15 starter wage has negatively impacted the career prospects of employees...
...start with automation. In 2013...
...this month, McDonald’s announced the nationwide roll-out of touchscreen self-service kiosks. In a video the company released to showcase the new customer experience, it’s striking to see employees who once would have managed a cash register now reduced to monitoring a customer’s choices at an iPad-style kiosk.
It’s not just McDonald’s that has embraced job-replacing technology. Numerous restaurant chains (both quick service and full service) have...
...not all businesses have the capital necessary to shift from full-service to self-service...
...out-of-state labor groups who funded these initiatives aren’t shedding tears over the consequences. Like their Soviet-era predecessors who foolishly thought they could centrally manage prices and business operations...
...money has bought the union a lot of protesters and media coverage. You can expect more of it on November 29. But the real faces of the Fight for $15 are the young people and small business owners who have had their futures compromised. Those faces are not happy ones.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
It may slow them down for quite a while in suing the restaurants switching to bots. A bot can be sanitized and sterilized, humans can’t.
On the other hand, they will likely instead start suing the restaurants that *don’t* switch to bots on the grounds that human staff are unsanitary, that employing humans in food preparation is gross negligence, that serving human prepared food is not meeting the ‘duty of care,’ etc.
Here’s one of the increasing number of burger bots that will be coming to a restaurant near you soon: http://www.businessinsider.com/momentum-machines-burger-robot-2014-8
The socialist Marxists never do. It's the reason we're in te mess we're in.
The Left ends poverty by banning it.
Also, that company is opening up the first restaurant with their burger bot - now upgraded to make 400 burgers an hour - in San Francisco. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3670321/Rise-burger-flipping-machines-Robots-churn-400-burgers-hour-set-work-grill-new-restaurant.html
It is as simple as this...where I am a roofer can get 15-20 dollars IF he has experience and the work is sporatic to say the least when you combine rain-outs and every other factor that goes into working the trades. Now these fools want fifteen an hour to get a coffee and bag a cheeseburger? Ahhhh NO....to begin with the food is not worth what they are charging now and the tablet/kiosks will eliminate multiple positions and what used to be a constant and dependable starter or supplemental income for tens of thousands will eveaporate...add to the mix union trades wages in some states are tied to the minimum wage as far as to how much they grab....STOOPID people demanding an outrageous amont of cash for a job that is simple....screw it I will just not patronize any of it...I’ll make my own burger....end of story and now all will lose.
To liberals, the sole purpose of a company is to provided jobs. The rest is of no concern whatsoever, and is actually characterized as greed.
To conservatives, the sole purpose of a company is to make profits. The rest is all wonderful gravy after that, from the ability to grow the company and provide more jobs and make more profit, to the extra income for the company owner to buy his boy the GI Joe with the Kung Fu grip.
McDonald’s will be savaged by the left for making intelligent business decisions, while high school kids looking for jobs will have more trouble finding them.
Such is the American Way in Liberal America.
I saw and used one of these back in August at a McD’s near Heathrow Airport, near London in the UK.
The store also had a table full of tablets that one could log on to selected internet portal web pages for free (eg a yahoo mail page).
This will idle a lot of workers that didn’t demonstrate for higher wages; while we must let nature run its course, this is hurting some people who don’t deserve it.
The worst part of it is that the McDonald’s workers demanding the higher wages are also providing the slowest service I’ve ever seen there in my lifetime; there is nothing “fast” about this fast food anymore (and on the rare occasions I visit, I order very basic items).
Royal Meeker
Wow. I want to work at a company that has scientists like that wearing those short lab coats...er...that is a lab coat, right?
Hard to tell. She, the machine and the company are all Italian - hard to tell if that’s a lab coat or some sort of new fashion item.
That said, the devices are reportedly popular in Italy as well as other European countries and are slowly deploying here in the US.
LOL, I was trying to make a joke!
Yup, but with Italians it really is hard to tell if it’s what you think it is or some new fashion. :P
We are getting closer and closer to Idiocracy everyday.
Really, it is stunning when you run into some teen-20s cashier who simply freezes the moment they have to figure out and calculate change without a the assistance of a machine. Heartbreaking, really, I don’t see how many places can afford not to replace them with machines. Customer experience is horrific when you are served by people from a broken lefties educational system.
This was written years ago but still holds true. The sales function is being adjusted at McDonalds the same as everywhere as technology is brought to bear
McDonalds As School
Go to work for McDonalds and consider it as going to school. Rather than come up with a bunch of bucks for tuition, Get a job at MD and pay extreme attention to what is taking place. Get paid for your efforts in the process. Set a limit. Go one year or maybe a year and a half. Be dedicated to the task the same as if you were paying thousands of dollars at a college.
The concept involves looking at McDonalds as an industrial microcosm . McDonalds is very much like a factory with hundreds of employees except smaller. MD also has a retail arm in addition to the manufacturing arm. To grasp how things are done in the manufacturing and business world, MD is small enough to observe all the operations that can be studied in detail and the study extrapolated to the world. MD is chosen because it is truly a global company and one if not the very best successful business to be studied.
The big question, the goal of the going to MD as school, is to discover in detail what is MD? Why does it exist?
As a study aid, a laptop computer would be beneficial. The computer can be used to keep notes and to make and record lists. Homework is making notes and expanding the lists, making entries into the big list of things learned and things to be explored further
Most McDonalds employees don’t flip burgers, they are in sales. At McDonalds if you apply your self and study what is happening you can develop a good understanding of sales and customer service. The front line, the people on the counter, have an opportunity to meet and greet a wide cross section of customers, of people. The very act of asking” how can I help you” engages the customer in a business transaction. The customers can be observed and then studied in the abstract. Make a list. What kinds of customers, what do they want, what do they need, how does MD meet their wants and needs, what wants and needs are not met, should every want and need be met?
If you clean up, study the various chemicals and cleaners. Read the MSDS documents and learn a lot about OSHA, chemicals and government regulation. Learn what they do and why they do it. Learn why someone made and effort to obtain each of the specific cleaning products. Understand the process and how it relates to government regulations. Learn why MD wants the task not only performed but the reason for doing it. Learn if there is and external requirement such as a local or federal regulation. Learn about the regulation and why it exists. Learn if MD made the rule and how the rule makes the product better.
Somewhere there are posters. The posters are mandated by the government and outline the various employment laws. The posters are the basis for the interaction of business and government. They might seem overly complex and quite boring but they are a major part of the lesson. Study the posters and develop a total understanding of what they mean. Learn how the government and business interact and why.
Hang out with the manager and study and learn the flow of goods. Learn the basics of purchasing. Study the inventory flow and learn how inventory management keeps the company rolling.
A typical Mc Donalds store is a mega industry on a micro scale. They obtain raw materials hire labor and manufacture a product to very tight specifications. The process is typical of all manufacturing, only the product, the manufacturing equipment and size are different.
The principles of how raw materials are obtained, moved around, stored, and used apply to all business and manufacturing. A thorough understanding of the various tasks and processes involved will be useful elsewhere. The lessons can be expanded to a basic understanding of product quality and quality control. The business and all the jobs there are absolutely dependent on the quality of the product.
Tight specifications, what are the specifications, where did they come from, why have the specifications, how are they met, who enforces the specifications and assures consistent quality? These are all valuable lessons to be learned in the micro factory. The answers can be learned by paying attention and carefully watching what is actually happening throughout the place.
The subject of raw materials is very important area of study. One of the lists or perhaps several of the lists would be of various raw materials or raw material categories. Just what and how many raw materials is required to keep the place running? A list describing the material, where it comes from and exactly how the material is used can provide extremely valuable insights.
Then there is the matter of human resources. A one year study of the flow of people in and out and retained could result in a master’s degree paper on proper use and abuse of labor resources.
The concept of a crew, a team, can be studied. The crew concept is meant to develop a sense of belonging, of common purpose. A study of how the various individuals of the crew interact and depend on each other will yield an understanding that can be extrapolated to a much larger organization. How success or failure of one individual impacts the mission of the crew provides important lessons.
Then there is cash. A study of cash management could provide a detailed insight into cash, banking and the importance of plastic payments to a small business.
The MD school you choose might be near home or across town but it is merely one of many. A whole different course of study is what happens at and to MD outside the local operation? How does your store relate to a regional and national and global network of stores.
Back to the big question. Why does your school exist? Why do we have MD’s. The answer to that question applies to each and every business and manufacturing operation in the country. The answer is to make the owners a profit. Each and every item on all the various lists that will be developed in the school process is there to assure a profit. Proving that statement is the goal of the school and learning the reasons is the way the proof is obtained
It is all there for free. As a matter of fact one can get paid while at this school. All it takes is a proper frame of mind and a desire.
Everything there is something to be learned
An interviewer will be blown out of her shoes when the lessons set out and learned are recounted in extreme detail.
When I first read about the minimum wage issue, I said to my wife that the door is “wide open” to replace those non-skilled hamburger flippers with automated equipment. What an interesting time for a young, inspiring mechanical designer.
I worked in the field of automation design for over 42 years, designing machines and a variety of mechanisms that are in use today. I loved that type work. If I were a young person with an imagination, some mechanical abilities and just starting my career, I would go into that type work in a heartbeat. You’re imagination is challenged every day.
When Eisenhower initiated "Operation Wetback" there were not enough wetbacks to pick tomatoes. Well, someone had invented a machine to pick them but the demand was not there. After "Operation Wetback" there was.
Business demands to reach the bottom line, to make a profit. If the hourly wage goes above that profit, the hourly wage earner will be replaced with machine, ie robot, vending machine, kiosk, tomato picker. And my all time favorite, cotton picker since my mother's family were share croppers and I learned how to pick cotton at an early age.
When burgers can be flipped and packaged automatically, burger joint jobs will go the way of drive in eatery waitresses on roller skates.
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