McDonalds Responds To Minimum Wage Hikes, Launches McCafe Coffee Kiosk

Zero Hedge ^ | 04/07/2016 | Tyler Durden

[SeekAndFind]

When it comes to jobs growth in the US, all one can say is thank god for waiters and bartenders: after all, a Starbucks barista is precisely what a recently fired oil chemical engineer making half a million dollars really wants to do with their life.

 

However, the days of easy job gains for the BLS may be coming to an end (even if on a seasonally adjusted, goalseeked basis the trend has a long way to go).

According to Brand Eating, fast food king McDonald's has been spotted testing a self-serve McCafe coffee station/kiosk out in downtown Chicago. The station is located in the restaurant but apart from the counter and looks to be a theoretically more convenient way for those who just want a cup of coffee to skip the regular line (while also freeing employees from having to make each drink in the back).

In essence, this is the company's latest venture to make employees responsible for one less task as corporate HQ slowly but surely responds to minimum wage hikes sweeping all states, and in the process, outsource its minimum wage workers to simple machines which will never unionize or have any demands aside from being cleaned occasionally.

As shown below, the coffee station includes a touchpad for ordering and paying (it appears to take credit card only), a beverage spout, and a dispenser for cups.

 

According to Brand Eating, "drink options include lattes, mochas, and cappuccinos that are customizable with various flavorings, types of milk, and amount of espresso. There doesn't seem to be an option for drip coffee. The price for the drinks is $2.99. The concept and set up is very similar to McDonald's Create Your Taste customized ordering available at some restaurants.

The idea makes a lot of sense seeing as, here in the U.S., the McCafe espresso and steamed milk is automatically dispensed from a machine anyway, with syrups added after accordingly. What they've basically done here is put the dispenser on the other side of the counter and added automation for the syrup and ordering/payment.

 

At the very least, having a touchscreen menu to look through is much preferable to me than the video screen menu at my local McDonald's that intermittently plays a montage of the drinks so that I have to wait through to see the menu.

What's next? Why more of this of course.

[Vigilanteman]

The most awesome chain sub sandwich in the nation is served by Altoona, Pennsylvania based Sheetz, with stations in six states. For less than $3, you get a choice of breads and ingredients from a self service kiosk which generally ready to go by the time you pump your gas, empty your bladder and wash your hands.

Seriously, this place is so efficient that we actually show it to out of state visitors who've never seen one before.

[Snickering Hound]

[longtermmemmory]

this is how we ended up with free soda refills.

[Mears]

“Proper bagging is a lost art, once mastered by all teenagers working at a grocery store.”

—

Two of my grandsons work as cashiers at grocery stores.

They are great baggers.

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[RightGeek]

[BwanaNdege]

I don’t think anyone in America has been...not truly hungry...except for the psychologically disturbed.

Many in America with intermittent low blood sugar are very thankful to locate a vending machine with peanut butter crackers or similar food. Or a fast food burger joint.

While on one of Uncle Sam's tropical vacations in sunny Southeast Asia, I managed to loose about 40 lbs in a month. Perhaps I was not REALLY hungry, but I was a mite peckish. I was also probably a bit "psychologically disturbed", or at least a little aggravated from time to time.

(BTW, you are correct. I've seen people die from hunger during a famine - very few in American have been truly hungry.)

[xzins]

Thanks for your service. I’m a 24+ year lifer myself.

[Kickass Conservative]

Our local McDonalds had two Cashier / Order Kiosks.

I never saw one person use them and now they are gone.

The starting Wage at this location is $10 per Hour.

[cableguymn]

in general.. I hate people (sorry folks) so when ordering by app or kiosk came along, man was I happy. I can order things the way I want them, then the kid on the fry line can screw it up. but it eliminates the cashier making further mistakes.

I use the self checkouts as much as I can to.

maybe it’s the city I live in.. I had more pleasant human interaction on my recent vacation to the south.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

“When McDonald’s coffee is FRESH I find it to be satisfying and better than Starbucks.”
____________________________________________________________

And MUCH cheaper, too! Just one dollar.

Even though I live in Maine, it can get hot and humid here in the summer months, and an ice McCafe Coffee can really hit the spot.

[Cobra64]

That’s because the minimum wage should be $100.

[catnipman]

I’ve been predicting exactly this now for at least two years. Espresso machines are already so automated that the “baristas” have little to do but load the hoppers and push a couple of buttons.

Not much more is needed in terms of automation to simply turn the machines around on the counters and let the customers push the buttons and insert credit card/money, thereby eliminating the “baristas” (except of course keeping the coffee bean hoppers full).

The minimum wage states will lead the way with this and many other forms of restaurant/fast-food automation.

[Mastador1]

Personally, I HATE any kind of vending machine food that I’ve ever run across.

I wouldn't consider a beverage, a food, and more likely as not the beverage would be served faster, and more consistent from a machine than from a human operator. And with the ridiculous wage hike, food and drinks will be more expensive, less consistent and take longer to be made because there will be less humans to make it.

Wage hikes always have this consequence. I ran McD's starting in the mid seventies, I had in 1976 130 plus employees on the schedule, 23 years later in the same store, doing the same volume, I had less than 40 employees on the schedule. The reduction in staff was totally connected to wage increases and the resultant push to technology reducing the need for manpower.

The idiotic increase in minimum wage will inflict hardship on all those whose income is not automatically increased(union members) and all of the formerly employed no skill/low skill members of society that we be replace by automation. But that's what moonbeam and the democrats want, an increased voting block dependent on the government for survival.

[Sam Gamgee]

Where I live one of the local McDonalds already has self serve kiosks. You get to punch in your order, and don't have to worry about the clueless person behind the counter getting it wrong, like they do about 30% of the time for me.

[Starstruck]

Never been REALLY hungry, huh?

Reminds me of the time back in the 60's when I was heading back to the barracks in Munich at about 2 A.M. I was starving and happened to pass a store with a huge vending machine in front. I put my last mark in the slot. Not being able to read German I selected the biggest item I could see. Turned out to be tea.

[Bubba Gump Shrimp]

-—Two of my grandsons work as cashiers at grocery stores.

They are great baggers.
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Nice, we don’t see that around here anymore.

But we only have giant chain supermarkets unfortunately.

We do Aldi too, and they don’t bag there at all, but the savings is tremendous.