I understand your point, but automation is unstoppable to some degree. I’ve am not in the restaurant business but I’ve seen a lot of new services have been invented; from burger flipping machines, automatic dish washer that rinses, sanitizes, dries and stacks fresh plates, and now this salad machine. It slices, it dices, it’s indestructible! McDonalds paid nearly half a billion for software that can understand your order in a drive-through in almost any language or accent.
It’s not that it helps the bottom line as much as it makes operations run a lot more smoothly. Machines work 24 hours a day, they don’t call in sick, show up late, require benefits, talk back, gossip or cause workplace conflict. Now I am certain that Congress and the CBO did not factor this into their proposed $15/hour minimum wage hike. For a place that operates 24 hours a day, every $15/hour position costs $1800 a week plus payroll taxes and workers compensation insurance and maybe other benefits etc. The amortization costs on any of these devices will come in lower than that.
I’m sorry, I don’t need a robot to make my food or deliver it, and I am pretty housebound.
Automation in the electronics industry cracks me up.
“I don’t want to pay ‘mylife’ to troubleshoot circuits, so I will buy a million dollar prober, send mylife to school to learn how to run it and program it and repair it”
LOL
>>McDonalds paid nearly half a billion for software that can understand your order in a drive-through in almost any language or accent.
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>>It’s not that it helps the bottom line as much as it makes operations run a lot more smoothly. Machines work 24 hours a day, they don’t call in sick, show up late, require benefits, talk back, gossip or cause workplace conflict.
Just a few years ago the drive thrus in America were using telecenters in India to take drivers’ orders. The person taking your order was not onsite at the restaurant. Easy to put someone else in the rotation if some high schooler decided not to go to work that day.
But those lower end jobs were learning experiences for young adults. Learn to show up every day. Learn to put in your 8 hours. Learn how much the government takes out of your paycheck before you ever receive it.