Posted on 12/01/2016 7:19:43 AM PST by rktman
A former McDonald's CEO is laying the blame on the "Fight for $15" movement as for why the company is embracing automation in its restaurants. McDonald's will install self-serve kiosks in its restaurants around the country to replace human cashiers.
Lets start with automation. In 2013, when the Fight for $15 was still in its growth stage, I and others warned that union demands for a much higher minimum wage would force businesses with small profit margins to replace full-service employees with costly investments in self-service alternatives. At the time, labor groups accused business owners of crying wolf. It turns out the wolf was real.
Earlier this month, McDonalds announced the nationwide roll-out of touchscreen self-service kiosks. In a video the company released to showcase the new customer experience, its striking to see employees who once would have managed a cash register now reduced to monitoring a customers choices at an iPad-style kiosk.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Fewer, fewer. Not less, less.
I know. Even in such a dialed-in population as FR NOBODY saw this coming!
Well, almost nobody.
OK, everybody.
We saw one at a Branson McDonald’s last February. Couldn’t figure out how to order exactly what I wanted, so ordered from a person anyway.
“The order may be right but youll still get screwed at the drive thru.”
Great movie quote from one of the Lethal Weapon movies about getting screwed in the drive thru, but “screwed” wasn’t the word.
BINGO
fight for 15 bump
IM LOVIN IT!
Typically true, but there are a few exceptions. One near my office has a couple of people who are very cheerful and helpful. I've suggested to my boss that we should hire them and train them as tech support, because they have the people skills that are so hard to find!
I abstain from pan-era the same as I do from starsux and “hole”foods stores. Too much “We’re just sooooooo much smarter than you.” attitude. Like they know a secret that you’re too stoopid to get. LOL!
AT the McDonalds inside Walmart, they have a freezer, with the fries already loaded in it and it dispenses exactly the amount of fires needed to complete an order.
They receive the fries in the “fry basket”, turn around and place them in hot oil.
I keep thinking “Why not automate the whole thing? Move the freezer and fryer next to each other and create some articulated arm that can drop the fries and then shake and salt when done?”
Can’t be that difficult. Hell, there are lots of jobs being done like in the automobile and oil industry.
Same thing with cooking meat patties at rush hour. Automate it.
She make my dinner any time....
If they’re like the self-serve checkout lines at the grocery store, they’ll have at least 1 or 2 people standing by to help customers with the machine! ;-)
our local (MUCH BETTER!) burger joint has had automated ordering ever since it opened..... you can order from anywhere using your computer or smartphone....and your burgers will be ready for you on your arrival. Included are all the options (what you want on each burger, how much of each topping or additive you want on it, etc)
they DO have one nice young lady who still takes orders in person but it looks like maybe 80 percent of all ordering is probably done via automation, so that replaces maybe 4 wages for the store
It becomes a bigger cost savings the higher the projected revenue for that time. During slow times when a McD staff level is one person up front doing all that stuff sure you’ll still need that person so it won’t help much. During busy times when you have 4 people running the registers AND 3 or 4 more doing that other stuff you just reduced necessary headcount by about around 30% (you’ve got 2 in the drive thru plus probably 3 or 4 in the grill). Then you add the cooking machines which are already available. Of course if you kiosk the drive thru (could be tough since it has to survive the weather) you can reduce that from 2 to 1. You can chop off 3/4 of the staffing even during slow times.
My daughter was treated HORRIBLY at the window of a starbucks and she’s so quiet and gentle, she doesn’t fight back. So I called the manager, acted like I was her and BLASTED HIM. He was very apologetic. I looked up the reviews of that starbucks on Yelp and 90% of the reviews had the same complaint at that location.
One business that is very successful with the use of kiosks is Panera Bread.
I use the kiosks to carefully customize the salads I order and can take my time. The full menu is on the kiosk. They combine this technology with an android app and I can order from my table and they will bring my meal to me.
The only time I talk with someone at the front counter is to add funds to my gift card, or to tell them - out of dark roast coffee Again!! lol
The kiosk are especially helpful during busy periods to avoid the long line at the front counter. Please take another look at it.
Theyll not get any orders from me.
Same food as now except you punch in the order yourself. Same people are cooking it.
Coming to a fast food restaurant near you...
A Robot Burger Restaurant Is Coming to San Francisco
http://www.eater.com/2016/7/1/12077990/robot-burgers-san-francisco-momentum-machines
I always go to the self check lines at Walmart.
The last time I went, last Saturday, there was a line for the ten check out’s. First time ever a line
Agreed! Most Mickie D servers that I have encounters seem like folks the postal service rejected from working retail sales at the window for being too fast and too courteous
Certainly the attitude the McD employees project tells me they are over paid already.
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