McDonald's is rolling out self-service kiosks. Adios, cashiers ?

tell that to the people who designed, sold, installed and maintained the machines.

Do you feel sympathy for those who own/operate cemetaries or funeral homes? The rate of burials by year end 2015 will be about 1/2 what it was in 2000

Revenue is down as cremations are much cheaper. Employment is down.

Should we mandate people to be buried because jobs have been eliminated?

If a fast food joint finds a way to pay employees what the govt mandates, and people still show up in droves, then good for them.

On the other hand, if we the people continue to support Democrats, and businesses must automate and cut staff to remain viable, then so be it. We knew what we were doing when we voted Democrat.

 

You think Trump would be against these self service machines ?

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Why not have both ? Get rid of jobs that the kiosks can handle, but pay the fry cooks and burger flippers a wage that keeps them just above the poverty line.

 

The government has inflated the cost of one input, so alternative inputs look more attractive. It makes sense to anybody without a PhD in voodoo economics.

 

why don't you price fast food within an airport or stadium? As costs go up, so must the prices. Airports are a great example of how high prices become when costs go through the roof.

 

but look at all the new jobs that are being created building these machines...overseas...

 

They will still need someone to empty trash, clean the trash in the parking lots etc. McD's and others have automated beverage fillers at the to go window.

Wally World has self-pay and many stores have increased the number of self-pay lines. They began with a couple but have increased the amount. They know that by reducing the live cashiers and creating lines that people will go to the self pay yet continue to patronize Walmart because of low prices. You'll have a choice, wait in line for service or do it yourself. 1 employee monitors 8 self-pay stations at many Wal marts. I'd call that a success.

 

when did i say anything to the contrary ? i'm ok with these self service machines.

 

we have nobody to blame but ourselves. We were told that the regs by the EPA were for our own good and would not hurt the economy. We were told that illegal aliens help the economy and should look the other way rather than demand they be deported. The list goes on. For too long we've been "patting ourselves on the back" for being so progressive and "inclusive" that we did not see that the power brokers pulling the strings of Democrats were deliberately dismantling the working class by wrapping their policies in the cloak of "compassion and environment"

We all have one last bite at the apple in 2016. We can go against hollywood and the media and put a Republican into the WH. Then, we must demand that the GOP do something about turning around this ship. If full GOP control can't effect postive movement within 4 years, then we're doomed anyway.

 

Fry cooks are going away too. But yea, just because Roomba means we don't need people pushing a broom doesn't mean there aren't jobs. As long as we have problems, there are jobs. Accomplishing more tasks with simple automation that used to require a person means we are still just as productive but now have extra human resources to meet more challenging needs.
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Can we believe they haven't incorporated the robotics into Ronald McDonald?

You would think they could focus on making more healthful, better tasting food for humans before putting humans out of work.

I believe you are correct. Three years from now they will start closing outlets.

 

Not only has that been debunked, I believe some of that debunking was done on this forum. But maybe you can explain how almost doubling the cost of 1/3 of your business expenses leads to a mere 4.3% increase in product costs?

 

If only they could roll out a robot that could actually get an order correct...then we'd have something. It's easy to type the order in correctly, but to get the person filling the bag with food to do it right...that seems a challenge beyond decades of trying.

 

Maybe if the bag filler got paid $13/hr instead of the below poverty wage average of $7.75, they would try harder to ensure everything's correct since it would be a valuable job to lose.

 

This could spell the end for a lot of fast food places. We may be forced to actually cook our own food more often. The horror!

 

Some bag fillers do get paid 13 an hour. They still (*)(*)(*)(*) up.

 

And they need to be retrained, and if they continue to fail, they must be let go.

 

You sure couldn't have picked a worse example than airports who charge vendors ferocious amounts to give them access to an essentially captive audience. I'm talking about the real world as I am sure that's what the study which developed that cost increase used.

 

The link I gave you when I posted that contains a link to the study that quoted that price increase. Please feel free to give me (and everyone else) the benefit of a link to a factual study that proves what I posted is incorrect. I'll be happy to thank you for that.

 

I think that it's just an excuse by the franchise owners; they are businessmen and are out to maximize profits. They don't provide the jobs because they feel charitable, instead they were waiting for the technology to improve to a point where they could replace humans with automation/robotics; just that the minimum wage issue timing gave them the lame excuse to make the switch.

 

that's just wishful thinking on your part due to your hatred of McDonalds. Do you know why the President of McDonalds earns MILLIONS while fry cooks make 8/hour? Because the President is expected to use his education and experience to make sure McDonalds won't fail while the fry cook and cashier is not.

a kiosk won't replace the President...... it can replace a fry cook.

Raising the minimum wage will hurt black male teenagers the most. Another unintended consequence that well intentioned, but woefully uneducated in Economics, liberals deny until it's too late, then they will simply suggest McDonalds is racist is the problem, not because economic policy that was forced on Mcd's caused it.

 

I don't think jobs are lost.... because for every unskilled cashier replaced by a kiosk, the demand for someone who can work on kiosks increases. Maybe not 1:1, but there will be a demand for those that have the skillset to work on the technology.

The problem is.... cashiers that are downsized, aren't picked up by kiosk repair people. that 35 yo cashier will simply have a harder time finding a job if hers is the job that is cut.

 

Do we? I want my food fast, and that's about it. If I want a friendly smile, I'll go to a sit-down restaurant.

 

McDonald's has been struggling for a decade. Burger King is thriving and they pay their workers the same wages.

Anyway, I like this self serve stuff, but I wonder if people can customize their orders (e.g. no pickles).

 

Not necessarily. The 50% wage increase may have been enough to tip the scales to the point where the upfront cost of getting the kiosks makes sense, where as it didn't before. The tech will get cheaper and eventually we'll see it more widespread, but honestly if you're employee costs suddenly increase then automation, which initially will cost more and still requires maintenance, looks better.

 

Or maybe they'd go on doing what they've done for decades and screw it up because it's the quality of the person, not the level of pay, that determines their work ethic. I got paid nearly nothing in my early military days, but I worked like mad to promote because it was the only way to earn more. Pay =/= performance.

My father always taught me that no matter what, do a job better than everyone else. Regardless of pay, thanks, recognition, etc., outperforming the competition is how we move up. Just being gifted more money for nothing would result in nothing except higher expectations from those who received money they didn't do anything more to earn. Those folks should already be outperforming their peers, but all I get for service is the same crap from all of them in my area. No superstars, nobody you'd recognize as having leadership potential or higher level critical thinking skills.