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More Fast Food Restaurants Are Now Automating (qz.com)
An anonymous reader writes:
Wendy's is adding self-service ordering kiosks "to at least 1,000 restaurants, or about 15% of its stores," reports the Los Angeles Times, while McDonald's and Panera Bread are now planning to add kiosks to every restaurant. "Lots of restaurants, not just fast-food chains, are really trying to mitigate the costs of higher wages," says one market research firm, while also citing a survey which found 40% of millennials willing to use kiosks (compared to 30% of restaurant-goers overall).
But in some cases this means more work for human employees. Quartz points out that McDonalds doesn't plan to reduce its workforce after installing kiosks, and Panera Bread "has said that at some locations where it has ordering kiosks, it has actually increased human hours to help the kitchen keep up with the higher number of orders that come in through the more efficient ordering system."
But in some cases this means more work for human employees. Quartz points out that McDonalds doesn't plan to reduce its workforce after installing kiosks, and Panera Bread "has said that at some locations where it has ordering kiosks, it has actually increased human hours to help the kitchen keep up with the higher number of orders that come in through the more efficient ordering system."
Unskilled labor is going to mostly disappear except for those tasks where it just isn't possible to automate. A "livable" wage for a task that can be done by a machine is a pipe dream. That's just reality. All the kicking and screaming and class warfare rhetoric isn't going to change it or delay the outcome.
So to that I say, please do go ahead and keep raising the minimum wage. That may actually accelerate the process. The displaced workers will either skill up or you'll see a reverse migration to places where the cost of living and level of automation will make it possible for unskilled workers to survive.
I used to go to the Olive Garden occasionally when my wife forced me to. They started putting that shit on my table and I always took it off and put it on an empty table. After about my 4th visit the manager told me I had to leave it on the table. I got up and walked out and haven't been back. They can suck my dick. I'm a customer, not a fucking consumer. People that treat me like a consumer don't get my business. This modern thing of letting companies and restaurants and other businesses treat you like something to be sheared for maximum profit is anathema to me. When I sit at the table with a machine that takes up almost an entire place setting there that is inconvenient and an annoyance. It's like they make it so you can't possibly avoid it and that is unacceptable. You might like it and if so good for you. I assure you however that they'll lose at least a quarter of their business to people like me that want to be treated like a customer.
Personally I just want my darn food while I talk with whoever I'm with. Having another human serve and cater to me does nothing for me and I hate tipping.
I know, it's a sign of old age when you expect service with a smile when you give people money. Nowadays it's "please sir, if I give you some money will you let me eat in your establishment. I promise to grovel and kiss your feet if you'll just favor me by letting me give you money in return for being treated like shit." I think I like it better my way but to each his own.
is brutal repression of those people. That's what's going on in Mexico & South America. But good job making yourself feel better by suggesting the problem will naturally and painlessly take care of itself. The best part? There's an excellent chance you'll get caught up in that repression too as the government expands it's powers to do nastier and nastier things to it's citizens in the name of keeping order.
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All these people whining about minimum wage increases causing more automation like it's a bad thing. You've all got it backwards. Human labor has been undervalued, so nobody bothered to put effort into being more efficient.
"Automation" is a bit of stretch here -- we're talking about self-service ordering kiosks. This is effectively just turning around the screen the employee would have used to enter my order and making me use it instead. In most cases that's going to result in a net decrease in efficiency, not an increase. This should be clear enough to anyone who has stood in line watching people endlessly screw around at self-checkout kiosks at a grocery store.