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But here's the thing: Steak & Shake hasn't automated - they just provide a good product at a good price. A radical idea. If McD's must automate to compete against that, that says a lot about how badly they do things.
Executives make mistakes and then put the blame on the file that followed their orders. They're not responsible for anything. Their solution is to get rid of the rank and file.
steak & shake sells small burgers, so of course, the price is lower.
In addition, I would bet far lower steak and shake royalty fees as % of revenue.
Actually, he's got a point. If Steak & Shake can manage to sell cheaper yet manage to do well (and remain open 24 hours) and McDonald's feels that they need to fire loads of their staff via automation while charging the same higher prices, then clearly McDonald's IS doing it wrong and is taking it out on their workers for their executives's bad ideas. These kinds of mistakes and golden parachutes happen a lot, sadly. Look at HP and Toys R Us for examples. Executives screwed it up, canned loads of workers, then jumped with a golden parachute from the wreckage.
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One should automate whenever possible, as to not do so, is flushing profits down the drain.
steak & shake sells small burgers, so of course, the price is lower.
In addition, I would bet far lower steak and shake royalty fees as % of revenue.
plus far less marketing done by corp.
Their burgers aren't their specialty item, it's their shakes. Plus, if you can get a meal basket for about $3-4 (or less than the price of some McDonald's burgers by themselves), people are happy about that and can excuse the smaller size of the burger.
One should automate whenever possible, as to not do so, is flushing profits down the drain.
A job is not a social welfare program.
Then how come nobody has automated upper management yet? With the tens of millions (possibly hundreds of millions or even into the billions) of salary they cost, automating them would save A LOT of money.
Also, I might add, if people feel that any day they could be replaced by a robot to save a buck, they probably wouldn't try that hard, knowing they could be cut without a second thought anyway.
I would agree with you had it been about 8 years ago. I agree with strapped for time but cash - McDonalds is ridiculously expensive for what you're getting.
I remember back in 2006-2011, I could order two meals and it would be about 8 bucks.
I just went to McDonalds today - I hardly ever go there, like many other posters have stated, I prefer Wendys, DQ or Burger King over McD's, - but I went there today, as they're doing road construction around Burger King and all the other FF places are much farther from my house.
I got two meals - nothing special about them, two regular meals, and it was 16 bucks. Wtf?
Then how come nobody has automated upper management yet? With the tens of millions (possibly hundreds of millions or even into the billions) of salary they cost, automating them would save A LOT of money.
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They would lose money automating. The things to automate are repetitive, rote tasks.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BobNJ1960
They would lose money automating. The things to automate are repetitive, rote tasks.
Yes, automation is only cost effective when it replaces a large number of salaries and benefits, and most beneficial when doing unskilled work that is easier to design, build and program, such as flipping burgers. Artificial intelligence is a long way from being able to do the work of a CEO. More importantly, the CEO salary of a few million is peanuts in comparison to potential savings from replacing most of the million plus franchise workers.
But here's the thing: Steak & Shake hasn't automated - they just provide a good product at a good price. A radical idea. If McD's must automate to compete against that, that says a lot about how badly they do things.
McDonald's has always been about increasing efficiency. You should watch "The Founder".
McDonald's has always been about increasing efficiency. You should watch "The Founder".
Correct. Increasing efficiency. That was the old paradigm technology. It made employees more valuable because they were able to do more with the technology.
The new paradigm technology is about REPLACING people and making employees worthless. It is not about making them more efficient.
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