Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
That is a heck of a lot better than years ago: I walked into a Micky Ds and asked for onions on my fish sandwich. well. you would have thought I asked for a lobster tail on my burger bun or something. I was told, that was impossible. The sandwich doesn't come with onions. I asked if I could just buy a little container of oinions then? Nope, they don't sell them, I even asked to speak to a manager. It didn't make any difference; fish sandwiches didn't come with onions. It must have been 5 years before I returned to a McDonalds and have probably only been in one 1/2 dozen times since.
This has nothing to do with politics may I add. if it saves money and gives a better product, good deal. Maybe we will even see fewer people wanting to come to America illegally for what they precieve as better jobs? Maybe it will stop the crazies from wanting $15 an hour for a job that a robot can do better?
When I was a kid, McDonalds was a big treat. My sister insisted on a plain burger, no mustard, ketsup, onion or pickle. Sometimes, the order would be accommodated and sometimes not. My sister expected made to order for a 15 cent burger.
A $1+/- fish sandwich is probably not conducive to made to order when they sell millions of dbl cheeseburgers, made their way, for the same price.
US was built on the backs of imported free and cheap labor, slaves and immigrants, legal and otherwise.
Then it became cheaper to export the work.
No one, especially the US consumer, is willing to pay a premium to sustain the US middle class.
The US represents about 5 % of the world's population. Consumerism has peaked. Population is declining. It's all about emerging middle class economies, in Asia. Multinationals and their shareholders understand
China has become too expensive. Business has and will continue to move elsewhere in Asia creating new middle classes of people who will have money to consume product. The wealthy Chinese are leaving China for the US and Canada. Clean air and water, better quality of life and the ability to have more children are big draws.
Indonesia now represents Tupperware's largest market. Tupperware parties/ direct sales make new products available to an enormous base spread out so that there is no competition.
Product is manufactured in Indonesia creating jobs for people who will then consume. The US Tupperware home office and their shareholders do the happy dance.
But thtas the whole point. Its cheaper to export labor not really a problem of automation, its that our costs are out of whack with the rest of the world..
White people don't eat McDonald's. At least, they like to tell everyone that
All I see on my Facebook feed from my white friends is how eating McDonald's is akin to chain smoking a pack of cigarettes and washing it down with varnish, and how they never ever go there. They only shop at Whole Foods. Yet, when I see their cars there's always an old McDonald's bag or something similar in the back. Someone must have planted it there!
Software substitution has been ongoing for serious decades. Millions of rule based white collar, middle class job with benefits, and the management and HR functions that were once necessary, have been permanently eliminated. No president or party is to blame. No president or party has a clue what to do about it so they blame. The media and masses eat it up and delude themselves that the next guy will magically make it all better.
Only really serious in the past 20 years.
I worked on touch software in the early 90's and it was prototype software/hardware for many years.
It was rough..I had to recalibrate the screen every 10 minutes due to drift and it was more like "punch" then touch
The technology boom of the 90's that set everything in motion as all the pieces of the puzzle came together..software and hardware. Those years were pretty exciting in the software industry.
How will the Kentucky Fried Chicken robot tell someone the establishment is completely out of every kind of chicken? Will customers have to input every single Chicken product, or will the Robot be able to say "Sorry we do not have anything left with chicken. We can only sell you something that is not chicken" (Yes this happened to a friend). It would be really annoying if the robot requires one to input each item on the menu only to find out it is sold out rather than simply listing the few items that are not sold out.
Do you think every human in the store will be eliminated ?
LOL
The demand for higher wages accelerates, but does not cause , the enevitable substitution of software for human labor.
Nothing new there, though. My first job in advertising was over 25 years ago. My boss at the time bought the newest technology when it came out, and in the process 3 employees lost their jobs. Two of those were freelancing on his time, and one missed at least a day a week for one reason or another.
He told me that it was it was cheaper to buy new equipment than to pay employees that brought nothing to the business. He did keep me on, however, and gave me a big raise, deciding that I brought a lot to his business.
It's called "Create your Taste" with kiosks deployed at the table where you can create your own custom burger.
It will cost a bit more and take more time to get to your table, but it went over well in test markets in California.
So they are expanding it to 30 locations in 5 states with further expansions slated for next year.
Soon the cashiers won't have to worry about not getting their $15/hour at McDonalds.
They can go look for new jobs and demand that $15/hour.
McDonald's expands custom sandwich option
Responding to declining same-store sales, falling stock prices and a shrinking base of younger customers, the world's largest fast-food chain will announce plans to vastly expand its "Create Your Taste" test platform.
Create Your Taste lets customers skip the counter and head to tablet-like kiosks where they can customize everything about their burger, from the type of bun to the variety of cheese to the many, gloppy toppings and sauces that can go on it.
..
What has until now been a tiny test in four Southern California stores is immediately expanding to 30 locations in five more states and in 2015 to 2,000 U.S. locations, or about one in seven of the 14,000 domestic McDonald's restaurants, says Watson. The five additional states: Illinois, Wisconsin, Georgia, Missouri and Pennsylvania.
Now just hook it up to a more automated cooker than they already have, including the fry cooker and all you will need is someone to restock(minimum wage), reload(minimum wage) and fix machines(above average wage and could be the management combined into one person)
6 to 12 people(depending how busy)narrowed down to:
3 people there during operating hours.
Now just hook it up to a more automated cooker than they already have, including the fry cooker and all you will need is someone to restock(minimum wage), reload(minimum wage) and fix machines(above average wage and could be the management combined into one person)
6 to 12 people(depending how busy)narrowed down to:
3 people there during operating hours.
Perfect.
I don't think so. Customization is more labor intensive. Burger King has always been " your way". Machines cook the meat but it takes a human to extra mayo, sans pickles or whatever.
This McDonalds thing seems to be more about an attempt to compete with sit down franchise/ corporate- owned restaurants than job elimination.
Again, the majority of their US business is drive- thru and not conducive to waiting for a custom order.
My gut says the concept is not going to work in the US. The drive though is too ingrained and the sit down competition too stiff.
I'm thinking it's more likely, down the road , to use an app to order and pay.
How do you figure? Does McDonald's execute an employee if their position is eliminated? Do people just suddenly and inexplicably die when they lose their job?
White people don't eat McDonald's. At least, they like to tell everyone that
All I see on my Facebook feed from my white friends is how eating McDonald's is akin to chain smoking a pack of cigarettes and washing it down with varnish, and how they never ever go there. They only shop at Whole Foods. Yet, when I see their cars there's always an old McDonald's bag or something similar in the back. Someone must have planted it there!
You should have a talk with your "white friends" about why they're lying to you, and consider whether or not someone that lies about their eating habits should be called "friend."
What I can say with certainty is that your "white friends" don't represent an entire race, and you shouldn't speak as if they do.
BTW, why is it ok for a black person to say they have "white friends" without being called a racist, but when a white person says they have "black friends," just stating such indicates that they're racist? What's up with that?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
