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I'm kind of surprised McDonald's hasn't rolled out the Sheetz/Wawa-style automated ordering touchscreens sooner. They're usually pretty ruthless when it comes to cutting costs.
Honestly, for fast food I really don't mind having a cashier. I'd LOVE to see this kind of thing rolled out to sit-down restaurants though. You could select your food and split up/pay your bill using either your smartphone or a small touchscreen at the table. It would take away some of the old-time charm, but as someone who eats out with large groups often, trying to split a large party's bill the old fashioned way is a huge PITA, and a lot of restaurants are loath to do separate checks for large groups.
I agree, I miss the older style McDonalds. The food looks like it's been downsized a lot as well. These days if I want my artery clogging triple tacker burger I go to a local owned place.
As for $15 an hour if minimum wage kept up with inflation properly it would be around that rate. That's the main problem, not that the franchise owner won't pay a higher wage.
Exactly. This is the point that is always ignored when this particular talking point gets dragged out for another round of abuse. Actually I've heard that if the minimum wage had been indexed to inflation from jump, it would be closer to $20/hr. In NYC at least. If someone with a concentrated Associates is making $15/hr, the answer should not be to push minimum wage down, it should be to raise wages to those possessing higher education credentials. Ya think?! What a concept! But, but.. ... that means that people with BA, BS ... MS... well they should like make more than $35K.... you just can't do that! We'd go bankrupt paying all that money to so many people... ... In 1977 when I graduated HS, a college graduate in many industries would be looking at $60K. Those exact same industries now start grads at $35K. ???? Meanwhile the CEO of the company who made $500K/yr in 1977 makes 14M/yr in 2014. Do the math... can we afford to pay ALL Americans below the level of CEO more for their labor or not? I say "yes we can!".
Actually I've priced those automated systems. A basic six station self-serve kiosk at a supermarket or box store costs $115K and you need a service agreement. Most companies will not sell them in any case. Lease only. $$$$$. They cost more than workers do. Even at $15/hr. Supermarkets use them to get one cashier to do the work of six!!!! These order taker kiosks are an order of magnitude more in complexity than a self-serve kiosk. There will never be completely eliminated the need for a human to back up the automated system. The lucky human will... for minimum wage, get to do the work of six regular cashiers becuase the order taking systems will only be as good as the programmers of it. I'm not betting that McD's will source front line systems for their implementation. Sigh... and many of you self-hating misanthropes will think it a good thing that ONE THIRD of this countries workforce (and GDP) will be GONE in a stroke of automation. Better start building those gas chambers because a lot of Americans are going to need putting out of their misery. As for the poster who thinks the concept should be extended to the fine dining sector... ... wow... just wow...
Actually I've priced those automated systems. A basic six station self-serve kiosk at a supermarket or box store costs $115K and you need a service agreement. Most companies will not sell them in any case. Lease only. $$$$$. They cost more than workers do. Even at $15/hr. Supermarkets use them to get one cashier to do the work of six!!!! These order taker kiosks are an order of magnitude more in complexity than a self-serve kiosk. There will never be completely eliminated the need for a human to back up the automated system. The lucky human will... for minimum wage, get to do the work of six regular cashiers becuase the order taking systems will only be as good as the programmers of it. I'm not betting that McD's will source front line systems for their implementation. Sigh... and many of you self-hating misanthropes will think it a good thing that ONE THIRD of this countries workforce (and GDP) will be GONE in a stroke of automation. Better start building those gas chambers because a lot of Americans are going to need putting out of their misery. As for the poster who thinks the concept should be extended to the fine dining sector... ... wow... just wow...
Honestly, I don't see much of a future for restaurants like McDonalds. Why not just put a Mc Vendingmachine in every building and save the overhead of needing buildings and having overhead? I'm sure a machine could assemble and cook nasty ingredients, then drop it into a container without forcing the purchaser to have to travel to a physical standalone "restaurant" (term used loosely) just to get the same thing. How hard is it to grill a Big Mac, slop sauce on it, put a bun on it, put it in a box, and send it down a chute? Someone just needs to go around and restock the ingredients. I'm sure McD's could figure a way to chemically destroy its food to the point where it needs no refrigeration or deep frying.
As for $15 an hour if minimum wage kept up with inflation properly it would be around that rate. That's the main problem, not that the franchise owner won't pay a higher wage.
That's is not really accurate, from my view.
The Federal SSI checks for elderly and disabled individual are designed to keep up with inflation with annual cola increases. They were $210/month in 1973 , today the feds pay $721/month to SSI recipients.
An increase of just 243% over the past 41 years.
The Federal minimum wage in 1973 (the year I started working) was $1.60 an hour. Today it is $7.25. That's an increase of 363% over the same time frame.
If the minimum wage was tied to the same COLA formula as SSI and SSD it would be just $5.49 an hour today
Minimum wage workers are doing better with keeping up with inflation than others, including SSI recipients as well as social security benificiaries (who receive the same percentage increase as SSI recipients), at least over the past 40 years.
Last edited by I_Like_Spam; 08-16-2014 at 02:04 PM..
The Federal SSI checks for elderly and disabled individual are designed to keep up with inflation with annual cola increases. They were $210/month in 1973 , today the feds pay $721/month to SSI recipients.
An increase of just 243% over the past 41 years.
The Federal minimum wage in 1973 (the year I started working) was $1.60 an hour. Today it is $7.25. That's an increase of 363% over the same time frame.
Minimum wage workers are doing better with keeping up with inflation than others, including SSI recipients as well as social security benificiaries (who receive the same percentage increase as SSI recipients), at least over the past 40 years.
Nice smokescreen.
But the ultimate fact is real value of minimum wage is much less than it was in the late 1960s...
But the ultimate fact is real value of minimum wage is much less than it was in the late 1960s...
Fair enough, so are you willing to beef up SSI benefits as well so they can keep up with inflation?
If a $15 minimum wage is fair, is a $1500 SSI grant also appropriate?
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