Quote from: godlyitems on August 09, 2015, 05:54:54 PM

http://burgerbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/McD_Aussie_BYO3.jpg

McDonald's is rolling out self-service kiosks in restaurants across the US that allow customers to order and pay for their food without ever having to interact with a human.

"At least half of the operators in my region are on the verge of collapse," one franchisee wrote in response to a recent survey by former Janney Capital Markets analyst Mark Kalinowski. "With minimum wage for fast food workers potentially increasing to incredibly high levels, we are facing a crisis situation."

Another franchisee wrote, "We are in uncharted waters. The minimum wage issue is a major threat to the survival of the operator community." The franchisee said McDonald's should be "putting every resource available" into finding labor savings, through technologies such as kiosks and automatic fry dispensers.

The price increases needed to offset any added labor costs "would cause a complete collapse in guest counts," the franchisee added. "I see no other options but the company paying to keep operators alive until they figure out how to reduce labor required by 30%."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mcdonalds-shoots-down-fears-planning-202513285.html

My take - From a profit standpoint, it makes sense. I do feel bad for potential cashiers, but technology is going to do it's thing. While I'm all about higher pay for retail and fast food employees, I don't want to prevent companies from taking advantage of cost saving technology.

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.