Topic: McDonald's shoots down fears it is planning to replace cashiers with kiosks - page 3. (Read 2382 times)

Have you been to a mcdonalds? The last time I was there the guy was pushing the coffee filter in with his wet tattered bandaid finger. I prefer my coffee without old bandaid flavor. I couldnt care less if hes smiling while doing it.

But they'd have to have smiles and besides the machines will get the orders right.

Which is why ATM's, self service pumps, direct dial phone service, and automatic elevators never caught on?

Nobody is going to McDonald's for the customer interaction.

Lol. I guess ATMs are doomed as well then huh, since people only want to be served by other humans, not machines.

This will spell the end for McDonalds. People like to serve by humans with a friendly smile not by machines!

Who is pretending this wouldn't happen anyway? Do you not think dramatically increasing he minimum wage won't cause this to roll out much quicker?

This was going to happen independent of the minimum wage. Stop pretending otherwise. I'm not sure I'm going to tell much difference, personality-wise, between these kiosks and a disinterested 16 yr old.

I'm sure a good number of liberals know it would happen. Not all of them want to pretend that there aren't any consequences to actions taken. I tell anyone who will listen to learn to install and fix the technology that is turning this world autonomous.

And if minimum wage is increased to $15 an hour like some think it should be, the rate at which this happens will increase exponentially.

Where is the phone app for this?

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.