Where these kiosks shine is for special orders. They make it incredibly easy to customize one's sandwich. (They were installed in the McDonalds by the building I used to work in.)

I have heard it discussed on NPR, that an automated or robot tax needs to be legislated to make up for the loss in revenue.

I have to laugh, there is no such thing as a "free lunch".

Pols are gonna Pol.
Scum of the earth.

I might be just a dumb ol' country boy from south Texas, but does anyone else besides me realize that the great hourly wage experiment was already tried and failed??

Reference: THE AUTO INDUSTRY

We've already done this! The auto unions tried to force management into giving them higher and higher hourly wages and what the hell happened? THEY WERE REPLACED WITH ROBOTS!!!

Jeezus.....it doesn't take a rocket surgeon! [JSMH]

quote:

Originally posted by MNSIG:
The minimum wage push is going to lead to further innovation in robotics that replace a whole bunch of jobs. It's inevitable. Then what? Elon Musk is proposing a national guaranteed income.

And Mr. Musk what will you say when people with a N G income demand even more for doing nothing?

If I may take this one step further, Sap. This is how business compensates when the labor force is ignorant or gullible enough to believe Leftist politicians' pseudo economics. Had the labor force been properly educated, they'd have known their demands don't work. If they want more money, they need to create more value. Period. There is too little value in fast food preparation.

I don't even go to those places if I can avoid it. To compensate for expenses and maintain profit, those franchises have compromised product quality. I'm surprised frankly the FDA lets them sell that trash as food for human consumption.

One more time for the learning challenged in the population. There is no free lunch. If you want to earn more, create more.

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:
I might be just a dumb ol' country boy from south Texas, but does anyone else besides me realize that the great hourly wage experiment was already tried and failed??

Reference: THE AUTO INDUSTRY

We've already done this! The auto unions tried to force management into giving them higher and higher hourly wages and what the hell happened? THEY WERE REPLACED WITH ROBOTS!!!
...

It was union labor cost that shut down the CA NUMMI auto plant and that bankrupted General Motors. IIRC NUMMI wanted some labor concessions to keep the plant open. Didn't happen. I remember a TV news reporter interviewing a UAW worker (now laid off) leaving NUMMI for the last time "we showed them".

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What year was that, Scout? I'm talking waaaaaaaaaaaay back in the 70's and 80's when Detroit starting seeing its demise due to higher wage demands. And yes...it could have been union demands, but I think the point still remains. DEMANDING higher wages means Capitalism will find a way to survive without said "demander".

Take the airline industry.....does anyone think there won't be a day when there are ZERO bodies up on the "flight deck"??

I've seen videos of the Flippy thing. I don't think it will be the path to fast food automation. It seems like band aid automation so that the restaurants can keep their current operational design and get rid of the one worker flipping burgers. That might help a little in the beginning. Eventually, I see the industry going to a fully automated redesign, where the entire order/prep/cook/package/deliver cycle is fully automated. That goes well beyond what these people are doing.

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What year was that, Scout? I'm talking waaaaaaaaaaaay back in the 70's and 80's when Detroit starting seeing its demise due to higher wage demands. And yes...it could have been union demands, but I think the point still remains. DEMANDING higher wages means Capitalism will find a way to survive without said "demander"....

I believe the NUMMI plant shut down in 2010. Toyota backed out due to the excessive costs, GM could no longer fund the daily cash drain. I saw a study showing the cost of hourly burdened labor (wages plus benefits) for US auto plants was around $74 per hour where the UAW ran things, and about $49 per hour in non union shops.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Gotcha...you're referring to Onumbnutz's bail-out then? I'm referring to 30+ years ago, maybe even 40, when Detroit started its decline down the slippery slope of demanding higher wages. It has yet to recover...

[drift]Sad thing about the GM case is they decided to shut down Saturn. I was all primed to drop the bucks on a Saturn Skye, but when they closed the shop, I didn't want to chance having zero support for a Saturn. And to boot, I'll NEVER have a GM product in my garage for the simple fact that took Oblunder's money. Ford, Toyota, et.al. didn't. JMHO...[/drift]

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Gotcha...you're referring to Onumbnutz's bail-out then? ...

Seems there are two salient aspects of the GM bankruptcy/bailout. First, the GM Chairman stated they were no longer a car company, they were a pension company that made cars on the side, ie, all their cash was going to pay for union pensions. Hence the bankruptcy. But second, in bankruptcy, Obama saw that the union pension fund was made whole by the US taxpayer, GM shareholders and creditors got the shaft.

You are correct, the demise started 30+ years ago when the US auto industry caved into the UAW demands. Too bad many don't connect the sad outcome to the underlying cause.

Seems like basic economics to me.

Cost of wages rises enough to make robotics / automation highly feasible.

And I only have a BA.

-----------------------------------

I have yet to come across a counter person that I could say was worth more that $12.00 + benefits.

Now if you talk waitress' ,
I could point out at least a dozen that are worth $15.00 + benefits.
and thats with ! Maitre d and a bus boy.

In addition to a full-time job that pays me well and provides me with benefits, I work a part-time retail job that pays $13 per hour. I do it because I enjoy it. If I had to make a living doing so, I'd be SOL.

The only full-time employees (38+ hours/week) the company has are store managers. It's a young, active environment, so most of the managers are young (under 35). I've been there going on six years, and I can tell you the managers don't stay long. The pay sucks, the benefits are pitiful, and it's a dead-end career.

And $15/hour is going to change all that?

Here's a little twist

Missouri Rolling Back Minimum Wage From $10 To $7.70.

As rallies across the country have demanded an increase in the minimum wage to $15 per hour, one state is reducing its legal lowest rate. Missouri is rolling back its minimum wage from $10 to $7.70.

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, in office since January, is allowing a bill passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature to become law on Aug. 28 without his signature, The New York Daily News reports.

“Our state needs more private sector paychecks and bigger private sector paychecks,” Greitens said in a statement. “Politicians in St. Louis passed a bill that fails on both counts: it will kill jobs, and despite what you hear from liberals, it will take money out of people’s pockets.”

The move comes on the heels of a study that found that Seattle’s minimum wage hike actually hurt the people it was supposed to help, costing minimum wage workers an average of $125 per month, or $1,500 per year.

The St. Louis city government had passed a law raising its minimum wage to $11 starting in January 2017, but the new state law would nullify that increase as well, according to Fox 2 Now St. Louis.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/07...om-10-to-7-70-video/

Flippy the Burger Flipping Robot is Now Cooking at the Caliburger Fast Food Chain

http://ktla.com/2018/03/05/fli...ger-fast-food-chain/

quote:

Originally posted by SIGSense:
Flippy the Burger Flipping Robot is Now Cooking at the Caliburger Fast Food Chain

http://ktla.com/2018/03/05/fli...ger-fast-food-chain/

This thing is nothing but an advertising gimmick. Now the ordering kiosks removing all the counter help, that's going to be huge to fast food restaurants. And don't forget how addicted to our cellphones we are. I ordered my sub sandwich through the Publix app on my phone last week, and it was waiting for me when I arrived at the deli counter. Same thing will happen at Micky D's and B king, and when it does, all of these loud mouthed illiterates will have $0/hour in their future.