Wend'ys to replace humans with Kiosks due to increased min wage

[Lion Heart 15,041]

Robots are coming for our jobs and they're starting with fast food restaurants. Wendy's is replacing cashiers with touch-screen kiosks where patrons can order food and pay, according to Chicago television station WFLD. The shift away from human workers come amid calls for a raise in minimum wage. 

One worker at a Chicago Wendy's told WFLD she was told the move would eliminate five jobs from the location. The company has more than 6,500 locations worldwide. 

The growing bot workforce comes as labor unions and workers campaign for a raise in the minimum wage. Chicago has passed and has begun implementing a wage hike. Workers in Chicago now make a minimum of $10 an hour, up from $8.25 an hour. The city plans to grow its baseline wage to $13 per hour by 2019. California, New York and the District of Columbia have also agreed to raise pay, according to the Wall Street Journal, and other states are following suit. 

Wendy's is not the only fast food restaurant to make the transition from man to machine. White Castle has been testing order and check out kiosks for the last two years. Meanwhile, McDonald's kicked off a machine-ordering pilot this year that allows customers at two Chicago locations order coffee drinks from a touch screen.  

The Economic Policy Institute reports wage hikes lead to jobs losses. "When labor costs go up, business owners can do one of three things: raise prices, cut costs or shrink their profit margins," wrote Michael Saltsman, a research fellow at EPI, wrote in an op-ed. "Given the consumer's insatiable demand for ever-lower prices, and the fact that most minimum wage employers operate with a profit margin of 2 to 5%, the only realistic option is to cut costs. One of the key ways to cut costs is to introduce automation or self-service," 

https://mic.com/articles/143876/wendy-s-is-replacing-its-human-workers-with-kiosks-because-of-minimum-wage?utm_source=policymicTBLR&utm_medium=future&utm_campaign=social?utm_source=policymicTBLR&utm_medium=future&utm_campaign=social#.9QRopWa08

 

[LePetitGAGABLover 21,234]

Take that liberals

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Jk. But seriously, this was expected. Raising minimum wages increases unemployment. Its a no-brainier and common sense. I wonder what @Economy thinks of this.

[PunkTheFunk 125,733]

I was at a McDonald's today with touch-screen kiosks -- the future is here hunties 

[ALGAYDO 35,362]

Although I understand that they don't want to lower their profits, this is kinda shitty 

But the future is now, I guess 

[Monster2015 1,117]

Wendy Williams you can keep the change because that talk show is a flop. 

[Prismatic 4,789]

Am I the only one who thought of Wendy Williams reading the title? 

[Seeka 12,372]

Well this kind of opens other jobs in a way. There will be more jobs in factories to make these kiosks, and there will be jobs to repair said kiosks.

In before the robot revolution/apocalypse.

[Voltaire 4,531]

I like the whole: "we're only doing this because of minimum wage hikes". 

nonsense. This would be done regardless. Technology is going to displace more and more jobs in a variety of markets.

Don't punish people for wanting a living wage by spreading this narrative of 'serves you right for wanting enough money to live on!'

These programs were and are coming anyways. 

[ChasingGhosts 726]

12 minutes ago, PunkTheFunk said:

I was at a McDonald's today with touch-screen kiosks -- the future is here hunties 

Almost all Macca's in Australia now have touch screens and fully customisable burgers and meals.

[Katsuki Bakugo 9,788]

McDonalds has this already in my country. 

[Katsuki Bakugo 9,788]

5 minutes ago, Prismatic said:

Am I the only one who thought of Wendy Williams reading the title? 

No. I did too. I was like good on her for being a scientist!

[Dayman 6,252]

It was going to happen either way. Even if minimum wage wasn't increased this still would've been the cheaper option. Overall businesses care about profit, not employees.

[FATCAT 60,909]

They might be adding kiosks so they don't have to hire as many cashiers, but what happens when someone has a question about the on-screen ordering? What if someone handicapped wants to order (like someone blind, or can't tap the screen)? They'll need people, and this is just a way for them to make a statement against paying people a fair wage.

[ryanripley 86,575]

the population continues to rocket upwards and the jobs continue to drop, we're literally destroying ourselves  

[FATCAT 60,909]

6 minutes ago, Dayman said:

It was going to happen either way. Even if minimum wage wasn't increased this still would've been the cheaper option. Overall businesses care about profit, not employees.

There's also a good number of reasons other than profit, such as language barriers (having multiple language menus with pictures) but yes, you are correct.