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McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a [W:391]

Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

DA60 said:
'If you’ve ever felt guilty ordering at McDonald’s, the fast-food mega-chain has just the fix: You can now order your own quarter-pound bacon cheeseburger from a welcoming, non-judging machine.

Battling the worst sales slump in a decade and competition from build-your-own upstarts like Chipotle and Smashburger, McDonald’s is expanding a test concept built around ordering via tablet. Just tap on a screen and watch as your burger’s toppings (and calories) pile on, then wait for an employee to bring it over. No human interaction necessary.

McDonald’s move towards dehumanization, launched as a pilot last winter and expanded across San Diego last week, is part of a larger trend of chain eateries turning tablets into your full-time restaurant buddy: equal parts menu, server and paycheck. Applebee’s, Panera Bread and even airport bars have installed tablets to allow diners to order food or booze without a wait.'

McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a machine - The Washington Post


This is what happens when - among other reasons - you start demanding higher pay then your position is worth (like fast food workers demanding $15/hr.).

If these fast food workers force Congress to adopt a $15/hr. minimum wage? I guarantee you that the above will be the result...automation and mass layoffs.

It ain't rocket science people - you are VERY replaceable
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Just one question: After all of the human workers on this planet are replaced by robots, who will be buying this delicious food? :roll:
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

EnigmaO01 said:
Buulsheet. If I had a dollar for everytime I've been told to park and they will bring my order. Sounds like you went during nonpeak time. Go when it's busy and it's a different story.
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Most of the time I go to McDonald's during peak hours I have not had to wait for my order.

You don't believe me - guess how much I care?


Good day.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

Henrin said:
With the awful crap that McDonald's sells I'm amazed they are still in business. Pretty much every last one of their competitors makes a better product than them.
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I'm drooling for a Big Mac right now and it's 5:42 A.M.!
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

Henrin said:
I could have taken the plane, but well, being searched and having strangers look at me naked by forcing me through a machine is not my idea of a good time.
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Seems like a lot of trouble and expense just to avoid something quick and painless. And driving from Delaware to Oregon to boot?
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

jamesrage said:
Their sausage biscuit and iced mocha are pretty good.
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I really like their hotcakes and sausage.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

shrubnose said:
Just one question: After all of the human workers on this planet are replaced by robots, who will be buying this delicious food? :roll:
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I went to Hong Kong's Ocean Park last year and in addition to the attractions there were about a hundred restaurants to choose from, but guess which one had the most people in it? Thats right: McDonalds. So the answer would be: the Chinese. :2razz:
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

DA60 said:
Uhh..no.

If you raise your profits per item sold, then sales do not need to be as large.

The best way to do that is lower costs.

Revenue – Costs = Profit or Loss

Everyone who has ever owned a business knows this.
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It's more complicated than that. But then you obviously don't run a business. I own and run two.
 
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Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

DA60 said:
Most of the time I go to McDonald's during peak hours I have not had to wait for my order.

You don't believe me - guess how much I care?


Good day.
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You know how much I care. LOL

Btw just because it's that way at your location doesn't mean it's that way everywhere.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

DA60 said:
Uhh..no.

If you raise your profits per item sold, then sales do not need to be as large.

The best way to do that is lower costs.

Revenue – Costs = Profit or Loss

Everyone who has ever owned a business knows this.
Click to expand...

If your sales are slumping raising profit by lowering cost is only a short term solution. You have to find out why sales are down, employees asking for more money is not the cause its the ****ing ****ty food no amount of robots is going to fix that.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

Lutherf said:
From a business standpoint this is a ridiculous move.

The reason McDonalds's sales are slumping is because they have an inferior product as compared to their competition. 5 Guys, In 'n' Out, and others offer a better burger at more or less the same price.

If McD's wants to get back their market share they need to go back to their roots and start offering a marginal burger really, really fast. For decades the whole reason people went to McD's is because by the time you finished ordering your meal was on the tray in front of you. Yeah, the burger had been sitting under a heat lamp for 10 minutes and it really wasn't that great but it was also 29 cents and in your hand damned near before you could blink. They don't need specialty burgers and coffee lounges. They just need clean restaurants and lickity split service with the same old mediocre burgers they've always had.
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mcdonalds should die, that's what it should do, same goes for all fast food joints, a plague of humanity.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

Depending on how well it works, a machine may make me less likely to order from there. If it works well, that's fine. If it is anything like the grocery store, give me a human any day.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

regardless of whether retail / food service workers get a raise or not, these jobs are going to be replaced by tech. there will be a few nostalgic holdouts, and the high end restaurants and stores will still have actual people interacting with customers, but the fast food stuff is going to be done by machine with a couple techs to oversee the equipment. same thing with registers at the grocery store. i wouldn't be surprised if it only takes twenty or thirty years to happen.

the people currently doing these jobs are the ones who used to make a living working at a factory. now even their ****ty options are drying up. we absolutely have to deal with this now, before it happens. we need to be sending kids to college and / or into specific job training programs by default, their ability to pay should play no role, and they should graduate with no debt. we either do that, or our entitlement programs will have to be massively expanded.

we absolutely have to plan for this.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

Hamster Buddha said:
I'm confused; what does ordering a burger on tablet have to do with minimum wage? This seems a bit of a stretch...
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Not sure if serious.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

EnigmaO01 said:
Seems like a lot of trouble and expense just to avoid something quick and painless. And driving from Delaware to Oregon to boot?
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Being searched and scanned is plenty of trouble that I don't want to deal with. I haven't flown since before 9/11 and until the TSA stops violating peoples rights that isn't going to change. Consider it a strike on unjust treatment of citizens. Anyway, the drive was actually kind of enjoyable.
 
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Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

EnigmaO01 said:
And you believe they will pay them more as a result? Now that's funny!
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They'll pay them more when Congress gets off its fat ass and increases the Federal minimum wage.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

I'm learning to love ordering on a device rather than talking to a person. At McDonald's it often is someone who doesn't speak my language.

In my area we have Wawa, a very well run private company that knows how to do a convenience store (and made to order food). Focus on making my food right, not having people take my order. I expect that at a sit down restaurant, not "fast food".
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

MaggieD said:
They'll pay them more when Congress gets off its fat ass and increases the Federal minimum wage.
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No, they'll just automate and lay off all of their high-priced workers. Then, instead of making minimum wage, they'll make nothing.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

AliHajiSheik said:
I'm learning to love ordering on a device rather than talking to a person. At McDonald's it often is someone who doesn't speak my language.

In my area we have Wawa, a very well run private company that knows how to do a convenience store (and made to order food). Focus on making my food right, not having people take my order. I expect that at a sit down restaurant, not "fast food".
Click to expand...

If I could get outta paying tips I'd go for the tablet ordering at a sit down restaurant.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

AliHajiSheik said:
I'm learning to love ordering on a device rather than talking to a person. At McDonald's it often is someone who doesn't speak my language.

In my area we have Wawa, a very well run private company that knows how to do a convenience store (and made to order food). Focus on making my food right, not having people take my order. I expect that at a sit down restaurant, not "fast food".
Click to expand...

Agreed. Whenever I go to Lowes or Home Depot or some Walmarts, I always use the automated checkout. I don't have to deal with stupid, slow, obnoxious cashiers who try to sell you things you don't need or want, you can get in, get out and back on the road. Ordering food at a lot of fast food joints is like 20 questions. Do you want this? Do you want that? No, I know what I want, just let me pay for it and get out of here.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

DA60 said:
'If you’ve ever felt guilty ordering at McDonald’s, the fast-food mega-chain has just the fix: You can now order your own quarter-pound bacon cheeseburger from a welcoming, non-judging machine.

Battling the worst sales slump in a decade and competition from build-your-own upstarts like Chipotle and Smashburger, McDonald’s is expanding a test concept built around ordering via tablet. Just tap on a screen and watch as your burger’s toppings (and calories) pile on, then wait for an employee to bring it over. No human interaction necessary.

McDonald’s move towards dehumanization, launched as a pilot last winter and expanded across San Diego last week, is part of a larger trend of chain eateries turning tablets into your full-time restaurant buddy: equal parts menu, server and paycheck. Applebee’s, Panera Bread and even airport bars have installed tablets to allow diners to order food or booze without a wait.'

McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a machine - The Washington Post


This is what happens when - among other reasons - you start demanding higher pay then your position is worth (like fast food workers demanding $15/hr.).

If these fast food workers force Congress to adopt a $15/hr. minimum wage? I guarantee you that the above will be the result...automation and mass layoffs.

It ain't rocket science people - you are VERY replaceable.
Click to expand...



Yeah, that would be McDonald's.....

Never mid about the taste, nourishment value, making it easy to order will increase sales.

They hooked three generations on sugar/fat/carbohydrate levels of addiction and appealing to children, I'm happy to see that they are facing challenges
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

Cephus said:
No, they'll just automate and lay off all of their high-priced workers. Then, instead of making minimum wage, they'll make nothing.
Click to expand...

They'll automate the day it becomes feasible to do so, regardless of wages, same as employers have done in other industries. $0 per hour and the savings from dealing with a bunch of high maintenance employees with 2 or 300% annual turnover is attractive today. They put up with employees because for now it's very hard to have a machine do the work employees do. Maybe a low minimum wages delays the decision to install the robots that eventually replace humans by a year or two, but I see the choice between a decent wage or getting your job automated out of existence as an almost entirely false choice.

Besides, what happens when employers pay minimum wages today is taxpayers pick up a lot of the slack with food stamps, Medicaid, etc. Maybe we want to subsidize jobs at McD. I just wish we'd be honest about it and send McD a check for $5 an hour ($10k per year) per employee to cover a minimum wage of $12 or $13. Then the subsidy is explicit and we can all make a decision whether that's a good use of taxpayer money. Instead the worker gets a Medicaid policy that costs $6k, and food stamps, and subsidized housing, free meals for their kids at school, etc.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

DA60 said:
'If you’ve ever felt guilty ordering at McDonald’s, the fast-food mega-chain has just the fix: You can now order your own quarter-pound bacon cheeseburger from a welcoming, non-judging machine.

Battling the worst sales slump in a decade and competition from build-your-own upstarts like Chipotle and Smashburger, McDonald’s is expanding a test concept built around ordering via tablet. Just tap on a screen and watch as your burger’s toppings (and calories) pile on, then wait for an employee to bring it over. No human interaction necessary.

McDonald’s move towards dehumanization, launched as a pilot last winter and expanded across San Diego last week, is part of a larger trend of chain eateries turning tablets into your full-time restaurant buddy: equal parts menu, server and paycheck. Applebee’s, Panera Bread and even airport bars have installed tablets to allow diners to order food or booze without a wait.'

McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a machine - The Washington Post


This is what happens when - among other reasons - you start demanding higher pay then your position is worth (like fast food workers demanding $15/hr.).

If these fast food workers force Congress to adopt a $15/hr. minimum wage? I guarantee you that the above will be the result...automation and mass layoffs.

It ain't rocket science people - you are VERY replaceable.
Click to expand...

Well I don't think that a 15 dollar/hr minimum wage is responsible for this since it's not aggregated enough to cause it. But in general automation is likely the path to go regardless.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

JasperL said:
They'll automate the day it becomes feasible to do so, regardless of wages, same as employers have done in other industries. $0 per hour and the savings from dealing with a bunch of high maintenance employees with 2 or 300% annual turnover is attractive today. They put up with employees because for now it's very hard to have a machine do the work employees do. Maybe a low minimum wages delays the decision to install the robots that eventually replace humans by a year or two, but I see the choice between a decent wage or getting your job automated out of existence as an almost entirely false choice.

Besides, what happens when employers pay minimum wages today is taxpayers pick up a lot of the slack with food stamps, Medicaid, etc. Maybe we want to subsidize jobs at McD. I just wish we'd be honest about it and send McD a check for $5 an hour ($10k per year) per employee to cover a minimum wage of $12 or $13. Then the subsidy is explicit and we can all make a decision whether that's a good use of taxpayer money. Instead the worker gets a Medicaid policy that costs $6k, and food stamps, and subsidized housing, free meals for their kids at school, etc.
Click to expand...

The problem is, we're paying for the utter irresponsibility of these low-wage workers, these are people who are trying to live off of wages never intended to be living wages. These are people who have no education, no experience and no job skills, yet want to be able to raise families off of wages that were never intended to do so. It's not McDonalds that's at fault here, it's the unskilled, uneducated, irresponsible workers to blame, yet nobody ever wants to address that part of it.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

shrubnose said:
Just one question: After all of the human workers on this planet are replaced by robots, who will be buying this delicious food? :roll:
Click to expand...

Robot repairmen.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

Cephus said:
The problem is, we're paying for the utter irresponsibility of these low-wage workers, these are people who are trying to live off of wages never intended to be living wages. These are people who have no education, no experience and no job skills, yet want to be able to raise families off of wages that were never intended to do so. It's not McDonalds that's at fault here, it's the unskilled, uneducated, irresponsible workers to blame, yet nobody ever wants to address that part of it.
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There will never be a time in any country, ever, without low skill, poorly educated workers. They're in that position for all kinds of reasons, many of them their own doing, many of them factors beyond their control. And if you immediately made every worker in the U.S. skilled and responsible according to your metrics, we'd still need cashiers, McD workers, janitors, yard guys, etc. Millions and millions of them to make the economy hum. Now what are you going to blame for their low wages?

But the bottom line is I have a hard time calling people WORKING a JOB an example of their "utter irresponsibility" because it's low paid. Not everyone can be above average intelligence, with above average skills making above average wages.
 
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