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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

You think 5 guy's is the same price as McD? I mean sure, it's a better burger, but 5 guy's is more expensive too.

No, this is directly related to the $15 per hour crap...You wan't $15, then you will be replaced by Roboburger.

TBH, I've only eaten at 5 guys a couple of times and really didn't pay attention to the price. I wasn't all that impressed with their burger either.

McDonalds burgers are no better now than they were 30 years ago and you have to wait longer for them. They also aren't exactly a bargain. If I've got a choice of paying $8 for a burger, fries and a drink at McD's or $12 at a local restaurant I'm going with the local place every time. The ONLY reason I eat fast food is because of convenience and the faster I get my mediocre burger the more convenient it is for me.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

Ten years from now: "You want $10/hour, then you will be replaced by Roboburger."
Twenty years from now: "You want $3.50/hour, then you will be replaced by Roboburger."
Forty years from now: "You want two bowls of gruel a day, then you will be replaced by Roboburger."

No. Ten years from now you'll just get the roboburger.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

No. Ten years from now you'll just get the roboburger.

Yes. Because minimum wage really has no bearing on this.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

No. Ten years from now you'll just get the roboburger.

I don't think this is 2001: a space odyssey quite yet....
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

Ten years from now: "You want $10/hour, then you will be replaced by Roboburger."
Twenty years from now: "You want $3.50/hour, then you will be replaced by Roboburger."
Forty years from now: "You want two bowls of gruel a day, then you will be replaced by Roboburger."

Not at all...If that were the case then SD would be seeing the same wages as say, GA. However, we know that not to be the case at all...Demand in SD has places like McD paying up to $15 per hour, and more just to get people to work there. Supply and Demand...Something lost on most liberals.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

TBH, I've only eaten at 5 guys a couple of times and really didn't pay attention to the price. I wasn't all that impressed with their burger either.

McDonalds burgers are no better now than they were 30 years ago and you have to wait longer for them. They also aren't exactly a bargain. If I've got a choice of paying $8 for a burger, fries and a drink at McD's or $12 at a local restaurant I'm going with the local place every time. The ONLY reason I eat fast food is because of convenience and the faster I get my mediocre burger the more convenient it is for me.

Then you aren't the McD target customer...Think about it Luther. You obviously have the time, and means to take your time to eat a lunch, and make choices that offer better food, and service. Many blue collar such as myself don't have the time to sit down and take an hour for lunch. McD was created on fast food to satisfy a need of the worker to eat, and get back to work. Not everyone has your ability to lounge through life.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

Not at all...If that were the case then SD would be seeing the same wages as say, GA. However, we know that not to be the case at all...Demand in SD has places like McD paying up to $15 per hour, and more just to get people to work there. Supply and Demand...Something lost on most liberals.

Irrelevant. You missed the point completely.

Automation and computer technology is getting cheaper and easier. It doesn't matter what you do with minimum wage, sooner or later automation will become more cost effective than hiring people to take orders at the counter. At that point, what do you do? Depress wages to $6/hour so these people can continue working? Ok, let's say you do that. Five years later, the technology is even cheaper to implement. So you drop wages further?

The rest of the food preparation process will take longer. Someone has to cook the food, place it in a bag, and hand it to the customer. Doing this with a machine will be tougher, more prone to error, but eventually technology will exist to handle it.

Costs of living people go up over time. Costs of machines to down over time. Eventually the two curves cross.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

I'm still trying to figure out that phrase "felt guilty ordering at McDonald's" and why it was used.


I've never felt GUILTY (of what??) ordering at McDonalds.


I've felt disappointed and annoyed that I couldn't find somewhere better to have lunch, yes.... but guilty? WTF for?
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

Irrelevant. You missed the point completely.

Automation and computer technology is getting cheaper and easier. It doesn't matter what you do with minimum wage, sooner or later automation will become more cost effective than hiring people to take orders at the counter. At that point, what do you do? Depress wages to $6/hour so these people can continue working? Ok, let's say you do that. Five years later, the technology is even cheaper to implement. So you drop wages further?

The rest of the food preparation process will take longer. Someone has to cook the food, place it in a bag, and hand it to the customer. Doing this with a machine will be tougher, more prone to error, but eventually technology will exist to handle it.

Costs of living people go up over time. Costs of machines to down over time. Eventually the two curves cross.



Some time in the next 10-30 years, degreed occupations like technicians and lower-end engineers will be facing the same competition with machines (computers).
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

Irrelevant. You missed the point completely.

Automation and computer technology is getting cheaper and easier. It doesn't matter what you do with minimum wage, sooner or later automation will become more cost effective than hiring people to take orders at the counter. At that point, what do you do? Depress wages to $6/hour so these people can continue working? Ok, let's say you do that. Five years later, the technology is even cheaper to implement. So you drop wages further?

The rest of the food preparation process will take longer. Someone has to cook the food, place it in a bag, and hand it to the customer. Doing this with a machine will be tougher, more prone to error, but eventually technology will exist to handle it.

Costs of living people go up over time. Costs of machines to down over time. Eventually the two curves cross.

So, why speed that day up? By demanding something like $15 per hour for fast food workers according to your analysis would only make that day come quicker...Proving that it really isn't about the worker at all.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

It's not BS. Schools all across the country stopped requiring students to shower after being sued over the policy. There was a discussion not that long ago where I used to live about even installing showers in a school that was planned to be built. The argument against them was that students never use them, so it's a waste of money to install them.

Funny I guess my home state missed that memo as the last time I subbed there was a locker room and the kids hit the shower.

You mean all those kids are going back to class all sweaty and stinky or that atheletes have to wait until they go home to take a shower? Good grief.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

Funny I guess my home state missed that memo as the last time I subbed there was a locker room and the kids hit the shower.

There is no laws on the books that I can recall that banned schools from requiring students to shower. The reason schools stopped doing it was because they were losing lawsuits over the issue and it wasn't worth keeping the policy in place. If a school is requiring kids to shower today they are running the risk of getting sued and it is pretty much guaranteed they will lose the lawsuit if that happens.

You mean all those kids are going back to class all sweaty and stinky or that atheletes have to wait until they go home to take a shower? Good grief.

I don't recall getting that sweaty in PE. :shrug: As for sports, yeah, I suppose. Does it matter? Btw, I didn't say kids couldn't shower. If a kid wants to shower the shower is still there. They will most likely be the only one in it, but yeah, it's there if they want to use it.
 
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Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

There is no laws on the books that I can recall that banned schools from requiring students to shower. The reason schools stopped doing it was because they were losing lawsuits over the issue and it wasn't worth keeping the policy in place. If a school is requiring kids to shower today they are running the risk of getting sued and it is pretty much guaranteed they will lose the lawsuit if that happens.



I don't recall getting that sweaty in PE. :shrug: As for sports, yeah, I suppose. Does it matter? Btw, I didn't say kids couldn't shower. If a kid wants to shower the shower is still there. They will most likely be the only one in it, but yeah, it's there if they want to use it.


Gotta love what attorneys have done to this country. And to think many of them end up as judges and politicians.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

There have been protests over them you mean. Plus state level legislation in a number of places is already there to be voted on. Businesses are just planning ahead of time because its always better to be early than to be late on these kinds of things. Businesses will try to avoid layoffs if they can but if the government keeps pushing them and forces them to adopt higher wages then automation will be the inevitable consequence in the fast food industry.

Unless you've seen these restaurants make the claim it's pure speculation as to why they are doing this.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

Unless you've seen these restaurants make the claim it's pure speculation as to why they are doing this.

What other reason could they have to introduce automation other than to streamline operations and cut cost?
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

What other reason could they have to introduce automation other than to streamline operations and cut cost?


In order to "turn around slumping sales"

it's right there in the title to this thread.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

So, why speed that day up? By demanding something like $15 per hour for fast food workers according to your analysis would only make that day come quicker...Proving that it really isn't about the worker at all.

Of course it isn't about the worker, it never has been. It's about a political agenda.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

What other reason could they have to introduce automation other than to streamline operations and cut cost?

They will streamline and cut costs regardless of where minimum wage is. So tying the move to potential minimum wage hikes in the future is not just guess work... it's pure fabrication in light of the fact that businesses will do this regardless.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

So, why speed that day up? By demanding something like $15 per hour for fast food workers according to your analysis would only make that day come quicker...Proving that it really isn't about the worker at all.

I don't expect it would be noticeably faster. The technology is already being produced. The systems already exist. I don't know if you've looked at the consoles the people taking orders use, but it's basically already set up that way. At this point it's more about whether or not the customers respond positively.

I'd be shocked if $15 wages prompted fast food to implement such systems even a year faster. You need to keep in mind the fact that low level workers aren't really a huge part of mcdonalds operating costs.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

I'd be shocked if $15 wages prompted fast food to implement such systems even a year faster. You need to keep in mind the fact that low level workers aren't really a huge part of mcdonalds operating costs.

I'm not so sure about that. It costs McDonalds well in excess of $70,000 (@ $8/hr) to staff each 24 hour position for a year. Given a 24 hour store, one cash register and one grill/kitchen station cost nearly $140,000 in just wages MINIMUM.. then add in SS, Medicare, FICA, payroll tax, potential overtime, sick time, possible paid time off vacation days, benefits (albeit crappy ones), liability insurance... the list goes on.

How much does a tablet cost?
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

I'm not so sure about that. It costs McDonalds well in excess of $70,000 (@ $8/hr) to staff each 24 hour position for a year. Given a 24 hour store, one cash register and one grill/kitchen station cost nearly $140,000 in just wages MINIMUM.. then add in SS, Medicare, FICA, payroll tax, potential overtime, sick time, possible paid time off vacation days, benefits (albeit crappy ones), liability insurance... the list goes on.

How much does a tablet cost?

For one thing, 70K for 24/7/365 coverage is nothing compared to what the person brings in.

Secondly, you're inflating the cost. You counted kitchen staff even though they're not being automated. Then you counted payroll taxes twice. Then you added in sick time and vacation, which those employees generally don't get.

Finally, none of that addresses the point you responded to which is that labor costs are a small part of the business' expenses.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

I'm not so sure about that. It costs McDonalds well in excess of $70,000 (@ $8/hr) to staff each 24 hour position for a year. Given a 24 hour store, one cash register and one grill/kitchen station cost nearly $140,000 in just wages MINIMUM.. then add in SS, Medicare, FICA, payroll tax, potential overtime, sick time, possible paid time off vacation days, benefits (albeit crappy ones), liability insurance... the list goes on.

How much does a tablet cost?

Exactly my point. The cost of the machine has long since stopped being a factor. It's already cheaper to buy a tablet.

edit: for clarification, that means the bigger issue is development cost and development time. That's already underway. They could accelerate that development by throwing more engineers at it, but there are diminishing returns to that, and these folks have higher salaries.
 
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Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

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.

Then again, this is America. Americans generally wouldn't know an inferior product from the real thing. After all, there's at least one poster who has stated that Chick Fil-A makes a quality product. . .

Chick-fil-A or Chemical-Fil-A? - Food Babe
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

I do like the idea of the tablet due to the fact people can misunderstand.I know there has been more than one occasion I ordered a unsweetened iced tea and got a sweet iced tea.I can see why restaurants would want these tablets. Waiters can't be everywhere at once and customers might order additional food and drinls if they do not have to wait for their waiter who is currently busy at another table. These companies make billions of dollars even after expenses.

And corporate welfare payments from uncle sammy.
 
Re: McDonald’s fresh hope to turn around slumping sales: Ordering burgers from a mach

For one thing, 70K for 24/7/365 coverage is nothing compared to what the person brings in.

And how much does that person bring in? The average McDonald's franchise grosses around $2.5 mil per year. $70k is almost 3% of that. That is not insignificant for a single employee. People often mistake an individual franchise with the megacorp; individual franchises are, for all intents and purposes, small businesses.

Secondly, you're inflating the cost. You counted kitchen staff even though they're not being automated. Then you counted payroll taxes twice. Then you added in sick time and vacation, which those employees generally don't get.

The assertion was made that minimum wage employees are completely expendable fodder whose wage isn't felt by any given business. This is false. The labor cost of running a 24 hour operation (two positions) runs well in excess of $140k per year. This is just a fact. If a business wanted to halve that cost, they could eliminate a position.

People do call in sick, which adds a cost to the business (overstaffing to cover shortfalls, potential overtime, etc). Individual franchises run differently, but the one I worked at in high school offered a weeks paid vacation after one year, and I wasn't a manager or anything.

Finally, none of that addresses the point you responded to which is that labor costs are a small part of the business' expenses.

It all addresses the point. People who advocate for nearly doubling the minimum wage usually display untold ignorance of how businesses actually run. I recommend remedial math classes with an emphasis on fractions and percentages.
 
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