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Dear Bernie, Meet the "Big Mac ATM" That Will Replace...$15/hr. Fast Food Workers

spud_meister said:
Thing is, someone is still making the burgers and stacking them in the machine. Here McDonalds is putting self-serve kiosks in every restaurant, but they still need people at the till, and people at the drive through window, and people making the food. this vending machine is just another self-serve kiosks, it's still people cooking and serving the food.
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No.. you don't need a person at the till. Especially in the age of Debt cards. In Australia this is taking place.
 
code1211 said:
Sadly, the issue has nothing at all to do with people.

It has to do with profitability.

The wage rate is just the metric that justifies the up front expense of the purchase of a robot vs the ongoing expense employing a person.

If the robot costs a one time outlay of $25,000 and has a usable life of 5 years, that's a fixed expense.

If the position replaced costs $25,000 per year with a turn-over rate of 300% requiring benefits, back ups and re-training, the equation get pretty easy pretty fast.

After that, it's only PR.

Checking myself out at the grocery store is preferred to me.

That scanner kiosk ain't cheap. Neither is the entry level cashier who knows less about the scanner than I do.
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Let's think about the math here, because economics, at its core, is all math.

Let's model the cost function of one laborer using the simplest model possible--linear, an approximation that is often done. There's a bit more to it, but for our purposes we can stick with this. Let f(t) = a + bt, where a = the fixed cost of hiring and training a new worker, b = their hourly wage, t = time in hours, and f = costs to the company.

Next, let g(t) = c + et, where c = the fixed cost of purchasing and installing the new equipment, e = the per-hour average maintenance cost (we can assume that the electrical costs are negligible), t = time in hours, and g = costs to the company.

Naively we might presume that though b is much more than e, c is much more than a, so things will balance out in the end. And it just doesn't work that way. Keep the machines long enough, and all that matters is that b is much more than e.

Machine life is the only potential weak link, then, and it is becoming a less weak link by the year.
 
austrianecon said:
Ah yes, but you forget about the worker that takes your order. Those are the ones that are replaced.
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In most fast food places those workers make your drinks and help put your order together.
 
jamesrage said:
In most fast food places those workers make your drinks and help put your order together.
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Not really. Most fast food places give you a cup and you FILL your own drinks. So they are obsolete in that aspect already. The putting your order together argument is also weak because it could easily be done the cooks. Reality is, fast food is not a sit down restaurant in which you have a waiter that actually does all those things.
 
austrianecon said:
Not really, it's no different then vending machines.
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No. There's self-serve kiosks here, and the elderly are very confused by them. There will always be a need for people to interact with customers, even if it's only to help them use the robots.
 
spud_meister said:
No. There's self-serve kiosks here, and the elderly are very confused by them. There will always be a need for people to interact with customers, even if it's only to help them use the robots.
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No, self-serve kiosks aren't complicated even for the elderly. It's literally pictures you touch. It's not rocket science.
 
austrianecon said:
Not really. Most fast food places give you a cup and you FILL your own drinks. So they are obsolete in that aspect already.
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They are not handing you a cup in the drive through..And they are not going to let you make your own shakes or frosties.Nor are they going to let you get your own fries.Plus the cooks are mostly cooking.

The putting your order together argument is also weak because it could easily be done the cooks.
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Not if they are now swamped with customers,which is around breakfast,lunch,and dinner time and possibly when the bars and clubs close. Contrary to what every-anti minimum wage douche believes the person taking your order is not just sitting on their ass taking your money and order.You being there for few minutes in the drive though to get you burgers, fires or tacos does not give you the whole picture of what goes on in a fast food restaurant.
 
Phys251 said:
Let's think about the math here, because economics, at its core, is all math.

Let's model the cost function of one laborer using the simplest model possible--linear, an approximation that is often done. There's a bit more to it, but for our purposes we can stick with this. Let f(t) = a + bt, where a = the fixed cost of hiring and training a new worker, b = their hourly wage, t = time in hours, and f = costs to the company.

Next, let g(t) = c + et, where c = the fixed cost of purchasing and installing the new equipment, e = the per-hour average maintenance cost (we can assume that the electrical costs are negligible), t = time in hours, and g = costs to the company.

Naively we might presume that though b is much more than e, c is much more than a, so things will balance out in the end. And it just doesn't work that way. Keep the machines long enough, and all that matters is that b is much more than e.

Machine life is the only potential weak link, then, and it is becoming a less weak link by the year.
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If Phys in Phys251 implies physicist, then the translation to the arithmetic formula probably makes sense to you.

Liberal arts degrees here. No real help. However, i have always been amazed at and in awe of the power of sophisticated calculations by you guys.

My math understanding is pretty much limited to Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division and Percents, but only using real numbers. Usually with dollar signs.

That said, to my mathematically illiterate eyes, it looks about right.:confused:
 
DA60 said:
'Dear Bernie, as you continue in your never-ending "Fight for $15", we thought you might benefit from a simple example of how economics work in a real life, functioning, capitalistic society. You see, Bernie, labor, much like your daily serving of crunchy granola, is just another "good" that businesses can choose to consume more or less of, depending on price. And, just to be crystal clear, when the price of labor (i.e. wages) increases, businesses tend to consume less of it. Finally, our dearest Bernie, when misinformed politicians radically disrupt labor markets by setting artificially high base prices, like your proposed $15 federal minimum wage, then businesses simply stop consuming labor completely and instead replace that labor with this "Big Mac ATM Machine."'

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Dear Bernie, Meet the "Big Mac ATM" That Will Replace All Of Your $15 Per Hour Fast Food Workers | Zero Hedge


Thoughts?
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they would do the same thing sooner or later becase business is baout making money and will **** us in search of it

and we need to give every one an income by the time all labor can be done with machines

its like slavery but they wont get tired and none of those pesky human right abuses at least till we can make sentient ai
 
allso prety sure the Japanese have put everything they cna into vending machines allredy

live crab any one?

dont-like-cupcakes-in-china-live-hairy-crabs-can-be-purchased-from-a-vending-machine-at-a-main-subway-station-in-nanjing-its-the-first-live-crab-vendi.jpg
 
slide_359769_4016179_free.jpg
 
blarg said:
slide_359769_4016179_free.jpg
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You are not really making your case with a machine that requires workers to make the food, package the food and to load it.
 
jamesrage said:
SO its a machine that still has to be loaded by workers, the sauce made by workers and loaded into the machine, the dough mixing equipment that will have to be cleaned and maintained by workers.
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um my point was these vending machines are poping up across the globe any way and that businesses will automate where possible regardless of minimum wage not that full automation has been achieved yet
 
blarg said:
um my point was these vending machines are poping up across the globe any way and that businesses will automate where possible regardless of minimum wage not that full automation has been achieved yet
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we've had vending machines for 100 years but how stupid and liberal is it to encourage the transition to machines by making labor more expensive and in effect machines cheaper?
 
James972 said:
we've had vending machines for 100 years but how stupid and liberal is it to encourage the transition to machines by making labor more expensive and in effect machines cheaper?
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Do you even know what Economics means?

I don't think you belong here, if you don't actually contribute anything material. But that is my opinion.
 
blarg said:
um my point was these vending machines are poping up across the globe any way and that businesses will automate where possible regardless of minimum wage not that full automation has been achieved yet
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It's actually in very much regards to minimum wage.

Just like making slave importation illegal increased the incentive to innovate given the shrinking slave pool, I.e. increased prices slaves could command (well not "command" heh)
 
Chinandenga said:
Do you even know what Economics means?

I don't think you belong here, if you don't actually contribute anything material. But that is my opinion.
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we've had vending machines for 100 years but how stupid and liberal is it to encourage the transition to more vending machines by making labor more expensive and vending machines, in effect, cheaper?
 
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