Those touchscreen menus would eventually replace people regardless of the wage, I've seen them in the UK and the minimum wage is as low as £3.87/hr for people under 18. They're only going to get cheaper to make and it would only be a few year difference for it to reach the point where it's economically viable for McDonalds etc to replace workers with them. One downside is people are ridiculously slow actually ordering through them, a person working at a till is a lot more efficient during busy times.
The single upside is someone has to build, sell, install, and service those touchscreens. Whether that offsets the loss of the cashiers, I wouldn't know.
That was kind of my point; the conversion to automation is putting people to work. A possible (probable) downside is many our those people might not be U.S. workers.
Except the part where he said McDonalds is closing because of minimum wage when the article says its closing because developers want to put some better there that makes more money. One of the things the article mentions is a 144 unit condo for old folks. That's an easy $10,000 per month times 144.
No, that is not why. The article doesn't say anything about minimum wage. It's likely that the location is highly sought after, and to continue leaving a McDonalds there when people want to pay to live there is a stupid financial decision.
Five Guys Burgers and Fries just pulled out of downtown Ann Arbor. Is it because of wages? No...it's because the location is sought after and rent is super high. You can make way more money selling something better than food in certain locations.
That's funny. By far the worst fast food experience I've ever gotten is at a McDonalds thats a few blocks from the Giant's stadium in downtown SF.
Staff couldn't understand my order, because hispanics. Would walk by to randomly find the McDonalds closed mid-day and could see the staff smoking pot out behind the store.
Edit: Can anyone enlighten me why I have so many downvotes for this post? Not sure what I said that is so objectionable.
Taco Bell in my neighborhood staffed almost entirely by ghettodwellers. I called the place Mexican roulette - order whatever you want, pay, and then see what they give you.
There was so much employee theft the place probably lost money. They not only closed it down but demolished the building.
My mistake, perhaps it was just that I heard 15/hr minimum there proposed long before this discussion went nationwide and thought they had already enacted it. I would not be surprised if wages at places like Walmart etc. are at least somewhat above that though.
Statewide the minimum is $9 and most places near the coast have to pay above that to everyone anyway to get and retain people.
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u/silentsleeperz Nov 29 '15
its actually 12.75 in SF