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McDonald's is rolling out self-service kiosks in restaurants across the US that allow customers to order and pay for their food without ever having to interact with a human.

"At least half of the operators in my region are on the verge of collapse," one franchisee wrote in response to a recent survey by former Janney Capital Markets analyst Mark Kalinowski. "With minimum wage for fast food workers potentially increasing to incredibly high levels, we are facing a crisis situation."

Another franchisee wrote, "We are in uncharted waters. The minimum wage issue is a major threat to the survival of the operator community." The franchisee said McDonald's should be "putting every resource available" into finding labor savings, through technologies such as kiosks and automatic fry dispensers.

The price increases needed to offset any added labor costs "would cause a complete collapse in guest counts," the franchisee added. "I see no other options but the company paying to keep operators alive until they figure out how to reduce labor required by 30%."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mcdonalds-shoots-down-fears-planning-202513285.html (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mcdonalds-shoots-down-fears-planning-202513285.html)

My take - From a profit standpoint, it makes sense. I do feel bad for potential cashiers, but technology is going to do it's thing. While I'm all about higher pay for retail and fast food employees, I don't want to prevent companies from taking advantage of cost saving technology.

Where is the phone app for this?

And if minimum wage is increased to $15 an hour like some think it should be, the rate at which this happens will increase exponentially.

I'm sure a good number of liberals know it would happen. Not all of them want to pretend that there aren't any consequences to actions taken. I tell anyone who will listen to learn to install and fix the technology that is turning this world autonomous.

This was going to happen independent of the minimum wage. Stop pretending otherwise. I'm not sure I'm going to tell much difference, personality-wise, between these kiosks and a disinterested 16 yr old.

Who is pretending this wouldn't happen anyway? Do you not think dramatically increasing he minimum wage won't cause this to roll out much quicker?

This will spell the end for McDonalds. People like to serve by humans with a friendly smile not by machines!

Lol. I guess ATMs are doomed as well then huh, since people only want to be served by other humans, not machines.

Nobody is going to McDonald's for the customer interaction.

Which is why ATM's, self service pumps, direct dial phone service, and automatic elevators never caught on?

But they'd have to have smiles and besides the machines will get the orders right.

Have you been to a mcdonalds? The last time I was there the guy was pushing the coffee filter in with his wet tattered bandaid finger. I prefer my coffee without old bandaid flavor. I couldnt care less if hes smiling while doing it.

I don't think this is right might just leave MacDonald's for good.

homeless bums like atms to they hang out next to them in citys and panhandle everyone that takes out cash, oh and the bankers dont care at all aboutus being harassed its called globalism.

But if your city enforced the law, the bums wouldn't be there would they? Nobody ever said every ATM came attached to a bum.

I think this was rolling out on a timeline independent of minimum wage increases, which are being phased in slowly.

Yup globalism sucks so does these machines that cut our jobs so the company can save a buck.

You have a habit of posting some pretty random points

Min wage increase just accelerates it. Look at a guy who owns 3 or 4 chain restaurants. He/she needs managers who tend to get a benefits package. The ACA has driven up those costs so the owner must look to cut costs elsewhere. His suppliers also are raising prices to him but the consumer, thanks to the Obama policies, has less cash and can't absorb price increases. It becomes an unconditional loop which won't stop until you pull back govt mandates, not impose more.

The last time I went to make a cash deposit to my bank, the lady behind the window gave me a nice sale speech telling me it would better, faster to make the cash deposit directly at the ATM. I told her thanks but no thanks and joked I'd rather look at a human smile. The line was smaller than the one at the ATM anyway. She told me if I did not know how to do it she could show me. Toward the end she became kinda pushy. Still smiling but "please go use the ATM" That was weird.
All that time I was thinking they are training the employees to show how useless they will become and she wasn't even aware of it. I'll take her advice and will never see her again.


Au revoir beautiful smile...  :'(

If the minimum wage were increased to $15 an hour, prices at fast food restaurants would rise by an estimated 4.3 percent, according to a new study. That would mean a McDonald’s Big Mac, which currently goes for $3.99, would cost about 17 cents more, or $4.16.

The study from Purdue University’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management also found that in order to compensate for the higher cost of employee compensation at limited-service restaurants, or those without table service or tipping, if they decided to change food sizes rather than prices, the Big Mac would shrink somewhere between 12 and 70 percent.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/08/03/3687171/15-minimum-wage-big-mac/ (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/08/03/3687171/15-minimum-wage-big-mac/)

Yepper - a whole bank account busting $.17 more for a Big Mac. Kinda sets your hair on fire, doesn't it?

but look on the bright side of this..video games will be a big seller because these kids will be staying home with mommy and daddy until they are 30 something now..facebook will have more revenue from ad sales because will be home doing nothing but sucking off their parents...

Wrong, you used to have jobs but libs legislated them out of existence.

Self checkouts are also beginning to make a comeback in supermarkets and hardware stores. And many tasks in automobile assembly plants are now accomplished by robots. It happens when the cost of unskilled labor rises to nonsensical heights.

It's not like anybody really WANTS to work at Mcdonalds. Well, maybe the Executives do...

If we could somehow make better jobs for unskilled labor, perhaps without the stigma of fast-food, nobody would give a damn if McDonalds was entirely autonomous.

Tell that to the people who designed, sold, installed and maintained the machines.

Do you feel sympathy for those who own/operate cemetaries or funeral homes? The rate of burials by year end 2015 will be about 1/2 what it was in 2000

Revenue is down as cremations are much cheaper. Employment is down.

Should we mandate people to be buried because jobs have been eliminated?

If a fast food joint finds a way to pay employees what the govt mandates, and people still show up in droves, then good for them.

On the other hand, if we the people continue to support Democrats, and businesses must automate and cut staff to remain viable, then so be it. We knew what we were doing when we voted Democrat.

Why not have both ? Get rid of jobs that the kiosks can handle, but pay the fry cooks and burger flippers a wage that keeps them just above the poverty line.

The government has inflated the cost of one input, so alternative inputs look more attractive. It makes sense to anybody without a PhD in voodoo economics.

why don't you price fast food within an airport or stadium? As costs go up, so must the prices. Airports are a great example of how high prices become when costs go through the roof.

but look at all the new jobs that are being created building these machines...overseas...

They will still need someone to empty trash, clean the trash in the parking lots etc. McD's and others have automated beverage fillers at the to go window.

Wally World has self-pay and many stores have increased the number of self-pay lines. They began with a couple but have increased the amount. They know that by reducing the live cashiers and creating lines that people will go to the self pay yet continue to patronize Walmart because of low prices. You'll have a choice, wait in line for service or do it yourself. 1 employee monitors 8 self-pay stations at many Wal marts. I'd call that a success.

when did i say anything to the contrary ? i'm ok with these self service machines.

we have nobody to blame but ourselves. We were told that the regs by the EPA were for our own good and would not hurt the economy. We were told that illegal aliens help the economy and should look the other way rather than demand they be deported. The list goes on. For too long we've been "patting ourselves on the back" for being so progressive and "inclusive" that we did not see that the power brokers pulling the strings of Democrats were deliberately dismantling the working class by wrapping their policies in the cloak of "compassion and environment"

We all have one last bite at the apple in 2016. We can go against hollywood and the media and put a Republican into the WH. Then, we must demand that the GOP do something about turning around this ship. If full GOP control can't effect postive movement within 4 years, then we're doomed anyway.

Fry cooks are going away too. But yea, just because Roomba means we don't need people pushing a broom doesn't mean there aren't jobs. As long as we have problems, there are jobs. Accomplishing more tasks with simple automation that used to require a person means we are still just as productive but now have extra human resources to meet more challenging needs.

Can we believe they haven't incorporated the robotics into Ronald McDonald?

You would think they could focus on making more healthful, better tasting food for humans before putting humans out of work.

I believe you are correct. Three years from now they will start closing outlets.

Not only has that been debunked, I believe some of that debunking was done on this forum. But maybe you can explain how almost doubling the cost of 1/3 of your business expenses leads to a mere 4.3% increase in product costs?

If only they could roll out a robot that could actually get an order correct...then we'd have something. It's easy to type the order in correctly, but to get the person filling the bag with food to do it right...that seems a challenge beyond decades of trying.

Maybe if the bag filler got paid $13/hr instead of the below poverty wage average of $7.75, they would try harder to ensure everything's correct since it would be a valuable job to lose.

This could spell the end for a lot of fast food places. We may be forced to actually cook our own food more often. The horror!

Some bag fillers do get paid 13 an hour. They still (*)(*)(*)(*) up.

And they need to be retrained, and if they continue to fail, they must be let go.

Self-service kiosk is a nice idea. Other restaurant / fast-food chains should also consider implementing this idea. The positive is that McDonald's will be able to reduce the expenses, thereby making their food products more affordable. The main drawback will be that a lot of illegal aliens (especially those from Mexico and El Salvador) will be left without a job.  ;D

You sure couldn't have picked a worse example than airports who charge vendors ferocious amounts to give them access to an essentially captive audience. I'm talking about the real world as I am sure that's what the study which developed that cost increase used.

The link I gave you when I posted that contains a link to the study that quoted that price increase. Please feel free to give me (and everyone else) the benefit of a link to a factual study that proves what I posted is incorrect. I'll be happy to thank you for that.

I think that it's just an excuse by the franchise owners; they are businessmen and are out to maximize profits. They don't provide the jobs because they feel charitable, instead they were waiting for the technology to improve to a point where they could replace humans with automation/robotics; just that the minimum wage issue timing gave them the lame excuse to make the switch.

that's just wishful thinking on your part due to your hatred of McDonalds. Do you know why the President of McDonalds earns MILLIONS while fry cooks make 8/hour? Because the President is expected to use his education and experience to make sure McDonalds won't fail while the fry cook and cashier is not.

a kiosk won't replace the President...... it can replace a fry cook.

Raising the minimum wage will hurt black male teenagers the most. Another unintended consequence that well intentioned, but woefully uneducated in Economics, liberals deny until it's too late, then they will simply suggest McDonalds is racist is the problem, not because economic policy that was forced on Mcd's caused it.

I don't think jobs are lost.... because for every unskilled cashier replaced by a kiosk, the demand for someone who can work on kiosks increases. Maybe not 1:1, but there will be a demand for those that have the skillset to work on the technology.

The problem is.... cashiers that are downsized, aren't picked up by kiosk repair people. that 35 yo cashier will simply have a harder time finding a job if hers is the job that is cut.

Do we? I want my food fast, and that's about it. If I want a friendly smile, I'll go to a sit-down restaurant.

It is not the responsibility of the franchise owners to provide jobs for everyone. If someone want a good job, then he should get quality education and the necessary skills. If automation / robots can reduce the prices, then I am supporting it. Banning the usage of technology, with lame excuses such as unemployment is retarded. McDonald's is not the only job provider in the United States. If you can't get a job with McDonalds, then try the USAF or the local supermarkets.

I'm not sure those businessmen will reduce the price of their products if they use automation systems for their business. I think they will increase the amount of production instead of reducing the price.

i heard new york is pushing for $15 minimum wage.  i think its absurd but seeing as how devalued the usd has become it probably makes sense.  not sure how franchisees can afford such labor costs across the board without switching to kiosks for faster ordering.  or else say goodbye mcdonalds dollar menu. 

The parenthetical argument I've heard time and time again is "if they increase the minimum wage, then my job at $20/hour (upper lower/lower middle class) is devalued!".

If the minimum wage increases to $10.10 at a federal level as Obama discussed in his 2015 State of the Union Address, I expect those grievances to amplify.

Who knows what the future holds.