The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
Today’s question:
McDonald’s CEO confirmed last week that the fast-food chain was testing automated drive-thrus at 10 Chicago locations.
QUESTION: Do you think this is a direct result of the fight for a $15 minimum wage for fast-food workers?
Talk about it….
46 comments
Planned many years ago as part of ‘The Great Reset’….Claus Schwab of World Economic Forum.
Remember, it’s all just conspiracy theory which you all mocked.
It’s definitely a result of the fight for the $15 minimum wage. When the minimum wage first came up, they were warned that there was going to be lay offs and automation would be replacing them.
Corporations are in the profit business, they have shareholders to answer to. The sooner workers realize that it’s cold calculated business, and they can and will be replaced, the sooner they will do something to better themselves. The fast food industry was designed to be an entry level job for school kids and young adults, it was never meant to be a lifelong career.
My sentiments exactly. One should not expect to support a family or be able to purchase a home if you’re a burger flipper. These positions are, as stated above, designed for school kids, young adults and as a second job for extra cash. Get an education or training, join the military or both if you want to succeed in life. Free handouts from the government are not free!
WRONG! The purpose of minimum wage was to create a minimum livable wage. Here’s a direct quote from the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
“a) The Congress finds that the existence, in industries engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, of labor conditions detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency, and general well-being of workers”
Here is Cornell Law’s direct summarization of the Act, “The minimum wage was designed to create a minimum standard of living to protect the health and well-being of employees.”
That is not pocket money or just for kids. Also, what is wrong with being a burger flipper? If the person does not have the skills or mental capacity they should not be allowed to live? Or should we the people support them instead with our tax dollars?
You people really need to stop shilling for corporations. If you can’t afford to pay your workers you don’t deserve to be in business. Now, the workers are refusing to work your low paying job and you are calling them lazy. Boo Hoo! You think those businesses would bat an eye at firing someone to save a couple dollars? What’s even worse is that even McDonald’s CEO admitted that the increase in wages in California did nothing to slow business and that they could easily absorb the extra cost.
As far as automation goes, this is the future and it isn’t just menial jobs that are at danger. White collar and blue collar jobs will be phased out with automation. There’s things I do in my job today by myself in a single day that would take an entire team to do in several weeks just a couple decades ago.
It’s not 1938. That was almost 100 years ago. Minimum wage jobs should be for teenagers. You have to maintain a certain standard of living and skill level for yourself, and if you can’t — well. Businesses are in business to make money. They’re not charities.
If you raise the minimum wage to $15.00 hr. they’ll cut hours and raise the prices where the average person might be able to afford it, but you’re hurting the poor.
Pyrrhus — You’re an ENABLER. Anyone can pull themselves up from their bootstraps, and you’re keeping people down. Businesses are paying low wage workers what they deserve. Next to nothing because it’s a next to nothing job. I’ve worked those jobs in high school and it was good for me. Working your butt off for next to nothing is exactly what every teenager needs to develop a strong work ethic. How else are you going to learn?
I agree on the starter job thing. Some jobs are just starter jobs and they are not intended to pay well enough to sustain a household. How far does the left want to push this? Before I worked in food service I had a job pulling weeds for the neighbors and that job would not have existed if it was mandated minimum wage, requirements for lunch breaks, OSHA oversight, withholding for social security and filling out IRS forms.
@Kentucky
How long ago was it that you were in highschool? Let me guess, you’re a boomer. An entry level job could at that point provide wages allowing someone to buy a HOME in only a handful of years back then. The dollar was immensely stronger, homes were literally less than a quarter of their current price after adjusting for inflation, gold and silver were far less expensive, construction materials were far less expensive.
The boomer sits back and laughs, because when he flipped burgers, he was being paid the equivalent of $25+ an hour, and his dollar went way, way further. He could afford a home, to himself, in only a few years labor.
It is abominable how the boomers will not own up to the fact that they lived in a time of unparalleled economic prosperity ,and their ignorance, greed, and short shortsightedness sold out America and left us with the sad economic and political state we see now. The whole generation sabotaged the future of America, and have the unbelievable stupidity to act like it wasn’t their doing.
anon, no you could not buy a house working in fast food back then. I and perhaps others here would really like to know where you are getting this. Could you please provide whatever websites/professors/reading materials are inspiring these ideas and I do mean the ideas and not just some reference to BLS inflation data. I’d like to see what else they say.
Totally wrong Dawg
It’s more job elimination fuel by corporate greed. Those billionaire need more money they don’t pay taxes on while others suffer, Just think your taxes will go up so people who can not find a job because job are being eliminated will need Gov’t assistance.
First the automate manufacturing and now it’s service. Perhaps your job will be nex
Yes, it’s not 1938 anymore nor is it the 80s or 90s. So by your logic let’s kill social security completely, nobody can live off of that either and future generations aren’t going to benefit anyways because the boomers have destroyed it just like they are destroying the minimum wage. Or perhaps we can modernize like other western countries have and have a functional health care system that doesn’t let people die or go into massive debt. Or protect workers and raise the standard of living for everyone.
You say businesses aren’t charities but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be amoral and do everything they can to maximize profits. They should be held to moral standards and should be punished by regulation or by the consumers for bad practices. We’ve seen what deregulation leads to in our not so distant past, the recession due to the housing crash, Enron, etc. This entire idea that only money speaks is the stupidest thing that Americans embrace. I believe in capitalism but also believe that businesses should be held responsible for their actions.
But fine, you want to be pure capitalist about this? This is simple supply and demand at this point. Businesses want workers but don’t want to pay livable wages. Workers have other options and are using their power to make changes. It’s why there are companies that are losing people because they want them in offices instead of work from home. This pandemic has woken people up that there is way more to life than working a 9 to 5 in an office or working 3 jobs just to afford basic needs.
Honestly, a burger flipper works way harder than some people I’ve worked with at office jobs. I value them way more than the people that look down on them.
yay
stick it to the socialist komi anti america blue devil demofrauds
forcing businesses to conform in a capitalistic america
to a union wage based service taking away competition
and the right for businesses to pay the best workers the best wage
if this is the way then so be it
now those dem workers can go did ditches for 20 dollars an hour instead of being in an airconditioned work place with cold beverages close at hand
get dirty blue workers or dont eat
the politicians have made your choice for you
i am sure your thankful and
… probably…. companies now days do anything to get rid of employees to maximize profit
Bingo Randy. You get it. Give Randy the prize. It’s all about corporate greed.
Anyone who has seen social media posts from restaurants nationwide (and yes, even here in Claycord too) stating they are closed due to not having enough employees to run the place are not surprised by this. Combine that with a clientele that has forgotten how to act in public and demands five star dining from short staffed one star establishments and it’s a wonder it isn’t being rolled out all over.
cheeseburguesa
The employees will be back as the extended unemployment is scheduled to end soon.
But you are correct with your second statement. A local diner I frequent for breakfast where I currently live in my opinion has always had good service. Yes the get super busy and I can wait a few minutes for my 2nd cup of coffee. But others…geez Louise. If you are in that big of a hurry eat at home. The snapping of fingers and yelling “hey you” at wait staff is just plain rude. Of course these are the same people that leave a $1 tip for a $40 (4 people) bill and their brats leave a ketchup, sugar & salt mess on the table
I’d rather talk to a machine, rather than some young punks like the last time I went through…they’re rude, acting like customers are “bothering” them, LOL…
No, and yes.
This was most likely always in the works. The raise of wages and pandemic just gave it fuel to move faster.
On a side note, a lot of SciFi shows had similar things, and most SciFi is just the real future when technology catches up. Cell phones, 3d Printers, etc.
Where can anyone afford to live off of $15 an hour? Nebraska maybe? It’s a joke when you see what executives make.
Even bank tellers Starting wages are $15 an hour it’s so sad the people handling your money and your food make nothing. Wages haven’t kept up with the cost of living ever in my professional lifetime of 20 years. Not surprised if that’s partially why we see more crime and homeless. Corporations are too greedy and use shareholders as their excuse.
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
I would add rideshare drivers and the rest of GIG workers. We now live in a society that it is OK for people to only make minimum wage when new jobs that could pay more are now forever stuck at $15hr.
We need a limit as to how long an employee should make minimum wages. Many fast food restaurants including a foster farms chicken processing plant have workers of 15-20 years of employment still working for minimum wage.
Absolutely correct Schmee, RetailSlave and Michael
The increased wage probably has something to do with it, but I won’t go there EVER AGAIN if they make this transition. I don’t use self check-outs at WalMart or the Grocery Stores either.
@Mimi …do you use an ATM? Fool.
The minimum wage hasn’t begun to keep up with inflation, let alone the cost of a home, even in the poorest states.
It is a nightmare situation for younger people that the boomers, who grew up in an age with cheap homes, high wages, cheap cars, cheap silver, gold, lumber, etc., cannot begin to appreciate it. To admit they had it better, would be too much for most of them.
Look at the birth rates, boomers, Look at what your economic policies have given us. No affordable homes means no families means negative growth and a decaying society. You are to blame for all of this.
@ Reasonable – I’m a FOOL for using an ATM? I actually don’t use the ATM, aside from the little payment kiosk at the checkout stand. When I have actual banking to do I prefer to go into the bank. 1) I feel safer than I do out in the open with cash and/or checks coming and going from my hands, and 2) I like human confirmation that my transaction is actually being recorded. You’re a jerk.
@ ANON – how am I responsible for this?? I have no control over the minimum wage, and I frequent establishments that use human employees. Seems like I’m actually keeping people employed!! And I KNOW minimum wage is practically useless – I’ve been a minimum wage employee myself and though I am now much more gainfully employed ($60k/yr) it’s still not enough to purchase a home in Claycord, not by any means!!
@anon,
I remember working my butt off for minimum wage many decades ago and guess what? I didn’t make enough to afford to even move out of my parents’ house, let alone buy a house of my own. But I worked my way up to better and better jobs until I was able to.
Working at a fast food restaurant is not a career. It’s not supposed to be a living wage.
Nope……..I work in a cabinet shop and around 1993 we did a prototype kiosk for Mickey D’s for a self-service order thingy……..they’ve been thinking about eliminating workers for a long time.
I agree with all of the above.
I won’t ever go to a fast food place again if they replace everybody with machines and if they raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour I won’t pay $10 for a hamburger…. I guess I just won’t go either way.
This isn’t likely to greatly reduce the number of employees in a McDonald’s. There isn’t someone whose only job is talking to the drive through customers at McDonald’s. The person taking your order is often them employee you see at the window when you drive up.
Until they can perfect a system that packages and hands you the food this activity will still be done by a person.
Well if the automation is made in the US that would be good. It also has to be maintained. Someone else has to clean it. Not a total lose.
Part of it might have to do with safety. Remember in Florida where a woman was mad the Burger King drive-thru was slow? She called her boyfriend to come down and shoot one of the fast food workers, who sadly died.
Since Chicago is currently the murder capital, it makes sense to do the beta testing there. The success will probably depend on how costly it is to fix automated machines damaged by gunfire.
You guys are stuck in 1986. The real question is, when all jobs are automated in the future, will everyone eat or will everyone starve?
“Soylent green is people!”
Mike don’t give McDonalds any menu ideas.
No, they don’t want to pay anybody even current minimum wage.
Why would an employer waste $15 every hour for an employee with zero job skills and an undeveloped work ethic. Automation doesn’t call off sick 10 minutes before their fast food shift starts, because the girl friend is feeling neglected and wants to go party.
Advances in speech recognition, machine vision and robotics can easily replace low skilled workers, like ones coming across the border.
Bill Gates on minimum wage hike.
https://tinyurl.com/wzjp8scm
Sushi-making ROBOT
https://tinyurl.com/4vt9t96k
2011 In Europe McDonald’s ordered 7,000 touchscreen kiosks to replace cashiers.
Posting this URL so you don’t have to sit thru youtube ads.
From back in 2017 an interview with Mike Roe (Dirty Jobs) as part of a fox story about protestors in, . . . yup in Chicago protesting outside McDonald’s shareholders meeting for higher wages. Worth a listen
https://tinyurl.com/5chmdm85
An when did a minimum wage job become a life’s, long term goal ? ?
Minimum wage jobs were, where you started out and yes the pay was krap.
Pay was low because as an employee with zero to no skills that’s what you were worth per hour. You were then motivated to . . . wait for it . . . “Learn“, additional skills. An all of a sudden with additional skills you actually were “qualified” to get a better paying job.
Why, when minimum wage went up, did some employees ask for fewer hours? Additional wages from minimum wage hike would cause loss of government subsidies for rent and childcare.
https://tinyurl.com/mt2b4d4p
Advances in automation are not going to stop, as community organizer know it all types stir people up and force up cost of human labor, of course business will be forced to automate. So instead of teaching actual skills in school, they teach to pass standardized government tests and country ends up with a growing permanent class of unskilled club thumbed texting folk,
livin’ in houses with wheels, waitin’ on their government money.
Most company heavily invest in R&D. I was at a biotech company for 6 years. In those years, i withnessed the company brought in two machines for two products. On machine chopped the number of assembly line from 10 lines to 4 lines; each line has a crew of 9 people. The other machine eliminated an shift of 30 people.
Blame it all on Ford. He started it with production lines. How many telephone switchboards are left? When is the last time you ask for a telephone operator? Everything is changing when it comes to production work.
Yes…the CEO even said specifically so.
In the perfect utopian world and inside the brain of community organizers all is perfect when that magical $15 is reached, world is suddenly in harmony
or is it?
Hey, why is my kids day cost going up 30% . . . well people working there are now making $15 an hour. How come price for a pizza went up, minimum wage of people makin’ pizza is now $15 an hour too.
Wage price spiral . . . look it up.
Automation takes that rising cost of using human labor to zero,
by eliminating need for the human. Those with skill set that can repair the machines, we’ll have good paying jobs. Because of having a skill set which is in demand, there will be employers willing to pay up handsomely for those skills.
No human will touch your food. your telling me no more hairs in my food. not that I’ve noticed.
“direct result of politicians pandering for votes?”…likely. Afterall, technology ain’t free. But no doubt, the millions in investment is required…unfortunately.
Microsoft news is reporting they are already getting sued for this on privacy concerns since they are using voice recognition software without the customer’s consent, and linking it to their license plates and creating databases so that they can highlight or market certain items to them no matter which McDonald’s they go to. It seems that is against that state’s law to collect such data.
of course, this is the result of minimum wage increase.
I would like to see a chart how much a burger’s price increased over the years compared to how much minimum wage increased.
It still surprises me how many people feel that minimum wage is suppose to be a career wage. I always thought minimum wage is a work-world entry wage.
Have I missed something?
No, you haven’t missed anything. Most of us understand entry level jobs aren’t meant to be a career wage except for enablers. Enablers have low self esteem. Most of us understand that you have to have a certain skill level to achieve a decent paycheck. There is nothing wrong with any job as long as you’re working. What’s wrong is expecting to be paid a living wage when certain jobs were never meant to be something to live off of your entire life. And if you do choose that job for life, don’t expect to be paid well. It really is that simple.
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