Benefits or no, employees are still expensive. Remember, they’re doing this in the UK, where the minimum wage is (relatively) high, and some benefits are guaranteed by law.
The worst part is when they call out “I need a price check on Boo Berry!” to no one in particular, and then stand there dumbly waiting for a response.
How long until McDonald’s customers can order from the touch screen, tilt their heads back, and gulp down their food dispensed from high-pressure nozzles?
If they’re really smart they would ask for your credit card or some sort of McDonalds card first and pull up your previous orders. People are creatures of habit and probably routinely order the same thing. You could be done in one or two taps.
I haven’t seen a supermarket here in PA that both sells beer and has self-checkouts (& you can only buy beer at the deli register anyway), but I’ve tried scanning wine at one in Virginia. The little red light started flashing and the machine (loundly) saying “Alcoholic beverages cannot be purchased at this register!”. I had to ring everything else up, then go to the attendant stand and have her manually scan the wine (after checking my & my boyfriend’s IDs) and payed for everything at the stand.
POS kiosks aren’t really very expensive. A plain touchscreen POS with a card reader is going to run less than $5,000, and maintenance is a couple hundred a year. Add in the fact that they’ll run for 3-5 years, and it’s not a bad investment, IF you can actually cut back on staff. For all the potential benefits, there’s no guarantee that they’ll actually get to reduce staff in any significant way.
I’d be surprised if one even costs $5k. Minimal processing power required, and touchscreen monitors aren’t exactly exotic nowadays.
another issue with low wage employees is the liberal government that may decide to go “protect their rights”. Or they themselves might decide to sue over some bullshit issue in the courts run by liberal lawyers.
Machines, meanwhile, don’t have rights, don’t “need” health insurance, don’t sue and don’t vote for Obama. So McD can have the machines, and the liberals can have all the poor people fired out of fear of their business policies. Everybody wins.
But can it tell me that tin foil is in aisle three?
-Joe
All they are really doing is moving the touch screen ordering system from behind the counter to in front of the counter, simplifying the interface, maybe, sticking in advertising, and removing the money part. Damn cheap, much cheaper and simpler than supermarket self-checkout kiosks.
I used one of these for the first time in a Jack in the Box a few weeks ago. The biggest problem was that there was only one of them, which just made the line back up. If there were more, it would be great. Airline kiosks, which are more like these than supermarket self-checks, are absolutely great, and the one customer friendly thing airlines have done in ages.
Pardon?
pardon what? Businesses are scared of liberal policies that “protect rights of vulnerable low wage employees” by forcing businesses pay them higher wages, give them expensive benefits or allow them to shake down employers with lawsuits. So, businesses fire all those vulnerable low wage employees and replace them with machines. Makes sense?
Now these former employees can sign up for liberal run welfare benefits and have ample free time to attend political rallies where Obama and his subordinates will explain to them the sheer evil nature of business.
In other words, first you pass policies that create a crisis, and then you use the resulting crisis to strengthen your grip on power and pass even more crisis inducing policies. It’s the liberal way of getting things done.
Congratulations, you’re crazier than Starving Artist.
I think it would be great if the screens had one of those bouncing pop-ups that said “DO YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT,” with a great big YES in the middle, and a little tiny no in one corner.
Is there really a take-out place called “Sheetz?” I mean it selld food?
Nah. He’s obviously an Fox-News-honed idiot, but at least he isn’t lamenting the fact that McDonald’s hamburgers no longer sell for 15 cents, and that their shameless hussy cashiers have the temerity to display their bared ankles.
Yep, I’m afraid so. It’s a family name. They have locations in several eastern US states. Here’s their menu. Compared to other gas stations, convenience stores, and low-end fast food, they’re not bad, I guess.
Oh, oh, can I play this game too?
How about this one:
Conservatives pass policies that lower taxes, and then use the resulting budget crisis to show how government does not work and therefore you should cut the bloated government to balance the budget. It’s the conservative way of getting things done.
good job, comrade. Now report to the political rally, grab a mike and spread the message to the masses. The people must know their oppressors. With any luck you might even get some money from Obama’s trillion dollar budgets. Bill it under services like “community empowerment” or “stand-up bullshitting”.
No reason that there couldn’t be a public inventory computer, to be honest. It works for libraries.
I agree with you that their touchscreen ordering system works really well, but you still have to go to the cashier to pay. Most people can get the automated ordering part down; it’s the automated paying that screws them up.
It’s like a 7-11, but they have all kinds of fresh-made sandwiches and subs. Their food is awesome.
Brilliant idea!