McDonald's (Europe) hires 7,000 touch-screen cashiers

[BlackTerrel]

This of course means more jobs to create and maintain the machines and software. I would also prefer a machine.

But not 7,000 jobs right? Not even 1% of 7,000.

What it means is more money spread across an ever shrinking number of people.

 

[ILUVRP]

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...2X1dN372WzDFk6HRQ&sig2=DbXxCfvg6u44xVfpmCbRdw

machines or order takers in India

 

[GunnyFreedom]

I used to maintain POS systems for a living. This would be amazing news for me. When are they doing this in the US?

 

[torchbearer]

we have stores where people enter their own orders from touch screen.
no need for cashier. it is good for everyone if less effort is required to get fast food to a customer.

 

[Danan]

But not 7,000 jobs right? Not even 1% of 7,000.

What it means is more money spread across an ever shrinking number of people.

And there are no other desires left to satisfy in society other than burgers? These fired people can't possibly provide any other services to customers? I can think of a thousand things people could do for me that no robot could possibly provide me with. There will always be jobs. And eventually automation will increase the standard of living for everyone.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

And there are no other desires left to satisfy in society other than burgers? These fired people can't possibly provide any other services to customers? I can think of a thousand things people could do for me that no robot could possibly provide me with. There will always be jobs. And eventually automation will increase the standard of living for everyone.

To be fair, that's mighty small comfort when you come home from digging food out of trashcans and see a foreclosure/eviction notice stapled to your front door. What you describe is how we SHOULD be going, but we are not, because there are some very evil people at the top of the pyramid making damn sure it doesn't go that way.

 

[seraphson]

I see this as a good thing as more human capital can now be invested in other ventures other than fast food cashiering. This is how society evolves. What lies on the horizon I'm not sure of but I'm sure neither did the engineers who automated agriculture and look at us now. I see society becoming ever more focused in tech and culture as the more technology evolves as we'll in turn have more time we on our hands to explore what we couldn't before.

 

[Jackie Moon]

Somebody needs to read Economics in One Lesson....(whistling)...

This has always been the case. Technology evolves to replace human jobs, thereby eliminating certain jobs while creating other new jobs, and reallocating labor assets from one industry to another.

Exactly.

[video=vimeo;70025400]http://vimeo.com/70025400[/video]

 

[ThePenguinLibertarian]

This is news? Those touchscreens have been at McDonald's in Spain for well over a year.

And the article is inaccurate. It doesn't just accept credit/debit card. You can pay with cash at the counter after placing your order on the machine.

the one i used in Paris was very efficient and convenient. It is literally where you can spend as much time as you want on your order. It makes the McDonalds experience much more personable. Its a shame that Statist Europe is starting this first.

 

[ronpaulfollower999]

I'd love touch screens here. Computers don't screw up my order.

 

[green73]

This looks like a good thing to me. Less labor cost will allow McDonalds to keep prices lower for their customers. I really don't see how this technology is going to hurt my freedoms, so what gives?

Luddites. That's what gives.

 

[LibertyEagle]

I wish we had them right now so that those McDonalds employees protesting to raise minimum wage could be sent packing with pink slips.

 

[MelissaWV]

the robots WILL "build" themselves

only maintenance will continue...but you wont need that guy either cause noone will be complaininbg the iBurger machine is broke BECAUSE NO ONE will be able to afford to use it!

we r all your ebts now


and before you get that smug L00k of invincibility, consider YOUR JOB and how obsolete it is

I have two major jobs.

There has been a distinct attempt to automate multilingual proofreading for a very long time, and it has never been satisfactory. You still require a proofreader to proof the original text, specialists to research and confirm any technical data or copyright information, and several other jobs to the point that you really have not saved on labor costs. The programs to do the proofreading are not free, and their inflexible program and license pricing are a problem for firms who could, with human capital, decide to reduce or increase their workforce overnight.

Medical billing, payroll, accounts payable, and the numerous other things I do at my second job, all require a great deal of interaction with computer systems. There will never be one overarching program, however, as all of the commercial providers have their own websites for consumers which have a section for providers. These proprietary sections allow us to get authorizations, see the patient's payer-specific benefits, and verify whether or not they have coverage. We can also get our electronic payments from these various websites.

I'm reminded about a funny story about that second job. Medicare's electronic remittance process is fairly simple these days, involving the conversion of the EOB from our clearinghouse to a text file which is then imported into and applied in our system. This is supposed to happen automatically. Unfortunately, about 30% of the time, it does not do this. It balances to the wrong total. It applies an amount on account instead of against an existing balance. It doesn't "see" a certain patient so it doesn't apply it at all. Someone will always need to go in and verify all of these things and ensure that our cash posting balances each and every day.

So with the McDonald's example, there are still McDonald's employees. You will still have at least one cashier up there (just as you do at the "self checkout" kiosks), and in the instances other people discussed you would have the person who tenders your order at the end. You will still have cooks, and you would likely have someone on call who is in charge of maintaining the POS systems. You will still have a manager, and you will still have someone there who cleans up the restaurant throughout the day. You will still have someone at the drive-thru. This is not going to get rid of everyone in the store. It's going to get rid of the one or two people that attempt to take your order. You do realize that their "keyboards" look almost like the touchscreen, right? The difference is that you can take your time, get things the way you want them, and I would imagine that people with food allergies and the like could easily get that information onscreen as well.

I don't really see a negative aspect to this.

 

[mad cow]

WaWa stores have had this system for at least five years.

 

[robert9712000]

how would a computer cashier handle a situation like this

 

[mad cow]

how would a computer cashier handle a situation like this

 

[Natural Citizen]

I wish we had them right now so that those McDonalds employees protesting to raise minimum wage could be sent packing with pink slips.

I thought Paleoconservatives rejected technological advances that generally bring change instead of the ways of the old guard.

 

[Bohner]

I'm sure this has nothing to do with Europe's high minimum wage.

 

[Seraphim]

So...high skill engineering jobs are a bad thing?

All companies will replace man with machine if it serves their bottom line.

Jobs are NEVER, ever coming back from here on. The only job that you'll have is building the robot that will do your job.

 

[austrian_theorist]

I completely support a company to do whatever they want with a business (outsource, move elsewhere, replace man with technology). However, the company may keep prices low but they will never be lower. One of the biggest obstacles for a company to make profit is labor. Since the labor is gone, why can't the company lower the prices and pass it onto the consumer?

It's the same thing at the grocery store: more and more stores are introducing these self-serve checkouts, but why haven't the prices gotten lower? Yes, I do understand the Fed's inflation...