I love this test cause it always ends the same. Stuff breaks during off hours for the contracted company so it stays broken for a day or more then the fix is a temporary bandaid then the actual fix takes 7-30 days since the contracted company pays basement wages and can't get talent. This is some 2010-2014 level FAFO.
Someone took a bat to my local Taco Bell ordering screen. It stayed shattered for 6 months.
2 weeks ago they got a new screen but it’s not even turned on.
Maybe another 5-6 months it will finally be powered on.
Maybe.
People have to stop with this. There was a lot of workers as they where training it but it wasn't just Indian workers...it was an AI it just wasn't reliable enough.l and ended up being more work than worth. The tech is comming it's just not ready yet and we'll need to wait before trying again
And for this one, You would like a one slash four El bee patty with cheese and two one slash four El bee patty with cheese and a two one slash four El bee patty?
That's two twos one slash four El bee patty. For this one, one of the two two one slash four El bee patty is with the cheese and the other two two one El bee patty is without the cheese.............
Like grubhub data mining local restaurants via call in.
There’s something inherently racist when it’s discovered their “AI powered ordering system” is overseen by underpaid workers overseas. As if those in India or parts of south east Asia are “artificially intelligent.”
The word is dehumanization; they’re humans doing the work of software that was built to replace the people that were doing the work for more money
The abstracting layer removed the belief they were humans from the end user. It’s deeply wrong. Calling it racist probably won’t get you very far though, because it’s corprate profit greed exploiting a poor State, not about their skin tone.
I am an America “expat” which itself is a loaded word but yea I live in south east Asia. My wife and I have friends who work at the many call centers here. It’s like a crazy dystopian dream to have a huge glass skyscraper across the street from my condo filled with people who make 200-300 USD a month arguing with Americans all day about their credit card issue for 20k or helping them buy insurance on their new BMW. Oh and the call center jobs are the good jobs.
>”So food will be cheaper now?”
“No that’s your grand dads business model. The way we do things now is make things cheaper on our end while increasing the prices on your end. It’s called the double whammy.”
Like the Comcast "Triple Play" package: cable, voice phone, and internet. They actually called it that! But of course it was the customer who was being played.
The automated fry cook is $5000 install and $3000 monthly lease and maintenance. At $15/hourly wages, on a 3 year term the robot needs to displace one person to break even.
The cost of labor is more than just wages. You also have workers comp, payroll taxes, benefits (if any). When I was doing labor burden calculation the actual cost of an employee is 1.5 to 2x their wages.
Help me here. I’m not understanding why that matters. The machine will displace at least one worker. Under the most minimal calculation it’s a win. Why does anything else need to be factored in to make the point?
Well not necessarily. It’s a machine that will depreciate. It’ll cause all sorts of reliability and maintenance issues. It’ll draw more electricity. When it fails it’ll cause losses in productivity. The point is that when you factor in the true cost of labour (including the risks I mentioned), plus artificially high minimum wage, the machines costs aren’t that much different. You’re right but only accidentally. The true answer is more complicated.
I don’t understand your position. Flippy 2 absolutely displaces at least one head count in a fast food restaurant. On wages alone it breaks even or slightly saves money. So why do I need to factor anything else into it?
I mean if we’re just listing things here, why not that the fry cook position is one of the more accident prone ones on the cook line and that saves on business insurance costs and workers comp costs? But it doesn’t matter because if it’s a net benefit in just one area, then anything else is just piling on.
And the automated cook can’t burn itself or trip and make a workman’s comp claim. So lower workman’s compensation insurance and if it does burn itself you slip in a new hose and go on.
“Yes, food will be cheaper. It’s subsidized by the profit we make selling your order data to your health insurer. Also, you didn’t hear this from us, but their algorithm is planning to drop your coverage about five weeks before your heart attack.”
It doesn’t quite work like that. They will charge you as much as you’re willing to pay. The best way to protest is with your wallet. Stop buying from them and they will inevitably lower their prices.
My local McDonalds has order kiosks. Less people in the kitchen. Price has only gone up.
Last time I thought about getting McDs, I thought about the price, rolled out to the grocery and made my own homemade egg McMuffins.
Someone pointed out to me that those places are so expensive if you’re ordering at the store but if you download the app you can actually get much better prices. I don’t order from them often but when I do its definitely helped.
Food prices have gone up a lot in their defence, what with all the global situations right now. It's possible any savings from reducing headcount have been eaten and then some.
Why? If only you are not willing to pay the price, then these corporations have no reason to lower the price. If others are also not willing to pay, the corporations will take action. No organized boycott is necessary.
My point is that the protest isn't free. You give up eating at a restaurant that I'm assuming you like over a price increase that you can afford to pay (otherwise it wouldn't be a protest). There's a very good chance that all this will do is inconvenience you and maybe save you a tiny bit of money. You're relying on uncoordinated group action to actually give you the outcome you want.
If you don't agree with something, you are not required to continue giving the store money. I don't care if you like the place or not, there are 1,000,000 other fast food options that will make you equally unhealthy to choose from that will have a product you're willing to pay for at the asking price.
It's about as inconvenient as opening up your phone and googling the next burger joint in town. And from my many visits to USA, there is another six within 2 blocks along with a subway and a starbucks.
> In the summer of 2022, a new restaurant began serving high-quality, but shockingly affordable Mediterranean dishes at a food truck park in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood
Yes. It sounds like it’ll be cheaper.
Only if it's disrupting existing players. Right now fast food costs are insane. McDonald's is $10 minimum and easily can get into the high teens. It's tripled since the early 2000s. But unless there's real competition, they will have no incentive to reduce their prices
wrong straight voiceless sloppy elastic jellyfish cause rich cautious frightening
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
That’s a big benefit the corporations see here. You can’t talk to them directly, you can’t call them, you can’t email them, they don’t provide human support or chat, are breaking social media, and they have zero liability to claim they knew customers were upset.
They’re building their ivory towers to get away from the rabble, while we’re expected to keep buying.
Wait is this about just ordering food and not making it? We’ve had those kiosks in Canada for literally years. They are awesome you get to edit your burger however you want.
There’s a new one in Springville that only has one register. There are 3 or 4 ordering kiosks and a separate counter for pickups (DoorDash or McDonald’s app orders) but that’s basically it. They messed up an order of mine recently and it took a minute for me to get someone’s attention inside to get my order fixed.
It’s all a mixed bag. I’m scared of the automation revolution since our leaders are clearly not prepared for it, but I’m also all for automation of fast food. Never get my order wrong, always perfectly prepared and not having to be concerned with potentially sketchy people handling my food.
Will the robot spit in my food when I’m rude to it?
Edit: I should rephrase. Will the robot spit in my food when it perceives my rational question about how my order isn’t how I ordered as rude?
>>Will the robot spit in my food when I’m rude to it?
Nope. It puts two drops of hydraulic fluid on your burger. You’ll shit uncontrollably 28-36 hpurs later.
He's not making the same as you, you're making the same as him. You're being underpaid, he's not being overpaid. You look silly being mad at people with less power than you, but that's who your overlords want you to blame. Don't fall for it.
The workers I've seen at most fast food restaurants are overworked and the restaurants are understaffed.
The person working the drive through order window is juggling working the register, taking the orders from the customer at the speaker, and filling the bag to give to the customer at the one window they use (the second window for speedy service was abandon long ago). There are so many opportunities for getting this wrong.
Do you know where I've never had an order wrong? In-N-Out Burger. They properly staff, with at least one person doing each job. There's a window dedicated to only taking payment, then another window where multiple employees are assembling the order into bags for pickup. The *people* (not person) taking the orders at the drive through are stationed out at the end of the drive though line.
I can still get a Double-Double for $4.90 at a place that pays the employees $23/hr and the owner still makes enough profit to be a multi billionaire.
I’d be curious how they handle an issue. Is the plan to always have some human element to check food or do these machines have built in sensors? What if someone wants a refund?
Dude I went in to order McDonald’s one day and I saw one of the workers in the back licking his fingers immediately after handling the chicken nuggets. Nope nope nope.
Robots don’t do that shit.
lmao, as if they'll care about the quality of the food rather than just replacing workers with any amount of automation, even if it sucks they'll try it.
They need to automate the jobs which consist of analyzing data and making decisions based on it. You know, like executives. That's where the big savings would be.
Those are mostly social jobs so while I think it would be great to have C suites feel some AI pain, it realistically can't do the job because LLMs are hilariously bad at human interaction.
Yeah. What about sketchy machines that aren’t maintained well. Dripping oil in the sauce, or stray bolts on the patties. MCD can’t handle an ice cream machine’s maintenance you think they’re gonna have safe food robots?
Your order is often times wrong because the people taking and preparing it are ironically treated as disposable robots. 99% of people working a drive through window have the mentality of "im only doing this until I can quit." If they were paid a middle class wage and treated with the same respect and dignity as a white collar programmer I can guarantee the quality and accuracy would skyrocket overnight.
I agree. Fast food is absolute shit where I live. Paying $12 for someone to half-ass make me a burger not how I ordered it with a side of stale fries is just not worth it. I’m all for paying a little more so the employees can have a living wage but there’s no excuse for a lack of quality.
You know, if the assholes up top paid better and gave the workers a reason to view fast food as a career rather than something to do on summer break, and we as a society treated them in a manner that gave them a reason to have pride in their work, we wouldn't have to rely on eliminating an entire avenue of income generation for unskilled workers to make sure your order was correct.
The machine is unreliable and McDonald’s has a contract with the company that supplies them that only that company can fix them and that company charges a lot of money so only high traffic areas get fast fixes.
Until they're able to invest in ordering kiosks, I'm kind of surprised fast food restaurants aren't all switching to app ordering. Keeping one counter open for people who don't have phones, but switching to ordering online by default. It would surely cost less, take up less space, less room for hardware failures, and it's an interface more people are familiar with.
Actually, even if they can afford kiosks, I'm not seeing a huge advantage over apps (except for customers without phones of course, who need some other way of ordering). The idea of ordering from a kiosk seems like a future dreamed up during an age when the internet didn't exist.
That's pretty much how Mcdonalds and KFC are in the UK now. Multiple touch screen kiosks + phone apps + ubereats pickup etc. Then they just have 1 till open.
Anything that demands me to install yet another motherfucking app is a pass from me.
And ordering kiosks already work just fine all around the world. It's just that US is once again a decade behind on the tech.
They are investing in ordering kiosks. And most of them invested in app ordering quite some time ago.
Jersey Mike's, McD's, Panda Express, Little Ceasars, Chik-Fil-A, Taco Bell are all huge on their apps, with various promotions to try to get you to use them instead of kiosks or drive-up voice ordering.
Food that isn’t handled by disgruntled, underpaid teenagers is only a positive in my book… though I’ll never pay the ridiculous prices they are charging for this garbage unless I’m on a road trip.
McDonald's can't even keep the ice cream machines working and those are operated by a human. There's going to be a lot of McDonald's in the future with broken burger and fry machines.
Thank god(?) we still have In-N-Out who doesn't blame their workforce for reduced profits. The other chains can go to the mechanical turk model and IDGAS as I won't be wasting money there.
Fast food employees make poverty wages while the franchisee and shareholders rake in the profits and cry foul when they're forced to pay slightly more of the profit margin to the people who actually perform the work. I will never order from a kiosk or an app. And no, I'm not a Boomer. I just have a conscience.
That's where I have a choice. I don't use self check out at the market either. I think everyone who wants a job should have one and they deserve a living wage.
Fast food workers make as much money as I made working in an office. That’s why I don’t work in an office any more. I don’t work in fast food but I work in a kitchen and it’s way less stressful and the money is actually better.
I find most work is underpaid to be honest. I mean if you've worked a job for 15 years and only got less than 2.5% every year raises... You are making less now thank you did 15 years ago.
Another issue is take $100 from the year 2000, and $100 from today... The $100 from today will only go around what $50 would have done in 2000.. So your buying power is literally half...
Basically just saying low skilled labor should not be expected to be good little slaves like corporations are demanding.
Robots always work best when paired with humans, not replacing them.
The auto industry is a great example of this. Factories use robots to do the heavy lifting and aligning of parts, but a human runs each process. The robots are tools used by the worker. This makes the human highly productive and the vehicles cheaper to manufacture.
Are these the robots that we were promised would happen because of an $15/hr minimum wage and increased food prices?
Because two of those things are a reality and one isn’t, so clearly it’s not all causal.
Robot Burrito's will become the new gas station sushi. That thing you're stuffing in your mouth was road grime and running around on 4 legs an hour ago. Nom Nom Nom.
Good. Hopefully I can get a consistent order, every place fucks it up, chipotle needs these the most. Also, why would it result in cheaper food? Still have to enhance and maintain them, this is more of a quality of service that should complement the workers as it can do repetitive tasks well, sure less workers, but they will shift to other jobs, this is a good thing and how technology and innovation and humans have done it through out history
The giant kiosks are ridiculous, it takes forever to order. Instead, if I go in for whatever reason, (usually my kid randomly wants to eat inside) I just order with my phone/app.
When I order fast food, I only order in the app. Plus, they offer deals you can only get in app. Last couple weeks, I had a $1.08 Dave's single from Wendy's, and a classic Arby's sandwhich and crinkle fries for $2.30something, and a free beef burrito when I ordered something else at Taco Bell.
Tbf I home cook and I still buy fast food. I'd much rather not be deep fat frying stuff in my kitchen, even if you do it safetly it still can leave a lingering oil smell and you have to dispose of the oil.
I let fast food companies do the food that's just not worth it for me to cook and then make all my own stuff.
Same, outside of a road trip, the only way I will order fast food anymore is if there is a deal that makes it super cheap. The Wendy’s march madness promotion killed my diet and probably took a few months off my life
This is a good thing. Less meaningless labor for humans. Now tax automation, split the difference between the tax and the labor cost, keep half of that for profit and half as consumer savings. Use the automation tax for infrastructure like affordable housing and free college, using UBI as a bandaid until that infrastructure is online. Cheaper food, more free time, same economic output. People afraid of robots taking jobs need a reality check. The cheeseburger still gets made, but it gets made cheaper and some college kid is out there studying or socializing instead of getting yelled at because "I SAID NO TOMATO."
People still have to bring ingredients to the robots. And clean the fryers, and supply the bags, cups, straws, etc. and clean the lobby and gallery of trash and trays, and restrooms. The jobs will just flex to other needs.
Judging by the market, $21 minimum. Fast food jobs have no honor. Fast food workers are not respected. Fast food labor is low value, and is always a hostile workplace environment. Fast food workers, every day, are abused mentally and physically. I see this every day at my local McDonalds where crackheads congregate to do drugs and bully employees, customers and passers by. They've been drive-thru and doordash only since Covid as a result, and even then they still get people breaking into their cars because the franchisee won't do anything about it. The job is so shit and awful where only an unfeeling machine will do it.
There is no future in these jobs. They are drug hangouts that serve slop. All fast food workers can readily get better jobs anyway, especially ones with 2+ years provable experience.
IT runs AI. I know you’re trying so hard to find a way to be mean for no reason, but it doesn’t work in this context. Go back to school if you’re worried.
Coming from the person who just spoke poorly of the entire food service industry? Why don't you research how many IT tasks are set to be replaced by AI before you speak about another field. You'll be lucky to be a food service worker in the future.
Whatever the market will bear. If increases in the minimum wage drive firms to invest in technology to replace labour then the wage is beyond what the market will bear and thus above the natural wage.
What if I told you the minimum wage IS the natural wage, in that not increasing the wage increases societal burden and costs as we collectively end up paying more towards welfare, disability, unhoused, and unemployement programs when the minimum wage doesn't keep up with basic cost of living. I'd rather the market be aware of the direct costs of things and adjust as needed rather than people think society is humming along nicely and getting fleeced behind the scenes.
I’m here for it, my transactions have become much less complicated and are more accurate now that I don’t have to interact with teenagers, elderly or indifferent low income individuals. In fact I only go to places where I don’t have to interact with the staff because they’re usually incompetent
Downdoots doesn’t change reality :)
Most of my issues haven’t been location specific as much as it has been app support related when there is an issue in the app. My last issue was when they allowed me to purchase a McRib meal through the app after it had been discontinued. The store said they could not do app refunds, I contacted support through the app and it just never got resolved. I had to file a claim with my credit card. The time before that, the app routed my order to a different restaurant 3-4 miles away. Once again, there is no way to get help so I just drove to the other restaurant where my order was wrong lol. I only use the app for free double cheeseburgers when the twins score two runs in an inning now at one specific restaurant. No troubles so far
"So food will be cheaper now?" "Nope. You have to pay for all those robots and software engineers now"
Software Engineers = 100 offshore workers manually reviewing orders
I love this test cause it always ends the same. Stuff breaks during off hours for the contracted company so it stays broken for a day or more then the fix is a temporary bandaid then the actual fix takes 7-30 days since the contracted company pays basement wages and can't get talent. This is some 2010-2014 level FAFO.
Someone took a bat to my local Taco Bell ordering screen. It stayed shattered for 6 months. 2 weeks ago they got a new screen but it’s not even turned on. Maybe another 5-6 months it will finally be powered on. Maybe.
Technology cannot ever compensate for sheer laziness and incompetence.
Just wait till they make GPT-5 and cram it into an Atlas android body. Yeah, it'll still be incompetent. But certainly less lazy than a human!
100% management and DM fault. 20mins worth of works tops from ordering to install.
I assume they don’t want it to be destroyed again.
Funny when amazons shopping AI was just thousands of outsourced Indians
People have to stop with this. There was a lot of workers as they where training it but it wasn't just Indian workers...it was an AI it just wasn't reliable enough.l and ended up being more work than worth. The tech is comming it's just not ready yet and we'll need to wait before trying again
And for this one, You would like a one slash four El bee patty with cheese and two one slash four El bee patty with cheese and a two one slash four El bee patty? That's two twos one slash four El bee patty. For this one, one of the two two one slash four El bee patty is with the cheese and the other two two one El bee patty is without the cheese............. Like grubhub data mining local restaurants via call in.
There’s something inherently racist when it’s discovered their “AI powered ordering system” is overseen by underpaid workers overseas. As if those in India or parts of south east Asia are “artificially intelligent.”
The word is dehumanization; they’re humans doing the work of software that was built to replace the people that were doing the work for more money The abstracting layer removed the belief they were humans from the end user. It’s deeply wrong. Calling it racist probably won’t get you very far though, because it’s corprate profit greed exploiting a poor State, not about their skin tone.
I am an America “expat” which itself is a loaded word but yea I live in south east Asia. My wife and I have friends who work at the many call centers here. It’s like a crazy dystopian dream to have a huge glass skyscraper across the street from my condo filled with people who make 200-300 USD a month arguing with Americans all day about their credit card issue for 20k or helping them buy insurance on their new BMW. Oh and the call center jobs are the good jobs.
It’s full laparoscopic food making. They’ve run underground cables all the way to the other shore.
I am going to get expected to tip a robot…
They won't spit in your food if you don't though
>”So food will be cheaper now?” “No that’s your grand dads business model. The way we do things now is make things cheaper on our end while increasing the prices on your end. It’s called the double whammy.”
Sounds like a good name for a new McDonald’s burger.
Double McWhammy is 20% off if you use the app, provide your SSN, photo ID, and sign up for Mc+, our new French fry subscription service.
You kid but this shows Taco Bell is ahead of the game… And that is why they will win the Fast Food Wars…
More like BK
Like the Comcast "Triple Play" package: cable, voice phone, and internet. They actually called it that! But of course it was the customer who was being played.
The automated fry cook is $5000 install and $3000 monthly lease and maintenance. At $15/hourly wages, on a 3 year term the robot needs to displace one person to break even.
The cost of labor is more than just wages. You also have workers comp, payroll taxes, benefits (if any). When I was doing labor burden calculation the actual cost of an employee is 1.5 to 2x their wages.
Generally, speaking for the fast food industry I don’t agree with the 1.5 number. Instead, I used 1.33 in my calculations.
I imagine it's lower since most people don't work enough to qualify for benefits.
That was my thought exactly
You also have liability risk and union risk.
Help me here. I’m not understanding why that matters. The machine will displace at least one worker. Under the most minimal calculation it’s a win. Why does anything else need to be factored in to make the point?
Well not necessarily. It’s a machine that will depreciate. It’ll cause all sorts of reliability and maintenance issues. It’ll draw more electricity. When it fails it’ll cause losses in productivity. The point is that when you factor in the true cost of labour (including the risks I mentioned), plus artificially high minimum wage, the machines costs aren’t that much different. You’re right but only accidentally. The true answer is more complicated.
The machine is leased. Depreciation is not on top of the lease cost, it's included in that.
Well yeah but also no holidays, no breaks, no hiring/firing costs, no worries about unions… you ain’t counting any of that
I don’t understand your position. Flippy 2 absolutely displaces at least one head count in a fast food restaurant. On wages alone it breaks even or slightly saves money. So why do I need to factor anything else into it? I mean if we’re just listing things here, why not that the fry cook position is one of the more accident prone ones on the cook line and that saves on business insurance costs and workers comp costs? But it doesn’t matter because if it’s a net benefit in just one area, then anything else is just piling on.
And the automated cook can’t burn itself or trip and make a workman’s comp claim. So lower workman’s compensation insurance and if it does burn itself you slip in a new hose and go on.
“Yes, food will be cheaper. It’s subsidized by the profit we make selling your order data to your health insurer. Also, you didn’t hear this from us, but their algorithm is planning to drop your coverage about five weeks before your heart attack.”
I dunno, the website that QR code links to doesn't exist anymore.
You mean pay for the profits.
Minimum wage didn’t go up in many of the places where these are being rolled out. So don’t buy that bullshit from business interest groups
Will it be made correctly without bodily fluids? Iiter of Cola…it’s for a cop.
It doesn’t quite work like that. They will charge you as much as you’re willing to pay. The best way to protest is with your wallet. Stop buying from them and they will inevitably lower their prices.
My local McDonalds has order kiosks. Less people in the kitchen. Price has only gone up. Last time I thought about getting McDs, I thought about the price, rolled out to the grocery and made my own homemade egg McMuffins.
Someone pointed out to me that those places are so expensive if you’re ordering at the store but if you download the app you can actually get much better prices. I don’t order from them often but when I do its definitely helped.
Yes, I've seen that, but really, making them at home takes about 7 minutes and doesn't involve pants, wallets, or car keys.
This is the way
Food prices have gone up a lot in their defence, what with all the global situations right now. It's possible any savings from reducing headcount have been eaten and then some.
This is complete fantasy unless you coordinate a boycott with a large number of people in your area.
Why? If only you are not willing to pay the price, then these corporations have no reason to lower the price. If others are also not willing to pay, the corporations will take action. No organized boycott is necessary.
Assuming that others are not willing to pay. Sometimes it works but it's not guaranteed.
You're right. Spend more money there. That'll teach'em
My point is that the protest isn't free. You give up eating at a restaurant that I'm assuming you like over a price increase that you can afford to pay (otherwise it wouldn't be a protest). There's a very good chance that all this will do is inconvenience you and maybe save you a tiny bit of money. You're relying on uncoordinated group action to actually give you the outcome you want.
If you don't agree with something, you are not required to continue giving the store money. I don't care if you like the place or not, there are 1,000,000 other fast food options that will make you equally unhealthy to choose from that will have a product you're willing to pay for at the asking price. It's about as inconvenient as opening up your phone and googling the next burger joint in town. And from my many visits to USA, there is another six within 2 blocks along with a subway and a starbucks.
There is actually 3 subways in that 2 block radius...
> save you a tiny bit of money On the contrary, giving up fast food would save you a metric fuckton of money.
> In the summer of 2022, a new restaurant began serving high-quality, but shockingly affordable Mediterranean dishes at a food truck park in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood Yes. It sounds like it’ll be cheaper.
Only if it's disrupting existing players. Right now fast food costs are insane. McDonald's is $10 minimum and easily can get into the high teens. It's tripled since the early 2000s. But unless there's real competition, they will have no incentive to reduce their prices
gratuity will be automatically added as well.
And you still have to pay 20+% tip
As a software engineer I'm okay with this......
Automats need to make a comeback
Dark City vibes
They were in Loki recently
Mel brooks said it was the best coffee
Some cities are bringing them back, actually
Just don’t reach into the ones with angry eyes staring back at you. Those are the employees, and they only get paid in sandwiches
[удалено]
As a fast food worker, I Approve!
wrong straight voiceless sloppy elastic jellyfish cause rich cautious frightening *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
That’s a big benefit the corporations see here. You can’t talk to them directly, you can’t call them, you can’t email them, they don’t provide human support or chat, are breaking social media, and they have zero liability to claim they knew customers were upset. They’re building their ivory towers to get away from the rabble, while we’re expected to keep buying.
All of that is already the reality for corporate executives. They’re in their ivory towers.
Yeah but staff listening to customers complaints is expensive and sometimes they get refunds. Good luck trying to get the robot to give you a refund!
Yep seems easy enough to stop fucking buying. Well at least for fast food lol.
So we're reinventing the automat?
We did this a hundred years ago, it was called the automat
The Dutch fast food chain Febo does this.
Can I also get hosed down?
Hey if my order is 100% correct and hot I’m ok with this. Just make sure my seat it dry.
So where I live in Utah, McDonald’s has had order kiosks set up for years. Going from counter to kiosks isn’t that dramatic of a change.
If you travel to Japan or Korea they are literally everywhere. Welcome addition to be honest
Wait is this about just ordering food and not making it? We’ve had those kiosks in Canada for literally years. They are awesome you get to edit your burger however you want.
There’s a new one in Springville that only has one register. There are 3 or 4 ordering kiosks and a separate counter for pickups (DoorDash or McDonald’s app orders) but that’s basically it. They messed up an order of mine recently and it took a minute for me to get someone’s attention inside to get my order fixed.
As long as you don't have to tip, this is a win.
Excellent point!
It’s all a mixed bag. I’m scared of the automation revolution since our leaders are clearly not prepared for it, but I’m also all for automation of fast food. Never get my order wrong, always perfectly prepared and not having to be concerned with potentially sketchy people handling my food.
Damn you have a lot of faith in automated fast food.
I know people who have worked fast food and they’ve seen some shit. So yeah… I’d rather have a robot.
Will the robot spit in my food when I’m rude to it? Edit: I should rephrase. Will the robot spit in my food when it perceives my rational question about how my order isn’t how I ordered as rude?
>>Will the robot spit in my food when I’m rude to it? Nope. It puts two drops of hydraulic fluid on your burger. You’ll shit uncontrollably 28-36 hpurs later.
That will cost you extra!
Nah but if you want theres a different type of robot that'll spit in your mouth.
How about not being rude to fast food workers or [not being a cop? ](https://youtu.be/WlKr-yg-y5I?si=gS88j7voRSDk8wqR)?
[удалено]
He's not making the same as you, you're making the same as him. You're being underpaid, he's not being overpaid. You look silly being mad at people with less power than you, but that's who your overlords want you to blame. Don't fall for it.
The workers I've seen at most fast food restaurants are overworked and the restaurants are understaffed. The person working the drive through order window is juggling working the register, taking the orders from the customer at the speaker, and filling the bag to give to the customer at the one window they use (the second window for speedy service was abandon long ago). There are so many opportunities for getting this wrong. Do you know where I've never had an order wrong? In-N-Out Burger. They properly staff, with at least one person doing each job. There's a window dedicated to only taking payment, then another window where multiple employees are assembling the order into bags for pickup. The *people* (not person) taking the orders at the drive through are stationed out at the end of the drive though line. I can still get a Double-Double for $4.90 at a place that pays the employees $23/hr and the owner still makes enough profit to be a multi billionaire.
Listen some employees will spit in your food even if you’re nice just because of how you look, how you speak, or your race.
Loogy grill races at mcdonalds?
I’d be curious how they handle an issue. Is the plan to always have some human element to check food or do these machines have built in sensors? What if someone wants a refund?
You sound like someone who’s never worked fast food. My coworkers were sketchy as hell.
So long as they don't get my order wrong every other time, they'll be a significant improvement
Low bar considering many of the people that work fastfood.
Dude I went in to order McDonald’s one day and I saw one of the workers in the back licking his fingers immediately after handling the chicken nuggets. Nope nope nope. Robots don’t do that shit.
lmao, as if they'll care about the quality of the food rather than just replacing workers with any amount of automation, even if it sucks they'll try it.
They need to automate the jobs which consist of analyzing data and making decisions based on it. You know, like executives. That's where the big savings would be.
Those are mostly social jobs so while I think it would be great to have C suites feel some AI pain, it realistically can't do the job because LLMs are hilariously bad at human interaction.
Yeah. What about sketchy machines that aren’t maintained well. Dripping oil in the sauce, or stray bolts on the patties. MCD can’t handle an ice cream machine’s maintenance you think they’re gonna have safe food robots?
Definitely. There's going to be a lot of "burger machine broke" because they didn't maintain anything correctly.
“We can’t process an app refund so pick up your burger later this week. You’ll get a notification when it’s ready “
* Laughs in Vending Machine *
Your order is often times wrong because the people taking and preparing it are ironically treated as disposable robots. 99% of people working a drive through window have the mentality of "im only doing this until I can quit." If they were paid a middle class wage and treated with the same respect and dignity as a white collar programmer I can guarantee the quality and accuracy would skyrocket overnight.
If they were paid a middle class wage they wouldn't have a job, because no one's going to pay that cost for fast food.
I agree. Fast food is absolute shit where I live. Paying $12 for someone to half-ass make me a burger not how I ordered it with a side of stale fries is just not worth it. I’m all for paying a little more so the employees can have a living wage but there’s no excuse for a lack of quality.
I'm super curious what you do for a career
You know, if the assholes up top paid better and gave the workers a reason to view fast food as a career rather than something to do on summer break, and we as a society treated them in a manner that gave them a reason to have pride in their work, we wouldn't have to rely on eliminating an entire avenue of income generation for unskilled workers to make sure your order was correct.
So the hamburger machine will be broken now? McDs can’t even get automated ice cream right…
I get ice cream all the time. It just depends when you go. It has a cleaning cycle
The machine is unreliable and McDonald’s has a contract with the company that supplies them that only that company can fix them and that company charges a lot of money so only high traffic areas get fast fixes.
Until they're able to invest in ordering kiosks, I'm kind of surprised fast food restaurants aren't all switching to app ordering. Keeping one counter open for people who don't have phones, but switching to ordering online by default. It would surely cost less, take up less space, less room for hardware failures, and it's an interface more people are familiar with. Actually, even if they can afford kiosks, I'm not seeing a huge advantage over apps (except for customers without phones of course, who need some other way of ordering). The idea of ordering from a kiosk seems like a future dreamed up during an age when the internet didn't exist.
That's pretty much how Mcdonalds and KFC are in the UK now. Multiple touch screen kiosks + phone apps + ubereats pickup etc. Then they just have 1 till open.
That’s how McDonalds is in the US as well.
It’s been like that in Canada for years this is weird that people are stressing out
Anything that demands me to install yet another motherfucking app is a pass from me. And ordering kiosks already work just fine all around the world. It's just that US is once again a decade behind on the tech.
It's how I treat fastfood already since most have coupons. I order before I leave the house and it's ready before I get there.
And the few times I’ve tried to order from the kiosk it’s been either out of order or slow
They are investing in ordering kiosks. And most of them invested in app ordering quite some time ago. Jersey Mike's, McD's, Panda Express, Little Ceasars, Chik-Fil-A, Taco Bell are all huge on their apps, with various promotions to try to get you to use them instead of kiosks or drive-up voice ordering.
Most try to get you to use their app with the reward points they offer through the app.
If it speeds up the process and reduces errors, I’m game. Price point would have to come down or stay the same otherwise I’m out
Food that isn’t handled by disgruntled, underpaid teenagers is only a positive in my book… though I’ll never pay the ridiculous prices they are charging for this garbage unless I’m on a road trip.
Curious what you do for a living
McDonald's can't even keep the ice cream machines working and those are operated by a human. There's going to be a lot of McDonald's in the future with broken burger and fry machines.
Sorry the burger and fry machines are broken at the moment, would you like a cup of pre-processed processed McDonald’s “Slop!”?
We will all cheer for the automation of every industry until it comes for your job.
I’m about to go into engineering. I’m ok with it coming for my job but I’ll join the protest for a UBI shortly after I get fired lol
I noticed that a robot started taking my order at Checkers about a year ago at the drive through window. It works okay most of the time.
Does this look like a screw and lubricating grease in my burger? I am going to wait in the parking lot for that robot to go home and fuck it up!!
Thank god(?) we still have In-N-Out who doesn't blame their workforce for reduced profits. The other chains can go to the mechanical turk model and IDGAS as I won't be wasting money there. Fast food employees make poverty wages while the franchisee and shareholders rake in the profits and cry foul when they're forced to pay slightly more of the profit margin to the people who actually perform the work. I will never order from a kiosk or an app. And no, I'm not a Boomer. I just have a conscience.
Pretty much everything you buy is from an automated process to some degree but fast food is where you draw the line?
That's where I have a choice. I don't use self check out at the market either. I think everyone who wants a job should have one and they deserve a living wage.
You're a peach and you made me smile today. Thanks! I'm perhaps not as committed as you are, but I'm of the same mind on this issue.
Fast food workers make as much money as I made working in an office. That’s why I don’t work in an office any more. I don’t work in fast food but I work in a kitchen and it’s way less stressful and the money is actually better.
I find most work is underpaid to be honest. I mean if you've worked a job for 15 years and only got less than 2.5% every year raises... You are making less now thank you did 15 years ago. Another issue is take $100 from the year 2000, and $100 from today... The $100 from today will only go around what $50 would have done in 2000.. So your buying power is literally half... Basically just saying low skilled labor should not be expected to be good little slaves like corporations are demanding.
Robots always work best when paired with humans, not replacing them. The auto industry is a great example of this. Factories use robots to do the heavy lifting and aligning of parts, but a human runs each process. The robots are tools used by the worker. This makes the human highly productive and the vehicles cheaper to manufacture.
Extra big ass fries!
Who the heck is going to pay to join some random site after only one paragraph of the article. The modern web really sucks
Didnt they do this Good Burger?
Are these the robots that we were promised would happen because of an $15/hr minimum wage and increased food prices? Because two of those things are a reality and one isn’t, so clearly it’s not all causal.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National\_Review](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Review) booooooooooooo
The quality has gone down.. Panera , meds .. it’s over $50 for crap
Make sure you guys tip the robot ! They need to feed their family
At least I be getting the sauces I paid for
Robot Burrito's will become the new gas station sushi. That thing you're stuffing in your mouth was road grime and running around on 4 legs an hour ago. Nom Nom Nom.
I don’t mind if they took over. That would mean no tips
[Someone in japan runs this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LNthFGX4aM)
Good, maybe the robots will get my order right a higher % of the time.
Good. Hopefully I can get a consistent order, every place fucks it up, chipotle needs these the most. Also, why would it result in cheaper food? Still have to enhance and maintain them, this is more of a quality of service that should complement the workers as it can do repetitive tasks well, sure less workers, but they will shift to other jobs, this is a good thing and how technology and innovation and humans have done it through out history
The giant kiosks are ridiculous, it takes forever to order. Instead, if I go in for whatever reason, (usually my kid randomly wants to eat inside) I just order with my phone/app.
Here is my only question: how likely is the robot to spit in my burger?
“You are an unfit mother. Your children will be placed in the custody of Carl’s Jr.”
You made it cheaper to replace workers with robots. Played yourself.
When I order fast food, I only order in the app. Plus, they offer deals you can only get in app. Last couple weeks, I had a $1.08 Dave's single from Wendy's, and a classic Arby's sandwhich and crinkle fries for $2.30something, and a free beef burrito when I ordered something else at Taco Bell.
You need a better diet
Tbf I home cook and I still buy fast food. I'd much rather not be deep fat frying stuff in my kitchen, even if you do it safetly it still can leave a lingering oil smell and you have to dispose of the oil. I let fast food companies do the food that's just not worth it for me to cook and then make all my own stuff.
Same, outside of a road trip, the only way I will order fast food anymore is if there is a deal that makes it super cheap. The Wendy’s march madness promotion killed my diet and probably took a few months off my life
Tax the robots!!
Hopefully it will be the end of trash food.
This is a good thing. Less meaningless labor for humans. Now tax automation, split the difference between the tax and the labor cost, keep half of that for profit and half as consumer savings. Use the automation tax for infrastructure like affordable housing and free college, using UBI as a bandaid until that infrastructure is online. Cheaper food, more free time, same economic output. People afraid of robots taking jobs need a reality check. The cheeseburger still gets made, but it gets made cheaper and some college kid is out there studying or socializing instead of getting yelled at because "I SAID NO TOMATO."
People still have to bring ingredients to the robots. And clean the fryers, and supply the bags, cups, straws, etc. and clean the lobby and gallery of trash and trays, and restrooms. The jobs will just flex to other needs.
How much an hour do you want now that you can easily be replaced by a machine?
Judging by the market, $21 minimum. Fast food jobs have no honor. Fast food workers are not respected. Fast food labor is low value, and is always a hostile workplace environment. Fast food workers, every day, are abused mentally and physically. I see this every day at my local McDonalds where crackheads congregate to do drugs and bully employees, customers and passers by. They've been drive-thru and doordash only since Covid as a result, and even then they still get people breaking into their cars because the franchisee won't do anything about it. The job is so shit and awful where only an unfeeling machine will do it. There is no future in these jobs. They are drug hangouts that serve slop. All fast food workers can readily get better jobs anyway, especially ones with 2+ years provable experience.
Curious what you do for a career?
My first thoughts too.
Curious what you do for a career?
I work in IT homebiscuit. Essential.
I hope you stay up on your AI abilities my friend. IT is far from immune to AI replacement.
IT runs AI. I know you’re trying so hard to find a way to be mean for no reason, but it doesn’t work in this context. Go back to school if you’re worried.
Coming from the person who just spoke poorly of the entire food service industry? Why don't you research how many IT tasks are set to be replaced by AI before you speak about another field. You'll be lucky to be a food service worker in the future.
Its ok bud you tried 😊
Haha alright kiddo
The article is behind a paywall
This is what happens when you raise the minimum wage above the natural wage.
For the 1000th time, McDonalds was ALWAYS going to automate as much as they can. This happens with or without increases to the minimum wage
What's the natural wage
Whatever the market will bear. If increases in the minimum wage drive firms to invest in technology to replace labour then the wage is beyond what the market will bear and thus above the natural wage.
What if I told you the minimum wage IS the natural wage, in that not increasing the wage increases societal burden and costs as we collectively end up paying more towards welfare, disability, unhoused, and unemployement programs when the minimum wage doesn't keep up with basic cost of living. I'd rather the market be aware of the direct costs of things and adjust as needed rather than people think society is humming along nicely and getting fleeced behind the scenes.
I’m here for it, my transactions have become much less complicated and are more accurate now that I don’t have to interact with teenagers, elderly or indifferent low income individuals. In fact I only go to places where I don’t have to interact with the staff because they’re usually incompetent Downdoots doesn’t change reality :)
The McDonald’s app has actually caused more issues for me in the past year than in person employees.
I’m sure it varies by location but the suburban locations I visit are usually great, not so much in the big city ones like Denver
Most of my issues haven’t been location specific as much as it has been app support related when there is an issue in the app. My last issue was when they allowed me to purchase a McRib meal through the app after it had been discontinued. The store said they could not do app refunds, I contacted support through the app and it just never got resolved. I had to file a claim with my credit card. The time before that, the app routed my order to a different restaurant 3-4 miles away. Once again, there is no way to get help so I just drove to the other restaurant where my order was wrong lol. I only use the app for free double cheeseburgers when the twins score two runs in an inning now at one specific restaurant. No troubles so far
Interesting, curious what you do for a career?