
Minimum Wage Hike Backfiring? Wendy's Increases Self-Service Kiosks - spullara
http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/05/13/wendys-increases-self-service-kiosks-overcome-minimum-wage-hikes
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liamcardenas
It's really a simple concept: If the cost of automation is greater than the
cost of hiring, then businesses will hire. If the cost of hiring is greater
than the cost of automation, then businesses will automate.

If you increase the cost of hiring, more businesses will switch to
automation-- since it is now their best option.

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dalke
These stories - and there have been many in the last year or so - never bring
up the automat. There's a century long history of self-service restaurants,
which were nearly all replaced by fast food restaurants. FEBO stores in The
Netherlands has an automat component.

If minimum wage were so critical, why haven't more fast food restaurants in
The Netherlands, where (Wikipedia tells me) the minimum wage is $10/hour for
those 23 and older?

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pepsi
Having worked both retail and food service jobs, this sucks. A store manager
may hope (and communicate to their teams) that their weekly payroll hours
won't be cut, but the powers that be will make that cut whether or not it's
needed. I've been on the receiving end, watching every part-timer moved to 12
hours a week and the remaining staff stretched thin for months. The GM got a
new Camaro with their bonus. I ate frozen corn dogs in bulk.

I've also worked at a company making those same self service retail widgets
and have stepped into customer stores and noticed less cashiers on deck after
that-thing-I helped-code is installed. That altruistic guilt helped me leave
that industry for greener pastures.

But, I have serious anxiety and love fast food. I can't count how many times
I've wished for a touchscreen kiosk to place my order. Even "no sorry, that #1
should be large size" is hard for me to say and I get what feels like an
inordinate amount of incorrect orders which adds to a guilt cycle where I beat
myself up for not speaking up. From an accessibility standpoint, this will
make things easier for me and countless other people.

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ArtDev
Even if minimum wage was 1$ a day, companies would try to make as much as
possible.

Its the same as outsourcing the drive through to a remote call center (already
happening).

The difference, machines aren't subsidized by taxpayers.

