McDonald’s To Open A Restaurant Run By Robots In Phoenix

[mvmac]

McTerminators

http://newsexaminer.net/food/mcdonalds-to-open-restaurant-run-by-robots/

Quote:

Phoenix, AZ — After seeing a decline in earnings for the first time in nine years, McDonald’s plans to do something no other store of its kind has ever done before; open a store run entirely by robots.

The store is set to open July 4th in Phoenix, Arizona once the state-of-the-art robot remodel is complete. The restaurant will still employ a small team to insure all of the robots are working correctly, the food and cleaning supplies remain stocked along with removing the money collected by the robots. Visitors to the restaurant will see these new robots working in harmony at a speed of 50 times faster than the average human employee, with no chance of error. If the test launch for the store is a success, people can expect to see robots located in every store all over the country and at restaurants around the world.

“With the high demand for a minimum wage of $15/hr and the protests getting worse, this is something we had to implement. Plus with the high margin of human error, poor hygiene, lack of education, laziness, as well as the recent advancements in artificial intelligence it just make sense to automate our restaurants.”

Local Phoenix resident, 52-year-old Tom Downey, who has been unemployed for the last 3 years, was excited about the opening of a nearby McDonald’s until he heard about the robots.

“Now that they hire only robots, I don’t know what I can even do. I don’t have an education, a car, and now I’m not gonna even be able to get a burger job. Just the thought of having to go to the state unemployment office and stand in line with those scumbags!”

[Abu3baid]

McDonalds doesn't serve a necessary item. It is fast food with tens of options available. My point? Well, if the town decided that they will boycott this specific McDonald's because they are upset that robots are taking the jobs of the people then McDonald's stands to lose so much. Will it happen? I don't know, but it seems like this is the future for a lot of the jobs that don't require much human thought. I can't blame McDonald's either, and you can tell from the comments from management that they are fed up with laziness and Smoke breaks. I will keep an eye out to see how the town reacts and if you can bet if it is successful that there will be immediate rollout elsewhere.

[isukgolf]

I will definitely check it out ... not that I am McDonalds connoisseur.

[mmoan2]

McDonalds doesn't serve a necessary item. It is fast food with tens of options available. My point? Well, if the town decided that they will boycott this specific McDonald's because they are upset that robots are taking the jobs of the people then McDonald's stands to lose so much. Will it happen? I don't know, but it seems like this is the future for a lot of the jobs that don't require much human thought.

I can't blame McDonald's either, and you can tell from the comments from management that they are fed up with laziness and Smoke breaks.

I will keep an eye out to see how the town reacts and if you can bet if it is successful that there will be immediate rollout elsewhere.

I hate fast food, but the service at many of them is so awful I'd prefer robots. I live in Phoenix.

[Mr. Desmond]

Fake food, fake workers ...

Not surprising....

What's next?

Soylent green?

[Stretch]

What's next? This ...

[David in FL]

Interesting. When the cost of labor becomes more expensive than the value that a company feels they receive for that labor, it's worth noting that the company always has options. Something that the "living wage" proponents should remember...

[Stretch]

It's not going to be just less-skilled jobs either. There's a big wave coming and a lot of professions are going to get it in the neck.

http://fortune.com/2015/05/20/here-are-the-jobs-automation-will-kill-next/

[Ernest Jones]

Interesting. When the cost of labor becomes more expensive than the value that a company feels they receive for that labor, it's worth noting that the company always has options. Something that the "living wage" proponents should remember...

[quote name="Stretch" url="/t/82193/mcdonald-s-to-open-a-restaurant-run-by-robots-in-phoenix/0_100#post_1146023"]It's not going to be just less-skilled jobs either. There's a big wave coming and a lot of professions are going to get it in the neck. [URL=http://fortune.com/2015/05/20/here-are-the-jobs-automation-will-kill-next/]http://fortune.com/2015/05/20/here-are-the-jobs-automation-will-kill-next/[/URL] [/quote] I wonder who they'll sell the products to?

[dennyjones]

This has been happening in manufacturing jobs for years.  Look at the auto industry.

[Ernest Jones]

This has been happening in manufacturing jobs for years.  Look at the auto industry.

Oh, it's certainly inevitable. Can't fight progress and innovation, nor should you. The part that I don't quite understand is how the economics will work out? Who are the consumers? I suppose if the only things being manufactured are Bentleys and Kobe Steaks you can always sell them to the bourgeois who own the factories but if all the displaced workers are just shit outta luck, who are they going to sell Toyota Camrys and Chicken McNuggets to? The robots? Unless they can figure out a way to maintain some kind of middle class of consumers with some kind of buying power, the bottom will inevitable fall out, no?

[David in FL]

I wonder who they'll sell the products to?

It's an especially poor business model that relies significantly on it's own employees for a large percentage of their customer base. If their labor costs can be reduced enough, there might even be room in the margin for a reduction in prices. That could be used strategically to actually increase unique customer acquisition. Just a thought...

[Mr. Desmond]

Or it's possible that if they had  real people serve decent food, their sales might improve.

[iacas]

McTerminators [URL=http://newsexaminer.net/food/mcdonalds-to-open-restaurant-run-by-robots/]http://newsexaminer.net/food/mcdonalds-to-open-restaurant-run-by-robots/[/URL]

Cool. We will check it out* at the Newport Cup. ;-) * If only it weren't fake.

[joekelly]

Folks gotta eat.  That's a given.  And it's way too hot in AZ to cook your own food so makes sense to eat out.  And since AZ is nothing but 'car life', drive thru food, via robots, is certainly the way to go.  And once Google gets your car automated, you will only need to sit in the back seat, sipping a Miller High Life, tell the car to go to MCD, speak slowly at the window, and zip, out the chute into your lap comes the burger.  Credit card only.

When you get to Rio next year for the golf Olympics, look for the MCD robotic restaurant: FASTER CLEANER CHEAPER.

[Ernest Jones]

It's an especially poor business model that relies significantly on it's own employees for a large percentage of their customer base. If their labor costs can be reduced enough, there might even be room in the margin for a reduction in prices. That could be used strategically to actually increase unique customer acquisition. Just a thought...

Sorry. I thought it would be obvious I wasn't specifically speaking of only MickyD's employees but rather the demographic they represent.

[newtogolf]

Interesting.

When the cost of labor becomes more expensive than the value that a company feels they receive for that labor, it's worth noting that the company always has options.

Something that the "living wage" proponents should remember...

Exactly, this is what happens when you force a ridiculous "minimum wage" down corporations throats, they just find a way to eliminate the jobs.

Those jobs were meant for kids that want to make some extra money while going to school, not to support a family with.

[David in FL]

Sorry. I thought it would be obvious I wasn't specifically speaking of only MickyD's employees but rather the demographic they represent.

Me too. A job, any job is only worth so much to any company, in any industry. If it gets to the point where the cost exceeds that value, companies look for alternatives. That actually benefits us consumers too. Another option would be to increase prices to offset the additional cost, to the detriment of that very customer demographic. [quote name="newtogolf" url="/t/82193/mcdonald-s-to-open-a-restaurant-run-by-robots-in-phoenix#post_1146043"]Exactly, this is what happens when you force a ridiculous "minimum wage" down corporations throats, they just find a way to eliminate the jobs. Those jobs were meant for kids that want to make some extra money while going to school, not to support a family with. [/quote] Yep.