Ex-McDonald’s CEO says raising the minimum wage will help robots take jobs

[mia]

Source: Washington Post

A former McDonald’s chief executive has warned that raising the minimum wage will spur unemployment as companies will instead employ robots that work for less.

“I guarantee you if a $15 minimum wage goes across the country you’re going to see a job loss like you can’t believe,” said Edward Rensi in an appearance on Fox Business Network Tuesday. “It’s cheaper to buy a $35,000 robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who’s inefficient making $15 an hour bagging French fries.”

The minimum wage has been a hot topic this spring, with some states and employers deciding to up their minimum wage to $15 an hour in the coming years. California will raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022. New York City will get to $15 an hour within three years.

Rensi referred to discussion of raising the minimum wage as “nonsense,” and something that would destroy America’s middle class. Rensi said he’d recently attended the National Restaurant Show and saw first hand a range of robotic devices that are making their way into the restaurant industry...





Read more: Link to sohttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2016/05/25/ex-mcdonalds-ceo-says-raising-the-minimum-wage-will-help-robots-take-jobs/urce

[Press Virginia]

1. Once the cost to pay people becomes higher than the cost

to replace them with new tech, businesses will go with the tech.
The added bonus? They get to write off the depreciation on their taxes.

[Baobab]

30. That will happen just as fast with or without the raise. Robots are SO much cheaper than people

the minute a robot can do a job its gone. The improvements in productivity are happening SO rapidly its literally right around the corner.

A few hundred or thousand dollars a year isn't going to make much difference until you consider that all of that person's descendants forever are going to need to live off of what that employee makes and saves NOW.

[Press Virginia]

32. Yeah but if the cost of the robot is higher than that of a person

they will stay with the person. When the costs become equal or higher, the robot is the more cost effective method

[Jesus Malverde]

41. Robots can work 24/7 365

They will always be more attractive employees than humans.

No workmans comp, social security, health insurance mandates, worker safety regs etc.

We are on the cusp of a new industrial revolution.

The combination of robotics, artificial intelligence and 3d printing make for very exciting opportunities for business. I suspect if there was a bot that could moderate DU. David would buy it, so he can spend his time doing cooler things.

[redixdoragon]

42. Such exciting opportunities!

Like riots. Destruction of property. An angry displaced citizenry told they are obselete.

What more could you want int he glorious tech future?

[Jesus Malverde]

48. I don't see the frogs hopping out of the pot

those that complain will be marginalized, and ridiculed (Luddites!).

Get uppiddy and end up in jail.

What one needs to do it focus of areas that are not easily automated. Careers like plumbing repairs, one off welding, etc. There are a few careers that are less vulnerable than others.

[redixdoragon]

50. Marginalized?! We're already marginalized

Our jobs are getting replaced and we're out hunting for it in a place where jobs are decreasingly available! How much more marginalized can you get? Is human life, dignity, and well being worth less than efficiency now? Is that the democratic way?

You're saying we should all sign up for trades? And then what, a whole millions of us do, glutting things, and maybe a few hundred of us actually get the job, fromt ime to time, without benefits, without means of stability.

How's a 50 year old who's been screwed out of retirement supposed to retool for whatever a robot hasn't replaced?

The issue isn't the robots, it's the people who control them and own them. They say we can be replaced, and then do NOTHING to see that we have wellbeing after we are. Until that changes, yes, these robots should be stopped from replacing us.

[Jesus Malverde]

55. Employers are not responsible for the community

The local government is.

My suggestion for trades is just a practical notion of what one could do to survive the revolution.

I think millions will lose their jobs to robots just as millions lost their jobs to offshoring. It's something we as a nation we have embraced. We cannot on one hand say free trade is good and robots are bad. Both are equally bad for the American worker and the largely in debt middle class.

[redixdoragon]

57. When we effect the environment around us, we are responsible

That is why we hold companies, or want to hold companies, responsible for what they do to our waters, air and land.

You are right, both have been bad. Free trade has been bad. Robots have been bad. They replace us to be cheaper, not because it is a task beyond human capacity.

Both should be stopped.

[Jesus Malverde]

59. While we largely agree

Companies are expected to not damage the environment, there is no notion in business or society that they should improve it or the community.

[redixdoragon]

63. Then to stop doing harm to the environment

And in this case the environment of labor for work to be able to live and thrive, they should be stopped from replacing us with machines at every turn.

You said it yourself. "there is no notion in business or society that they should improve it or the community." Then that means we stand all the time against business like it's trying to bust through a door, with our backs to it, becuase it will never help improve our communities and has to always be stopped from harming them.

[Jesus Malverde]

67. Businesses are by their very nature going to do whatever they can get away with.

Absolutely they need to be watched constantly and we need to watch the watchers, due to the revolving government to private sector opportunities. The watchers are easily corrupted. You can look at the SEC, FDA or any number of regulatory agencies for that phenomena.

[redixdoragon]

68. So it seems to be a systemic problem of business.

The way we perform business seems to be, at it's nature, as you say, driven to do whatever they can get away with.

It would seem irresponsable to allow that nature to continue.

[Jesus Malverde]

71. Recognize the beast

Treat it as you know it.

[snooper2]

100. so what do you do for a living?

[redixdoragon]

54. Your name, your very name.

"Jesús Malverde, sometimes known as the generous bandit or angel of the poor is a folklore hero in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. One day we'll live free and no longer in fear. Fear of losing jobs, fear of being raided, your dogs shot, your children kidnapped by the state. Your land stolen, and maybe even your life lost. Fear no more, the times are a changing."

No longer fear of losing jobs, and you call this replacement of workers inevitable and okay? I don't think you're representing that folk hero correctly.

[Jesus Malverde]

56. Fear of losing jobs for cannabis prohibition...nt

[lancer78]

78. He is the patron saint

of mexican drug dealers.

[Baobab]

112. We need new models for everything

And nobody knows what they are yet. one thing is certain, though, when our current system has concentration of wealth going up as fast as it is now, four years is too long to wait for real change, something has to be done now, we need an honest President. not another neoliberal. We've had five neoliberal presidents in a row.

And neither Hillary nor Trump are honest. Both are neoliberals. Hillary is literally the wife of the man most associated with the WTO and neoliberalism globally.

As neoliberalism is a reaction against the progress of the late 20th century, shes a very bad pick.

[Baobab]

105. Thanks to the miracle of mass production, that wont be the case.

Bluntly, we shouldn't waste time trying to outwork machines by working cheaply.

We have already lost that battle and all we will do is kill ourselves.

Have you ever heard the story of John Henry? John henry was a very strong black man who was employed laying railroad track for the transcontinental railway.

He won a much-publicized race with a track laying machine but at the cost of his own life, because he had a cerebral hemorrhage and died.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

110. "John henry ... {laid} ... railroad track for the transcontinental railway."

Oooh, no.

I thought the spelling was "Jawn Henry," but Wikipedia says it's "John Henry."

John Henry.

John Henry is an African American folk hero and tall tale. He is said to have worked as a "steel-driving man"—a man tasked with hammering a steel drill into rock to make holes for explosives to blast the rock in constructing a railroad tunnel. According to legend, John Henry's prowess as a steel-driver was measured in a race against a steam powered hammer, which he won, only to die in victory with his hammer in his hand as his heart gave out from stress. The story of John Henry is told in a classic folk song, which exists in many versions, and has been the subject of numerous stories, plays, books and novels. Various locations, including Big Bend Tunnel in West Virginia, Lewis Tunnel in Virginia, and Coosa Mountain Tunnel in Alabama, have been suggested as the site of the contest.

History




A sign by the C&O railway line near Talcott, West Virginia.

The historical accuracy of many of the aspects of the John Henry legend is subject to debate.[1][2] Several locations have been put forth for the tunnel on which John Henry died.

Big Bend Tunnel

Guy B. Johnson, a Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina, investigated the legend of John Henry in the late 1920s. He concluded that John Henry was a real person who worked on and died at the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway's Big Bend Tunnel. The tunnel was built near Talcott, West Virginia, from 1870 to 1872 (according to Johnson's dating), and named for the big bend in the Greenbrier River nearby.

[snooper2]

99. That is why a smart young person would get a degree in something like hydraulic engineering

[Kilgore]

129. It's happening already in my area.

I live in WA state where we have an ~$10 minimum wage.

We had lunch in an Olympia Olive Garden last week and the ordering and paying was with a tablet device on the table. The only person we interacted with was the one bringing the drinks and food.

[Skink]

2. They were going to do that anyway.

[jtuck004]

4. No question. They are doing it now, and the numbers will just increase. n/t

[GreatGazoo]

53. Yes and they are doing it now

turning the registers around so that the customer inputs their own order.

Taco Bell uses robotics to portion the miniscule amounts of processed cheese and other toppings that go on their ever-increasing myriad of combinations of tortilla, cheese, lettuce and meat.

The trend has not gone unnoticed:

[CentralMass]

3. I suspect that hell has a special place waiting for pricks like him.

[Jesus Malverde]

44. As a businessman it's your responsibility to

see where you can make changes to make your business more profitable. The notion of companies being teams and families are all marketing.

Is this guy any different than any of the thousands of Americans who have offshored jobs? If anything those guys are bigger scum at least the robot factories will be local.

Adidas is returning to Germany with its first non Asian factory in years, 100% robotocized. However locals will build the factory, locals will service the robots and locals will for now deliver goods to and from the factory. Better than totally offshored.

Unionizing mcjobs is a quixotic quest.

[CentralMass]

64. We are talking about a society that is making the

the choice that it can not afford to pay the working class a wage that is high enough for them to survive. We are doomed.

[whatthehey]

89. This idea is not new

Ricardo's Iron Law of Wages is more than two centuries old. He ignored adaptatability, as do his modern intellectual offspring. We were not doomed then and are not now.

[Jesus Malverde]

113. Good read

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_law_of_wages

[katsy]

104. It could be the next great human revolution.

In the footsteps of the industrial revolution & tech revolution.

If we could get progressive visionaries to govern well & lead us into the next stage of cultural evolution, maybe humanity can actually thrive. Without (or in spite of) work.

If a universal basic income kicked in, along with education & healthcare as human rights... I can see humanity finally setting their sights on space exploration and other heady endeavors.

We can finally stop being "trained monkeys" slaved out to corporations and start solving human problems. Corporate solutions they peddle aren't solutions to any of our problems... They create the problems. Our educational system must go back in time where creativity & critical thinking are rewarded. Where music, art, philosophy, history, humanities are valuable tools for a greater future and work in tandem with science & tech towards a better future. Can't do great things when you're starving or worried about chasing a job that might be there in 10 years.

McDonald's is inconsequential let them replace their workers & lets see how that works out for them. They are very much community based businesses and they depend on community goodwill to buy the swill they peddle. The ceo just called hundreds of thousands employees incompetent. He must invest in a mirror. 😂
No one should expect anything from corporations. Their only job is to rob you. I accept that gracefully. The people we should be angry with and punish are political whores who take corporate $ and do their bidding.

That should be the real goal. Governance of, for and by. That's the only way to stop the wage slavery foist upon us.

[Ikonoklast]

90. What nonsense. People have been replaced by machinery since the invention of the wheel.

McDonald's is not a governmental public employment enterprise, they owe no one a job.

[silvershadow]

5. Robots are coming to every job they can, regardless of wages. nt

[safeinOhio]

84. Every job including CEOs I hope.

The big picture is that robots don't buy Big Macs and if CEOs are against higher minimum wages they will really be against management low "maximum wages" for big shots.

CEOs will have robots making pitch forks and torches. Nice to know ya 1%ers.

[tabasco]

6. And the robots will break down and you can pay the same worker $100/hr. to fix it.

Sounds like a plan.

[christx30]

9. But you only pay one worker,

who has a lot of various computer skills, rather than pay 12 or more people at $15. And you only pay him when he's needed.

[tabasco]

13. I was thinking just having a robot to replace the cashier.

Will they have robots flipping burgers and stuff?

[christx30]

18. I don't see why not.

They can do some amazing things with automation. The grill at the Jack n the box I used to work at had a timer. Place the burger on the grill, press green the button. When the alarm goes off, flip it, press the red button. When that timer goes off, take it off the grill and place on the bun. No reason something couldn't be designed to mimic that.
But any technician is going to be, at a minimum, college educated. They are going to find a way to remove the human element from it. I mean, not much legally that can be done to stop it. Ban robots?

[Baobab]

33. Robots will diagnose their own part failure, send out for the part

and instruct the owner how to replace it.

Kind of like HAL in 2001!

[wallyworld2]

51. NOw there's

a job with a real future

You can bet after getting that computer degree, that left them in debt, they are going to be fighting over that one job.

That pays little or nothing, won't pay off their college debt, won't have vacation, won't have pension and most likely no health insurance.

Yep the ever growing workerless economy.

Making things that no one can afford.

It almost makes Clintons service economy look like a bright future.

I guess for some, the most important thing in life is to accumulate as much wealth as possible, no matter what it does to the country.

Everyone for himself. I got mine.

That's how we won WWII and put a man on the moon.

[think]

7. Outsourcing CEOs could save a fortune too...

[HeartoftheMidwest]

8. Hey, Mr. Ex-CEO........

....maybe you can get ROBOTS to eat your food, too.

[elmac]

10. Foxconn replacing '60,000 factory workers with robots'

in China where wages are very low already so these corporations will do it regardless of minimum wage levels. The only future for displaced workers, and there will be millions, will be some sort of minimum income provided by the government or there will be blood in the streets.

[Jesus Malverde]

49. After 20 years wages in China are going up

That's why we love the new cheap workers the Vietnamese. US companies have been moving to Vietnam from China for some years now.

[Kittycat]

11. No jobs, no need for McDonalds.

[Monk06]

40. Let robots buy their shitty synthetic 'food'

[Jesus Malverde]

52. That's the interesting wrinkle

The same could be said of all the jobs offshored, free trade however is something all the establishment leaders have bought into.

The difference between a robot building stuff in the states, vs a Chinese human robot, in terms of impact on the local consumer is much the same.

[JudyM]

96. +1

[inanna]

106. Bingo!

McDonalds has already done this here where I live. They're calling it a 'trial' run, in response to the call for higher wages.

So in response, many (not all, mind you) have not visited McDonalds since.

I have not, and will not. There are better places to get a hamburger.

[cstanleytech]

12. I dare them to try it because as much as I enjoy their french fries i would boycott them and any

restaurant that would try to do this.

[Recursion]

28. They already do this

McDonalds (and most fast food) have already introduced a wide variety of automated processes that have lowered their workforce requirements. This is already happening, in every industry, and boycotting businesses that automate seems kind of perverse.

[cstanleytech]

34. Yes I know about the ordering but that just makes things faster once people get

used to using them and it frees up the people to prepare the food faster and thats not a big deal.
Making it though it a different thing alltogether and if they would try to get rid of their employees to replace them with a robot they would also be getting rid of a customer because I would rather take my business elsewhere.

[metalbot]

85. I'm not sure I follow you

"I know about the ordering but that just makes things faster once people get used to using them and it frees up the people to prepare the food faster and thats not a big deal. Making it though it a different thing alltogether and if they would try to get rid of their employees to replace them with a robot they would also be getting rid of a customer because I would rather take my business elsewhere."

Making food (at McDonald's) is just as mechanical a process as taking an order. There's no human judgement required. Why would you be ok on one hand with technology that "makes things go faster" from an ordering perspective, but not ok with technology that delivers food more consistently (and probably better than humans do)?

I'm not calling you out on this, I'm legitimately curious why you would make the distinction.

I'd almost rather have it the other way around (deal with a human to order, but get food that is cooked/prepared the same way every time). I'm much more irritated by an improperly prepared meal than I am by a line to place my order...

Edited to add: there are generally more cashiers than cooks at McDonald's. As a youth, I remember working the grill when there were 4 registers open, and I could generally keep food moving for all of them during a busy rush. The automation you are ok with probably takes more jobs than the automation that you aren't ok with.

[cstanleytech]

98. Oh there is plenty of judgement to do in a busy restaurant and besides even

if they did replace their workers with robots those robots can break down or the computer controlling them could crash and then you have a really large paperweight that could shutdown the whole restaurant if that happened where as if you have humans doing the job one of the others can generally pickup the slack.

[Jesus Malverde]

114. But will robots

Call in sick
Quit with no notice.
Tamper with customers food leading to lawsuits.

All routine with the human workforce. I think any business owner would go with robots over flakey humans even if it means they cannot do business when there is a temp outage.

[redixdoragon]

43. We are going to boycot them

Because since they fired us and replaced us with robots we don't have money anymore to buy their shit!

[Greybnk48]

14. I will not spend a fucking cent at a place with robots.

And I doubt very much that I'm the only one. I'll do without or go elsewhere.

[Democat]

86. If you drive a car, or ride in one, you already do

You can't boycott robots.

[tazkcmo]

87. Workers say thank you

But it's too late. You're already probably wearing clothes, using appliances and driving robot made products. You've a great heart though.

[appalachiablue]

15. Already happening.

[sofa king]

125. Ha!

Note the most important part of that picture: There is a human present to facilitate interaction with the robot, because customers hate and have difficulty interacting with robots. Same thing with self-checkout at a grocery store: you've noticed every time someone is away from the help desk there because there are people standing around shouting for help damned near every minute of every day. So all it really is is a way for one human cashier to manage six registers.

And there's another human hunched over a desk in the back room trying to keep the software from crashing, and another to collate the personal data it steals and records, and another for the hardware, and another to clean up the place since without human interaction people tend to leave more trash around, and others cooking because robots cannot safely make fast food....

As Kraftwerk would say, "we are the robots." Boop doomp dee boop!

[Lint Head]

16. Which proves corporations don't give a rat's ass about people.

[msongs]

25. umm it's the PEOPLE who are loving and using the kiosks...those millennials wondering where the jobs

are lol

[redixdoragon]

45. Don't lump this on us.

Or was it the auto laborer's fault too when he was replaced by a robot in the 70's and 80's?

We like the technology, and it's find to replace us if they pay us the living cost of being replaced. But we've been pushed out the door and told "too bad" and a machine put in our place.

People are going to go breaking these things when there are hundreds of thousands out of work and hungry.

[neverforget]

74. I like how it's millenials fault. No evidence just shit against the wall.

[tazkcmo]

88. Damn kidz!!!

Get off my lawn!!! And taker yer daggum robot with you! What? A lawn mower? Why in MY day we had to cut it with scissors!

[Chicago1980]

17. And this CEO made how many millions per year in pay and stock options?

I'm betting he certainly wasn't worth his golden parachute.

[thelordofhell]

19. Looks like he's earning his multi-million dollar pension

Screw the workers

[Gore1FL]

20. Anymore all McDonalds is is a staffed vending machine.

If they had quality food products, a $35,000 robotic arm probably couldn't do the job.

I bet the prices don't drop.

[Initech]

21. CEOs are the real criminals in this world.

[mudstump]

22. And, I didn't think McDonald's food could get any worse...

[tomm2thumbs]

23. I think when folks can't afford McDonalds, no number of robots will be able to eat their own garbage

[silvershadow]

24. .

[DrToast]

26. Why aren't there robots in other countries then?

[snooper2]

102. Huh? not following your post LOL

ABC News, robotic restaurant, Nuremberg Germany

Uploaded on Apr 8, 2008
ABC News segment on a restaurant in Germany that has automated wait-staff

[LiberalElite]

123. Just yesterday I read in DU that Adidas will again manufacture

shoes in Germany - but they'll be using robots. http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141464737
also:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-adidas-manufacturing-idUSKBN0TS0ZM20151209

[OnyxCollie]

27. Pay people more and they won't eat McDonald's crap. nt

[Geronimoe]

29. Why haven't robots replaced CEOS?

And why haven't CEOS job been outsourced?

[eilen]

79. My husband and I were just talking about

how our country would probably be more vibrant with an AI programmed with a fusion of Democratic and Green principles as president.

[appalachiablue]

108. +1. Bad congresscritters and pols too. Bangalore has a very pleasant climate.

[underpants]

131. Because CEO's are just so smart, like this guy

McDonald's is tanking because kids don't want to eat there. Not one kid in my daughters 5th grade class would even consider eating there. "It's gross!"

Taking kids to McD's is the basis of their business. This Rensi joker is just a syphon

[andym]

31. I hope the robots like McDonald's food

Because robots could come to most every profession with the advances in technology around the corner, but then who will be able to buy the food? Robots? Not sure they will want a Big Mac.

[snort]

35. They'll need to make a robot

that eats junk food.

[C Moon]

36. Sounds like he let the cat out of the bag. The minimum wage increase doesn't matter...

they were going to do it anyway.
Corporations are cancer, not people.

[longship]

37. "Newest McDonalds CEO's job taken over by robot; other workers safe" nt

[UnFettered]

38. Something interesting

I was reading about other county's economies today. In Denmark the wage a worker makes at McDonalds is around $20 US.

Now about the robots, it's not as applicable as people think for all applications. It still a long way off from being a real threat. Let's just say even if most things in fast food were automated. You would still need some staff there no matter what to monitor the operation. You would also need a mechanical/electrical tech on staff also.

We use some of this type of technology in manufacturing and I could see reliability being a factor. Repair costs would be expensive.

[Jesus Malverde]

116. No reason hundreds of robots could not be managed.

At hundreds of locations remotely.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

39. We should ask his robot housekeeper...

[jillan]

58. The Jetsons coming to McDonald's near you.

[redixdoragon]

46. If it's all automated

All that can be. Auto manufacture: automated. Call centers: automated. Fast food and resteraunts: automated. Grocery clerk: automated

Who is toing to buy their stuff in enough numbers to even make the economy keep going? They'll push more of us out, leave more of us destitue, then raise the prices to absurd rates that only those in as yet un automated jobs can manage.

This is the noose that capitalism sells to you so you can hang it.

[The_Casual_Observer]

47. These robots need maintenance all the time

And need a guy there that is paid 10x what
The guy that was replaced made.

They are slowly putting themselves out of business.

[Press Virginia]

76. Do you know what McDonalds really deals in? It ain't burgers

it's real estate. They have prime property all over the country.

[jillan]

60. And there you have it. Capitalism in a nutshell. Nothing matters but profits.

So what if providing jobs helps the community and the people that live in it. Don't like your burger because it's not cooked enough? No problem tell it to the robot and they'll just pop out another one.

No thank you.

[YOHABLO]

61. Well robots cost money and they are not infallible.. you have to hire tech people to fix them.

Rensi is full of shit anyway. How much is that jackass worth?

[tenderfoot]

62. because robots taking jobs wouldn't have happened otherwise.

I suppose the technicians that fix the robots will make around $15 an hour.

[redixdoragon]

65. Hell, they want to replace security guards.

Jobs one after another on the chopping block.

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3049708/meet-the-scary-little-security-robot-thats-patrolling-silicon-valley

Edit: to fix link Can't seem to get it to behave

[SheilaT]

66. This is a justification or what's already happening.

Former airline employee here. I started as a ticket agent at DCA (Washington National Airport) in January, 1969. Even then, the common rumor was that in the very near future there would be only four major airlines.

Okay, so lots of mergers have happened in the almost fifty years since then, but more to the point is this: by the late 1970's there was already evidence that the airlines had figured out ways to minimize the human factor. And you see it now: Most of you make your reservations on line. And you check in on line, or at a kiosk at the airport. How convenient. But that is EXACTLY why when things go belly up, when flights are delayed or cancelled because of weather or maintenance or because someone prefers to play pinochle to actually working, there are only a fraction of the humans available that should be there to deal with the vast numbers of stranded or inconvenienced passengers.

I can tell you that even back before the computers, we NEVER had enough staff to deal with delays or cancellations. It's only gotten worse since then.

I worked during the entire 1970's. At DCA. National Airport. Which is still there almost entirely because members of Congress find it incredibly convenient. They can make a roll call vote and be at the airport fifteen minutes later. I have no idea if this is still true, but one of the dirty secrets of my time there was that yes, sometimes a flight was delayed so that Congressman or Senator Dipshit could make his flight. It didn't happen very often, if it ever really did. I can go on record as saying in my ten years on the job I don't ever recall that happening with my airline. I cannot speak for any other airline.

Anyway, back to the point of this post. By the late 1970's the prospect of some sort of electronic check-in at the airport was rearing its ugly head. I actually left the job before this happened. But I continued to fly, as a passenger, and saw the creeping, encroaching computerization, or whatever you might call it. For a while I used a travel agent to book my flights. Time passed, and I started booking my flights on line. It was so convenient. At that time I'd check in at the airport, get my boarding pass there. After a while, I'd check in at a kiosk at the airport. These days, like most people who fly, I not only book my flight on line, but I check in on line, even to the extent of letting the airline know how many pieces of luggage I'll be checking. It's wonderfully convenient. But it means that the airline employs a lot fewer people than they used to. As a passenger, I don't give a flying fuck. Unless I'm caught in a major winter storm where a lot of flights are delayed, and others are cancelled. At that point I want to be able to talk to a human being who can re-book me.

I can assure you, it was bad enough back in the day, by which I mean the decade in which I worked, 1969-1979. When things went bad there were never enough of us. There were times when those of us on the afternoon shift -- meaning we were scheduled off between 10pm and 11pm -- called up morning shift around 3am and asked them if they'd be willing to come in early so that we could go home. DCA did not operate 24 hours back then, and yes, that really happened. And this was with a reasonable staffing, long before computerized check in.

Much earlier than that, in 1969, I recall a supervisor commenting that our airline (at the time a small, regional one based out of upstate New York) should staff National Airport (DCA) more than some other stations, as this was the nation's capital, and we should be upholding a certain standard of service. He was right, of course. And of course the airline didn't staff that station any more than any other station. Customer service be damned.

This is only a small window into the entire problem of staffing and customer service. I noticed many years ago, back in those airline days, that the people making decisions about things like staffing have never themselves worked the front lines, have never actually dealt with the customers, haven't a clue what really goes in to the day to day operations of the company.

Some years later I took a few business courses at a local university. One of the truly horrifying things I learned was that in the world of business, all industries were considered fungible, that is that one business was essentially the same as any other. So if you learned to run a dairy farm, for instance, you could also run a women's retail clothing conglomerate. There was no sense whatsoever that any industry or company was significantly from any other. I knew better.

When I started in the airline industry, every airline was still being run by the second generation of men who'd started them. Some of them had started as baggage loaders, and now were presidents, but in any case they'd all been around since the very beginning or very shortly thereafter, and knew where the industry had come from, and probably where it was headed.

By the late 1970's the upper management had been taken over by people who had MBAs. The very same people who'd been told if you can run one business, you can run any other. And they'd never worked a gate or the ramp loading airplanes, and they sure as hell had never written a ticket or checked in a real passenger. Which is essentially why air travel totally sucks today.

I saw the deterioration in the late 1970s, when executives were more and more protected from the realities of the industry. It's only gotten worse.

And so we come to the CEO of McDonald's, who sincerely doesn't think the front line employees need anything close to $15/hour. He has NEVER worked in an actual McDonald's. More to the point, he has NEVER tried to live on minimum wage.

Were I dictator of North America, I would sentence every single person to live for at least six months on minimum wage. Any shorter time doesn't fully uncover what it is like.

Back when I was an airline employee, and making reasonably better than minimum wage, I still had to count my pennies and dimes very carefully. I can recall quite vividly assembling change so that I could buy a meal. And I was, at the risk of repeating myself, making better than minimum wage.

[Locrian]

81. great post

And that same thing is happening to EVERY major business. Customer service, actual performance be damned. If a business exec can make the stock go up - it's the ONLY thing that matters.

Growth, growth, growth. That's ALL it's about. You know what else has unlimited growth at the expense of everything else? Cancer.

[raging moderate]

83. You have a great idea re required minimum wage, but I want a FULL year!

And two years would be even better. Otherwise, they will never understand the devastation of winter weather on poor people in northern parts of the country. Especially if they are homeless despite working. Or the desperation in stretching the use of things that have worn out and eking out a tiny savings to manage to replace them somehow. Or the bone-weary deterioration in health as time goes on, living on 3 bread ends or three baked potatoes or three bowls of rice per day.

[Matariki]

68. I hear that robots love to eat hamburgers

From the dollar menu at McDonalds

[Trajan]

72. So much wrong with this statement

First; To demean your own workers ... Surely not all their workers are inefficient in their work, and many more helps these asshole CEOs make buckets full of money ...

Second; what makes these buffoons think that working families will participate in this strategy? ... ANY restaurant that dumps it's minimum wage workers for robots will never see a thin dime from me.

Third; the claim that lifting the minimum wage to $15 per hour will lead to widespread job loss is complete malarkey ... Seattle is a shining example of how increased wages has lead to a boom in revenues and job growth ... Seems that workers like to SPEND their money, which has lifted the economic activity in the region ... More workers with more money spending it at their local marketplace, and TRULY expanding the wealth of the entire region ...

You want to end welfare as we know it?

Want to send your kids to college? ...

Want to lift your families to a decent level of success in this harsh and crazy world?

PAY THEM THE WAGES THEY DESERVE ...

[redixdoragon]

73. Something for the Star Trek fans.

Among other futurey predictions such as wars performed far and away with the push of buttons, drone war style, keeping it clean for the civilization "A Taste of Armageddon" there was also this to speak on being replaced by machines. "The Ultimate Computer"

In a drill, M-5 defends the Enterprise against mock attacks from starships Excalibur and Lexington. The Enterprise is declared the victor, prompting Commodore Wesley to call Kirk "Captain Dunsail" (pronounced "dunsel&quot . Spock explains the term is used by midshipmen at Starfleet Academy to describe a part serving no useful purpose. Kirk is visibly shaken by this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ultimate_Computer

[StrayKat]

77. Doesn't Matter

The current minimum wage isn't enough for people to live on. People need to live and we need to pay them enough that they can.

This automation tide is inevitable, whether the minimum wage rises or not. McDonald's goal from the beginning was always complete automation -- the founders thought the teenagers who worked there and patronized their business were PITAs and caused more trouble than they were worth. So, it's no surprise that the company continues spew this propaganda.

The thing to look at are viable transitions into this era like training and re-training people to design, build, and maintain the robots and looking at alternate economic options like guaranteed incomes.

[eilen]

80. They start with tech, they die by tech

Because workers are cheaper than upgrades and I never saw anything more fast, expensive and vicious as the tech race. For example, for a very long time, people had telephones in their homes. The same phone... every decade--that worked even when the power went out (made in the USA to boot). You could hire an answering service if you needed important calls that you missed frequently (answered by a real person). Then electronic answering machines and wireless phones appeared--quickly morphed into one unit (initially made in the US, then made elsewhere). You could replace the rechargeable batteries when they lost their ability to hold a charge (Radio Shack, purchase in person). Then voicemail service was developed (totally automated). Most people kept the same phones unless they needed more handsets. Now hardly anyone has a home phone that is independent of their cable tv (if they have cable tv). Hardly anyone uses it. The majority now carry personal cell phones (we know where those are made) and how often are they replaced?

I think that is analogous to the employee.

[pengu]

82. So tax the robots - duh

[phylny]

91. I'm for anyone or anything that'll get my iced tea order

right at McDonald's. I order a large, unsweetened tea with lemon, I get a sweet tea ten percent of the time. Just happened again yesterday.

Bojangle's, by the way, never, ever messes up this order.

[Bayard]

92. I Robot

Just watched I Robot again last week. Starting to look more possible all the time. In a few hundred years, we could have Mr. Data. Now, we just need the simulator to go along with all this so regular people will always have food, housing, clothing.

[sofa king]

93. Just justifying future plans.

The executive is of course trying to justify the cutting of wages, which traditionally have translated more or less directly into personal profits for corporate leadership. But the robot promise is tired old bullshit, and we all should know it.

This dynamic has been around since the soda-jerk, who incidentally was one person in a room full of robots in the 1940s. Where are they now, eh?

They got replaced by ten employees and the traveling specialists who service the self-serve soda machine at your fast food restaurant. Because when you include the down-time and expense of repairing the machines, and having a person on hand to replace the machine when it fails, and the specialists required to maintain the machines, and the necessity for humans to keep the machine in a hygenic state, and so on, the robot inevitably winds up creating jobs for humans.

So let McDonalds bring in the burning oil-spraying fry-bot, and let's see how that works out in a month.

[KPN]

94. So now they are holding the working class hostage and

justifying it based on the basic law of capitalism, i.e., the pursuit of profit is rational. In itself, pursuit of profit is not a bad thing. But when you combine it with an anti-socialism ideology, it becomes lethal in the long run. At some point you run out of "buyers" for the goods you are producing.

[tabasco]

95. 1%'er says, "Fuck workers, give us more money!"

[Myrina]

109. ^^ this ^^

All day, every day.

[Throd]

97. If a machine can do it faster, better, or cheaper, businesses will buy that machine.

That's just the reality of it.

[0rganism]

101. i hope this spawns a lot of entry level jobs in the robot repair & maintenance field

hell, such work might even be more interesting and rewarding long-term than bagging fries and making change

[stillwaiting]

103. Assholes of the world should get ready for basic, guaranteed minimum income then.

They are unbelievable in what they expect people to take lying down.

[kacekwl]

107. I would love to see how

a $35,000 robotic arm is going to put the fries in the container, put the container in the correct bag with the rest of the customers order and deliver it to the customer with the drink and collect the money. Not saying it can't be done but the whole store is going to have to be re-done. Just shows what he thought of his "inefficient" employees making him millions.

[appalachiablue]

111. Here's arms at work at the Robotic Pharmacy in San Fran.

[kacekwl]

121. Seems to be

a lot of humans involved in the process. Also quite a bit more than a robotic arm to pay for...I doubt that franchisers will be able to pump millions into their store.....no rush to get those scripts filled it's not like someone is sitting in a car out the window counting the seconds before the food comes.

[appalachiablue]

122. That's a large hospital example where pharma robotics have been applied first. Viewpoints,

PBS Newshour, '3 White Collar Jobs That Robots are Already Mastering: Pharmacists, Attorneys, Journalists', 5/22/15.



Over the past 20 years, we’ve seen plenty of blue collar jobs outsourced to machines — from auto assembly to customer service. Now, as computers, equipped with artificial intelligence, increasingly take over “information jobs,” tasks that were once reserved for skilled, college-educated white collar professionals are vulnerable. That’s the argument made by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Martin Ford in a new book, “Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future.”

He spoke with us for a story that aired on Wednesday on the PBS NewsHour about the economic impact of artificial intelligence. It’s part of a series about the rapid advance of AI and how it’s affecting society.
We asked Ford to give us three examples of white collar jobs that are ripe for automation. Pharmacists, attorneys and one close to our hearts — journalists. All three of these professions have already been transformed in profound ways most of us may not even realize.



- A pharmacist selects drugs for chemotherapy treatment. Automation likely would make this task more efficient. -

“There is already a big impact on pharmacies. You have massive machines in hospitals that automate the whole process internally — and
> you’ve also got smaller machines about the size of a vending machine that are being deployed in pharmacies, so it’s already having a big impact,” Ford says. con't.
Read more, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/3-white-collar-jobs-robots-can-already-better/

[EllieBC]

115. Every time you use self scan at the grocery store,

slap yourself across the face. Automation has been happening and so many people have not cared because it was more convenient. No one minded that ATMs meant fewer tellers and self scan at the grocery store meant fewer cashiers. But now we should be upset? No you should have fucking cared all along, not now just because your cause du jour industry is going that way.

[christx30]

117. I like the self checkout because it's

faster than standing in line waiting for a human to check me out. And the grocery store usually doesn't have enough employees checking people out. But one checker can handle 6 people checking out at once, so I'm not standing in line for 20 minutes.
And as far as ATM's go, unless you're going to have a bank open at midnight with humans working, the ATM is a necessary evil.

[EllieBC]

118. Again, you are helping the store eliminate more jobs.

How is it suddenly awful for fast food to automate when no one cares about grocery clerks?

[christx30]

119. Make the human checkers faster so I don't have to spend

a huge chuck of an evening waiting in line. That's why I don't like dealing with humans. They get distracted.
I was at 7-11 getting a soft drink 2 weeks ago. The clerk was having a nice conversation with the previous customer that lasted well after the transaction. Didn't acknowledge me for some time, and I was in a hurry.
That wouldn't happen with a machine. If 7-11 had an automated payment center, I would have used that, because I want to get up and out of there asap.

Have the bank open when I get to the grocery store at midnight (I get home from work at 11:30pm) and I'd be happy to use humans.

[azmom]

120. Instead of investing in robots, they should

sell better quality food. That would improve sales.

[ProfessorGAC]

134. Because Obviously, They've Been A Dismal Failure In The Restaurant Business

The quality of the food is totally irrelevant to the topic at hand. They're the biggest prepared food business on the planet. Exactly what would they be if their food met your rigorous standards? The biggest prepared food business on the planet. Those seem pretty much the same?

So, your point isn't related to workers or robots and it wouldn't register a blip on their business management radar.

[azmom]

135. Maybe focusing on the bottom line is the entire

problem. Human beings need fresh healthy food. Is that too much to ask of our overlords?

[yurbud]

124. they would only HAVE to do this if they were just breaking even now

Which they are not.

[Sunlei]

126. when toasters and refrigerators came out the icemen & fireplace toast rack companies weren't happy

educate to fix the robots or load them, sell toasters.

[Darb]

127. That selfish prick wants a tax cut.

He knows that robots are inevitable and would be in place right now if they worked well and were affordable already. It is coming down the pike and he knows it. This is just total, self-serving, I don't want to pay taxes bullshit.

[Uponthegears]

128. So now

do we understand why we should simply redistribute wealth from the investor to the worker.

So long as the holder of capital is allowed to benefit by hurting workers this will continue.

[liberal N proud]

130. Bring it on - the workers can then go to work building robots and repairing robots

All at much higher pay.

From assembling burgers to machines.

[no_hypocrisy]

132. Robots are coming to Mickey Dee's no matter what the minimum wage is/will be.

[OnDoutside]

133. On the positive side,

there's a decent chance of the robot being able to make a PLAIN cheeseburger without screwing it up ....