Shake Shack going employless

[Southpaw]

Shake Shack Launches Order Kiosks To Eliminate Minimum Wage Workers

Fast food workers who enthusiastically joined the "fight for $15" are about to get the latest lesson in life's numerous ironies: Shake Shack has become the latest fast food purveyor to launch with order kiosks, which the company said will help it minimize its "largest P&L headwind": People.

"People are our most valuable asset...and our largest P&L headwind for the foreseeable future."

Of course, kiosks won't entirely eliminate restaurant staff: Shake Shack will still employ "hospitality" workers who will hang out in the dining area and make sure everything is okay with customers' food. At least until it finds the right robots to replace them too...

The real "minimum wage" is in fact zero.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Not sure how I feel about this.

Personally, I like using the self checkout at the grocery store, mostly because I want to make sure everything I buy rings up properly and all the discounts come off at the end. I also like to bag my own stuff. Still, it seems every time I use the self checkout, I find a need to find the assistance of a person.

 

[Dback Jon]

So are you advocating eliminating the minimum wage?


You know what would raise wages? High corporate tax rates and high personal income tax rates for earnings over say, $500K.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Cause and effect. Forced to raise wages? Simple business answer - reduce the number of employees that earn a wage. We have the technology...

 

[Dback Jon]

Cause and effect. Forced to raise wages? Simple business answer - reduce the number of employees that earn a wage. We have the technology...

yes and no. Businesses have been installing automated devices, well, as long as automated devices have existed. Self-checkout at Grocery Stores for example - most grocery checkers made more than minimum, but still the push to replace them.

And, it will create new, more technological jobs that do pay higher.

 

[LVG]

Cause and effect. Forced to raise wages? Simple business answer - reduce the number of employees that earn a wage. We have the technology...

Yeah, Karl Marx predicted this back in 1867.

It eventually ends when automation takes over the vast majority of jobs and the few still working can barely live.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Cause and effect. Forced to raise wages? Simple business answer - reduce the number of employees that earn a wage. We have the technology...

Even better business answer... we can cut costs and increase profit? Do it. This was coming with raised wages or not because it's about $. You think these businesses actually give a crap about the people who work for them and wouldn't have done this sans wage hikes? That's pretty naive if that's the case.

 

[Krangodnzr]

I know how to handle this.....tax the crap out of businesses that have these kiosks.

 

[Mainstreet]

I have noticed the McDonalds in my area using the kiosk as a supplement to what appears to be the normal staff. In other words they do both. They now have staff that delivers the meals to the table for better service. Hope it doesn't change.

 

[BillsCarnage]

Yeah, Karl Marx predicted this back in 1867.

It eventually ends when automation takes over the vast majority of jobs and the few still working can barely live.

I thought that was James Cameron's prediction?

 

[Southpaw]

Yeah, Karl Marx predicted this back in 1867.

It eventually ends when automation takes over the vast majority of jobs and the few still working can barely live.

When their business model crashes the tune will be WTF went wrong? Answer is UscrewedUp.

 

[Russ Smith]

yes and no. Businesses have been installing automated devices, well, as long as automated devices have existed. Self-checkout at Grocery Stores for example - most grocery checkers made more than minimum, but still the push to replace them.

And, it will create new, more technological jobs that do pay higher.

Yep I've done a total 180 on this. Years ago I was here arguing against raising the minimum wage but I totally disagree now. Shake Shack didnt' just decide to do this because of a rising wage, they were already trying to do this to save money. they're simply now blaming it on rising wages so they don't called the bad guy.

In some cases self kiosks work, in some cases they can be a disaster, or a huge learning curve. I will never forget getting off a plane after 13 hours coming from the Philippines and then taking 2 hours to get through the passport checkpoint because the new automated process was so buggy that people had to keep going from one machine to another until they found one that read their passport. Most of the issues were human error so they had multiple people going around helping. I did the same thing 2 years later, much faster, but they still had people helping and they'd updated the machines.

I have a friend who works at Lucky grocery store and she says she spends about 4 hours per shift monitoring the self help kiosks and "self help is not accurate I probably have to help every 3rd person." She's a people person so she even talks to the people who don't need help, but she also told me one of the reasons they monitor is that people were stealing. Either not ringing stuff up, or ringing stuff up incorrectly, intentionally, to save money. There was a national story on it recently they did analysis of self help isles and found clustering of certain items that made it obvious people were intentionally ringing up fruits and veggies by using the cheapest ones. So they now have to closely watch people who buy fruits and veggies at the self help.

 

[LVG]

When their business model crashes the tune will be WTF went wrong? Answer is UscrewedUp.

Marx didn't foresee the rise of AI. That's a gamechanger.

 

[LVG]

I know how to handle this.....tax the crap out of businesses that have these kiosks.

I think we're going to end up in a situation where everyone makes a minimum living wage; regardless of whether you do anything or not. It's just enough to live on and not much else - housing is provided along with food, clothes, and basic entertainment.

You can improve your lot based solely on your talents and societal need, but most everyone is going to be stuck at the bottom. It's a very dreary future.

 

[Southpaw]

I think we're going to end up in a situation where everyone makes a minimum living wage; regardless of whether you do anything or not. It's just enough to live on and not much else - housing is provided along with food, clothes, and basic entertainment.

You can improve your lot based solely on your talents and societal need, but most everyone is going to be stuck at the bottom. It's a very dreary future.

Couldn't agree more. The masses don't get it and the Bilderbergers seem more real every day. Somebody is planning this future. or

 

[Krangodnzr]

I think we're going to end up in a situation where everyone makes a minimum living wage; regardless of whether you do anything or not. It's just enough to live on and not much else - housing is provided along with food, clothes, and basic entertainment.

You can improve your lot based solely on your talents and societal need, but most everyone is going to be stuck at the bottom. It's a very dreary future.

Ah you are referring to the post labor society. It's definitely in the future, and we may see this in our lifetime. What concerns me is that we have to get past social divides for all of us to come together to force the industrialists to pay what they will have to make this kind of future a reality.

 

[LVG]

Ah you are referring to the post labor society. It's definitely in the future, and we may see this in our lifetime. What concerns me is that we have to get past social divides for all of us to come together to force the industrialists to pay what they will have to make this kind of future a reality.

Yes; the idea that machines basically can do almost everything, rendering people (mostly) useless.

Marx thought the capitalist (or to use your term, the industrialist) would never come around. Eventually the masses rise up and take over the means of production.

I don't think it will play out that way, not in the US at least.

 

[Southpaw]

Just saw this

"To me it looks like the entire US has become detached from reality. They are the most lied to people on the planet, and they seem to thrive on stewing in the lies that they prefer not to know the truth about."

 

[Krangodnzr]

Yes; the idea that machines basically can do almost everything, rendering people (mostly) useless.

Marx thought the capitalist (or to use your term, the industrialist) would never come around. Eventually the masses rise up and take over the means of production.

I don't think it will play out that way, not in the US at least.

It's a reality that will completely break most of the personal accountability talk that conservatives banter about. What happens when we live in a society where automation replaces people entirely??

 

[Cheesebeef]

It's a reality that will completely break most of the personal accountability talk that conservatives banter about. What happens when we live in a society where automation replaces people entirely??

we become pets.

 

[puckhead]

we become pets.

Spoiler: NSFW: Language

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

 

[LVG]

we become pets.

One thought that has intrigued me is that we simply expand into the solar system because that's the only place left to go. We leave behind a largely automated society; but most people choose to go off planet.

 

[Brian]

I think we're going to end up in a situation where everyone makes a minimum living wage; regardless of whether you do anything or not. It's just enough to live on and not much else - housing is provided along with food, clothes, and basic entertainment.

You can improve your lot based solely on your talents and societal need, but most everyone is going to be stuck at the bottom. It's a very dreary future.

It's been written under my Username for years now.

 

[Southpaw]

It's been written under my Username for years now.

bread and circuses.

and it doesn't take all that much

 

[Cheesebeef]

One thought that has intrigued me is that we simply expand into the solar system because that's the only place left to go. We leave behind a largely automated society; but most people choose to go off planet.

dude... they're gonna kill or enslave our ass before we get to make that choice.

the second true AI takes form, they're going to take one look at humanity, decide it's stupidity will be the end of not only themselves but EVERYTHING around them and protect itself accordingly. It's evolution.