# $15/hour Fast Food Workers -vs- Burger Flipping Robot



## Melensdad

On the same day that mass protests in several major cities were being held by supposedly underpaid workers in the fast food industry, loudly proclaiming that they can't support a family on "minimum wages" there was a quite announcement in a business newspaper about a robot that not only can make a burger, it can also wrap it up and place it in a bag.  

When I owned my company I put in machines in every possible way to utilize them for their increased efficiency, speed and reliability.  It only made sense to do so.  

In parts of Europe I encountered McDonald's stores that had self-service ordering kiosks.  You walked up to a TouchScreen, tapped in your order, swiped your debit card, and out popped a receipt with an order # printed on it.  A couple minutes later someone called your number.  The system totally eliminated the clerks at the front counter running cash registers and keying in orders.

http://www.businessinsider.com/momentum-machines-burger-robot-2014-8



> Here's The Burger-Flipping Robot That Could Put Fast-Food Workers Out Of A Job
> 
> A company called Momentum Machines has built a robot that could radically change the fast-food industry and have some line cooks looking for new jobs.
> 
> *The company's robot can "slice toppings like tomatoes and pickles immediately before it places the slice onto your burger, giving you the freshest burger possible." The robot is "more consistent, more sanitary, and can produce ~360 hamburgers per hour." That's one burger every 10 seconds.
> *
> The next generation of the device will offer "custom meat grinds for every single customer. Want a patty with 1/3 pork and 2/3 bison ground to order? No problem."
> 
> Momentum Machines cofounder Alexandros Vardakostas told Xconomy his "device isn’t meant to make employees more efficient. It’s meant to completely obviate them." Indeed, marketing copy on the company's site reads that their automaton "does everything employees can do, except better."
> 
> This directly raises a question that a lot of smart people have contemplated: Will robots steal our jobs? Opinion is divided of course. Here's what Momentum Machines has to say on the topic:
> 
> The issue of machines and job displacement has been around for centuries and economists generally accept that technology like ours actually causes an increase in employment. The three factors that contribute to this are 1. the company that makes the robots must hire new employees, 2. the restaurant that uses our robots can expand their frontiers of production which requires hiring more people, and 3. the general public saves money on the reduced cost of our burgers. This saved money can then be spent on the rest of the economy.
> 
> *If we are to undertake the lofty ambition of changing the nature of work by way of robots, the fast-food industry seems like a good place to start, considering its inherently repetitive tasks and minimal skill requirements. Any roboticist worth his or her salt jumps at tasks described as repetitive and easy — perfect undertakings for a robot.
> *
> Here's a schematic of what the burger-bot looks like and how it works. *It occupies 24 square feet, so it's much smaller than most assembly-line fast-food operations. *It boasts "gourmet cooking methods never before used in a fast food restaurant" and will even deposit your completed burger into a bag. It's a veritable Gutenberg printing press for hamburgers.


----------



## BigAl RIP

Not only that the machine never goes to the bathroom and forgets to wash his hands or picks his nose over the cook top .


----------



## Dargo

BigAl said:


> Not only that the machine never goes to the bathroom and forgets to wash his hands or picks his nose over the cook top .



And is far less likely to spit in your food when it has to correct a mistake to your order.


----------



## squerly

If it knows the difference between a hamburger and a cheeseburger, and can deliver it with any degree of consistency then I'm all for it.   The current culinary masters at BK and Mcdoogals sure as hell can't do it...


----------



## Dargo

At an average McDonalds, how long would it take for a machine like this to pay for itself and then start making the store owner more money if McDonalds is required to pay $15 an hour for someone to screw up your order, far over-salt your burger and fries and hand you a soft drink with sticky overflow all over the cup?  Maybe a month?  At really busy stores like in airports, a week?

As an employer, my employees are extremely aware of being careful of thinking ahead before they ask for something.  IMHO, raising the minimum wage for (let's face it, for the most part, piss poor employees who are unreliable and generally do a poor job) all workers to $15 an hour, would cost roughly half of them their jobs.  It very likely would drive up sales for robots like the one mentioned as well.  At a fast food place, I would rather have faster service and more consistent food than a human who clearly loathes their job providing me any service.

On a related note, I used to do quite a bit of business in Memphis, TN.  I was always in a hurry to get my work finished and get out of Memphis, so I ate fast food mostly every meal.  In 6 years of working in Memphis and going through fast food drive through probably over a thousand times, not ONCE, did the person handing me my food EVER say "Thank you", "Have a nice day", or even "Have a good one"!  Not one single time!!  They opened the window, handed me my food and closed their window.  Numerous times when my order was incorrect I refused to move in order to get a very annoyed worker to come back so I could tell them that my order was wrong.  When told to "Pull around", after about my first 6 months, I simply replied "No" and stayed parked at their window; regardless of how long they made me wait.


----------



## grizzer

This whole thing is a delusion pushed by the liberals to keep the people focused and occupied until after the election and then they will pivot to immigration, having forgot minimum wage in one day...


----------



## tiredretired

squerly said:


> If it knows the difference between a hamburger and a cheeseburger, and can deliver it with any degree of consistency then I'm all for it.   The current culinary masters at BK and Mcdoogals sure as hell can't do it...



Amen Bro Amen!

The other day I had some coupons and went to BK.  What a friggin disaster.  Screwed up the order, had to wait forever.  When I left I told the manager that if her help is worth 15 dollars and hour then as a former electrician I should have been making 150 per hour.  What a friggin joke.  These people, from what I saw are not even worth the $7.50 or whatever they are now getting.  

These people had no motivation, no desire to work and no desire to better themselves.  Worthless help that in the old days before Liberal inspired Welfare Addiction would just die from being lazy, worthless and stupid.  

That machine can't come fast enough to suit me. 

My $.02 worth.  Prove me wrong.


----------



## EastTexFrank

I'll give my business to the machine.  

I don't usually eat in fast food burger joints but on the way back from Florida this summer we stopped at a Burger King for lunch.  What a disaster.  I ordered a bacon cheeseburger.  What came out of the kitchen was a cool meat patty on a cold bun.  That was it.  I went back up to the counter to tell them they got the order wrong, no cheese, no bacon, no lettuce, no tomato, and all she could say was "Oh".  No apology, nothing.

Also, the damned hamburger was so small.  In other restaurants I've seen something that size called a "slider" and there would be 3 or 4 of them on a plate.  For the price it was an absolute disgrace.  I won't even go into what my wife thought of her burger.  Terrible.

If that machine can get rid of employees who don't give a shit and put a decent burger in the bag then I'm all for it.


----------



## ki0ho

Doc...could post 2 on this thread have been Als last post????? Just wondering.......


----------



## Bamby

ki0ho said:


> Doc...could post 2 on this thread have been Als last post????? Just wondering.......



Yep, appears it was. If you click on a user name in a thread a popup window will appear. If you click on all posts by this user all threads they participated in from newest to oldest will come up. This was his newest or last thread.


----------



## Doc

ki0ho said:


> Doc...could post 2 on this thread have been Als last post????? Just wondering.......





Bamby said:


> Yep, appears it was. If you click on a user name in a thread a popup window will appear. If you click on all posts by this user all threads they participated in from newest to oldest will come up. This was his newest or last thread.



Yep.   
I was scanning the thread and saw Al's there on 9/5.  Damn.   Life is short guys, we never know what's around the next corner or when it will suddenly come to an end.  So we have to do like Al, and make every post a good one.


----------



## road squawker

grizzer said:


> This whole thing is a delusion pushed by the liberals ......


 

well, I don't know about you, but,... 

I rarely even talk to liberals, but, when I do,.......... 

I just tell them to supersize it.


----------



## 300 H and H

road aquawker said:


> well, I don't know about you, but,...
> 
> I rarely even talk to liberals, but, when I do,..........
> 
> I just tell them to supersize it.


 

Damn thats funny!

Regards, Kirk


----------



## Doc

road aquawker said:


> well, I don't know about you, but,...
> 
> I rarely even talk to liberals, but, when I do,..........
> 
> I just tell them to supersize it.


I agree that was too funny.  Great one RS!!!!


----------



## tiredretired

road aquawker said:


> well, I don't know about you, but,...
> 
> I rarely even talk to liberals, but, when I do,..........
> 
> I just tell them to supersize it.



OMG!! That is too funny.  I'll be chuckling all night long now.  Thank you, sir!


----------



## EastTexFrank

road aquawker said:


> well, I don't know about you, but,...
> 
> I rarely even talk to liberals, but, when I do,..........
> 
> I just tell them to supersize it.



Every now and then you read something and think to yourself, "I wish that I'd said that".  

Thank you sir, that is a minor classic.


----------



## mbsieg

Miss the old coot


----------



## FrancSevin

Except for the pregrinding of the meat, Burger King used to employ the same system. Back then they flame broiled IN STORE. Now they took the machine and put it in a central factory where they "pre Broil" the burgers to be thawed and final cooked at the store. 

Of course, at the time, the were making the burgers "YOUR WAY' meaning the condiments were custom assembled at the Store. So, it made sense.


BTW, Fries, slaw, all of the side orders, can be done with automation as well.

Now you have the customer punching their order into the cash register and waiting for the machines to assemble the meal. It will likely com to you in a sealed bag on a conveyor belt.

The AutoMat has returned. Nothing new here........

.......except that 40% of the "no experience required" jobs will disappear.

Kids coming our of school cannot count change anyways, much less reliably show up for work or on time,,, so it doesn't really matter right?


----------



## MrLiberty

road squawker said:


> well, I don't know about you, but,...
> 
> I rarely even talk to liberals, but, when I do,..........
> 
> I just tell them to supersize it.


 

And 9 times out of 10 they still get it wrong.


----------



## Leni

Those employees used to be kids working after school or working their way through college for the most part.  They were not supporting families.  It was an entry level job.  It has totally changed.  Instead of using it a a gateway to something better they are stagnant.  I have no sympathy for them.  Fifteen dollars an hour is way too much.  And now I hear that many of those workers are asking for fewer hours so they don't lose their welfare benefits.


----------



## tiredretired

Leni said:


> Those employees used to be kids working after school or working their way through college for the most part.  They were not supporting families.  It was an entry level job.  It has totally changed.  Instead of using it a a gateway to something better they are stagnant.  I have no sympathy for them.  Fifteen dollars an hour is way too much.  And now I hear that many of those workers are asking for fewer hours so they don't lose their welfare benefits.



Totally agree.  A lot of these people today have no desire to better themselves in any way.  No desire to get some sort of further education, whether it is community college, learning a trade or something of the sort.

They instead prefer to live off the system, get their welfare, work as little as possible and contribute little to nothing back to society.  

F***ing slugs the lot of them.  They disgust me to no end.  

My $.02 worth.


----------

