Minimum Wage Massacre: Wendy's Unleashes 1,000 Robots To Counter Higher Labor Costs
- Thread starter Madmallard
- Start date
kev74
20×102mm Vulcan
Air heads is being charitable.Pneumatic. To keep with the theme of their current employees being airheads.
bobbyd3
.40 S&W
I think everyone misses the point in the minimum wage hike.
It was done because all the workers making 8 bucks an hour then have to be supplemented by the government to pay rent and eat. while the corporations take billions of profit that they wiggle out of paying taxes on.
They can afford to pay $15 they just dont want to hurt the 50 million dollar bonuses they give themselves.
Ya it hurts small business making small profits but in reality small business is dying. everythings corporate.
The argument your not supposed to live on a fast food job holds no water anymore as all manufacturing is gone in this country and there arent alot of non retail job options for people. the corporations make obscene profits and should be expected to pay employees more
It was done because all the workers making 8 bucks an hour then have to be supplemented by the government to pay rent and eat. while the corporations take billions of profit that they wiggle out of paying taxes on.
They can afford to pay $15 they just dont want to hurt the 50 million dollar bonuses they give themselves.
Ya it hurts small business making small profits but in reality small business is dying. everythings corporate.
The argument your not supposed to live on a fast food job holds no water anymore as all manufacturing is gone in this country and there arent alot of non retail job options for people. the corporations make obscene profits and should be expected to pay employees more
This holds no water at any level.
Or, another option, the government (us) pays ZERO all around, and if you don't have a job where you can afford to pay rent and eat, you don't take one, and then go live on your own. You work minimum wage jobs to gain basic skills, and then move on to real jobs like a real adult.
Yes, the evil greedy "corporations." They don't want to have their money stolen without any representation whatsoever via taxes, so let's...steal it anyway via different laws! That'll show 'em!
And who exactly appointed you to decide what a private business can and/or must afford to pay and what exact profits everyone else can and/or should make?
"Corporate?" Sounds like a buzzword. Anyway, small business is dying. In a land formed by small businesses.
That's not good.
What!? "Should be EXPECTED to pay employees more!?" The audacity. Again, who exactly appointed you the person that decides how much I pay my employees, who voluntarily agreed to their contracted positions AND wages!?
There are actually way more jobs available than people tend to let on about, but often those jobs are for people with, say, basic skills.
Those that earned basic knowledge at a young age, but are now ready for more demanding work. To raise a family or buy a house.
Woah, crazy idea.
spat
.950 JDJ
A job is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay to get it done, no more. If it can be automated away for less money than it takes to get someone to do it, then it will be, and should be. I don't care how "greedy" corporations are, if they get too greedy, then they wont get my money anymore, its that simple. How greedy do you think someone who wants to be paid $15/hr for a job a robot can do for $1 is ? If you think its unfair to automate away low skilled jobs, maybe you should google "luddite" and think what our world would look like now if they had gotten their way.
Rbuske
.38 Special
Think of the money we could save by replacing FUAC with a robot
Doc8404
.450/400 Nitro Ex
camper4lyfe
.308 Win
Just use vegetable oil. That's what zoos with hydraulic gates/fences (for elephants, hippos, rhinos, etc) use. If there's a leak, it's safe for the animals.
When was the last time you priced out a top of the line enterprise server? Because I priced out a semi-modest one a month or two ago, and I can assure you it was more than 5 grand.
Fabrication of cabinet - $750
Graphics on cabinet - $100
Computer - $600 (including OS, a lot of these machines run Windows IoT/Embedded)
17" touchscreen - $1000 (Industrial touch screens are expensive)
Printer - $600
UPS - $100
Credit card and bill reader - $500
Total - $3650
Add in random miscellaneous things that I'm not thinking of plus things like installation at the point of service, configuration, training, shipping, etc, and it will be even more. You have to factor in a slight profit for Wendy's too. $5000 for a kiosk isn't outrageous at all.
Did you just price out one, show well under 5k, and say I was wrong?
?
Or am I missing something here.
camper4lyfe
.308 Win
Did you miss the "semi-modest" in his second sentence?
Did you miss the "I can assure you it was more than 5k", and then it wasn't in the rest of the post?
Either way, that's getting close on something probably 6 thousand times more powerful than a touchscreen and simple user interface.
Am I missing a huge opportunity here? Reasonably priced POS systems?
Did you miss my 3rd to last sentence? That $3650 is for hardware only. You know there is a difference between the crap that is bought from Best Buy and industrial type hardware, right? Spending $3650 on the setup just in the hardware and build out is a very real possibility. I used to work for a company that built and set up trade shows, including some kiosks. $3650 for just the hardware is probably accurate.
How much would it cost to ship from the place making it to the store? $400?
How much would it cost for a tech to come out and train the store employees? $600? (Figure 1 night in a hotel, flight/mileage in a car, labor costs, etc, and you're probably well over that. I get paid $300 in mileage alone when I drive from Rochester to our datacenter in PA.)
What about the software development and maintenance including any bug fixes, menu updates, graphics updates? Figure $50 per machine over the life of the machine?
You're up to $4700 now, at least. So, Wendy's is making $300 per machine.
I'd assume these come with at least a 1 year warranty. When something breaks, the hardware manufacturer will replace the hardware, but someone has to come out and fix it. That eats into corporate money. It has to be factored into the cost.
What about the people that Wendy's corporate has to staff now to take machine orders, handle service requests, etc. Just eating into the profits more.
I can assure you that $5k for a kiosk machine is reasonable.
I think we have discover we have vastly different definitions of the word "reasonable."
No "crap from Best Buy" here. If you honestly think a $200 touch screen POS system can be stretched out to 5k, I guess we simply won't agree on technical matters.
You seriously think this can be done for $200 per machine?
I know it already is.
See any Apple store. They use iPads for their POS.
So does Chili's.
It's replacing a ticket pad and pen.
kev74
20×102mm Vulcan
If you can do it, have at it! Companies pay ridiculous money for this stuff. Especially when the companies mandate that their franchises purchase a particular, corprate approved system.
Spotted the waste.
I wasn't aware that iPads had thermal printers, credit card readers, a full kiosk, etc.
Do you know how much a good touch screen cash register costs, like the ones that Wendy's uses? $2k. And, those aren't built the same way these kiosks would be built.
How Much Does a Point Of Sale System Cost?
Kiosks will undoubtedly be more because they will have a larger touch screen, full kiosk, etc.
If you feel you can undercut prices, go for it. PM me the name of your company though. I'm careful with my investments
SigSweet
.45 acp
How long until there is a robot tax?
Willing to bet soon corporations will be required to pay a tax on machines they use to replace "high" labor employees to help slow the conversion process.
Hope those funds dont end up in Coumos spending "budget"
Willing to bet soon corporations will be required to pay a tax on machines they use to replace "high" labor employees to help slow the conversion process.
Hope those funds dont end up in Coumos spending "budget"
Greywolf224
6.5 Creedmoor
I was part of procurement for IT/IS departments for many years. Still work with servers. $5K normally doesn't cover the expense to cover the research needed just to decide on the hardware that's needed.
Hell my company laptop that I write this from, costs north of $2600
Hell my company laptop that I write this from, costs north of $2600
Honest question, have you seen a Chili's POS system?I wasn't aware that iPads had thermal printers, credit card readers, a full kiosk, etc.
Do you know how much a good touch screen cash register costs, like the ones that Wendy's uses? $2k. And, those aren't built the same way these kiosks would be built.
How Much Does a Point Of Sale System Cost?
Kiosks will undoubtedly be more because they will have a larger touch screen, full kiosk, etc.
If you feel you can undercut prices, go for it. PM me the name of your company though. I'm careful with my investments
It's a tablet, at each table, with card reader, full POS functionality, and I believe receipt printer, and if not, they cost nothing. Hell, the Gameboy had one.
They might cost that much because people price them that high with no competition, but they don't cost that much. By an order of magnitude.
spat
.950 JDJ
Think of the money we could save if we replaced him with a bag of dog crap. The governor
You're missing installation fee, and the POS software (in both senses of the word). I have no doubt the company installing these things charges $1000 each or more to set them up on site.
bottom line thoughis that its Wendy's money, and if they thought they had a better option they would take it. If you think you can build a better or cheaper moustrap go for it. The way things are going, if you can your ammo budget problem will be over in a couple years.
You're a believer in the free market, right? If there was an opportunity to undercut the competition don't you think that the many makers of cash register and POS systems would be doing it?
Yup. Those machines are everywhere now. Chili's, Red Robin, Olive Garden, etc. There is no real POS system in them. The info gets sent back up to whatever POS system they have. I'd be willing to bet Wendy's won't have to update POS systems because they are all standardized. Can those machines dispense change? Have a bill reader? Store money? Those screens are small as hell, and they aren't as responsive as a good touchscreen. No way I'd want to try and order real food from them. Do you think installing the games they have on them helps offset the cost at all? People being able to reorder drinks and order deserts makes the restaurant more money and allows the customers to be able to get out of there quicker. They make more money per table (they sell more drinks and 30% more deserts with them) and the tables turnover faster. More people put in their info to be in the rewards club, so they get repeat customers. The ROI on them is probably quick.
You do know that there is profit sharing with those Ziosk tablets, right? Wendy's is going with a different business model and having the franchises buy the kiosks outright. Of course their kiosks will cost more. They're not sharing their profits in perpetuity with a 3rd party.
camper4lyfe
.308 Win
Good point about dispensing change. That's one thing I hadn't considered since I rarely carry cash.
There is no free market with the franchise though. That's the crux of the whole issue, and why they get away with charging $5,000 for a simple kiosk. The stores get whatever overpriced crap they are forced to and that's the end of it.
I could do it for under $500, easily.How much do you think this kiosk would actually cost to build?
