15 bucks to flip burgers in Seattle. Wow

I agree with all of your examples, but none are the same as pure FF..

WSC,

I do not believe kiosks will ever be used at the drive-thru of McD or any other FF.

You have brought up the concept of up-selling... A kiosk can be programmed to ask... Would you like fries with that? if only a burger and coke are ordered... Custom up-selling messages can be programmed for any order combination.

You keep bringing up time... There are a whole bunch of us that are not interested in being in and out in 3 minutes...

I do not like standing in line. I am computer literate and actually would rather deal with a kiosk verses stand in line and wait my turn to deal with some over worked cashier... Most cashiers, out of fairness are trying to do 3 jobs. Take orders, fill drink orders, bag the order... If I am ordering I want the cashiers attention focused on me and not rushing me... The rush of ordering at a FF place has soured me on going near a FF place during lunch hours and 4 to 5 in evening...

As far as custom orders... Have you ordered a pizza online lately? You can order a specialty pizza OR Pick a crust, then the size and then pick the specific topping that are on the whole pizza or just half of it. Then you add in your choice of bread sticks... And you have the option of chicken wings... regular or boneless... And the sauce...

Customizing a burger or burrito or taco should not be any harder than customizing a pizza...

Well
When I order FF with these stressed out, up selling cashiers- about half the time they fu ck it up-
Not sure how a kiosk could do worse, actually-

I'm not sure automation is the answer- but the dimwits that man the register aren't even close to accurate-

It's kind of funny just watching the wheels turn as they're trying to figure out how much change to give-

FF will eventually replace people with computers.  Instead of having 3 or 4 cashiers maybe they will have 2 with 4 kiosks where you can make your order and get a ticket to pick up your order.  It's pretty basic stuff that's already being done elsewhere. 

As people used to be wrong about the motion of the sun, so they are still wrong about the motion of the future. The future stands still; it is we who move in infinite space. 

in SF bay area you'd be hard pressed to find a garage space ( to park a car) for  $500 per month...forget about a living space ...  i read somewhere the avg 1 BR  apt . from SF to San Jose  is about  $2600 / mo...

Actually I read a news article that stated that burger chain wendys is going to kiosk soon so there will not be any cashiers or registers any more. Why even have a dining room if people get uber eats and the restaurants  go automation. I imagine places like rallys and checkers are much closer ahead of the game do to the amount of square footage they have. I expect alot of these fast food places to either close down or reduce the square footage they have. Just the other day I was in a walmart in columbus ohio and they said the mcdonalds that use to be in the walmart closed down.

Fukk these Corporate Fukks.

Today I bought my favorite margarita.

Jose Cuervo Golden with Grand Marnier 1.75L.

They used to produce a very nice bottle with a handle.

Convenient for grabbing with a single finger.

No more.

Now they have changed to a POS standard bottle with no handle.

What is next?  Plastic???

These Corporate Fukks will squeeze every last penny they can from consumers.

Fukk'em.  I will buy my own Tequila and Grand Marnier separately and mix my own.  Dammed if I will submit to these Corporate Fukks.

 

Prediction: watch the population of Seattle decrease over the coming years. People follow jobs. If you are a prospective business would you consider Seattle or a lower paying area of the country to setup shop?

Job growth drives wages(job growth> wages) because of demand not the other way (wages > job growth) around which causes jobs to disappear in many cases FOREVER because you forced automation(kiosks) in the picture.

Watch big business demand from a city a locked in min wage rate to lure them into that city. It is already done with taxes anyways but wages will follow.

Businesses want STABLE environments with no hidden factors to disrupt their business plans and the cities which offer that to them will be the new big cities of tomorrow.

I propose an equally stupid law called min price on everything!!! Why should labor be the only thing that is not a free market?????


Min price for shoes -$ 500. That way everyone making the shoes has more money to stimulate the economy which just creates more jobs.

Wait...what's that? You're saying that people wont buy my higher priced shoes now?

The very FIRST thing I would do is put my house up for sale and get maximum possible dollar before the city unravels and becomes another Detroit.

We'll just SEE about that!!! I am not talking about 1 month from now as it could take time.

IF you see a large spike in homes for sale as that will be your sign of impending Seattle doom as everybody suddenly "gets it" the cost of living is just too high here.

You really think Seattle will be a DRAW for retiring senior citizens on a fixed income?? Not going to happen..

You will see property taxes for the city increase also as the city will
need to "recoup" income from businesses leaving the area.

Minimum wage laws are no big deal for several reasons.  First, only a small minority of workers are paid minimum wage.  Average wage is much higher in affected cities with strong economy and low unemployment.  Secondly, governments are usually cautious in implementation.   Small wage increases gradually spread over a long period of time so that businesses can adapt.  Third, failure of wages to keep up with inflation has been a bigger problem for decades.  

According to University of California study, minimum wage increase has raised income without causing unemployment.  Seattle's economy is still growing with unemployment at historic low.  Population continues to increase and fortune 500 companies are moving to Seattle.

However income tax credits would be a more efficient way of helping the poor instead of raising minimum wage to unfairly punish some industries.

No big deal, huh ? 

This study paints a slightly different picture for those workers being effected at the bottom rung of the minimum wage fight ;

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/06/seattle-minimum-wage/531714/

Exactly correct!!! If you leave min wage mandates alone you allow the business to reward the really skilled labor who would grow your business with or without you.

BUT, when you increase labor costs, businesses MUST put a ceiling on those top skilled workers. So, their pay gap above a standard body (who gives a sh&t less about your business)
SHRINKS.

Eventually, the skilled labor finds a better paying career in which they are a higher amount above min labor. Your business is left with
duds... I've seen it happen in almost every retail business.

Been there done that!! We had a rest business and sold it in 2004 mainly because of the lingering threat of wage increase and mandatory health care.

Min wage mandates have been in effect for at least 70 years and do
NOTHING to change poverty rates and likely make them worse.

THINK ABOUT IT....if min wage mandates were such a great stimulus for the bottom end of the economy then the economy would be booming over the 70 year period we have had them in effect.

If min wage mandates work(???) then why do we keep having to do them and at an increasing rate. Check history of this...

Let the business establish it's own pay rate based on employee performance. That way there is an incentive for the newbie who sees a skilled worker who is payed way more than him to get on the ball and try to become like the skilled worker who makes more than him.

There is no incentive because these min wage mandates have shrunk the gap between a dud and a stud worker. The business suffers and so does the high end worker because of this anti-free market wage structure.

Example:

Walmart increased it min pay to 11ish per hour. Ok. But they used to start at 9ish and it took them years to get to 11. My friend who works at a walmart got a 60 cent raise to his 14ish wage. The pay percentage received by my friend was not proportionate to the entry level worker who got jumped to 11.