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Jack in the Box CEO reconsiders automation, kiosks

businessinsider.com.au

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Re: Jack in the Box CEO reconsiders automation, kiosks

#41

Post by dagw »

ythn wrote: post #33
KozmoNau7 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, there are literally no good reasons for that. If you work a full-time job, and I don't care what that job is, your employer absolutely should adequately compensate you, for the amount of time spent on your job. Your employer is buying your time, the most precious and absolutely non-renewable resource you have. Don't sell it too cheaply.

Is being paid a non-living wage better than being paid nothing at all? Say I am a one man shop. I would like an assistant, but I don't actually make enough to pay the assistant a "living wage". My options are to hire an assistant at non-living wages, or not hire an assistant at all. Which is preferable?

would like an assistant, but I don't actually make enough to pay the assistant a "living wage"

Have your assistant come in only 2-3 days a week or or only 3-4 hours in the morning.

Re: Jack in the Box CEO reconsiders automation, kiosks

#42

Post by tonylemesmer »

taoistextremist wrote: post #37

These kiosks are already in tons of McDonald's locations from what I understand (I've only seen them in Canada but I'm told they're elsewhere) so I don't get the hesitation. They work well, especially if there's a long line or you're hungover and don't want to talk to anybody. What I'm wondering is when they're gonna figure out how to replace the cooks with machines (though that's a different task from kiosks, you ne…

The kiosks have been in all the McDonald's in the UK I've been to in the past 3 years (probably only about 6 tbh). They're great because you can get exactly what you want, down to the pickle and mustard and it entertains the kids whilst you're in the restaurant.

In busy restaurants the kiosks do allow a massive backlog of orders to build up. The kitchens cannot keep up.

edit: added 2nd para.

Re: Jack in the Box CEO reconsiders automation, kiosks

#43

Post by Agustus »

pc86 wrote: post #35
ythn wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is being paid a non-living wage better than being paid nothing at all? Say I am a one man shop. I would like an assistant, but I don't actually make enough to pay the assistant a "living wage". My options are to hire an assistant at non-living wages, or not hire an assistant at all. Which is preferable?

You can afford to hire a part-time assistant. You shouldn't be able to hire someone to work full-time for you for $20 a week. I hope that's obvious.

If I wanted to learn from this person their craft and wanted to make a desirable investment in being in their presence and knowledge, you would prevent me from accepting this opportunity?

Re: Jack in the Box CEO reconsiders automation, kiosks

#44

Post by taoistextremist »

w0m wrote: post #27
kahnpro wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One major concern about "turning bottom-tier jobs into more productive roles" is about the number of jobs. If 10,000 cashier jobs gets turned into 1,000 maintenance and guidance jobs, you've still put 90% of your workforce out of work. While I don't think we should artificially protect such bottom-tier jobs, this transformation is still going to be very disruptive.

Which then freeze up 9,000 low-skilled workers to do ~anything else that was impractical 5 years ago. 98% of US population used to be farmers for sustainability. Automation of farming freed up that workforce, today only 2% of the population directly farms. That (insanely high) percentage of displaced workforce is what allowed other other industries to spring up. Yes, jobs don't exist for those 9k workers - but the wo…

The one hopeful thing is that maybe this will take down real production costs of stuff so their ability to buy things will grow, but they'd still need assistance if they can't find any job.

I think if you don't want to leave those people behind (you don't, it's societally disruptive to have a bunch of unemployed people who used to be able to kind of support themselves) government bodies need to step in and sponsor more retraining programs.

Re: Jack in the Box CEO reconsiders automation, kiosks

#45

Post by taoistextremist »

tonylemesmer wrote: post #42
taoistextremist wrote: post #37

These kiosks are already in tons of McDonald's locations from what I understand (I've only seen them in Canada but I'm told they're elsewhere) so I don't get the hesitation. They work well, especially if there's a long line or you're hungover and don't want to talk to anybody. What I'm wondering is when they're gonna figure out how to replace the cooks with machines (though that's a different task from kiosks, you ne…

The kiosks have been in all the McDonald's in the UK I've been to in the past 3 years (probably only about 6 tbh). They're great because you can get exactly what you want, down to the pickle and mustard and it entertains the kids whilst you're in the restaurant. In busy restaurants the kiosks do allow a massive backlog of orders to build up. The kitchens cannot keep up. edit: added 2nd para.

>In busy restaurants the kiosks do allow a massive backlog of orders to build up. The kitchens cannot keep up

This sounds like it could be understaffing, but if not, they should just put a pause on all orders. Of course, managers would never want that because they're averse to turning down business even if it worsens the quality for everyone.

Re: Jack in the Box CEO reconsiders automation, kiosks

#46

Post by setgree »

kahnpro wrote: post #23
schnevets wrote: post #20

The Target near my apartment in Brooklyn is not giant, but due to population density it has a ton of registers. Over the holidays, the replaced a sizable chunk of these registers with self-checkout kiosks. Although there was a long line to use the self-checkout kiosks, it was a faster and better experience than waiting for a register to open. More importantly, there were still a lot of people working in this section.…

One major concern about "turning bottom-tier jobs into more productive roles" is about the number of jobs. If 10,000 cashier jobs gets turned into 1,000 maintenance and guidance jobs, you've still put 90% of your workforce out of work. While I don't think we should artificially protect such bottom-tier jobs, this transformation is still going to be very disruptive.

"While I don't think we should artificially protect such bottom-tier jobs, this transformation is still going to be very disruptive."

There is no need to artificially preserve such jobs, the market provides for them just fine. What threatens such jobs, at least today in California, is price controls on labor.

Re: Jack in the Box CEO reconsiders automation, kiosks

#47

Post by pc86 »

Agustus wrote: post #43
pc86 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can afford to hire a part-time assistant. You shouldn't be able to hire someone to work full-time for you for $20 a week. I hope that's obvious.

If I wanted to learn from this person their craft and wanted to make a desirable investment in being in their presence and knowledge, you would prevent me from accepting this opportunity?

Don't conflate apprenticeships with taking advantage of poor people. Are you pretending there is no difference between these two scenarios?

A) Someone is a gifted tattoo artist and you want to learn the craft from them, so you pay them to teach you. You're responsible for your living expenses and you get by with odd jobs or what-have-you.

B) Someone pays you $5/day to do office work for them.

Re: Jack in the Box CEO reconsiders automation, kiosks

#48

Post by taoistextremist »

prklmn wrote: post #36
schnevets wrote: post #20

The Target near my apartment in Brooklyn is not giant, but due to population density it has a ton of registers. Over the holidays, the replaced a sizable chunk of these registers with self-checkout kiosks. Although there was a long line to use the self-checkout kiosks, it was a faster and better experience than waiting for a register to open. More importantly, there were still a lot of people working in this section.…

We as consumers will see no gains from using self service checkouts. I am doing the job that someone once did for me so that Target can make more money. Those efficiency gains for Target are a direct burden on me. Also, I’d argue that self checkout is not faster than having someone checkout and someone bag for me, maybe it seemed faster in that scenario, but it’s unliekly faster in general.

I'd argue that's a lag in price, though. Even if Target doesn't lower their prices, as self-checkouts get more and more ubiquitous (I mean, they kind of have, but they aren't necessarily the standard), if a Target competitor wants to lower their prices to steal customers it's now easier to do so because they're making more money as well. The lack of benefit to the consumer is due to the lack of competition, but with adequate competition this technology would definitely bring down prices.

Re: Jack in the Box CEO reconsiders automation, kiosks

#49

Post by _rutinerad »

prklmn wrote: post #36
schnevets wrote: post #20

The Target near my apartment in Brooklyn is not giant, but due to population density it has a ton of registers. Over the holidays, the replaced a sizable chunk of these registers with self-checkout kiosks. Although there was a long line to use the self-checkout kiosks, it was a faster and better experience than waiting for a register to open. More importantly, there were still a lot of people working in this section.…

We as consumers will see no gains from using self service checkouts. I am doing the job that someone once did for me so that Target can make more money. Those efficiency gains for Target are a direct burden on me. Also, I’d argue that self checkout is not faster than having someone checkout and someone bag for me, maybe it seemed faster in that scenario, but it’s unliekly faster in general.

1 self checkout terminal is usually not faster than 1 cashier. But 1 cash register is usually replaced with multiple self checkout terminals and then the process is definitely sped up. Mainly due more bandwidth to mitigate slow customer bottlenecks. Especially when the self checkout is the kind where you scan the groceries while shopping and don’t need to re-bag them.

Re: Jack in the Box CEO reconsiders automation, kiosks

#50

Post by dagw »

prklmn wrote: post #36
schnevets wrote: post #20

The Target near my apartment in Brooklyn is not giant, but due to population density it has a ton of registers. Over the holidays, the replaced a sizable chunk of these registers with self-checkout kiosks. Although there was a long line to use the self-checkout kiosks, it was a faster and better experience than waiting for a register to open. More importantly, there were still a lot of people working in this section.…

We as consumers will see no gains from using self service checkouts. I am doing the job that someone once did for me so that Target can make more money. Those efficiency gains for Target are a direct burden on me. Also, I’d argue that self checkout is not faster than having someone checkout and someone bag for me, maybe it seemed faster in that scenario, but it’s unliekly faster in general.

The time from when you start the checkout procedure until you leave the store is probably not faster on average. However since you can have six checkout machines in a space that used to have one checkout person the time from when you get in line until you leave the store is quite likely a lot faster.
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