L.a. County Raises Min Wage To $15/hr. Thoughts?

LINK

 

I've already seen the kiosks in McDonald's. There was a location in St George, UT that was one of several in the country where they were testing them. That was 2 years ago so I knew it was coming. This is just the beginning, the mandate for higher minimum wages will push the demand for automation into overdrive. By 2030, expect the vast majority of fast food restaurants around the country to be automated. Not just kiosks for ordering either, they'll have robots doing all the food prep and a substantial part of the cleaning. Only employees left will be shift managers and stockers/cleaners. Plus a couple of workers who maintain all the equipment. They'll be paid minimum wage because there will be a severe oversupply of labor at that point. Not much else. All those cashiers and cooks? Gone.

 

The food tastes automated, so why not automate it all.

This change was coming since the late 90’s. I recall seeing a show at that time where they were testing scanning groceries at a supermarket in South Africa. They put a basket of groceries under a scanner that scanned the whole basket, some 50+ goods, within a couple seconds. Obviously, no need for cashiers. I’m not sure why it wasn’t implemented since then, though we have a hybrid version now where humans do the scanning. But maybe it was because they saw the destruction to that labor market.

 

In many cases, it requires multiple incomes, so roommates, partners, etc come into play. I don’t think I’d base minimum wage on “I should be able live in my own” type of financial requirements. That would be absurd.

In most cases, I’d guess that minimally skilled people don’t have the responsibility level to keep and maintain their own place. It’s not cheap!