Wendy's is replacing humans with AI next month

[Touch My Hamm]

I dont eat Wendy's to begin with. Unless the cost reduction from not having that employee is reflected into the purchased product I would simply go somewhere else. I have talked about this before. We will start to see larger and larger layoffs as companies push into AI creating a new "industrial revolution". Companies trying to max profit will cut as many humans out and when too many companies do this nobody will have the funds to purchase the product thus they all collapse and the large companies will get bailed out. There will most likely be a requirements put into place to control the implementation and mass layoffs or we will start to hear more and more about layoffs and people no longer spending and instead saving.

We need a place to move these workers into so they can work and make money or we will be in some trouble as more and more positions are replaced with AI quicker and quicker.

[Donut417]

52 minutes ago, wanderingfool2 said:

You think they make a lot of profits?

 

Let's see, Wendy's Q1 2023;

Revenue: 528.8 mill

Cost of Revenue: 444 mill

Net Income: ~40 mill (There was roughly an extra 44 mill not associated with the costs but still other expenses)

These numbers are of the Wendy's Corporation not of the individual stores that could be franchise. I know when I worked at Burger King at a franchise store, the owner said the BK corp got 12% off the top of sales. But at the end of the day it up to the franchise owner as well as being in the proper location for a location to succeed. Really all the corporation does is provide a name, product and marketing. Most employees are technically working for the franchise owner and in the case of the franchise I worked for, we had 5 stores at the time. 

 

I recall the owner stating at one time that each whopper made about 10 cents. Out of that 10 cents he had to pay all the expenses out of that. So like I said above, restaurants have thin margins and only getting thinner as inflation continues. 

[Brooksie359]

43 minutes ago, wanderingfool2 said:

You think they make a lot of profits?

 

Let's see, Wendy's Q1 2023;

Revenue: 528.8 mill

Cost of Revenue: 444 mill

Net Income: ~40 mill (There was roughly an extra 44 mill not associated with the costs but still other expenses)

 

Yes such a large "profit" $40 mill despite having revenues of $528.8 mill.

 

Getting a ton of business does NOT equal being financially stable as a company.

 

It's a naive response to only associate issues with things like "housing" and similar.  There are so many people who I see talk about housing and living paycheck to paycheck, who I see getting Starbucks or other similar.  I'm not saying there are people who live paycheck to paycheck who aren't trying to be fiscally responsible; but there are still a vast majority who don't want to give up  on the "luxuries" of life if it means positioning themselves in a better position.

 

It really bothers me when I hear people, especially at work, who whine and complain about their salary and say they should be paid a "living wage" and when I bring up that they get paid more than me instantly it's "Your rent isn't as high as mine" (because they chose to live in Vancouver), "I don't want to give up Starbucks", "You live a boring life".  The simple fact is, there are a lot more people who get themselves in a situation (it can boil down to education and lack of education of finances).

 

It bugs me though when people look at revenues and just assume "company XYZ can pay more".

Ah yes we are going to look at the total revenue of Wendy's not looking at average individual stores stats. For the most part it looks like there is margin enough to increase wages when looking at individual store earnings. Also I personally believe that if your business model doesn't work unless you pay people less than a living wage then you have a failed business model. Also like I said we didn't always have this issue. We used to have wages that kept up with inflation but for some reason that stopped at some point and people just came up with this narrative that we can't pay people enough because then prices would increase too much even though we had been doing that for decades without issue. Also just pointing to someone getting coffee and saying that this is why they are living paycheck to paycheck is kinda crazy. I mean for me that costs 7 dollars a day and that is when I work which is 5 days a week. Looking at that and you can calculate out to be about 150 bucks a month to buy coffee everyday from the coffee shop which I'm sorry but if 150 dollars is making or breaking you then that is an issue. Also that is if you go everyday and get a reactively expensive drink like I do. You can get cheaper drinks and go less often. Mind you I personally make more than enough money so doesn't matter to me regardless but I think you are oversimplifying things. I mean sure maybe some people are just bad with money but I would say that it's likely not always the case and I would even go so far as to say is rarely the case. Obviously yes if you are on a bad financial situation you probably should not spend your money on coffee at a store and should make smart decisions as unfortunately in the short term that is basically all you can do but to say that the situation is OK because some can barely make do by doing so is crazy to me. Then again I feel like that is a disconnect alot of people have. It's one thing to say you should do this because that is all you really have control over but you can still recognize that the system is fundamentally flawed. 

[wanderingfool2]

7 hours ago, Brooksie359 said:

Also just pointing to someone getting coffee and saying that this is why they are living paycheck to paycheck is kinda crazy. I mean for me that costs 7 dollars a day and that is when I work which is 5 days a week. Looking at that and you can calculate out to be about 150 bucks a month to buy coffee everyday from the coffee shop which I'm sorry but if 150 dollars is making or breaking you then that is an issue. Also that is if you go everyday and get a reactively expensive drink like I do. You can get cheaper drinks and go less often

Then you are missing the point or being ignorant to the point I am raising.

 

There are plenty of people who I know to complain about living paycheck to paycheck or having no savings; yet spend exactly like you are.  Do you not grasp that those little things add up?

 

That $20 a month extra phone plan adds up to $240 a year.

That coffee by your own admission would be $1,800 a year...even if you made $90k year that equates to 2% of your annual income; or a large chunk of your rent.

Eating out a few times a month can add a $1,000+ easily.

 

The simple fact is the majority of people needlessly spend and then complain about barely making ends meet; and how they should be paid more.

https://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/living-paycheck-to-paycheck-statistics/

47.1% of people making $100k+ are paycheck to paycheck

76% for $50-100k.

 

People needlessly spend their money.  I've lived off of spending $30k CAD a year before and still managed to save up money; just lots of people don't sacrifice the luxuries and expect to have everything.

[maartendc]

18 hours ago, Donut417 said:

You never worked at fast food and it shows. No amount of money is going to get people in the door, it’s a shit job. Restaurants have slim margins so they cant pay that great. Because customers will go else where if they massively raise prices. 

LOL. And it sounds like you've worked at the C-suite of a fast food corporation buddy.

 

Stacking supermarket shelves is also a shit job. Yet people fight to get jobs at Costco. Why? Because they actually pay their employees well, offer good healthcare and other benefits, and try to make the job environment as pleasant as possible. And their business is booming.

[maartendc]

16 hours ago, wanderingfool2 said:

To address your "poorly run" notion; if you pay the lower workers "living wage" you will find very quickly that inflation kicks in or you lose business.  There were a few restaurants in BC that had a "living wage" (without no tipping necessary), they went out of business because no one wanted to pay for the higher prices.  Paying people more means usually a few things, either reducing the size of the meal (thus saving on cost but customers get less), raising rates (customers avoid or go less), become more efficient (i.e. less staff doing more), or make less profit (which isn't realistic when you are a franchise owner who paid $1 mill plus to start the franchise at a location).

What a bunch of BS.

 

I live in Europe. We have very good minimum wages, also for restaurant workers. Tipping is nonexistent here, as they are paid a normal living salary.

 

Still, restaurants are abundant. Fast food exists here. Pigs are not flying (yet), hell hasn't frozen over. Go figure.

 

Sounds like you have been brainwashed by the talking points the corporations use to lobby against minimum wage increases. The only thing that will happen if you raise the minimum wage is the C-suite executives can't buy a third boat or a fourth private jet.

[RTX 3090]

4 hours ago, wanderingfool2 said:

The simple fact is the majority of people needlessly spend and then complain about barely making ends meet; and how they should be paid more.

 

From a large scale perspective, people spending conservatively would lead to demand push disinflation / deflation which would worsen unemplyment levels & other economic factors even more. And once deflation begins, it starts to become cyclical

[Donut417]

1 hour ago, maartendc said:

Stacking supermarket shelves is also a shit job.

Oh you want to go there. I worked at Sam's Club as well. And Retail is a lot better than fast food. Also stocking shelves is not really that bad compared to working in a hot ass kitchen. 

 

1 hour ago, maartendc said:

Because they actually pay their employees well, offer good healthcare and other benefits,

You clearly didn't read what I wrote. Firstly Costco is a billion dollar corporation, they can afford to offer things. Most fast food is a small business because it's a fucking franchise. Why dont people get that? Fast food restaurants are most of the time not corporate owned therefore they don't have necessarily billions of dollars at their disposal to offer better pay and benefits.  

[HopelessGPU]

Its very cool and exciting! 

[wanderingfool2]

4 hours ago, maartendc said:

What a bunch of BS.

 

I live in Europe. We have very good minimum wages, also for restaurant workers. Tipping is nonexistent here, as they are paid a normal living salary.

 

Still, restaurants are abundant. Fast food exists here. Pigs are not flying (yet), hell hasn't frozen over. Go figure.

 

Sounds like you have been brainwashed by the talking points the corporations use to lobby against minimum wage increases. The only thing that will happen if you raise the minimum wage is the C-suite executives can't buy a third boat or a fourth private jet.

lol, you think I'm brainwashed and yet your last comment shows if anything you are the one being brainwashed into thinking it's a few singular execs at the top that take up all the money.

 

As a note as well, I looked up salaries of a starting fast food worker in Europe.  In many places they do not get paid living wage based on what I was saying in the example of Vancouver.  In fact the make less money in some countries than they do on average in Canada.

 

Vancouver's "normal living salary" is over $20+/hour as an fyi; yet like I've mentioned before one can get by with a lot closer to $15/hour (which conveniently is what minimum wage currently is set at here).  A low end job isn't meant to be a job that you work the rest of your life.

 

To that last comment; congratulations your make the executives bleed plan has raised the salary by $0.50/hour at best.  Also raising minimum wage can trigger inflation; as it starts the general trend of "You are getting paid the same as me, but I got an education and doing a more important job".  Then they get a raise, then the next chain happens until we are in the same starting situation before.

 

Automation and replacing labor is how as a country one competes on a global market.

 

5 hours ago, RTX 3090 said:

From a large scale perspective, people spending conservatively would lead to demand push disinflation / deflation which would worsen unemplyment levels & other economic factors even more. And once deflation begins, it starts to become cyclical

You're thinking inflation, inflation is highly cyclical and overall there is a force always towards inflation.  Deflation though once it runs it's course inflation will kick back in.

 

Also in general I'm not advocating the stopping of spending.  I'm talking about living within ones means and prudent financial planning.  If you make $100k+, one should not be living paycheck to paycheck..instead one should save up enough to have a buffer.  From there it's okay to keep on spending the way you used to (but never going below your safety net with frivolous spending).  When making lower amounts of money, it's about saving enough to put you in a better siutation

[Brooksie359]

2 hours ago, wanderingfool2 said:

lol, you think I'm brainwashed and yet your last comment shows if anything you are the one being brainwashed into thinking it's a few singular execs at the top that take up all the money.

 

As a note as well, I looked up salaries of a starting fast food worker in Europe.  In many places they do not get paid living wage based on what I was saying in the example of Vancouver.  In fact the make less money in some countries than they do on average in Canada.

 

Vancouver's "normal living salary" is over $20+/hour as an fyi; yet like I've mentioned before one can get by with a lot closer to $15/hour (which conveniently is what minimum wage currently is set at here).  A low end job isn't meant to be a job that you work the rest of your life.

 

To that last comment; congratulations your make the executives bleed plan has raised the salary by $0.50/hour at best.  Also raising minimum wage can trigger inflation; as it starts the general trend of "You are getting paid the same as me, but I got an education and doing a more important job".  Then they get a raise, then the next chain happens until we are in the same starting situation before.

 

Automation and replacing labor is how as a country one competes on a global market.

 

You're thinking inflation, inflation is highly cyclical and overall there is a force always towards inflation.  Deflation though once it runs it's course inflation will kick back in.

 

Also in general I'm not advocating the stopping of spending.  I'm talking about living within ones means and prudent financial planning.  If you make $100k+, one should not be living paycheck to paycheck..instead one should save up enough to have a buffer.  From there it's okay to keep on spending the way you used to (but never going below your safety net with frivolous spending).  When making lower amounts of money, it's about saving enough to put you in a better siutation

It sounds like you are comparing living in Europe to living in Vancouver. I'm sorry but Vancouver is city while Europe is dozens of countries. To try and look at wages in Europe is stupid as you are talking about many different places that likely have different minimum wages and policies. keep in mind that if housing prices are lower then even if restaurant workers make less they can still make a living wage as they spend less on housing. Also keep in mind that the euro is worth significantly more than the Canadian dollar so you can't do a direct comparison there either. Also keep in mind the cost of living as some places have cheaper cost of living than others. Anyways we had no issue paying people decent wages for decades yet wages stagnated and people listen to stupid notions like businesses would stop working or inflation would skyrocket when it never happened back then. The fact is that labor costs aren't the only cost of doing business and often times they can afford to increase wages without doing significant damage to their bottom line and if they can't then the business model is flawed and needs to change. Also keep in mind that in the US you have one visit to the emergency room and now you are stuck with a 3k bill even if you insurance. Can't imagine what the cost would be without insurance. 

[CarlBar]

@wanderingfool2 Writing a bigger piece on stuff from further back in the thread but need to weigh in on the whole europe vs US/canada point vis a vis fast food.

 

Here's a link to a site that tracks average big mac prices at mcdonalds worldwide klinking to the UK value ($4.44): https://wisevoter.com/country-rankings/big-mac-index-by-country/#united-kingdom

 

The US value for reference is $5.15.

 

And here's a table showing the average wage of UK Mcdonalds workers, bearing in mind anyone over the age of 20 ears at least £10.14 But according to the info there the average is £8.24 to £9.25. My experiance from going into my 2 local places is that everyone has "crew member" on their nametag, but that may not be representative. Also this is an average, the Uk minimum wage values mean some members will be paid more than this as the minimum wage for 21+ is over £10 per hour.

 

That works out to between $10.29 and $11.55. The US minimum wage is $5 and some change.

 

The idea that restaurant food prices at McDonalds, (and they're pretty typical so it really should transfer to other franchises pretty well), are tied strongly to wages just doesn't hold up. UK Employees are paid more than their minimum wage US counterparts yet the food is cheaper. And at least until the recent CoL crisis brought on by the Ukraine War it was considered possibble to live on the minimum wage and many people worked minimum wage jobs for significant amounts of their lives.

[RTX 3090]

16 hours ago, wanderingfool2 said:

You're thinking inflation, inflation is highly cyclical and overall there is a force always towards inflation.

No I meant deflation, Deflation results in prices gradually decreasing, meaning consumers will hold of large amounts of spending with hope the prices will decrease in the future. This will cause even more deflation since aggregate demand is continuing to decrease

[RTX 3090]

16 hours ago, wanderingfool2 said:

If you make $100k+, one should not be living paycheck to paycheck

I agree with this but I don't think the blame should be shifted away from firms, who have the resources to provide a higher wage

[IkeaGnome]

22 hours ago, wanderingfool2 said:

starts the general trend of "You are getting paid the same as me, but I got an education and doing a more important job".  Then they get a raise, then the next chain happens until we are in the same starting situation before.

Wait until they see what this is already doing in mining and what it’s going to do for metals cost in the near-mid term. 
A large portion of mines here in the States had to raise wages to stay competitive through pandemic lockdowns. Ridiculous schedules, way more time away from home than anyone signed up for(we went from 2 weeks at site, 2 at home to 2 weeks quarantine, 4 weeks at site, 2 weeks at home) and now a lot of mines’ CPO is well over the selling price of an ounce. Both the big mines in this area were steadily $700 over selling price through Covid and for the last couple months have been around $1,000 over selling price. 
That’s with making logical budget cuts and spending cuts. 
 

We’ve simply stopped selling and started stock piling. If you thought price increases for 4xxx series were bad. Wait till foundries have to pay more for their metals. 

[Kisai]

On 5/16/2023 at 8:11 AM, wanderingfool2 said:

  If you make $100k+, one should not be living paycheck to paycheck.

You might be if you live in metro vancouver.

You currently need to make like $80K/yr to afford a 2-bedroom condo.

[Kamina]

They better make it like this

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-9DPKH-sVJc

[AndreiArgeanu]

Like it or not AI and automatization is going to take many jobs, the same way it has done many years ago. Cooking burgers and fries and putting them together is a trivial task. People are going to have to adapt. The same way millions before them have had to do, this is nothing new. It's the reason a lot of goods nowadays like electronics aren't ridiculously expensive. Automation, and now AI as well is going to contribute towards it. Most people don't go to a fast food restaurant for the experience, there's no point to delaying the inevitable.

[Donut417]

11 minutes ago, AndreiArgeanu said:

ooking burgers and fries and putting them together is a trivial task. People are going to have to adapt.

On top of that, people act like every restaurant and their dog is gong out go out tomorrow and buy this automation. This is gong to take decades to happen. People will have time to adapt.

 

12 minutes ago, AndreiArgeanu said:

Like it or not AI and automatization is going to take many jobs,

Yes and no. Certain jobs will go bye bye but some will be created. You need people to maintain the equipment and install it.

[Heliian]

On 5/10/2023 at 1:30 PM, Fasterthannothing said:

14 million workers just at Wendy's alone.

Wendy's employs somewhere between 14000 and 26000 people. 

 

AI is a fraud. 

 

 

[MageTank]

16 hours ago, Donut417 said:

On top of that, people act like every restaurant and their dog is gong out go out tomorrow and buy this automation. This is gong to take decades to happen. People will have time to adapt.

I kept hearing gong noises in my head reading this.