This past week, Wendy's announced that it will make self-service ordering kiosks available to its 6,000 plus restaurants later this year due to increases in minimum wage. Each franchise will have the option of whether they would like to use the technology, but with company-operated stores already seeing wage inflation of 5 percent to 6 percent, it's not difficult to imagine a majority of the restaurants wanting to upgrade to these machines. In addition to the kiosks, mobile ordering and mobile payment will most likely be available by the end of the year.
During my quest for a job this summer, I've noticed that most business which pay minimum wage are requiring job applicants to have previous experience, for positions as simple as a cashier. This is a problem for me because I have never had a job before. One would think minimum wage jobs, which usually require minimum-skill, would be the starting point for young people to gain experience while making pocket money. But with minimum wage increasing up to $15 an hour in states like New York and California, what is a business supposed to do? I've seen various videos of people protesting for the minimum wage increase with the argument that there is no way anyone can live off of a $7.25 a wage.
Since when is a minimum wage job supposed to sustain a person, let alone a family? These minimum-skill jobs are supposed to be experience-builders for future jobs that require more skill and, hopefully, careers. No one should be planning on making a career out of flipping burgers, scooping ice cream, or stocking shelves. Huge companies, like Wendy's, didn't become as successful as they are by giving away their money, so what are they going to do? Buy a machine that doesn't require a biweekly paycheck, won't quit or complain, requires no training, and on top of that is quick, efficient, and makes few to no mistakes.
As much as I would love to make $15 an hour working at a fast food chain, clothing store, etc., I would much rather be able to acquire the job first. While I'm sure these minimum skill jobs can often times be difficult and strenuous, their purpose is to teach and improve values to inexperience workers that they can then then use in a job or career that is even more demanding, and therefore offering a higher reward. So in my opinion, I believe increasing minimum wage is an awful idea bringing with it painful consequences, job-taking self-serve kiosks being one of them.
