A development tailor-made for mobile payments devices of every stripe, Wendy’s recently made a move that should both intrigue and horrify.
Wendy’s announced plans to bring self-serve kiosks to locations throughout central Ohio, allowing users to not only order, but also pay for meals without ever speaking to a cashier.
The central Ohio kiosks are only the start of a much larger plan.
The reports suggest that Wendy’s is poised to bring these kiosks to fully 6,000 locations before the year is out.
Painted as a partial response to the $15 minimum wage initiatives being staged in several places throughout the country—and given that Wendy’s payroll costs represent about five to six percent of all expenses—the new kiosks can represent not only a way to get food faster, but also better and maybe even cheaper.
While the kiosks are considered less personal, they also represent lowered payroll costs, particularly worthwhile in places where the rate of minimum wage is experiencing rapid gains.
Additionally, the kiosks are regarded as an excellent fit for millennials, though not necessarily a good fit for everyone else. That makes their use something of a challenge, but also potentially worthwhile.
Throw in the escalating use of such systems in places like Panera Bread—and likely follow-ups from McDonalds and Burger King—and Wendy’s reasons for getting in makes particular sense.
The problem here is as it ever was: the potential long-term implications. That five to six percent of Wendy’s expenses in payroll goes back into other businesses as well; the local grocer, the clothing stores, Amazon, all of those and many more.
To get rid of these impacts a wide array of other businesses and potentially destroys entire economies if enough businesses put them to work. Sure, some like to say that other jobs will be made available to make up for the losses, but increasingly, we’re seeing a lot of low-skill jobs automated out of existence.
That means less cash going into sales at other businesses, and soon, there’s not cash enough to pay for high-skill jobs’ salaries either.
It’s unrealistic to think that businesses will pass up an opportunity to improve profits and reduce expenses, especially one that will be so welcome with mobile payments users.
This may be a step too far, however, with much wider implications than anyone wants to admit.