McDonald’s Buys Huge Numbers of Tablets in Wake of Minimum Wage Hikes

May 6, 2016         By: Steven Anderson

For some, the notion of a $15 minimum wage is a heaven-sent relief. For others—like those who have to pay it—a terror borne out of hell itself.

New reports suggest that McDonald’s may be making moves to cut down the amount of people it will need around to pay that $15 an hour to, and it’s been stocking up on tablets as a result.

The reports suggest that all United Kingdom McDonald’s locations will be bringing out Samsung tablets, with the tablets being used for “games and Web browsing.”

Additionally, the reports noted that the tablets would not be used for ordering food at all, though that was quickly met with skepticism on some fronts.

Given that a growing number of restaurants out there are looking into tabletop devices—Chili’s, Red Robin, Ruby Tuesday, and a host of others now feature the devices—as well as mobile point of sale devices at an increasing number of retail outlets, it’s a safe bet that businesses are looking to technology as a means to phase out the cashier and as many waiters, waitresses, and other personnel as possible.

For right now, the tablets may indeed not be used for food ordering. There’s nothing, however, to stop McDonald’s from making that happen down the line, and if McDonald’s starts doing it, it’s literally only a matter of time before Wendy’s and Burger King follow suit just out of the need to keep up.

Despite the moony-eyed dreaming about automatic burger makers, someone’s going to need to clean up those tablets.

I know I’m not in a mood to use a tablet a whole bunch of other people have been using, while eating, without some clear and present cleaning mechanisms going on.

Especially if the kids get involved. Businesses are clearly gearing up for a future in which employment is minimum and so too is payout.

That’s going to bring some issues of its own along for the ride—like who will buy these burgers if there are no paychecks—and these are issues we’ll have to address as a society sooner or later.

A human-free McDonald’s may be a pipe dream for now, but a restaurant that has as little human labor as possible is very much a possibility. That’s going to fundamentally change much of society…and maybe not for the better.