The Future of Fast Food or "Are you really, really sure you want to raise the minimum wage?"

I'm betting the machines won't spit in your food because you are white or a cop. Bring it on! No more having to avoid eateries staffed with minorities! I can hardly wait!

Posted by grayjohn at December 31, 2016 10:50 AM

I've eaten at several conveyor belt sushi restaurants in Japan, and I've seen them starting to catch on in the US. The food has always been good, I've never gotten something I didn't order, the bill has always been accurate, and my change has always been correct when I paid with cash. What's not to like?

Posted by waltj at December 31, 2016 11:06 AM

There is a line of thought that suspects the true motivation behind an unrealistic minimum wage is not to raise wages, but to eliminate those types of jobs and in so doing eliminate those types of people from the local environment.

Posted by james wilson at December 31, 2016 11:44 AM

Not so new. Remember the automat? I'm sure Gerard does. Though probably not you young whippersnappers.

http://www.theautomat.net/

Posted by Roy Lofquist at December 31, 2016 11:49 AM

Plus several million driving jobs.

Tell me again why we need low-skilled immigration?

The corporate owned Republican establishment really are treasonous filth, No?

Societies succeed because they've built up, usually over centuries, a widely accepted and practiced set of behaviors; social capital built up of predictable actions and attitudes and beliefs. The core of the culture.
Immigrants; who do not have that ingrained culture are likely to be destructive of social capital and destructive to the host society. Despite the gibberish of the lunatic left most people recognize this and quite rightly reject the attempt to destroy their society in pursuit of a crazed political fantasy.
Despite this rejection the fantasy continues to be foisted upon the people.

Posted by Bill Jones at December 31, 2016 4:58 PM

The usual motive in Japan is to employ 5 guys to do the job of one. Low unemployment that way.

They must be doing this to export.

Posted by Casey Klahn at December 31, 2016 5:43 PM

Robots building robots and supervising them too, pricing the humans right out of the market.

Robot cars drive you and the brats to the zoo,
no need to worry cause it knows how to park it.

The future's behind you and your past lies ahead,
nobody's living when everything's dead.

Pick it up Howard.....

Posted by ghostsniper at December 31, 2016 5:54 PM

Japan needs this because of their low, low birthrate (lowest in the world) and total ban on immigration. Legal or illegal.
Japanese seniors will get their bed linens and diapers changed by robots.

Posted by John The River at January 2, 2017 8:49 AM