Could Robots Be Cheaper Than Hiring At $15 An Hour?

Former McDonald’s USA CEO Ed Rensi says yes

SPONSORED 6:06AM • 05/27/16

As the debate over minimum wage continues to escalate, some businesses are already exploring how to take human workers out of the equation.

“I was at the National Restaurant Show yesterday and if you look at the robotic devices that are coming into the restaurant industry -- it’s cheaper to buy a $35,000 robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who’s inefficient making $15 an hour bagging French fries -- it’s nonsense and it’s very destructive and it’s inflationary and it’s going to cause a job loss across this country like you’re not going to believe,” said former McDonald’s USA CEO Ed Rensi during an interview on the FOX Business Network’s Mornings with Maria.

The math is in front of us. In 2014, 1.3 million people earned $7.25 per hour (current minimum wage) and about 1.7 million earned wages below the federal minimum. That means that these 3 million workers constituted 3.9 percent of all hourly paid staff.

Rensi went on to say, “It’s not just going to be in the fast food business. Franchising is the best business model in the United States. It’s dependent on people that have low job skills that have to grow. Well if you can’t get people a reasonable wage, you’re going to get machines to do the work. It’s just common sense. It’s going to happen whether you like it or not. And the more you push this it’s going to happen faster.”

To read the original Fox Business story, click here.