7,000 touch-screen Cashiers at McDonalds now. Is this what $15 min/wage buys you? If only we could get CIF to do the same thing!

Not only at Fast Food Places. I believe you will also see this at many upscale restaurants as we become more and more automated. Smartphones and auto tellers are now going to replace personal services and personnel at many places. Most of you will not remember the days of gas station attendants, but PEOPLE used to come out and fill your tank, check your oil and tires and provide many other services including washing your windshield.

2 & 3 go hand in hand. I'm not a McDonalds person but you see it in a lot of other places as well. The future, for good or bad and for the pocket lining of rich companies is to take the menial tasks that can be automated out of the hands of human beings. For some strange reason personnel costs - above all others - are the first thing to go when downsizing. Yes, salaries and benefits(or what's left of them) are a big expense, but machines can not do it all - at least until DoD invents "terminators".

Similarly self checkout at Walmart and other retailers. What am I paying for if I have to unload, scan and bag my own items? I used to bag groceries, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, for $3.25 an hour. Granted gas was still under a buck and movies about $2 in those days (damn I'm getting old) but wages were proportional to the economy.

Automation is the future, and those who don't get with the program will be left behind. It's sad that the personal touch is going away, but I have learned to accept change.

When the cost of labor goes up, innovation leads to alternatives. Most people forget that a lot of fast food franchises are owned by small business owners who scraped together the money to afford the business, and aren't usually rich people that are pocketing profits while underpaying their employees.

I did this numerous times while in Japan. I purchased tickets for the items I wanted out of a vending type machine that had pictures on it. I turned those tickets over to the hostess who then brought them to the kitchen and set up my table with water and cutlery. This not only eliminated the awkwardness of asking what the food you were about to consume was but also got rid of any language barrier while I was adjusting to living in a new country. I like the idea and have seen it used in a few markets already in the US when doing special orders at a deli counter.

I see this as the future. I have many comments about how, why, and the cause/effect, however, I will keep them to myself. Political debates are for facebook lol.

Wait until the cooks aren't even needed anymore

In fact this may have been coming despite min. wage increases.

This is where it all starts and people have less interaction with less job opportunities as well. Sad...

Chili's allows you to do the same from your booth or table.