Robot
In the late 90's I vividly remember a fry making robot (not sophisticated in any way shape or form) that my family would sometimes go out of the way for just to get fries. Not like, really far out of our way, but just if we were nearby, maybe we would stop in, which only happened maybe 2 or 3 times in our life. I remember it, not because it was exciting, but just because it was novel and possibly a little bit saddening.
McDonald's History with Automation
The only real info I can find on this is something from the Chicago Tribune in 1993 and Rolling Stone not long after. It's not surprising since the McDonald's Innovation Center was located not far from Chicago, in Romeoville, Ill. from 1993-2022, and has been known to test more recent robot incarnations at a storefront in Chicago (now home to Speedee Labs which succeeded the Romeoville Innovation Center). I'm sure there's a treasure trove of information from the 90's and early 2000's from local newspapers, however I've noticed that a good chunk of the internet is no longer searchable due to AI, so I may have to resort to the old fashioned tricks of going to the library to get more into this.
My Musings on McDonald's and Labor
I worked at McDonald's in the mid 2000s. "Grill, eggman." was by far my most common position. The hub of gossip usually, far from management's ear in the office, or from any customers. The fridge was the inner sanctum for secrets though, but gossip flowed freely in the grill.
Early in my career there, learning that our McDonald's branch's owner also owned 5 or 6 other stores, we could see he was loaded. He alternated between Dodge Viper, Hummer, or something else well in the upper 5 figures range in 2004 dollars. It started a brief mathematical experiment to deduce his income, from my observations of this location's typical take ($5000 or so on weekend days, $3000 for weekdays). We'll just call it a milli for a year. Let's assume a margin of 5-10%, so his take home is about $300,000-600,000 for 2004 dollars across all stores on the bad end. Fantastic. I made $5.50/hr to start, and eventually worked up to $7.50.
I fixated on that sum, and discussed unionizing with a coworker (at 15), to get a bigger share of that pie. I sweated every day over a hot grill, grease burns, 6am-2pm shift on weekends. I don't believe the owner ever did sweat. An elder hand shared that rumor has it, McDonald's policy is to immediately close the location, (Golden M Investments would then sell it to Yum! Brands, most likely) and reopen next door or somewhere else in town. Similar strategy has been employed more recently by Starbucks.
The Important Part
Think about how closely intertwined automation and labor is. Think about why you get up for work each day, beyond the necessities of surviving.
I'll probably try to do some formal research on this at some point and share, since these are the most pivotal experiences I have in establishing my relationship with labor, automation, solidarity.
Do you remember the robot? How did it make you feel? Get in touch