Last Updated on January 3, 2026 by Craig Allen Keefner
Blog: Despite some reports, McDonald’s not cutting labor by adding touchscreen kiosks
McDonalds Restaurant Kiosk Switzerland
Source: www.nrn.com
Point of view on what self-order kiosks at McDonalds in fact portend, require and generally mean. And its not replacing people.
Excerpt:
McDonald’s is promising kiosks in most of its 14,000 locations by 2020, through its Experience of the Future, beginning with thousands of stores across the country this year.
Earlier this week, CNBC said that, “Wall Street cheers replacement of cashiers with kiosks.”
The blog ZeroHedge then proclaimed that, “McDonald’s is replacing 2,500 human cashiers with digital kiosks.”
Too bad it’s not true.
McDonald’s, contrary to popular belief, is not saving on labor by rolling out those kiosks. Rather than any mass layoffs of cashiers, those workers will be reassigned to other tasks in the restaurants, according to several people associated with the company. And a McDonald’s spokeswoman confirmed this to Business Insider.
Kiosks, in fact, are not a labor saver, certainly not now, and certainly not inside a fast-food chain that gets more than two-thirds of its business from the human managed drive thru.
Plenty of reasons exist for chains to use kiosks, notably in that they enable customers to more carefully consider their order. That reduces mistakes, and customers order more. They also enable companies to handle more orders during busy times, improving efficiency.
