So easy: Ragen Vanhook, 6, orders a Happy Meal with the help of McDonalds employee Violette VinZant.

By Caitlan Butler

Staff Writer

Four automated self-service kiosks recently took up residence at the McDonalds located at 1730 North West Avenue, making life easier for some employees while also eliminating several positions.

The four kiosks are located at the entrance of the restaurant. An employee stands nearby to help customers navigate the touch-screen menu and place their orders. The kiosks offer the menu in both English and Spanish.

Manager Latray Burnell said the kiosks have helped with customer wait time and employee workload.

“You don’t have to stand in line that long,” he said. “[The line] moves quicker. There’s less jamming.”

Burnell said when the kiosks were first installed, about three weeks ago, customers were hesitant to use them.

“Some people say they like to talk to someone,” he said. “It’s just because it’s new, no one had seen one before.”

Burnell said several positions were eliminated after the kiosks were installed. Prior to their installation, he said four or five employees would take orders at the counter. Now there are only two cashiers at any given time. He said about 10 positions were eliminated; however, that is not an exact figure.

Violette VinZant is an employee with McDonalds with a range of duties. On Friday, she was helping patrons use the kiosk while cleaning tables between customers. At one point, she helped guide Ragen Vanhook, only six years old, through the kiosk’s ordering process while Vanhook’s father stood by.

She said she wasn’t concerned about losing her job to the kiosks. She said she is a people person and enjoys working at McDonalds and doesn’t worry that automation will take her job.

“Their waiting’s over for their food,” VinZant said enthusiastically.

Burnell said the kiosks may also cut hours for employees, but currently everyone working there gets at least 40 hours per week. He said the employees that work at the counter are vital to the store.

According to the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, small communities will be hit hardest by automation. The reason for this, they say, is because larger cities have more “managerial and knowledge professions,” such as software developers, scientists and lawyers, which offsets the total impact of automation.

They say a greater percentage of jobs in smaller cities are able to be automated (such as cashiering and sales), whereas in larger cities more research, education and startup jobs are located and are not able to be automated.

The Kellogg School researchers said small communities can preempt job loss due to automation by setting up job-retention programs and creating incentives to attract high-tech industries that cannot be automated.

“I don’t think it will be a problem,” Burnell said. “It’s quicker.”

Caitlan Butler can be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected]