When I walk up to a kiosk I note if there is a queue or not and I reckon 99% of times I’m ordered and sat down before I would even have been seen in the physical queue.
Probably 50% of the time my food is brought to me before my turn would have come so I find that they definitely save me time and effort.
I notice that a lot of people are mentioning others milling around after ordering, do McD’s do the table service option in the USA? Or do people just not make use of it?
They are the world’s champions at reducing headcount. I’ve seen automated fry makers, and one location that has an automated soft drink maker for the drive-through with every drink ready to go on a conveyor belt as soon as the food order is done. And to those who think “there will always be jobs flipping burgers” - McDonald’s hasn’t flipped burgers in decades - the patties are cooked between two grills, totally eliminating the need to flip and halving cooking time.
That’s really only true if you expect their prices to be the same as they were back when gas cost 88 cents per gallon.
It’s the cups that really do that. And some places just call out numbers when orders are ready.
On the cups, you need to get them from the counter so you can hit the soda machine.
My biggest bug with McDonald’s is they are so busy getting food to the drive throughts that the people going inside to get food get ignored. And try getting a breakfast sandwich with just egg and cheese." Twice in the past month I’ve had to had them remade because it came with sausage.
Ah, in the UK you don’t get to fill it yourself so that probably eliminates part of the queuing.
Pretty much this at my local one. Very few use the kiosk. I’ve tried it a couple of times, and each time I just walked away frustrated and ended up standing in line anyway. I won’t consider ordering from them unless the line is at least four deep. The counter people are far faster than I am in finding what I need, the options I want, and navigating the menus on that kiosk. I suppose if I did it every time I went to McD’s, I’d eventually figure out where everything is, but, as of the last two times I used it, I didn’t like it.
But, no matter, as pretty much everyone queues up at my local ones. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anyone but me use them.
Yes, during breakfast rush this can get quite irritating. My wife just orders using the app while I drive up to the McD’s and we get around this problem. But I still prefer to just order inside, with a live human, except, as you say, they prioritize the drive-thru orders and the online orders, so sometimes it can be borderline infuriating as you’re ignored.
Maybe it has something to do with your user name?
Not in Canada, certainly. You get your order from the counter, get your soft drink from the machine (they give you a cup), and then–and only then–find a place to sit down. Of course, you might have a friend who sits down at a table while you’re waiting at the counter after ordering for the both of you at the counter (assuming that they are staffing the counter that day) or kiosk, but no McDonald’s employee is going to come out with your food and deliver it to your table. Assuming you do have a friend who finds a table while you order, they would have no way of knowing which table you’re sitting at–tables are not numbered.
Not directed at you, Novelty Bobble, but you also touched on something that’s a pet peeve of mine: “just use your phone.” OK, great, but how? I have no idea how to download an app to my phone, much less install and use it.
In the UK there are a stack of plastic triangles by the kiosk with numbers on them. When ordering at the kiosk you take one and type in the number when it says “do you want table service?” That number gets automatically appended to your order and you stand the triangle on your table in clear view and the staff deliver the order when it is ready. It works really well but certainly even that is not used as much as I would imagine. Inertia is a bugger to tackle I guess.
I don’t have a specific app for each fast food place but I do use my phone as a “contactless” means of payment. That requires a single app “google pay”. It basically mirrors my direct debit card in pretty much all retailers, I tap it on the payment machine and that’s it. Really quick and easy. I reckon I only use cash now for perhaps 5% of my transactions, if that, or you can do without the phone and just use your contactless card instead.
Maybe for you, but I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Hell, perhaps I should just get the neighbour’s kids to teach me how to use my phone to its fullest capability. 
The following isn’t directed at you; you’re not the only person here to mention this aspect.
Take the time to learn how to use a modern phone, for goodness sake!!! The age of the “phone” app is upon us, and refusing to learn this very basic skill is kinda like the people who refused to learn how to use a home computer when they first started being ubiquitous. Or phone answering machines when THEY first came out. Etc.
Downloading an app is as easy as pressing like two or at most three buttons on your phone’s screen. Setting it up once you have it is usually something that takes you about 30 sec. at most. I have apps for almost all of the places I eat at frequently that aren’t just single local spots. It makes things so much simpler.
Same with the kiosks. Yes, the first time or two using one will be a bit slow, as you learn to navigate the menus. After that, as one or two posters have indicated, you can easily do almost anything with them faster and more accurately than with one of the barely-trained humans that frequent the counter at most Mickey D’s. Is it as “easy” as it used to be? No, but, then, I remember the days of REALLY easy McDonald’s, where everything was pre-made, and you ordered it and they literally just turned around, picked it up out of the bins/trays and put it on your tray right then and there. Much easier, but I’ll take the quality and diversity of the food options now any time.
On the rare occasion I eat at McDonald’s that is. My question is simply this: why is anyone eating there???
Well if you have a contactless debit card then you don’t need to bother with your phone at all.
hah! yes, 'twas ever thus.
The last one I was at, they actually did deliver it to my table (here in the US.) We got a little table number placard like you do at some other fast food establishments. Granted, this is in the US (I see you are in Canada), but, so far as I can tell, this is a pretty recent development, and I don’t think it’s at all McDonald’s. I’ve only seen it a couple of times so far.
I’m sure we’ve done threads on this before, but we are not yet at a point where I feel a need for any apps (other than the ONE I have on my phone!).
One recent example: we were driving downtown, and everyone told us we should use Spothero for parking. My wife and I looked at it, and the registration was more of a hassle than we wanted to go through. So we drove down, and 2 blocks from our destination we found parking at a very reasonable rate. Whereas, at the event, a friend who had reserved parking on-line was worried about overstaying their reservation.
People who love their phones can do all manner of things with them. None of those things impress me as things I really want or need to do.
For me, with parking in downtown Chicago, it’s a must. (I use ParkWhiz, but same difference.) I can get a 12 hour rate for something like $12-$20 on the weekend, where most places charge well above that. You can sometimes get lucky without it, but I park downtown fairly regularly, and it’s the only way I could do it without breaking the bank or parking a mile away from my destination. (And these apps usually do have a way to extend your reservation, should you need to, but it may be dependent on the parking garage and space availability. But I always reserve for at least an hour or two more than I think I will need. Typically what will happen, though, is that even if I’m just planning to stay six hours on the weekend, it’ll get extended for free to twelve hours.)
The push for higher and higher wages for handing someone a burger or putting a pickle on a bun has had a direct effect on your McDonald’s experience. It’s funny how time and again millions of people handwave away incontrovertible evidence. That said, surprisingly enough, in my neck of the woods people have figured out the kiosks.
I’m a Luddite. I hate self-checkout, and usually use a cashier. But I liked the kiosk at McDonalds the one time I used it. It was at an airport, there was no line to use the kiosk, and I was able to clearly request “fish filet with less tartar sauce” (which is what I always get.) I’ve had cashiers look at me confused when I requested that verbally – it must not be a super-common request. But it was easy to do at the kiosk, and lo and behold, that’s what I got when my food was ready.
I’m in favor of fewer people working for higher wages. Hire people to do stuff that it’s worth having people do, and pay them enough they can live on the wages of a full time job. Don’t rope people in doing useless stuff for sub-living wages, keeping them from seeking more useful employment.
Sure. And if I parked downtown regularly - or did ANYTHING ELSE regularly that was made much more convenient/cheaper thru use of an app, then I would. But I infrequently go downtown. When I do, I’m fine with paying the rates at the garages I find. The $ cost is far less to me than trying to register with a website, remembering a password/procedure, etc. Hell, I just don’t like dicking around with my phone. Just my preference.
This time, I paid $20 for up to 6 hrs, 2 short blocks from my destination. Seeing as I had paid for tickets and was spending several hours at and getting to/from the event, saving a few bucks off $20 just wasn’t worth messing w/ my phone/computer.
BTW - I also like paper maps… Was just talking w/ my sister. We had both recently driven to the same location in the city. Both of us couldn’t get over the incredibly convoluted route on-line maps gave us. Can’t imagine it woulda been much - if any - longer to have just taken straight shots along the major roads we were familiar with.
And I don’t use electronic range finders when golfing.
Just because a technology exists and becomes popular does not mean I need to believe it enhances my experience.