That’s to stop the staff from ripping off the cash register.
Small business 101: never let the same person count the cash and count the product.
Ugh, I despise those guys. They act like they are doing you a favor and then expect you to give them money for it. And then the others will beg for money literally at the counter. There was one location I just stopped going to because they let those guys have free reign.
Keep in mind that ordering weirdness has gone on far longer at other places.
I made the mistake once walking up to a Sonic just to get a milkshake. Apparently this put me in some sort of nether-world caste of non-existence. An immense hassle. That was my only trip to one.
I was ok with the kiosks until I read that they have tested them and every single one had trace amounts of fecal matter on the screen. Yes it is probably everywhere but now that I know its on the kiosk I stay away. Plus at our local Mcd it slowed the time down for getting our food… took the fast out of fast food.
Indeed, poop is everywhere. Just wash your hands like mom told you.
Oh, that reminds me of another first-world annoyance: Sonic no longer sells malts.
Recently I drove into a Sonic and ordered a chocolate malt. The disembodied order-taking voice responded with “We don’t have malts anymore,” in a snarky, dismissive tone,* as if malts are some exotic thing that only a handful of weirdos like. I immediately Googled “sonic malts” (one of the search suggestions was “sonic malts discontinued”—uh oh) and learned that this was a corporate-level decision, and not something limited to the local Sonic. :mad:
*I may be exaggerating that part.
Malts or malteds, in my experience, aren’t really all that well known anymore. I don’t know where I’d get a proper malt these days, or if the kids even know what the difference between a malt and a shake is. Hell, I was born in '75, and I barely knew the difference, and the only reason I did is because the local hot dog stand actually did have both malts and shakes on the menu. I can’t remember ever hearing anyone in my peer group suggest going out for a malt or having a taste for a malt or anything like that. I suspect this may be regional, though. To me, it’s almost, but not quite, as old-timey as going out for a phosphate.
Funny thing. I went to McDonald’s last night (I was working late). I went to the one I described above. The one that didn’t have the kiosks and was filthy and disorganized.
It’s still filthy and disorganized, but now it has the kiosks.
Still has a panhandler manning the door, though, and one inside.
Oooooh, look at you with your fancy two-panhandler McDonald’s…
When I was younger, I’d go into a Mc and order eggs, 2 x pancakes, and a large cup of water. Rocked up the next week, and the counter clerk said “we don’t have eggs”. There’s no institutional memory when your hiring kids.
Rocked up a month later, and was told ‘we don’t do large water’. Ok, I’m through.
I travel to a small town in Minnesota several times a month, and McDonald’s is about the only non-gas station food option. It has been interesting watching kiosk usage over the last few months since they were introduced there. At first even I resisted, but I teach user interface design at the college so I wanted to see how bad it could be.
I like how large the screens are, and they are logically laid out, although it is definitely slower than giving your order to a human, UNLESS you get that new kid who can’t find anything beyond the basics. It certainly gets quicker on repeated visits. I like the idea to save your order for repeat visits (I really wish Subway would let you do that too). I have discovered some options which aren’t on the menu boards (or perhaps they’re not obvious), such as the double hamburger. One thing I don’t like is they don’t showcase the specials, like the 2 for $6 options. The specials should be prominently displayed like they are on the menu boards, on the start “splash” screen (or is it the “home page”)?
This location has table delivery, which has consistently been quite quick. They also have the drink cups next to the kiosks, even for people who use face-to-face ordering, which is strange. I’d say about 20% of the customers actually use the kiosk, which is understandable since it’s a small farming town and McDonald’s is the old-folks hangout. I know exactly why they’re at this location: they simply can’t find people to work there. They’re always advertising openings starting at $12.00 which is a good wage for this community, but no one is available.
I don’t have issue with the kiosks, it’s the chaos of people just standing around in random places including leaning on the kiosks, waiting on their to-go orders. I get the table service, the kiosks, the grab ur cup at the register, and the register. But the lack of any designated areas or formal line formation tools like barricades or even simple signage I found half baked.
In higher wage areas, they actually outsource the drive-thru voice to lower wage areas, so you’re speaking via the Internet to somebody in West Virginia or wherever.
Wow, how did you find this out? So potentially we could be talking to a drive thru voice from India?
This used to be fairly common for dine-in, grill/special orders. “Here’s your food, and we’ll bring out that quarter pounder without mustard to your table in just a few minutes.”
Sure, that they would occasionally do. But with table numbers and not just special orders but your whole (ordinary) order being brought to your table by staff? That was the part that was new to me. That’s more like how Culver’s and Chick-Fil-A does it.
I like the kiosks, for the same reason I like self checkout at the supermarket: it’s faster.
But a great idea has come up wanting in actual execution.
The kiosk looks like a giant over-sized smartphone, and it appears to actually be running a smartphone app–a poorly designed one at that.
To order a meal, one must tap the non-responsive screen dozens of times, choosing each detail (Your meal comes with a soda…choose what kind of soda. What? They just give you a cup and you fill it yourself? Then this is a pointless time-waster of a question, isn’t it?)
About one in ten times the machine says “contactless payment cannot be used, go to counter” only after the order has been all entered. Not helpful.
About one in ten times the machine does not give a receipt. Nice.
You still need to get a cup, and sometimes they have them out front, sometimes you have to chase down one of the five people behind the counter who are all ignoring customers.
[rant]
The other day I ordered a Mushroom Swiss burger and then went to get my cup. The one guy who listened to me couldn’t understand why I needed a cup.
The manager came and said “We don’t have that!” … the cup? No, the burger.
He then asked if I wanted my money back in cash, or a different burger.
I said “Please put it back on the card.”
Him “We can’t do that, I have to give you cash.”
Me “Two things are wrong here–you have a handy machine that lets me order something you don’t have, and you can’t return the money in the same form I paid it.”
Him “I can only give you cash back…”
Me <grumble>
Him “What’s wrong with accepting cash?”
Me “I prefer it back on the card. Could you please put it back on the card?”
(and so on)
Him “Let me see…<click click tap>…Swipe your card.”
And that was it. It took two or clicks and taps, a swipe of the card, and he handed me a refund receipt. So he had lied to me. He knew he could do it but didn’t want to.
I wanted to explain to him how his lie is precisely the reason why customers don’t believe when told “we can’t do that” or “we don’t have any”
[/rant]
(Yes, I do like burgers a bit too much).
When I first heard about this a few years back, they were handled by a firm in the northern states - Minn or one of the Daks, IIRC.
They just opened a new McDonald’s in downtown Little Rock. Ultra modern with kiosks and stuff.
I’m a bit sad because they closed the iconic 2 story McDonald’s on 7th & Broadway. There aren’t many 2 story locations in the chain.
The new one is one block down on 6th & Broadway. Opposite side of the street.
This thread has made me curious to try the kiosk system. I’ll drop by and go inside this week.
Here’s a photo of the rare 2 story McDonald’s.
This has been a McDonald’s staple for ages. No line management, just a big open space in front of a bank of registers. I’m sure there is a good reason for it, even though we are all annoyed by the chaos, they must somehow be more profitable this way.