Anyone go inside and order at McDonald's recently?

[fedman]

@Spoons

I haven’t been to McDonald’s in ages. The last time I was there, there were a bunch of people just standing around (I presume that they were waiting for their orders to come up), but they were standing in the way of the people who wanted to use the kiosks. A lot of people were using the kiosks (when they could get through the crowd), using either debit or credit; but there were some who placed orders through the kiosk but wanted to pay cash, and were confused by how to do that. There appeared to be nobody staffing the “human calls order to another human, then pays cash” counter, except for employees who would occasionally appear with a tray or bag bearing food, and who were hollering, “Number 53! Number fifty-three!” before leaving the food on the counter and disappearing into the back.

I left, and went to Subway for lunch instead. I do like Big Macs, but I doubted I would get one in that mess.

I hope someone from McDonald’s corporate reads this thread, and realizes that the Speedee-Service system that McDonald’s invented years ago, worked extremely well. A limited menu, and everything served up at the counter within a minute of your ordering it. And no fancy coffee drinks–seriously, is McDonald’s a fancy-dancy coffee place or a fast-food burger joint? If McDonald’s wants to spin off McCafes into standalone coffee places that compete with Starbucks, fine; but I’m sure as heck not ordering a latte with a hint of cinnamon when I order a Big Mac and fries.

I for one like McCafe–faster and cheaper than Star*ucks or DD

[fedman]

@Jasmine

On top of all that, their prices are getting ridiculous considering the kind of food they are serving. I do McDonald’s/Burger King maybe once a month, and I usually regret even that.

Totally agree!! when they charge $3.54 for simple sausage/egg/muffin sandwich, not to mention skimping on condiments (unlike wendys/burger King et al), they are overpricing. Do like unlimited $1 drinks though

[fedman]

@Ludovic

I had a similar experience: I was going about my business mashing keys on the kiosk when an employee came up and stood by me. I stopped doing my thing because I thought he was going to tell me something about the kiosk, and then he asked if I needed help because I wasn’t doing anything. I asked if the kiosk was broken (with a strong implication of if it isn’t, then why ask if I needed help?) and then waited until he left to continue with my order. And then the machine didn’t take my credit card so I had to pay up front anyway.

so employee tried to assist you, you apparently did have problem, but you cop an attitude for employee being helpful? I don’t get it

[fedman]

@Jonathan_Chance

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.

disagree–it depends on time of day–during say lunch time, cups are next to kiosks, no wait

[Ludovic]

@fedman

so employee tried to assist you, you apparently did have problem, but you cop an attitude for employee being helpful? I don’t get it

No, I didn’t have a problem, the kiosk had a problem. I asked him if the kiosk had a problem and he said it didn’t.

[actualliberalnotoneofthose]

@Novelty_Bobble

I guess the thinking is that if everyone with a standard order uses the kiosks then it frees up the counter-staff to deal with customisations. Of course if you are one of those people requiring customisations you will always be stuck with extra work and dependent on the efficiency of the counter staff.

I agree with everything you said in your post but this part is actually why I DO use the kiosk. Maybe all the customizations aren’t on there, but a lot of them are. Also, the menu is much larger than what they display. If you want to add or remove a sauce, add bacon, extra cheese/no cheese, whatever, you can do that on the kiosk and it is very clear. If I want an egg biscuit with bacon added, but do not want a bacon egg and cheese biscuit or I want just a plain muffin (or whatever, none of this stuff is listed o the regular menu), I can easily do that. I would have a much harder time verbalizing all that to a person who may or may not get it all right. Also, a great advantage of online ordering. Stuff like getting a person at Subway to put basic toppings on a sub always seemed like a huge ordeal to me, for example. But I can just order online for pickup and specify exactly what I want.

[actualliberalnotoneofthose]

@fedman

Totally agree!! when they charge $3.54 for simple sausage/egg/muffin sandwich, not to mention skimping on condiments (unlike wendys/burger King et al), they are overpricing. Do like unlimited $1 drinks though

They have like $1 and $1.39 sandwiches, too, and you can add meats for cheaper. So, for example, if I really want a sausage egg and cheese biscuit, I order 1 sausage mcmuffin and 1 egg biscuit for $2.39 total. And for that you get 1 egg, sausage, cheese, a biscuit, and a muffin. So you end up with a sausage mcmuffin with egg and a side biscuit or a sausage egg and cheese biscuit with a side muffin for $1 less than 1 sandwich. Can also do a big breakfast for $3something and basically end up with the sandwich plus a hashbrown.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

I was in an inner-city Mickey D’s last week and had no problems. The counter girl politely took my order and I got it pretty fast.

[gaffa]

@Cheesesteak

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.

It’s literally called a “scramble” system.

[Ann_Hedonia]

I love ordering from the kiosks, for many reasons.

The counter service at my local McDonalds was always incredibly slow. Usually about 5 to 6 people in line ahead of me. Many of them ordering multiple items. And none of the employees at my local McD are native English speakers, so it was slow and they made lots of mistakes. And I’d always cringe whenever someone ordered a bunch of coffee drinks, because the order taker would have to stop taking orders to make the coffee drinks, at a pace that looked like they were walking through molasses. I’d always be fuming after my 10-15 minute wait to order ONE sandwich and nothing else. And sometimes I’d be less than polite about their concept of “fast food”. I eventually all but stopped going there because it was so bad for my blood pressure.

I’ve never had any trouble navigating the kiosk ordering system. And I can customize. I mean, in theory I’ve could’ve customized when ordering at the counter, but the thought of even trying to successfully communicate a customization to their counter personnel made my head explode. I think once I tried when I was in an optimistic mood but I ended up giving up. But I’m usually in and out of there about 10 times quicker since they put in the kiosks.

[Flyer]

@Machine_Elf

I’m 49, and yes, it used to be better. When I was in high school in the '80s I worked at a McDonald’s, and speed was the priority. We occasionally ran promotions during which we were required to fill each customer’s order within 60 seconds, or they got a coupon for a free drink. That’s 60 seconds from pressing “total” on the register to having all items on the tray or in the bag and being ready to receive payment. For a single person ordering a sandwich/fries/drink, it was typically much quicker than that, but it got tight if you had someone ordering for a family of five. We could achieve these speeds because food was always ready: there were fully assembled sandwiches waiting in the warming bin. These days they do on-demand sandwich assembly, I guess because the juicy ingredients don’t soak into the bun so much? Whatever, it now means that sandwiches get assembled one at a time instead of six or twelve at a time, beginning after the cashier presses “total” on the register. This is a terrible bottleneck. In addition, for some reason the order-taking process has also become slower. Back in my day (yeah, I said it), someone ordered an item, and you pressed a button; these days, it seems like they’re drilling down through a menu tree each time you ask for something.

FWIW, this isn’t just McDonald’s. I have the same experience every time I eat at Wendy’s (except the food is better).

Burger King still makes sandwiches ahead of time during the busy times. But the sandwiches are only good for 10 minutes after they’re made, and then they have to be thrown away, per health dept. rules.

So if you’re ordering one of the less popular sandwiches, or if you’re making modifications to it, you have to wait anyhow.

[Jophiel]

Heh, back before there were “life hacks”, we used to share the secret that you should order your Quarter Pounder “no onions” so they’d be forced to make you a fresh one instead of grabbing one from the heating tray.

[robardin]

Encountered the “self-service kiosk” thing for the first time the last time I went into a McDonald’s, about a month ago.

I hadn’t been to a McD’s in about a year, and that was in midtown Manhattan, when/where it was still the usual “human behind a counter taking orders, giving you a receipt with a number, and then you wait to hear your number” dealio. (Which is a slight evolution from the model I grew up with, where you just waited at the register while the person behind the counter went and got your already-made food, unless you ordered something that had run out, in which case you just stood to the side waiting for the missing parts of your order as he/she started serving the next customer.)

The kiosk interaction was fine. I navigated the menu, made my food selection, took a little numbered plastic card, entered the number to the kiosk, and was told the food would be brought to me at any table where my number was visible.

Ten minutes later, no food. I went over to the counter people to ask what happened. I noticed my now cold order simply on a tray in some kind of order pickup place where they were calling out order numbers as they came out. They asked for my receipt to confirm the order number when I went to take the tray. Fortunately I’d kept it, I had almost thrown it out already.

Everybody else there ordering from the kiosk seemed to know they were still supposed to get their food themselves.

I asked, “The kiosk said the food would be brought to me at a table?” That earned me an eye-rolling shrug.

Then someone put on no-bleeped sex-and-vulgarity laden rap music over the intercom while kids played in the ball pit/jungle gym area. Until someone complained, and it got turned off. For five minutes. Then it came back on, I guess when the parent who’d complained left.

That sucked.

[Ashtura]

Yes, I recently went to one in London just to see the differences.

I did the kiosk thing (which I’ve done once or twice in the states).

My card was declined, the ONLY time that happened my entire vacation, and I used it for all sorts of things.

After pushing some buttons in frustration it finally spit out a receipt I could take to the cashier and pay cash which thank god I had.

Other than that, it was pretty much like the states. I can’t say I dislike kiosk ordering, I do it all the time at our Wawas (convenience store with bitchin’ food), but doing it at McDonalds feels… kinda gross. In a germophobe type of way.

[Folly]

I’m a convert to using the app, especially if I’m grabbing something during my commute via walking/train. If app usage goes up enough, they might start removing the kiosks again.

I can order wherever/whenever and confirm the order to go through when I am still two blocks away or so keeping time waiting to a minimum. Also, the special deals through the app usually make it cheaper.

[PunditLisa]

Just last week I used a McD’s kiosk for the first time. I agree that it was rather chaotic because there were no lines. It also wasn’t intuitive to use the kiosks because they weren’t lined up in front of the counter but rather 12-15 feet away. An employee pointed out the kiosk to many customers, including me. That was annoying because although I was first to enter the restaurant, a group of teens who came in behind me walked straight up to the kiosks, and so I had to wait on them.

Anyway, small learning curve there, which isn’t a big deal.

However, while I don’t mind the concept of a kiosk, I do think that they could make the screen more intuitive because it took me awhile to find a single cheeseburger. Maybe v.2 could use voice recognition, so I could just say, “Cheeseburger, small fries, medium coke” instead of scrolling through photos.

Of course, if the McD’s voice recognition is anything like Sirie, I’ll end up with a Chia pet and a side of freckles.

[Omniscient]

@JohnT

I don’t care care for the kiosks as they still require one to go to the register if paying cash (which I usually do).

Why in gods name would you use the kiosk then?

[Omniscient]

Once people adapt to the app/kiosk, it will be terrific…with a couple caveats.

1. Let me get my own napkins, straws and ketchup, don’t fucking guard the shit like it’s frankincense and myrrh and don’t ask me how many ketchup packets I want and proceed to ignore it when you bring the food out
2. Don’t get rid of the food runners, these folks make dining in a heck of a lot more pleasant and are crucial to keeping the tables bussed and the condiment station stocked

In the grand scheme of things having everyone using the app and/or 5-6 kiosks will almost certainly lead to less waiting to order and the food runners ensure that you aren’t part of the disorganized mass of people milling around waiting to hear their number. Grab a seat, order on the app, have food brought to you, leave…sounds delightful to me.

[Odesio]

@aceplace57

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.
McDonald's plans to relocate downtown Little Rock restaurant, filings show | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - Arkansas' Best News Source

The two story McDonald’s there was over thirty years old, worn down, lacked adequate parking space, drive-thru traffic often spilled out onto Broadway, and ever since they got rid of their security guard the number of panhandlers loitering made the restaurant unpleasant. I do agree that the two story building made for an unusual location.

The new McDonald’s is cleaner (for now), the drive-thru is a lot more pleasant, and the place looks nicer. I’ve only been inside twice and the first time I walked out and went to Bannanaleaf instead. The second time it was less crowded and I ordered my meal at the kiosk. It’s still just a McDonald’s though.

[Melbourne]

@Folly

I’m a convert to using the app, especially if I’m grabbing something during my commute via walking/train. If app usage goes up enough, they might start removing the kiosks again.

I can order wherever/whenever and confirm the order to go through when I am still two blocks away or so keeping time waiting to a minimum. Also, the special deals through the app usually make it cheaper.

I think this is where they are heading. The kiosks are just an training aid.