I don’t think so. All these clueless customers you describe - I rarely see them (True, I don’t go McKotz itself, but in other stores). Octogenarians or people not fluent in the local language are not the typical target group of McD. (Actually, for foreigners, touch-screens could be easier if they use pictures).
All those special orders, “hold the sauce, no pickles” - I haven’t heard that these wishes are accomodated over here. The general attitude, esp. with big corporations like McD, is “We make things so they are cheap, so what’s most efficient and best for us, not what you, a single special individual, want, so if you have any special wishes that cost more time/effort, tough luck!”
As for going cashless: most Europeans have EC-cards that debit their giro bank account directly. While it’s not usual to use them for small purchases like McD, the typical person without a bank account in Europe is a homeless person, not an unemployed or teenager - they have bank accounts. (And the typical European teenager doesn’t have a summer job at McD, either.)
So I think the markets and customers are different enough that it could work. I hope they would still keep one employee to supervise and help - what happens when the guy in the back screws up the order, or the machine is broken, who do I complain to?
Thanks code_grey for finally clearing things up: I was undecided whether your stupid, slanted questions were a result of you being an ignorant teen or trying to be a troll (but not good enough at it). This settles it: you’re obviously a troll, and too dumb to explain things to.
And then you can report to the Ayn Rand proselytization center, where you will get a medal for espousing theoretical (yet non-practical) solutions by cutting government. Your reward will be an even bigger brush!
Hey, this acting like an uneducated one-note asshole is fun! Thanks for showing me how to play!
I’m not sure of that at all. Yes, more of their gross revenue is from gas, but at most “gas stations” the bulk of the profit comes from coffee, twinkies, milk, cigarettes and car washes. That’s why you hardly ever see a place that’s just a gas station anymore.
I don’t see why most Mcdonald’s can’t work the same way. IME, most McD’s have 5 or 6 registers, but only 2-3 in use at any given time. If they install 6 touchscreens, people could be twice as slow in ordering, and it’d still work out faster in the end.
I am now envisioning the McSwineys from the Stainless steel Rat series…
Though I do admit if I were doing it, I would have the kiosks set up so that you can only order one of the numbered meals, so you would hit the picture for meal 1, cheeseburger meal. Images would change to allow you to pick a beverage, and change size from medium to large then the next screen would be to add bacon, add a dessert, add something off the dollar menu, then the last screen would show the order of a cheeseburger with bacon, diet coke as beverage, upgrade to large, add apple pie with the costs of everything and touch areas for how to pay. Anybody wanting more customization goes to the human at the counter to order.
I wonder if they will be putting the touchscreen kiosks in here in the us.
Don’t be so sure. Sheetzhas a menu at least as diverse as McDonalds with a great many more options per item and all orders are placed via touch screens. They manage to serve the food very quickly while also selling gasoline and convenience store merchandise.
This sort of thing is why you’ll hear me go on about our TLA (Three-Letter Acronym) shortage. We’re forced to double, triple, and even quadruple up on some of the more popular acronyms. Clearly we need a larger alphabet to remedy this dire problem.
And when ATMs and airport kiosks first showed up - as well as self scanners at the grocery store, there was a similar hue and cry. I figured self scanners at the grocery store would get pulled due to loss in no time. But they haven’t and aren’t and they are far more complex than an ordering kiosk at McDonalds to manage and maintain.
(As to why no cash, cash is horrible. Increases robbery risk. Is prone to being stolen by your employees who have “short drawers and don’t know what happened.” It needs to be securely moved from the store to the bank. However, it doesn’t carry a 3% surcharge like plastic.)
My mum refuses to use the self-serve checkouts at BigW (local lower-rent department store over here. Owned by the corp that owns Wal-Mart, actually) for the old “They’re not paying me to do the checkout chick’s job blah blah blah” reason.
I see it this way - I’m paying a small premium to avoid having to make banal small-talk, to avoid having to wait in a twenty-person queue behind an old lady who wants to buy a single piece of candy and some adult diapers, and to get my shit sorted and out in an efficient manner. And for the most part it works pretty okay. Occasionally all 6 of the self-serve checkouts are full, but most of the time I can wander straight up, scan scan scan, press a couple of buttons, put money or card in and fuck off in <5 minutes. And I don’t have to listen to a checkout operator make company-mandated small talk and comments on my purchases.
When I see older folks unable to deal with the self checkout devices, my fear is that when I am an older folk, they will use a spin off of the gaming industry-computers that use mental telepathy. Windows MT. Having not gamed in thirty years, I will be unable to deal with them, and helplessly stare at the device, vainly searching for a touch or keypad.
