5 ms·

A fast food restaurant in Canada called Freshi used overseas workers to take orders. Customers would walk into the store and a screen would show a live worker i

• exhibitapp 3y ago
  It's funny cause there wasn't nearly the backlash when mcdonalds implemented the self-order digital kiosk, which completely eliminated jobs
  • HWR_14 3y ago
    Because at least then then you don't have to deal with upselling, inefficiently speaking, etc. Some people like self-checkout. However, I don't see any advantage to a computer listening to my order and arguing with me (upselling) instead of clicking buttons in 1/10 the time.
    • mytailorisrich 3y ago
      I'd rather be able to say what I want than spending 5 minutes navigating the menu on McDonald's screens (which also try to upsell). I think having both would be the best option.
      • KeplerBoy 3y ago
        Seems to be a no-brainer that these terminals will integrate voice controlled chat options, if they become socially acceptable. I'd argue that the necessary tech has been around for a while now and they probably concluded it's not a good fit.
      • LanceH 3y ago
        They just can't help themselves on the upsell. Every drive-thru that has the monitor where you get to check your order for accuracy eventually starts displaying ads instead -- lowering accuracy and offering something you don't want.
  • Workaccount2 3y ago
    I thought this too, but so far every mcdonalds I have been too (admittedly not many) seems just as staffed as before.
    • fnordpiglet 3y ago
      I’ve noticed they’re mostly staffed in the back cooking though, which is arguably a much better task for a human than recording basic information into a computer system. I trust a LLM to get my order right more often than someone who’s soul has been completely crushed by the banality of their task in life. At least making the food is actually doing something.
  • kamarg 3y ago
    One of the McDonald's near me has been using the order taking software in one of the drive thru lanes for a while now. It's such a better experience compared to probably 90% of the employees that have been taking orders there. It doesn't have someone whisper/shout through the speaker because they don't know how loud they need to speak to be heard outside. It speaks clearly and can be understood which is not always the case with the bored and disinterested high school workers the store tends to hire. And my personal favorite is that I'm not greeted with "McDonalds! Thank you! Order please!" which seems to be the standard greeting they're training employees with at that location. I've only had it get an order wrong once (though the food does still get made incorrectly about 10% of the time) at which point it quickly switched over to an actual person to complete the order. You can tell it's more efficient too because at busier times, the non-human order taker lane moves cars through at a two or even three to one ratio. Overall, I'm surprised that more locations haven't switched to the software already and especially that other drive thru businesses haven't begun testing the software out here.
• _fat_santa 3y ago
  IMHO I think Chick-Fil-A has the best drive through system in the business right now, you could pull up with cars wrapping the building and still leave with food ~10 min later, anywhere else with a line like that would take a half hour at least. The reason they are so successful is they have employees take your order as you are waiting, so there are never any bottlenecks around order taking and order receiving. Granted there's a tradeoff, CFA made the calculation that the extra labor costs for the drive through would be worth the throughput (they usually only do it during "rush hours"). On the other hand looks like Wendy's is taking the opposite approach, throughput matters even less because there are no associated labor costs.
  • annoyingnoob 3y ago
    I have never been to Chick-Fil-A and received food in less than 30 minutes, ever. Always takes forever, in the same category with In-N-Out. At least In-N-Out is more reasonably priced. Doesn't matter how many order takers you have standing around, the kitchen can only make so much food at a time.
    • elijaht 3y ago
      Interesting, mind sharing the general geographic location? I've never had that experience in ~20 years up and down the east coast
      • annoyingnoob 3y ago
        So Cal.
      • inconceivable 3y ago
        buddy in southern california the drive through lines are like 50 cars long.
    • justrealist 3y ago
      This is so far outside normal experience that I have to wonder what you are doing wrong. Are you normally only going at restaurant grand opening or something?
• joot82 3y ago
  They do it at Tim Hortons Drive Throughs too already, not sure if overseas but definitely someone in a call center taking the order. I'm torn about it, why resist technology and progress. But yeah, I guess root cause is they can't find enough staff on site because they pay too low.
  • VWWHFSfQ 3y ago
    As much as people are going to fight it, UBI is pretty much the only way to maintain a somewhat functioning society when every low-wage job has disappeared. The people that were doing those jobs before haven't gone anywhere. And there will likely be even more of them. But now any opportunity for work that they had before is no longer available.
• fnordpiglet 3y ago
  When you hire another unemployed human for cheaper that’s exploitation. When you hire no humans due to automation that’s progress.