4 ms·
The local McDonalds, when you walk in, you see 3 large screen order kiosks, and 2, essentially, empty counters. One with a register. And that's it. There's no
by whartung 2y ago
The local McDonalds, when you walk in, you see 3 large screen order kiosks, and 2, essentially, empty counters. One with a register.
And that's it.
There's no beverage bar, no condiment bar, there MIGHT be napkins, but I can't recall.
You order from the kiosk, which has a cash machine to accept cash, and if its to eat in, grab a table tent and type in the number. Otherwise, you just take the number on the receipt. Eventually someone will bring it out on the other counter without the register and call out your number.
If you're eating in, eventually someone will come to deliver the food -- typically in a bag, just like everything else.
You could order at the counter, but there's no one in sight. You either have to just wait for someone to saunter by or shout out into the void.
Similarly, if you want a refill on your beverage. They'll happily give you one, again, if you can actually track down a worker.
It's quite a sterile experience. At least at the drive through you talk to people.
I understand that its a company wide goal to transition all of the restaurants to this model.
- unethical_ban 2y agoMcDonalds kiosks, besides being a harbinger of a future devoid of contact with service workers, is an objectively awful experience. The menu is gigantic, it upsells constantly, the screen is buggy, and the food delivery folks don't use the numbers half the time.
- jerlam 2y agoThey were not always so bad. I tried one out when they were just installed (and everyone avoided them); they ran a lot faster, with no upselling or ads. The adware garbage that has long infected the internet has gone right into their kiosks. Just like how McDs just raised prices endlessly for the past few years, they've also intentionally turned ordering into an adversarial experience.
- kcb 2y agoWild to me given the processing power cheaply available that those touchscreens also feel unresponsive and laggy.
- n_ary 2y agoOn the contrary, I believe they are intentionally laggy to rate-limit the orders, so that people in line can get pissed at the person in front of them rather than the waiter/server taking time to prepare and package the order. Also avoids overwhelming the counter.
- jen20 2y agoThe biggest issue I have with it is that the touch screen is unresponsive. You press something, and it responds a second later. Completely unforgivable.