Hacker News Reader

Comment by iso1631 | Hacker News Reader

With a QR menu, if I can also order and pay from them, then they are far superior to having to try to flag someone down. If not its less useful, but it's useful for multiple languages.

In all cases it should be a website, not a "download our app"

There are no adverts on netflix, and I have a lot of subscriptions, but its still less (pro-rata) than I paid for satelite tv with adverts in the 00s.

View on HN

> There are no adverts on netflix

The base ($7.99) Netflix plan does indeed have ads.

With a QR menu the restaurant will sell all information they can get from your phone to ad vendors. The only place I have have seen QR menus are at national restaurant chains.

If a restaurant does not have a printed menu, I leave and go elsewhere. Luckily were I live, QR Menus are very rare.

There’s something about the inclusion of tech in the ordering of food that takes away from the experience. It turns it into something where the focus is on fast calories per dollar. It might make sense at your regular lunch spot, but not at a place you take a date or meet your friends.

> should be a website

Yes, and please make the website one that actually works on mobile.

In some restaurants, I've seen the QR code go to a full-page PDF version of the menu. Like, thanks, but I can't read that on a mobile device.

With the payment I’d be more wary.

I worry about bad actors placing their own QR codes over the official ones to redirect people to sites to steal the money, payment day, or both.

> In all cases it should be a website, not a "download our app"

Increasingly often, it is "download our app". And they will try to force it by sabotaging their website. I did a pickup order from Walmart once. You're supposed to take a numbered parking place and check in, but if you try it from the website on a mobile, it'll redirect you to download the app. There's no getting around it. I don't recall if I tried desktop mode on the website, but the website is a pretty cluttered widescreen mess anyway. (Fortunately at the parking area there's a phone number for checking in posted.)

I run into similar sabotage issues with Facebook (yes I am just a year or so shy of being a boomer). You can no longer use messaging on mobile, it tells you to download the app. Desktop mode does work, though (for now; I'm sure someone will try to take it away). All this stuff used to work on phones.

Facebook stopped messaging on mobile years ago, and I stopped using facebook for almost all purposes shortly after because of it. We're fortunate enough that we don't currently have any major social groups which require facebook messenger and easily managed on desktop.

Cable used to not have ads.

Amazon prime has ads.

Just wait

Yes, and I no longer subscribe to amazon prime because they added adverts to their standard plan. Indeed when I went to rejoin a year later there wasn't an ad-less plan.

As such I don't subscribe.

So you pay before you get your food? Some boomers might not accept that ;)

Not a boomer but that's basically fast food or fast food plus.

I'm surprised there isn't the complaint about over tipping. And the fact there is now inflation in tipping percentages.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com