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Comment by jtbayly | Hacker News Reader

I refuse to go to McDonalds anymore because they refuse to acknowledge you, won’t take your order, force you to use those stupid terminals.

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I actively seek out such establishments because I'm an introvert and I don't want to talk to people. Japan is a paradise in this way... an extremely large number of restaurants do not require interacting with a human to place your order.

I'm the same, although I understand OP's sentiment to a degree. I also like no interaction with someone who is potentially or visibly sick and contagious. That is why I never stand in the service line at the grocery store. It's always self serve only.

As a customer of McDonalds in both countries: the counter is much better in Japan, especially now.

I was always proud of the American stores having lots of nice napkins, sauces, etc for self-service but we lost that years ago.

Why do you want them to take your order if you have access to a terminal?

Because it's 10x faster. In can say "big mac meal" and be done while the kiosk ordering machine is still loading the first screen.

I prefer the machine because the order is correct 100% of the time. When I used to have someone take the order, I had to double check the receipt to make sure the order was correct.

It’s pure efficiency. I always customize my orders and it’s too many taps on a usually laggy system. I’m also usually ordering for 3, all customized. I can tell a cashier the entire order in less than 20s. And somehow their UI allows them to enter it just as quickly. It’s not a muscle memory thing either, it’s literally the interface and hardware they use runs fast and is perhaps designed with efficiency. The kiosk app is designed for dummies and takes forever to use. I’ve tried it at several places and it’s always my take away. When I use it I literally watch 5+ people place human cashier orders before I can place my order.

I’m not against talking to people for transactions. I’m against being forced to use inefficient machines.

The cash register doesn't try quite as hard to upsell you as the kiosk.

But yes, the cash register should be able to support the data entry skills of teenagers growing up with TikTok.

I’d rather the kiosk give the same speed data entry shortcuts/ui. Or honestly, speech to text should be used here.

It’s coming. They’ll let Taco Bell work out the kinks. No need to be first mover there when the food’s staying the same and I doubt anyone will undercut them in the meantime.

Idk, they've all been wanting these kiosks to take off for a long while - maybe ~10 years - and it's just a UX problem keeping most people away from them. Given the labor savings at stake and the simple availability of speech prompted data entry, I'd think they'd take it more seriously.

A dumb easy solution is to just create a call center of sorts and allow the same voice interaction human-to-human while the other person enters in your commands quickly and you just pay the kiosk at the end. They could have done this with very little investment in technology. Could improve the drive-thru experience too (my experience is they can't hear anything you say, I'll have to repeat myself 3x minimum, and chances are I won't be able to understand them if they ask me anything either).

When I visit Shake Shack, it's the one place I see that the kiosk is mandatory. But, at least they are iPads and decently designed. It's still very tap heavy and slow to enter simple customizations. The main thing they did right was put 6 of them out, so it's rare you have to wait for one because if you do have to, it's probably a long wait. It's also when one of them will step up to the register and start to help alleviate the line. The worst thing they did, was prompt for a tip at the self-service kiosk before you've seen your food or even found out if anyone is actually working back in the kitchen.

Yes, right. Well McD sure is serious, up to possibly letting customers walk out of restaurants rather than serve them at the registers. They really want a conveyer belt to deliver the food, no human interaction at all if you insist on visiting some of their expensive real estate.

2022's conveyer belt, hadn't seen: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mcdonalds-automated-restaurant-...

No sooner did I hit post than I had to run. But on my way, I thought with what I wanted to edit my post, which was to clarify the current testing Taco Bell is doing in the drive through. But I assume wherever you do it, once it gets good enough, maybe you can move it into the restaurant. Like you say, labor savings, so they'd have to move it into the restaurant the moment they could get away with it.

One rule I had with my kids at McDonalds: you take it like they make it. No customizations; they will just fuck it up anyway. If you don't like pickles take them off yourself.

But those tiny diced up onions (·•᷄‎ࡇ•᷅ )

Just wait until you have to make a complicated order in a country where people don't speak English very well, you will be very thankful for the kiosks. Even the US has two languages.

Yeah, the app and kiosks are slow and buggy, but I've never had a custom order prepared wrong with the kiosk or app. And as slow as it is, it's still almost always faster than ordering in person because your order is usually ready when you arrive and you never have to wait in line at the register or drive thru (assuming you choose to pick up at the counter, which you should if the dining room is open and you don't want to wait).

Also, when the app or kiosk bugs out and fails to correctly process an offer, or lose an order, McDonald's cashiers and managers are in my experience typically trained to set things right. Not only will cashiers honor "app only" deals at the register when something goes wrong, managers will occasionally comp the entire order.

In the one sentence he wrote, he clearly told you.

No, unless the terminals being "stupid" is the issue.

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