NemeskiMcDonald’s will stop testing AI to take drive-thru orders, for now
JeenaI think those kiosks with the big touch screen and the mobile apps work pretty well already, I always rather use them and see a picture what I can order instead of talking to the person.
Eager Eagletbh I’d rather not see the picture when it comes to mcdonald’s, as it can only lead to a disappointment
sugar_in_your_teaTo be fair, you’ll be disappointed either way. At least with the menu, they can feel like they’re selling decent food (their pictures do look decent) and you can make sure your order is correct.
I don’t see how one can make sure their order is correct with a fake picture, but whatever floats your boat
Well, if you push the same fake picture you did last time, you should get a similar, disappointing result. If you get a different, disappointing result, you know your order is wrong.
Boomer Humor DoomergodI’ve stopped waiting in drive thrus because it’s faster and more convenient to order it ahead of time and pick it up inside.
s_sI used the Mcdonalds app a few times and the drivethru was always faster, lmao.
I don’t eat at McDonald’s, so I haven’t had that experience. But I love being able to order Sheetz food for the next morning when I’m going on a trip, or schedule it for when I’m going to need a pit stop and just have it ready. Wendy’s is also pretty good about this, too.
I have disabled location settings because it tracks the drive from my home. I enable it to use any deals and close the app after ordering and taking a photo of the order number. They start cooking after you let them know the code in the drive-thru. No need to open the app.
They do prioritize drive-thru’s because their performance is tracked based off that. That’s why they sometimes ask you to pull ahead from the window. I never worked there, I just noticed the timing screen in the kitchen when I used to do DoorDash, which tracked when a car got in and out of the line. They used to act as though I was invisible and only served drive-thru.
I can’t use the mobile app because my kid wants a cheeseburger happy meal and it’s impossible to order on the app. Try it! It won’t let you at all.
Technically, cheeseburger happy meals are no longer on the menu because they’ve decided it has too many calories. If you go there and ask for one, of course, they will add a slice of cheese to a hamburger happy meal.
When it comes down to it, though, we shouldn’t eat that crap anyway.
I checked, just for you. You can pick the hamburger happy meal and add cheese.
Where are you located? I am in the US. I downloaded and logged into the App again and I see no option to add cheese to a hamburger happy meal. I can pick a hamburger meal and “customize”, and add everything else – even a second hamburger patty if I wanted, but no cheese.
Maybe it’s just with my local McD?
Massachusetts. Adding cheese is there for the two McD’s near me.
Weird. I don’t see that “American Cheese” line at all.
Checking in from Iowa and I have the option here too when I hit the customize button. I do have to scroll down a bit?
You might try uninstalling and reinstalling. If on android, clear your settings before the uninstall. The mcdee app does tend to be kind of unpredictable.
If that doesn’t work, send an email to them. I actually did email on some problem I had and they responded pretty quick with a temp workaround and fixed it later.
I see cheese in Buffalo and Rochester, but not in Albany. It’s more localized than NY.
Interesting. I will have to do some more experiments later to see where they will let me order that. Thanks for confirming it’s not just me, though. I wa suspicious that there was some sort of cheesy conspiracy going on.
I fucking hate them.
They’re designed for people who are about 5’0". They take so much longer than speaking the order to a person, especially if you have any customizations to add/remove.
0/10, avoid at all costs.
For me it's the exact opposite, most of them have the possibility to change the language to English, even though it's only partially translated I still can see the pictures of what I'm trying to order. If I need to look at the Korean menu and then speak Korean to the person to order, then I would just go away, especially if they don't have pictures on the menu.
For me it's use 10/10 (even the crappy ones)
I can understand the language barrier win there.
Can I get a McCrapwich? That’s it, no drink. <tap>. It’s like 10 seconds.
Oh, did you want to remove the tomato?
That’ll be an extra 3 minutes.
What parent item are the salads under again?
They blow.
cm0002They’re designed for people of average (male) height, like everything else from default seatbelt position to doorways. Sounds like yet another tall person complaint to add to the pile.
In any case, I find them comfortable (probably because I’m average height lmao) and I like to take my time ordering to combine the best deals possible without having a cashier staring waiting on me so they can go take care of all the other things that McDs overworks their employees with.
IME (I’ve worked FF before) you “Fuck these machines” people generally trend towards annoying karen-type and take FOREVER ordering.
Doorways? Lol. Think about the alternative, if they were designed for the average height for females. Most men would need to duck or crawl under doorways.
Ok yea doorways was probably a bad example since those actually get an additional allowance for furniture and crap
And to clarify, I don’t actually agree with the method of using the male average for everything (Ever wonder why they set the Office thermostat to 72? That’s right male average of comfort lol), but it’s what the world around us is built around.
You just sound like you’re on a witch-hunt and hate men lol.
I like customizations on the touchscreen. I’ve had several experiences where I tell the cashier what I want including customizations only to get my order and realize that the order wasn’t entered in properly. The touchscreen ensures that the order is at least entered properly.
FaceDeerThose kiosks aren't in the drive-throughs.
BeigeAgendaI use them but they are still made to be annoying
I prefer just saying “can I get a medium #2 combo, please.” And being done with it.
That may be fine for regular customers, but what about the rest of us who don’t have the menu memorized?
Then there’s more ‘uhm’ and ‘aah’ involved.
The menu is right in front of you, glowing, with pictures and big numbers next to each item.
The menu is 6 foot across, above the counter where you order, glowing, with pictures of each item and number next to it
And changing pages while you’re trying to parse the cacophony of choices and options.
Most menus are fixed paper with back lighting not changing displays, most of the places that have the new displays added them at the same time as the touch screen stations.
Fuck all, I hate those things. Just pay a teenager to take my order with a judgemental expression. I hate self checkouts, I hate self order kiosks, no I do not want to use a phone app to place my order, I just want a double cheeseburger with no pickles GODAMMIT
AI so bad it can’t get your burger order right.
No wonder people are sinking hundreds of billions into it. As opposed to, say, education.
Why would we need education if there aren’t going to be any jobs to do?
It’s one of those mysteries. Maybe we should ask an educated person.
They’ve redirected your call to an untrained AI that just keeps saying “Hello??? Hello??? Hello???”
Because thats all it ever hears before people hang up on it. So thats sll the language they know.
SabataIt’s McDonald’s, no amount of humans or technology will get your order right.
Eh…AI messes my order. Some dumbass teenager messes up my order. Whats the difference?
I wouldn’t call it the MAIN reason I no longer go get fast food…but maybe like the lower end of the top 10 reasons I gave up fast food years ago.
At least the dumbass teenager isn’t putting glue on a pizza. Although in my area they will use the pepperoni placement to make a swastica on your pizza…or put their bare feet into the lettice of the burger king lettice bins. I mean sure, THOSE guys got fired, but how many other stories DON’T make the news???
Eh…AI messes my order. Some dumbass teenager messes up my order. Whats the difference?
I mean, I can think of a couple.
I stopped going to BK because they ALWAYS messed up my order. I finally had it and never went back. I bet the ai is more competent than my local BK. What makes this story more sad is I rarely get fast food, mainly as a treat, and fucking BK always messed it up.
For similar reasons, I stopped ordering with any alterations at all. I used to customize order a little and they always messed it up. It’s pretty rare that I go at all, but I figure that way it’s the standard meal and they can just go in autopilot making it. Less disappointment when things go wrong
I can see in a place where language barriers are prevalent how it would be beneficial to those dealing with that barrier.
Costs more than people I expect…
Still order like grandpa. I go in and want to talk to a human and order. I hate those gross ass touchscreens. I am probably a minority especially in my age group and working in tech
Always wondered why anyone would rather talk to a person than take their time, have a nice overview of the menu, and pay in advance. I guess they are gross though.
The only time I would rather not talk to a person is if the accent causes a language barrier. Otherwise 9 times out of 10 a person is going to understand what you want better especially if it’s a customization issue
The only time I would rather not talk to a person is if the accent causes a language barrier.
“Gobble gobble goo?”
“Uhhhh…I’m sorry?”
“Gobble…gobble…goo?”
“…what?”
“GOBBLE GOBBLE GOO!!!”
“I have no idea what you mean by that…”
Guy behind you in line: “c’mon man!!! Pay attention! He’s saying CAN I HELP YOU?”
“Really? Those phonetic sounds were supposed to be in any way similar to the thing you said? It’s not even close…”
“English is probably his second language. How well do you speak THEIR language?”
“Which language do you speak?”
“Yjxrjk#@■♡○{rjbzwk!”
“I’m done.”
At least in my experience I have more customization issues when taking to people rather than using an app or going through a kiosk. The only time it’s the other way around is when they don’t include an option I want on the digital version but that’s becoming less and less common for me at least. The number of times I’ve had orders just missing customization things I asked for but they didn’t hear or forgot to enter is much higher when I go through the drive through or go in person then when I do it through something digital.
Where I live there’s loads of heavily accented people so language is a massive barrier. Some of the employees don’t even speak English.
just use your knuckle
Because I’m at a fast food place in the first place because my time is important and I don’t want to waste it ordering.
That and the guy taking orders does it 1000x a day and i can easily order that way instead of me navigating ten different menus just to order a simple meal for my family.
I’m OK with my old man status at this point. Tech is good when it improves things for the consumer. The kiosks seem to just improve the company bottom line IMO.
kevincoxI am a touch screen enjoyer. At least in theory. I like having time to browse, look at pictures, easy access to customization options and most importantly no feeling of pressure. I am not spending a cashier’s time and potentially blocking someone behind me (at least there is usually less of a line for the self-ordering).
However there are negatives for sure. My biggest annoyance is that these devices are often annoyingly slow and unresponsive. They just display a tiny bit of text and images, they should switch between screens at 60fps, not 2s per click. Also if I know what I want it is often faster to tell the cashier and let them enter the order (on their more expert-optimized and less laggy keypad).
This is why I tend to just use the mobile apps for places to order. Not laggy and gives the benefits you mentioned of using a touch screen kiosk. A lot of them you don’t even need an account to use the app which is nice if that’s something that bothers you.
Yeah, I like this style but don’t want their apps installed on my phone. A few places have mobile sites which is excellent, I know what access it has and it is shut down completely when I close the tab.
kescusayBut what if they want to notify you about great deals and coupons? DON’T YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT GREAT DEALS AND COUPONS?!?
Basically yes. But also they can do that via email or web push notifications. Not that I would allow either.