It's getting so tiresome. Improve products? Improve service? Improve quality? Improve efficiency? Improve literally anything? Nahh, let's slap an LLM on it and see whether we can fire some people.
this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2025
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Here's what I don't understand.
McDonalds has an app. McDonalds also does mobile orders like ubereats. Why not use your own app to allow ordering from the app, so you can be 5 minutes away, order, and when you get there it's already paid for, you just pick it up.
It eliminates extra fees for customers willing to pick up their own food. It eliminates the line. It reduces the wrong orders (as most mistakes happen from the register worker not ringing it up right to begin with). And no AI needed.
Why is this so hard?
I'm not going to download and install an app for every damn restaurant I want to eat at.
Then wait in line. I don't get what you're suggesting.
Website should be sufficient.
How about just a website? Fuck single company apps
McDonalds app already does this. Their shit food is absolutely terrible value if you don't use their app. You're basically trading your personal info to get a few dollars off a Big Mac.
Culver's has started doing tableside ordering at some stores. Go in, sit down, scan the QR at the table. Takes you to a website where you can order and pay. They bring your food to you. It's amazing, especially for those "I need a cheeseburger without having to talk to anyone" times.
I'm exactly that kind of person, would rather order online and no contact, or self checkout. Yet I still feel that pushing that to every service isn't right. Insert Jurassic Park quote here. Maybe doing things just because we can isn't the best qualifier.
Oh, I definitely wouldn't say that "no contact" should be the only option. I think McD's has taken it a bit too far; you still can order from a person at a register, but it's pretty much an afterthought now.
But I do think that having those no contact options available for whoever wants to use them, for whatever reason, is a positive thing. If I'm having a particularly bad bout of social anxiety, just sitting at a table and eating my cheeseburger "like a normal person" can be very grounding, but it might not be something I'm able to do if I have to talk to a person to place my order.
@Lost_My_Mind @return2ozma you can in the UK. Maybe not globally? https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/good-to-know/in-our-restaurants/my-mcdonalds-app.html
I haven't been in a McDonalds in years, but I've never seen or heard of this in America.
@Lost_My_Mind maybe it's because a lot of our McDonald's are in central locations where a lot of people live and there's no parking, so it would be pretty absurd to only allow delivery? Or maybe it's a competition thing. All the coffee chains do it, and it got really popular over lockdown. The queues in coffee chains can take ages while they're making drinks for deliveries and pickups - it's really annoying, but at least it gives another advantage to the independents.
Truly, I'm happy for them to continue to provide me with ever more compelling reasons to shun them.
🖕
So it will be wrong every time?
A certain alabaster fortress near me encourages you to use an AI when ordering at the drive thru. It's terrible. It had the hardest time decoding my order of "a number one with cheese." I hate that this is the direction the industry is moving.
Those include connecting kitchen equipment to the internet, and outfitting them with sensors providing real-time data feeds that the generative apps will analyze and respond to.
I eagerly await the day that the ice cream machine will be down down from ransomware.
No one would notice
Along with that, of course, the global fast-food giant will look to improve customer experience by introducing AI to allow drive-through, kiosk, and app tech serve visitor more effectively.
Oh cool, I can get a side of nazi apologism with my sandwich!
Good thing I stopped going there after their greedy asses raised prices more than any other fast food establishment. Fuck them and their shitty food, I haven't missed it one bit.
Seriously, they got so expensive so fast.
At this point, if I want a burger, I'll go spend $11 at Chili's and get an actually good burger, some chips, fries, and a drink.
Why would ANYONE who is not literally bereft of any other option go to McDonalds at this point?
I don’t think I’ve had Micky D’s in at least a decade. And it was probably close to the same amount of time before that.
Guess I’ll just continue not eating there unless the choice is literally nothing.
"Here is your big mac meal"
"but I ordered a McChicken sandwich"
"don't worry, our AI suggested swapping your order because it predicted you actually prefer chicken based on your order history which it got from facial recognition when you walked in so we started preparing it before you ordered which also meant we'd get your order out 9.4 second faster! Isn't it so clever, eh?"
"what about my drink, I didn't order diet coke?"
"we gave you diet because our AI indicated that you probably have diabetes based on body weight analysis and McDonald's is committed to healthy eating as well as maximising profits"
"I want to talk to the manager."
"the manager was replaced by AI last month, corporate felt on site managers were one of the biggest expenditures for the branches and felt AI can offer more value. I'm sure the AI will be able to help you at that terminal over there. If not, we can escalate to the corporate AI which is authorised to offer 1% off coupons and has a slight antisemitism problem..."
"the terminal over there? The one with the queue 30 minutes long?"
"yep, that's the one. Have a great day!! Oh it looks like our conversation took longer than the time we saved. Oh well, isn't AI though"