this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2026
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The only complaint I disagree with is
We hate the kiosks at McDonald's, Wendy's, and Taco Bell that we are asked to use instead of talking to a person
Personally I love the kiosks. I love being able to select exactly what I want, and not go through a communication layer with a person, who may mishear or misinterpret what I say, and adding that while still having humans there for people who don't like using screens or actually have questions is a good thing IMO.
But yes, AI is all the flaws of human workers, plus some because they always have and always will be significantly worse than humans at spotting mistakes giving you what you don't want etc...
Kiosks make you spend more. Designed as such. You get all the delicious temptations right in your face as you make your choice while being hungry.
Manipulation at its finest.
Staff is also usually instructed to make you buy more as well.
Anyway my key point isn't that kiosks are flawless, my point is, there is a tangible benefit, a reason why a decent portion of people may actually get a benefit to them from a kiosk. (IE less factors for order mistakes, potentially easier time finding what they want, some people don't want to have to use their voice and talk to someone at all).
My point is, in the fast food restraunts in my area, the ones that have kiosks, mostly also have human casheers as well, and even when the restraunt is slow and there's no line for either one, it's close to 50/50 of where people go to. While if an AI voice bot were added, I would be shocked if 1% of people would chose that over a human or a kiosk.
Kiosks, by definition reduce the points of failure in making an order. If I order through a human.
I might mis-speak, Employee might mishear me, Employee might hit the wrong button.
When I use the kiosk... I might hit the wrong button.
That's a clear defined advantage of the system on the fundimental level
an AI drive through window
I might mispeak, AI might mishear me, AI might do something unexpected even with the correct data. All the flaws of humans and kiosks.
I prefer the kiosks too, but if they're going to be hiring fewer people as a result, prices should be reduced to account for their cost savings.
Lol
But if they do that, how can they maximize shareholder value?
whose shareholders? McD's? The franchisee's?
Yes
This is one where I feel like those disparate groups of shareholders have different vested interests and ideas of what maximizing value means.
Ok
'Shareholder Value' is derived from Rents. It's McDonalds.
The more that franchisees can bear to pay in rent, the more corporate can charge, so the franchisees hiring fewer people is maximizing shareholder value even if indirectly.
Sorry, the best they can do is triple prices because they want to give the appearance of being "premium".
Oh and those kiosks I'm sure are provided by a company run by someone on the Board, and cost multiple thousands for something that could be done with a $500 touchscreen and a Raspberry Pi.
And software run by yet another provider on the Board that has a dev team comprised of everyone's nephew trying to use AI to vibe code it.
"Cronyism and self-dealing in my laissez-faire capitalism?"
It's more likely than you think.
Personally I’d rather they keep the same number of employees and just work less hard. Fast food workers seem to have way too much to do for their pay scale. They should take the pay from the absurdly overpaid upper management, though.
Oh......oh you must be new here. And by "here" I mean Earth.
HA you're going to pay MORE and have to do more work. slave...
That kiosk exists to push specific parts of the menu toward you, while minimizing your interaction with loss leaders, and if linked to your rewards account, collect and use all of your spending habit data. It's a consumer manipulation tactic that is meant to seem convenient, while providing an excuse for the company to hire less workers/pay workers less.
Source: Am fastfood worker at a company that refuses to do this.
Jokes on them, I always get the same order. Can't ish something in me if I'm already done before I get started. That said, I've had MDs once in two years, and it was because it was almost 2am in the middle of bfn.
Do you think we go to fast food places and peruse the menu and drink list?
It doesn't matter. What I'm saying is you used to have that choice.
I hate the kiosks BECAUSE they removed a key feature that the POS can do: substitution at no cost. If you order a McGriddle, sausage egg and cheese, at the POS, you say “substitute” whole egg (the white and yolk instead of the folded egg), and it’s the same price. At the kiosk, at least 4 years ago when I last used one, when you want to do this, you need to add the whole egg for a cost, then remove the folded egg at no credit.
At chick fil a, when you remove ingredients on a sandwich, that amount actually gets removed from the cost of the sandwich. Fuck chick fil a’s profit spending, but their ordering system is the best for customers.
Yeah this is still a problem.
I don't really eat at fast food places with kiosks, but when I have had the occasion I actually prefer it too. Because I don't eat at these places often I am generally unfamiliar with the menu and the kiosk tends to have it organized with pictures which are helpful if I don't know what a "crazy burger" is. It also makes me feel less rushed since I don't have a human on the other end who has to wait for me to decide or to tell me what's in a crazy burger or whatever. Especially because a lot of places don't seem to display their full menu anymore. Not sure what's up with that.
Like anything these days I suspect it's a profit maximisation thing. They push the stuff that makes them the most money, and since people don't usually keep the full menu in their head if they can't remember it they can't order it.
I only don't like the in-store kiosk because it doesn't have the same customizability options that are on the mobile app, so I end up having to talk to a person anyway when I want certain things, like the scrambled egg mcmuffin or tomato on a QPC.
Why would you ever use the kiosk when you can use the mobile app?
It's just a shitty version of the same thing with zero privacy and completely filthy with other people's kids' nastiness all over it. Don't get me wrong, all of our phones are disgusting but it only takes a few minutes of being in earshot of a public bathroom to realize how few people actually wash their hands after they shit all over the stall, floor, doors, walls and selves.
In the rare instance that I go to mcdonalds, Id rather use their device than put their app on my device, or make an account to use such an app.
or just use the drive through and pay with cash and avoid all of this
I get that they keep trying to eliminate humans that take drive through orders, but there will always be an escalation path for a real human. Just takes a single car blocking the lane lol.
I mean the problem with drive throughs is that's like the most painful way to order anything. Doesn't matter if it's a human or an AI. Lets talk on a garbage speaker 6 feet away with traffic, wind and everything else inbetween. Without being able to see the face of the person. Know when or if the feed has been cut off, also the added fun of the speed being terrible and of course the ability to get stuck because even if you realize it's not worth the time... a car can pull up behind you and force you to wait it out as long as it takes.
Drive through would require I get a car tho, I was more trying to defend the kiosks as, while I understand that they aren't perfect for various reasons, like dark patterns and such that software ordering enables, I genuinely find that kiosk format the least stressful way to order food, in the rare instance that I'm at a place that has them. Dont have to install their app, doesn't activate my social anxiety like asking an actual person for things, and I can walk in and use it rather than needing a vehicle.
The kiosk doesn't collect data about me, afaik. I don't have to log in to it. And it's not like I care if someone sees what I order. They're gonna be able to see me eat it, too, since if I am in the store I am usually gonna eat in the store.
Was thinking more about the looking over your shoulder aspect.
You use a credit card right? probably one with the same number you use in other places with your name and address attached right? They know what you buy man. Odds are some commercial source has every possible detail about your life attached to it like your wage history, purchasing history, web viewing/commenting history...
Maybe if you used pre-paid gift gift cards or something you could be somewhat anonymous, but nowadays with how cheap and easy facial recognition tech, walking gait tech and license plate reader tech is.. doubt that will work for long.
This is a crazy amount of paranoia, especially from someone who is instead recommending a fucking app.
But it's not like you or anyone here can show the damage to privacy or otherwise a fast food app is going to have versus the very real conveniences others have brought up here.
McDonald's privacy page:
I love how they call out the in person surveillance plain as day and people still think it's private to even go there lol.
"Improve our operations" doesn't preclude them from building a profile about you, selling it to increase revenue, or using it for advertising to target you individually to maximize sales/profitability.
In some states like mine it's illegal to record audio indoors on CCTV... but who the fuck is going to know if it's there or not?
I assure you that the contents of the app are dramatically more disgusting and infectious than anything smeared on those kiosks.
Yeah, just gimme the NP6 terminal, I'll figure it out.
Yeah, the kiosk means I can browse the whole menu, and take my time deciding what I want. Definitely the better option.
You always could browse a menu and take all the time you wanted.
The kiosks are for trying to guide you to less choices if possible, and then upsell.
I hate the damn things. Fortunately I dont eat fast food so it doesnt affect me.
I just prefer self checkout. The less time I have to talk to someone the better. My dollar tree got rid of it and I was sad. 6 checkouts became 1 cashier.
I just prefer doing it myself, since many times I go at the same time and end up chatting with the self checkout lady. I just prefer to bag the stuff myself.
No, I'm sorry but those kiosks are horrible ideas. All of those places have food that you are expected to eat with your hands. You think phone screens are gross? Try a public touch screen. I have yet to see anyone other than myself wash their hands (or even just use hand sanitizer ffs) after or before using one of those kiosks. They are likely responsible for who knows how many infections.
All of that is ontop of making what should be a 20 second interaction into (at times) multiple minutes even for someone that knows how to operate/navigate them as they constantly try to needlessly upsell things while forcing you to move your hand across the entire height of the thing to make sure you spend the maximum amount of time being advertised to. They need to go away.