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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...
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 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.
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.
But if they do that, how can they maximize shareholder value?
'Shareholder Value' is derived from Rents. It's McDonalds.
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.
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...
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.
A lot of fast food places don't have every single combo displayed on the menu boards.
That would be pretty surprising to me. They almost always at least say you can combine to a meal.
Although you are proving my point: combos make them money, they want to sell you more. Thats why you see them.
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 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 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.
you're going through the same communication layer, you're just shutting your brain off and tap tap tap... it's making you stupider, while you order your fat food..
the stupid customer does the job stuff is horrid. anyone that actually uses and promotes it must be half brain-dead... AI will make sure you're fully brain dead
I'm meaning picking the items and what I want on my food. Point is when I hit "extra pickles" the computer doesn't go "no pickles?" or possibly ignore me. Point is voice communication is... well rife with mishearing and miscommunication, whether the recipient is an AI or a human.
Just as when I'm communicating with humans... if not having mistakes is important, I send a text.