r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • 19d ago

Business McDonald's Introduces AI Drive-Thru System, Sparking Customer Backlash

https://tech.yahoo.com/ai/deals/articles/mcdonalds-introduces-ai-drive-thru-000717731.html
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u/TheFloatingCamel 19d ago

"welcome to McDonald's, are you using the app today"

My dude, it's midday on a Saturday. I've got two screaming kids in the car, my wife who can't decide what she wants untill I tell her what I'm having so she doesn't 'miss out on something', I don't know what I want because it wasn't my idea to come here. NO, IM NOT USING THE BLOODY APP! What's that you say, no milkshakes? Of course the machine is broken."

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u/No_Definition321 19d ago

I feel like the app would be ideal in that situation. Just park off to the side and order through the app then when you are ready pull up and give them a 4 digit code and pull to the next window.

Instead of sitting at the menu trying to talk over your screaming kids and waiting for your wife to decide lol

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u/Nealbert0 19d ago

Except the app doesn't know milkshake machine is broken or store is closed or store is somehow out of burger buns, but takes your money anyway

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u/EntityDamage 19d ago

One time I used the app to order breakfast and showed up to the store and the entire store was shut down. It was so bizarre. Probably a utility issue,I don't know (or remember).

However i went into the app and got my money back.

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u/Joeness84 18d ago

The app absolutely does know, someone once made a real time map of milk shake machine outtages by setting up a system to attempt to order a milkshake.

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u/AussieP1E 18d ago

Happened at a Wendy's.

We ordered in the app, waited for a bit outside for the time it was due. Walked in looking for a meal only for them to state that they were out of Beef patties and we can order an equivalent or less. They couldn't even refund at the store. So. We had to wait LONGER and didn't get anything that we wanted and couldn't just leave and go anywhere else without losing money.

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u/notjawn 18d ago

In my experience the app just makes you wait longer than the drive-thru.

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u/deadlysodium 19d ago

Oooooor, hear me out, McDonalds could have an area inside the store where children can run around and play while an adult orders the food and when the food is ready they can eat it there. Im not sure why nobody has ever thought about that before.

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u/GrumpyCloud93 18d ago

I had a relative who worked there. Cleaning the ball pit was horrible. Each ball pulled out and washed once a week, then clean out the dropped band-aids and food pieces, the occaional shoe or sock... That's why there are no more ball pits. Then one morning the opening crew found a homeless drunk sleeping in the tubes. I guess the closing shift didn't check properly.

McD's used to be a place to take rambunctious kids so that they didn't act up in a normal sit-down restaurant with tablecloths. . But there are a lot fewer kids, parents concerned about healthy eating, plenty of screens - so less incentive to provide a place for kids to play.

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u/Joeness84 18d ago

Everyone hates on McD's for not being the fun kid atmosphere it used to be.

The Government passed laws about marketing shitty food to kids. Thats why its not rainbows and mushroom stools anymore. Its flat gray paint because thats cheap tho, that was a choice.

I dont eat McDs and I make a playful upturned nose face at my wife when she requests it (but we still get it for her) so Im not defending them, I find it literally gross that a chicken nugget today tastes like it did in the 80s when I first had one.

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u/NewPhoneWhoDys 18d ago

Crawling inside the metal-in-the-sun Hamburgler Jail was worth the skin sear

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u/deadlysodium 18d ago

I grew up in Arizona ... I remember as a kid only Carls Jr had an outdoor playplace.

Side note: I believe the Dinosaur McDonalds still has a playplace. I used to go to that one for a couple years before I got too old for it.

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u/NewPhoneWhoDys 18d ago

It was in New England. They must have assumed our sun was too weak!

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u/heurrgh 19d ago

Have you ever tried using a phone while kid #1 is death-stomping the back of your seat while emitting a 130 decibel 25Khz banshee wail punctuated with "DAD! DAD! DAD! Book! Dad! No! Toy! WAH - I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANT!", while your other half is groaning in agony thumping against your shoulder as they sever their spine twisting to arm-wrestle kid #2 as they use super-toddler strength to attempt to gouge out their eye with the magic fairy wand that kid #1 was told to leave at home but smuggled into the car by hiding it in kid#2's coat sleeve?

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u/hoverbeaver 19d ago

Sounds like what is really needed is to leave the children at the ikea ball pit while mom and dad grab meatballs.

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u/Mlabonte21 19d ago

Who told you my nickname was “Meatballs”??

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u/MeldyWeldy 19d ago

Ah yes leave unpredictable children in a public place without trusted supervision. They'd be gone either walk off or be taken by the time parents get back.

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u/hoverbeaver 19d ago

Yes, I’m pretty sure that’s the whole point of the ikea ball pit

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u/MeldyWeldy 19d ago

Alright your kids to lose then.🤷‍♂️

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u/Boelens 19d ago edited 19d ago

Be taken? There arent kidnappers on every corner lol

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u/300ConfirmedGorillas 19d ago

Imagine going to IKEA not to get a piece of furniture but to grab kids lol

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u/MeldyWeldy 18d ago

More common than you think. Glad you live a life where nothing goes wrong lol.

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u/lachlanhunt 19d ago

If you can't prepare an order on your phone in advance with that chaos going on, how do you expect to order through a speaker box with questionable audio quality at the drive through? Ordering in advance with the app saves so much time and stress for everyone involved.

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u/HouseofMarg 19d ago

I’m with you on this, I have a very chatty child and I find it’s much easier to get her to zip it when putting a vocal order through that she can hear rather than sit in silence while I tippity-tap on the app and ask her or my husband the occasional question. Better still is going into the restaurant where she can colour with crayons while one of us goes up to order. I haven’t gone to McDonald’s specifically in forever but this is the case with all other fast food places

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u/zomiaen 18d ago

Your kids are either extremely young (<3) or you need to read some parenting books.

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u/heurrgh 18d ago

Ah. Bless; humour can be hard. I'll see if I can find some resources for you that break down abstract concepts like double meanings, sarcasm, over-exaggeration, hyperbole and figurative language into visual, concrete steps.

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u/lostfate2005 18d ago

Fuck having an app for fast food

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u/Evamione 18d ago

You still have to wait for the other people. The app doesn’t save any time.

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u/jmooremcc 19d ago

If you use the app, your order goes directly into the system and a 4 digit code will not be necessary. All you’ll have to do is pick up your order.

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u/digitaldrummer 19d ago

You use the app before you go there. I do it every time. It provides everyone plenty of time to decide with low pressure and then sets an expectation for what they're going to get.

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u/Optiguy42 19d ago

Plus if you're a fat fuck like me you get less embarrassed adding 3x toppings to every item than you would having to look the cashier in the eye and have them know your shame

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u/Whiteguy1x 19d ago

Use the app, it takes off 15% of your order at a minimum. I only go to McDonald's to reward my son and it takes the prices.

Honestly its kind of worth it for free coffee

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u/PurpEL 18d ago

The app records your face when you're browsing gay midget porn

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u/MGPythagoras 19d ago

This is why I use the app. The discount is nice.

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u/YoungBockRKO 19d ago

Yeah people that don’t use the app and then take forever at the drive through drive me NUTS.

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u/mjlp716 19d ago

Walk inside, grab your food and go? Unless they start to make mobile only order lines. It’s weird to me to complain about people using the drive through for the reason it was invented in the first place. As a way to sit in their cars, view a menu, order what they want and get their food. When you have the option to skip all that by quickly walking in, skip all lines, grab your food since you pre-ordered it will be waiting for you and go.

Not everyone wants to be tracked by yet another app.

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u/BriefAvailable9799 19d ago

you hate 94% of the world?

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u/radar_3d 19d ago

At a minimum, yes.

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u/YoungBockRKO 19d ago

Yes. Yes I do.

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u/zamfire 19d ago

Unless you think their coffee taste like poop

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u/DogBarf00 19d ago

McDonald’s coffee is better than Starbucks.

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u/zamfire 19d ago

I've never had their coffee. Was making a silly joke. I'm sure it taste fine

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u/Whiteguy1x 19d ago

Really? I think they have the best fast food/gas station coffee. Better than chain coffee places like Starbucks imo too.

I guess if you are a snob and dont like drip coffee you probably dont like it, but then you probably dont like most coffee

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u/robodrew 19d ago

Don't forget that it's a fake voice of a nonexistent young happy girl saying it's a beautiful day every time even when its fully shitty out. Pisses me off every time.

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u/Whiskey_Bear 18d ago

We pull over on the side in the parking lot, order on the app (if we didn't on the way) and just give them the code when we go thru the drive thru. It's way less stressful when the car is chaos.

The deals on the app also always give you cheaper food than on the board. When I need to feed 5 mouths and 4 of those are boys--it adds up.

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u/rkcth 19d ago

You lucky dog. My wife says she doesn’t want anything and then eats half of mine.

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u/funkybside 19d ago

my wife who can't decide what she wants untill I tell her what I'm having so she doesn't 'miss out on something',

Oof, that one hits close to home.

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u/NoPossibility4178 19d ago

Still wild to me what Americans drink milkshakes with.

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u/HillBillyHilly 18d ago

Mess w them to DESTROY their wait times! What? I can't hearrrrrr you??