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Gone are the heady days of cashiers asking if you want your order "supersized."
Not only has the infamous upgrade gone by the wayside, but cashiers at fast-food restaurants are becoming increasingly uncommon. McDonald's started rolling out ordering kiosks at its US locations in 2015, and the chain hasn't looked back since: by 2020, most of its 14,000 locations will have kiosks installed.
Panera Bread has also committed to digital ordering. Admittedly, when I first tried it in 2015, I found it had decidedly dystopian vibes. But it ended up being a fairly pleasant and painless experience.
A recent poll conducted by Business Insider's partner MSN suggests that diners aren't big fans of automated kiosks: 78% of customers said they would be less inclined to go to a restaurant that has automated ordering kiosks.
The popular narrative is that kiosks and mobile ordering are here to take jobs and hours away from underpaid cashiers, ultimately saving companies money in the face of rising labor costs — but the data suggests that isn't true. It may be true for some, but most chains are simply reallocating labor behind the scenes. And with such a tight labor market, many chains are struggling to hire and retain customer-facing employees.
Americans don't seem too threatened by automation in general. Nationally, only 21% of responders to MSN's poll believe their job may one day be done by machines. And restaurants like automated ordering for its increased accuracy and efficiency as more chains look towards cashless options.
But for now, a question remains: are kiosks, in fact, better for customers?
Source: Business Insider
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 01 2018, @01:45AM
Mind you that's probably why you couldn't complete the order at the kiosk. The problem still stands that the kiosk should have been able to identify that and prevent you from either selecting it or warning you that it shouldn't be selected.
That being said, I went into a Mcdonalds just last Monday or so for the first time in years. And there was no kiosk at this store. At least none that I could see. Ordered via the cashier. I do know some places around here have kiosks - mainly the minor stores in malls or walmart and the like, I think. But I avoid places like Mcdonalds as much as possible these days regardless of how I feel about the whole push for unemployment by companies.