Fastest Fast Food

[jeffandnicole]

McDonalds claims the kiosks are so they can transition the staff to bring out your food like at Panera Bread.  Because we all know the reason they're losing business is because people want table service and not because they want less processed food.  I predict this idea will be a flop, if it's even real at all.  People don't go to McDonalds looking for the experience of a sit-down restaurant.

Regarding pizza orders, at least at my usual place, I think it's an issue with how the order is taken more often than not.  I actually use the price listed on the phone to confirm if they got my order right; if it's $19.42 (or if they don't say because they know it's my usual order), I know they did.  Still can only count on one hand the number of times they've messed up my order (even including times when I've caught them on the phone) over the four years I've been going to them most weeks on my hands.

We tend to try different pizza places on occasion. There was one we liked but stopped going to because they messed up a few orders.  After many years, we were driving by and decided to try them again.  We stopped there and told the counter person we wanted a medium pizza, half green peppers, half meatballs.  We also noticed she seemed preoccupied with her young child in the restaurant.

After we paid what seemed to be a fairly high price based on the menu pricing, I looked at the pizza and they put the toppings on the SAME side.  That's happened before on rare occasion, but usually a messed up phone order. Not one clearly told right there in the restaurant.  I said don't worry about it and we left.  I looked at the pricing later on, including on their ordering app, and could only conclude that they charged us a mandatory fee or tip.

Oh well. Writing that one off for good.

[roadman]

Those McDonald's kiosks suck ass!!! It took so long to figure that thing out. Manager told me that all restaurants will have them by 2019. I looked at the workers and told them their jobs were in jeopardy. The manager reassured me that those kiosks actually created an extra job or two. She said now the employees & managers can now open doors for customers & roam the floor interacting with the customers.

We shall see what really happens in the next couple of years. 

Extra jobs...ha!  How many jobs were created by self-checkout machines at grocery stores (other than a service technician or two)?  Nowadays it's 6-8 of those machines and one employee in charge of telling the machine that there isn't actually an unexpected item in the bagging area.

Self-checkout at supermarkets is dying a slow death.  Why?  Because most people don't want to use it.  It can be great if the store is busy and you only have a handful of items (provided the equipment doesn't break down or get too anal about the number of items on the belt at one time).  But if you have the "normal" number of items for a typical grocery run, it can be painfully slow, even if there are no "too many items on the belt" issues or similar problems.

Plus, ordering food through a kiosk at a fast food joint versus purchasing groceries with a self-checkout is really not a fair comparison.

[formulanone]

Those McDonald's kiosks suck ass!!! It took so long to figure that thing out. Manager told me that all restaurants will have them by 2019. I looked at the workers and told them their jobs were in jeopardy. The manager reassured me that those kiosks actually created an extra job or two. She said now the employees & managers can now open doors for customers & roam the floor interacting with the customers.

We shall see what really happens in the next couple of years. 

Extra jobs...ha!  How many jobs were created by self-checkout machines at grocery stores (other than a service technician or two)?  Nowadays it's 6-8 of those machines and one employee in charge of telling the machine that there isn't actually an unexpected item in the bagging area.

Or when you purchase alcohol, cold medication, something doesn't scan, the scanned item lags and subsequently double-charges...

[jeffandnicole]

Those McDonald's kiosks suck ass!!! It took so long to figure that thing out. Manager told me that all restaurants will have them by 2019. I looked at the workers and told them their jobs were in jeopardy. The manager reassured me that those kiosks actually created an extra job or two. She said now the employees & managers can now open doors for customers & roam the floor interacting with the customers.

We shall see what really happens in the next couple of years. 

Extra jobs...ha!  How many jobs were created by self-checkout machines at grocery stores (other than a service technician or two)?  Nowadays it's 6-8 of those machines and one employee in charge of telling the machine that there isn't actually an unexpected item in the bagging area.

Self-checkout at supermarkets is dying a slow death.  Why?  Because most people don't want to use it.  It can be great if the store is busy and you only have a handful of items (provided the equipment doesn't break down or get too anal about the number of items on the belt at one time).  But if you have the "normal" number of items for a typical grocery run, it can be painfully slow, even if there are no "too many items on the belt" issues or similar problems.

Really?  At the supermarkets I go to they tend to have lines.  There are lots of people getting just a few things that don't require shopping carts.  And that includes having a good number of regular lanes open too.

ACME in the Philly/NJ area did try doing away with the self-checkouts.  After just a month or two they were re-installed.  Best I could tell, they put in regular lanes, but never added additional cashiers.  So instead of 1 clerk for 4 self-checkout lanes, there was 1 clerk for 1 regular lane.  Longer lines at all checkouts, and the resulting loss of customers due to plenty of competition told ACME that they screwed that one up.  This little blog post details a few opinions about that move... http://acmestyleblog.blogspot.com/2017/11/check-out-this-email-from-acme.html

[Rothman]

I have also witnessed attempts to remove self-checkouts only to see them operating again in short order.

[Flint1979]

Wisconsin is Culver's home state and I know Michigan, Indiana and Illinois have locations but without looking I'm sure Ohio has some and probably Iowa and Minnesota too.

[hbelkins]

Wisconsin is Culver's home state and I know Michigan, Indiana and Illinois have locations but without looking I'm sure Ohio has some and probably Iowa and Minnesota too.

Iowa definitely does. I ate at the one in Decorah when spending the night there last year.

[abefroman329]

Plus, ordering food through a kiosk at a fast food joint versus purchasing groceries with a self-checkout is really not a fair comparison.

Why not?

[ce929wax]

I must be lucky or something, because I can't remember the last time a fast food place screwed up my order.  Maybe I should play the lotto.

I'm never in any particular hurry, but around here McDonald's seems to be the fastest and Taco Bell is the slowest.  Arby's is somewhere in between.  I only hit up Burger King and Wendy's infrequently but when I have, my order has come pretty quick.  I am basing this off of experience at the locations on Gull Rd in Kalamazoo, MI.

[webny99]

I must be lucky or something, because I can't remember the last time a fast food place screwed up my order.

I tend to order regular menu items, with no add-ons or special requests, which helps to ensure that I rarely get the wrong product. It's much more likely that they'll forget something I ordered altogether than give me the wrong thing. When something has been forgotten, it's easy to notice from a quick glance in the bag, and easy to fix at the window you catch it in time.

I guess what I'm saying is you're probably not particularly lucky; unless you're adding and subtracting a whole bunch of stuff from a menu item, your chances of getting the right thing are probably higher than you think!

[ce929wax]

When I go to Taco Bell, I get a number 7 with a crunchy taco and a drink.  I also get nachos.  There have been a couple of occasions where I have gotten a burrito and made a special request such as no rice and they haven't gotten it wrong yet.  When I go to Arby's or Mickey D's I get chicken nuggets/strips and fries or mozzarella sticks in lieu of fries at Arby's.  When I go to Burger King I get the Double Whopper meal large with just mayo and ketchup.  The worst that has happened is that Burger King has given me a single whopper instead.  When I order, I typically tell them the meal number instead of what it is.

[cjk374]

Those McDonald's kiosks suck ass!!! It took so long to figure that thing out. Manager told me that all restaurants will have them by 2019. I looked at the workers and told them their jobs were in jeopardy. The manager reassured me that those kiosks actually created an extra job or two. She said now the employees & managers can now open doors for customers & roam the floor interacting with the customers.

We shall see what really happens in the next couple of years. 

Extra jobs...ha!  How many jobs were created by self-checkout machines at grocery stores (other than a service technician or two)?  Nowadays it's 6-8 of those machines and one employee in charge of telling the machine that there isn't actually an unexpected item in the bagging area.

Self-checkout at supermarkets is dying a slow death.  Why?  Because most people don't want to use it.  It can be great if the store is busy and you only have a handful of items (provided the equipment doesn't break down or get too anal about the number of items on the belt at one time).  But if you have the "normal" number of items for a typical grocery run, it can be painfully slow, even if there are no "too many items on the belt" issues or similar problems.

Plus, ordering food through a kiosk at a fast food joint versus purchasing groceries with a self-checkout is really not a fair comparison.

Self-checkout ain't dying around here. In fact, Wal-Mart just installed MORE of those monstrosities. They have also installed their new "orange tower of internet doom" related to their new online ordering business.

[MNHighwayMan]

Wisconsin is Culver's home state and I know Michigan, Indiana and Illinois have locations but without looking I'm sure Ohio has some and probably Iowa and Minnesota too.

Iowa definitely does. I ate at the one in Decorah when spending the night there last year.

There's one here on Des Moines' south side, and I'm sure there's others in the metro area/outstate. They're all over Minnesota too.

[Jim]

Rather than guessing, it's easy enough to see where all of the Culver's locations are:

https://www.culvers.com/locator/view-all-locations

It's on our list of places to hit when traveling in their regions.

[MNHighwayMan]

Rather than guessing, it's easy enough to see where all of the Culver's locations are:

Aww, but where's the fun in that?

[abefroman329]

They have also installed their new "orange tower of internet doom" related to their new online ordering business.

Oh, that thing.  The last time I tried to pick up an order I placed online for in-store pickup, it was broken, and when I checked in with a store employee, they said "yeah, we don't actually have that" (after I'd gotten an email saying it was ready for pickup).  Walmart's attempts to compete with Amazon would probably actually be a challenge if they weren't so Walmart about it.

[Rothman]

You're right on the money with Walmart.  Comes across as a real unreliable amd shabby business process on their part the couple of times I have tried it out.  They could do a lot better.

[jeffandnicole]

They have also installed their new "orange tower of internet doom" related to their new online ordering business.

Oh, that thing.  The last time I tried to pick up an order I placed online for in-store pickup, it was broken, and when I checked in with a store employee, they said "yeah, we don't actually have that" (after I'd gotten an email saying it was ready for pickup).  Walmart's attempts to compete with Amazon would probably actually be a challenge if they weren't so Walmart about it.

The one time I used it they had the product...somewhere in the store.  Took about 15 minutes for them to find it.  That said, the person concentrated solely on that and didn't push me aside.

I had a recent order for pickup at Lowes.  Same thing - wasn't at the front desk, and they had to go in the back to get it.  20 minutes later, they said they're still getting it and it was behind a lot of other stuff, even though I practically came over the moment I got the notice it was in.

I usually don't do order-ahead stuff unless I absolutely need to.  I do see a lot of people talk on Facebook about online-grocery shopping at the nearby Shoprites, and at least they all seem to have very positive experiences with that service.

[abefroman329]

I did in-store pickup at Home Depot for some patio furniture because I was worried it would sell out before I could get down there.  I waited in line forever (mainly because one of the three customer service employees was shooting the shit with a customer the whole time), and then the girl couldn't find it, and then she couldn't get it out of the storage locker without help, and then she told me I needed to go get a flatcart.  It wasn't my best HD experience.

I do in-store pickup at Best Buy a lot; it's not necessarily faster than going to the shelf to get it (assuming I know where to find it), but it's nice not to have to deal with salespeople that are trying to upsell me.

[vdeane]

Regarding self-checkouts, I'm not sure if it's "they're so successful we need them" so much as "we're not staffing the lines anyways so we might as well convert them".  The local Hannaford recently went from 10 regular lanes plus four self-checkouts to six self-checkouts and six regular lines.  The self-checkouts were never at capacity, but it does seem like they have most of the lanes staffed now, whereas before most of them were closed at any given time, so they might have just decided to get rid of the lanes they don't use and add self-checkouts since they're better than a closed lane.

[Flint1979]

Walmart is a disgusting store that I pretty much refuse to step foot in unless I really have to anymore. Meijer blows Walmart away in the state of Michigan and is a much better store. The quality of products, the cleanness of the store, the layout of the store is all better at Meijer than Walmart.

[abefroman329]

Meijer blows Walmart away in the state of Michigan and is a much better store. The quality of products, the cleanness of the store, the layout of the store is all better at Meijer than Walmart.

Agreed, though they also blow away Walmart in Indiana and Illinois.

[jeffandnicole]

Walmart is a disgusting store that I pretty much refuse to step foot in unless I really have to anymore. Meijer blows Walmart away in the state of Michigan and is a much better store. The quality of products, the cleanness of the store, the layout of the store is all better at Meijer than Walmart.

This thread is about fastest fast food.  It's tangented into fastest check out lanes and self-serve checkout lanes.  Your rant has nothing to do with either.  Why do some people must give us their opinion of Walmart at every opportunity they can, when it doesn't remotely have anything to do with the topic?  And what does Meijer's layout in the state of Michigan (as opposed to the city of Michigan, the planet of Michigan, the month of Michigan?) have to do with anything here?

[MNHighwayMan]

So wait, you're telling me a thread in the off-topic board, went... off-topic?

[jeffandnicole]

So wait, you're telling me a thread in the off-topic board, went… off-topic?

Badly off topic!!