Self Checkouts

[Herdfan]

KFC, McDonalds and Taco Bell all have kiosks in our area and I use them rather than talking to a server. It's cut down considerably on screwups, especially when you have special orders. It's great, I don't have to deal with anyone really, except the person giving me my order.

Not sure how well the KFC or TB kiosks work, but McDonald's and Wendy's are SLOW. Also, they don't let me order things the way I want. It is hard enough to get an employee to understand I just want the Large drink in my combo, but not the fries. The kiosk at my local Wendy's won't let you do that.

 

[eyoungren]

Not sure how well the KFC or TB kiosks work, but McDonald's and Wendy's are SLOW. Also, they don't let me order things the way I want. It is hard enough to get an employee to understand I just want the Large drink in my combo, but not the fries. The kiosk at my local Wendy's won't let you do that.

On the McD kiosks, there should be a 'Customize' or Edit button somewhere. I use it all the time. My closest McD's is right there with the Chevron station at 107th Ave and Indian School, but I've used the kiosks at other McDs and not had any issue.

Both Taco Bell and KFC let me edit as well, although KFC's is a bit more clunky. The only real issue I have with it though is that their kiosks seem to have a real slow modem. Takes a minute or so before the order gets transmitted. I can pay sometimes before that happens, which is kind of annoying.

Anyway, I'd look for that Customize or Edit button on the McD kiosk. If you're wanting a large drink and a medium fry, you should be able to edit both.

 

[Nermal]

Not sure how well the KFC or TB kiosks work, but McDonald's and Wendy's are SLOW.

I was astounded by how slow the McD's ones are. The KFC ones are faster (assuming they use the same system in your country).

 

[Apple fanboy]

Wow you guys eat out a lot. The only time I’ve used those self order kiosks is when I’m on a long journey and there are no other options at the motorway services. So about twice a year tops.

 

[HDFan]

I love using the self-checkout cart:

1. Bag while I am shopping
2. For items charged by weight such as vegetables know exactly how much they will cost
3. Just walkout through the special lane and my credit card is automatically charged
4. Get an emailed shopping receipt

 

[eyoungren]

I was astounded by how slow the McD's ones are. The KFC ones are faster (assuming they use the same system in your country).

That's interesting. It's the opposite where I am. You can just hear the dialup tones (not really) with the KFC kiosks.

 

[eyoungren]

I love using the self-checkout cart:

1. Bag while I am shopping
2. For items charged by weight such as vegetables know exactly how much they will cost
3. Just walkout through the special lane and my credit card is automatically charged
4. Get an emailed shopping receipt

View attachment 2452714

Walmart+ has a deal where you just scan items with the Walmart app when shopping, then drop into your cart. Not sure how it deals with produce though. But at the end, you just walk up to the self-checkout (designated Walmart+ checkouts there), scan the QR code and pay. Not as convenient as how you mention, but faster than regular checkout.

There was a period when Walmart was testing this back before they offered Walmart+ and before they had self-checkout. I tried it a few times and it was convenient. But then they dropped the service, to offer it later as part of their subscription service.

 

[avro707]

I dislike the self checkouts, but my local supermarket has a different way, you use their phone app to scan items as you put them in the trolley. When finished, do the payment and then go to the special exit and scan the QR code provided. Easy.

This is better than the tediously slow self checkouts.

I do dislike the McDonalds kiosks, at least here they are frustratingly slow and always force you to navigate through things you don't want and slow animations before you finally get to the payment part and even then it is still trying to sell you on something you don't want. That's all deliberate to encourage people to spend more, but it doesn't work with me.

I rarely go to McDonalds, it's maybe once or twice a year at most.

I was astounded by how slow the McD's ones are. The KFC ones are faster (assuming they use the same system in your country).

It's probably deliberate. Make you take as many steps as possible and make you dig through countless menu options in order to find what you want, with the obligatory, would you like <whatever_else>... No I wouldn't like that, I would have chosen it already if I did.

I'm sure some people fall for it.

 

[adrianlondon]

Walmart+ has a deal where you just scan items with the Walmart app when shopping, then drop into your cart. Not sure how it deals with produce though. But at the end, you just walk up to the self-checkout (designated Walmart+ checkouts there), scan the QR code and pay. Not as convenient as how you mention, but faster than regular checkout.

Some of our supermarkets here (Switzerland) have this system, except you register once and then grab a barcode reader thing as you enter the shop.

I've never done it, as when this first started my language skills weren't up to understanding the registration instructions! And now that I could probably cope with them, they seem to be slowly fading the system out. Now, we have self-checkout tills. Luckily, here, they seem to trust us all and don't weigh anything so we skip that "unknown item" cry by some faux-upset computer system.

Ikea here have a system where you scan items using the app and can then just pay on your way out. I like this, as our Ikea tends to mess up the on-shelf pricing so you're never totally suer the price of things. Scan it in the app, and you get the correct info.

 

[StaceyMJ86]

Walmart+ has a deal where you just scan items with the Walmart app when shopping, then drop into your cart. Not sure how it deals with produce though. But at the end, you just walk up to the self-checkout (designated Walmart+ checkouts there), scan the QR code and pay. Not as convenient as how you mention, but faster than regular checkout.

There was a period when Walmart was testing this back before they offered Walmart+ and before they had self-checkout. I tried it a few times and it was convenient. But then they dropped the service, to offer it later as part of their subscription service.

With the product, I weigh it in produce and scan the QR code to have it added to my cart. That skips weighing it at the register before I scan the QR code to pay.

 

[Herdfan]

On the McD kiosks, there should be a 'Customize' or Edit button somewhere. I use it all the time. My closest McD's is right there with the Chevron station at 107th Ave and Indian School, but I've used the kiosks at other McDs and not had any issue.

It's there, but doesn't allow the customization I want. Right now I am half addicted to the $5 McDouble Meal which comes with a small drink. I can upgrade it to a large at the counter or DT, but not on the kiosk.

Same at Wendy's. I can order my meal the way I want, but it won't let me just upgrade the drink to a large. It wants me to get the large fry too, which I don't want.

 

[Clix Pix]

I can't remember the last time I set foot in a McDonald's or a Wendy's or some other fast-food joint, but definitely at that time there were no kiosks, one simply placed the order at the counter with an actual living human being, and paid at the register, whether by credit card, debit card or cash. Interesting to learn about what is happening in the world of fast-food places now!

I am definitely not planning any long road trips out-of-town any time soon (which is about the only time I darken the doors of a fast-food place -- I don't like ordering via talking to a drive-through machine and driving through the lane to pay; I prefer to order and eat inside the facility) but even so I'm glad to have this heads-up about what I might encounter when next in one of these places.

Question, though: do they still also have people at the counter to take orders and ring up the order on the register and receive the customer's chosen method of payment?

 

[eyoungren]

I can't remember the last time I set foot in a McDonald's or a Wendy's or some other fast-food joint, but definitely at that time there were no kiosks, one simply placed the order at the counter with an actual living human being, and paid at the register, whether by credit card, debit card or cash. Interesting to learn about what is happening in the world of fast-food places now!

I am definitely not planning any long road trips out-of-town any time soon (which is about the only time I darken the doors of a fast-food place -- I don't like ordering via talking to a drive-through machine and driving through the lane to pay; I prefer to order and eat inside the facility) but even so I'm glad to have this heads-up about what I might encounter when next in one of these places.

Question, though: do they still also have people at the counter to take orders and ring up the order on the register and receive the customer's chosen method of payment?

Pre-Covid, I don't believe these were common. Although I do recall one McDonald's that did have one before that. I've yet to find a restaurant kiosk that will take cash though.

And yes, there are still counter personnel who will take your order - same as always. I just prefer not dealing with humans. Post Covid, most of them don't seem to want to be there and order accuracy is problematic. One of the last times I ordered at McDonalds at the counter, the employee was slow, hostile, not listening and completely screwed my order up. Missing items, and not as I'd asked for. On top of that, he didn't care that he'd screwed it up.

I'm with you on drivethru though. I prefer to go inside and use the kiosk or order at the counter. Story of my life has been that in the drivethru I will always get the person ahead of me that is ordering for a large group of people or has no clue what they or others want. Or, like last time at Burger King, the cashier gave my order to the car in front of us. So, we had to sit and wait while they remade our order while ice cream we got at the store was melting.

I know people want human interaction. I get it. But kiosks just eliminate a lot of problems for me.

 

[Clix Pix]

Thank you for the reassurance that yes, there are still human counter personnel who will take my order and my money whenever I next happen to find myself in a situation where I'm hungry and the only available options for food are fast-food places such as McDonald's. I still prefer dealing with a real live human being to tinkering with an order kiosk.....

Then again, now that I've had a heads-up that these kiosks are a feature of McDonald's and/or other places, maybe I should cruise on over to one of the local ones here and just experiment, try out the in-facility order/payment kiosk system so that when at some point in the future I actually am on a road trip somewhere I won't be caught by surprise and will have used the thing at least once..... Who knows, I might actually like it!

 

[Herdfan]

I don't like ordering via talking to a drive-through machine and driving through the lane to pay; I prefer to order and eat inside the facility)

When my daughter was young we used to go to breakfast at McDonald's. Fun daddy/daughter thing. But on weekends, there were so many people inside trying to order that I would go through the DT and then come inside to eat.

Question, though: do they still also have people at the counter to take orders and ring up the order on the register and receive the customer's chosen method of payment?

In theory, yes. But they are trying to move as many people to the kiosk or apps (at McDonald's you set up your order on the app and get a code which you put in the kiosk and it brings up your order) as they possibly can. So there is usually not someone 100% dedicated to the counter anymore.

 

[Clix Pix]

When my daughter was young we used to go to breakfast at McDonald's. Fun daddy/daughter thing. But on weekends, there were so many people inside trying to order that I would go through the DT and then come inside to eat.




In theory, yes. But they are trying to move as many people to the kiosk or apps (at McDonald's you set up your order on the app and get a code which you put in the kiosk and it brings up your order) as they possibly can. So there is usually not someone 100% dedicated to the counter anymore.

Thank you for this info! Not that I am planning to go to a McDonald's any time soon, anyway, except maybe at some point further down the road to test out this kiosk system...... They won't miss me and I sure as heck won't miss them!

 

[eyoungren]

Thank you for this info! Not that I am planning to go to a McDonald's any time soon, anyway, except maybe at some point further down the road to test out this kiosk system...... They won't miss me and I sure as heck won't miss them!

One notable place I have yet to see kiosks is Starbucks. Even at their pickup only locations you still have to order over the counter. And I say have to, because other than the app, there's no way to do it except talking to someone.

Now that I'm thinking about it, this is odd considering their push towards the app. In the pickup only locations they wouldn't have to assign at least one person to counter duty.

In the long run though, it no longer matters as the new CEO is intent on returning Starbucks to a destination spot - i.e., a place you go to sit for a while and drink your coffee. He's pushing for customers to return to ordering in store and not in app, alongside restoring handwriting people's names on the cups again.

One of the (very) few places I do actually value the human interaction. The baristas know my order. A kiosk and the app wouldn't.

 

[adrianlondon]

As far as I remember things (I'm rarely in these chains; they're not a big thing here), the main difference is that McDonalds type places take your order then you stand there while the staff member goes off to get your food.

In Starbucks, they take your order then shove you aside to serve the next person while someone else makes/gets your order.

So, I wonder whether the lack of kiosks in Starbucks is because they get through taking orders/money quickly enough as it is.