Touchscreens, conveyor belts: McDonald's opens first largely automated location

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Touchscreens, conveyor belts: McDonald’s opens first largely automated location

Test restaurant near Fort Worth, Texas, has drawn ire of activists calling for living wage

Erum Salam
Fri 23 Dec 2022 11.00 GMT

The first mostly non-human-run McDonald’s is open for business just outside Fort Worth, Texas.

At just one location so far, customers can drive to the golden arches and expect to be served a Big Mac or a Happy Meal by a food and beverage conveyor instead of an actual, real-life human being.

A spokesperson for McDonald’s told the Guardian that the test concept “is not fully automated”, emphasizing that the restaurant does employ a team comparable to that of a traditional store.

Smaller than a typical McDonald’s, the location is geared towards customers on the go rather than those who plan to dine inside. It limits interactions between team members and customers and uses “enhanced technology that allows the restaurant team to begin preparing customers’ orders when they’re near the restaurant”.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/dec/23/mcdonalds-automated-workers-fort-worth-texas

[Emile]

1. Screw that. I would never go to this McDonalds.

[marble falls]

2. I've been boycotting them for 30 years. This is crazy. I hope they choke on it.

[Warpy]

3. Russians reviewing the McD's clone have cited the McD's experience

that started with the big, cheesy McD's smile. It's why they went, it sure wasn't the food, it was welcoming. Russians don't smile at strangers the way we might and that's why the clone is getting bad reviews, even though the sourest admit they do a decent burger. Russians aren't dumb and saving up for a burger without the welcome is not going to work, they'll get a cheap bowl of solyanka, they won't have to save up for that, and it's better and better for them.

It will be the same with the automated McDs. Misanthropes and garden variety introverts are still minorities. Extrocverts and happy, peppy people persons will want the real thing, with real people wearing fake smiles.

Oh, they won't go under, they'll most likely be in the highest traffic areas, and people will put up with it Even with less traffic, they'll make more money because machines don't have to be paid, don't call in sick or for family emergencies, and can't give the owner the finger and walk out the door forever. The net profit will be higher so they'll stay automated.

[Chainfire]

4. First cashiers, now food service workers.

I hope that the machines can afford to buy the burgers.

[MichMan]

5. If I was a young person looking at potential careers, automation would be very tempting

Designing, engineering, programming, integrating and repairing automated systems looks like a very lucrative and in demand field with lots of growth and opportunities.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. I can only read about it, will n ever actually experience it. nt

[bucolic_frolic]

7. My McDonald's and Wendy's era ended with botched drive-thru orders

Cheeseburger for Big Mac, cold fries or no fries, no chicken for chicken sandwich.

What more did I need to know? It was more important to keep the assembly line moving than to get the order right. Then you have to circle back through the waiting line or phone in for a new order next time.

If you can't see it and feel it, how do you know it's there?

Too many short order cooks spoil the broth.

[MichMan]

8. Automation would likely eliminate all those human errors