Snapped this picture in Bellevue, WA. Now I can order my fast food without having to talk to anyone! What's even better is that the kiosk interface is actually very well done and easy. It does talk to you in a loud voice that I have to imagine would get annoyying listening to all day. It includes pictures with options and sides that I didn't even know existed. Like who knew for 30 cents extra you can get a side salad with your combo instead of fries. It seems as though people are afraid of it or can't read the sign as there was a line of a handful of people and no one paid attention to it. The only failure was that we ordered sour cream but they were out of it. They kindly refunded 55 cents AFTER our order was done and we asked where the sour cream was.
What's next ordering directly from my iPhone?
Actually, you can already do human-less iPhone orders for Pizza Hut (their new iPhone app is really well done for what's basically a remote ordering app), and probably others we haven't heard about. But there's just something fun about standing less than 10 feet away from a restaurant employee and choosing to order from your robot friend instead.
]]>I have eaten at fast food restaurants before. That's how I know the employee's are generally dense. And yes, I do find human interaction an inconvenience sometimes.
]]>too bad minimum wage can't make you pay attention in english class
]]>Wish Jack in the Box would come to Michigan.
]]>When he first took ownership, service fell off horribly as people couldn't understand the staff's thick accents, and most of the staff was still learning to speak English.
The owner did something very smart, and installed a touch-screen system for ordering. This way you could punch in what you wanted, and the staff could simply read the receipts, grab your food, take your cash, and bid you good day.
It worked marvelously.
But then the staff got better at English, and the system was removed. Service is still OK but I miss the touchscreens.
]]>@aloria: I've had the local Mc Donalds screw up a chicken nugget order. My kids can usually eat 8-10 nuggets, so rather than buying 2 - 10 piece McNuggets for +$3 each, I buy 4 - 4 piece McNugets for $1 each off the dollar menu (We have thankfully instilled in our children that Happy Meals are a waste of money and the "prizes" are usually junk, so we will almost always order the individual components and save ourselves some money). They just can't seem to grasp that someone might want to order more than 1 4 piece nugget off the Dollar Menu as I will without a doubt get only a single box of 4 piece nuggets.
]]>Many cafeteria style restaurants in Japan do something like this. To avoid having to hire a dedicated cashier, you go to a vending machine and buy a ticket for what you want. You give your ticket to the kitchen personnel and they make your food.
]]>@Starfury: Carl's Jr (Hardees to you East Coasters) had this in their location at the Marine Corps Base in 29 Palms, CA about three years ago. Was great!
]]>minimum wage does more worse than good.
]]>"To those who intend on making the industry their career, we're all now a bit poorer."
How so? I would guess that if you plan on making a career out of being in fast food, then you will almost certainly be in management. And while it might cut back on the number of people on the "front lines" in such a job, I don't see how this will really affect prospects for fast food management jobs. If anything it might actually improve things, considering that it might be able to make such restaurants a little more profitable.
]]>Wow! They skipped the "best shore" decision to use a VOIP line to India and removed any human intervention.
]]>Absolutely fantastic idea, though, and it was really simple to use. The Jack in the Box I went to offered you the choice of using the machine or getting in a regular line.
]]>@MaelstromRider: Me thinks you need a good homecooked meal.LOL
]]>I really like the menu. I took a few minutes to look into it before, so its pretty fast to order, and there are sides and things on there I never knew existed or you could get with a combo.
Some people are fine ordering from it. Others just go up and prefer the counter. We have a lot of Boeing and Microsoft people right by this Jack and the Box though, so most around here aren't a stranger to technology.
]]>I honestly don't remember if their burgers were any good.
]]>Would you like an extra big-arse taco? Now with more molecules!
]]>When i was in SD on business last year the one I went into had two of those in it. I thought it was sort of cool. Wonder if it was the same one...
]]>The good is that you're far more likely to get your own order right than the stoner behind the counter is, and it's much faster if kiosk is free.
The bad is if there's a line at all for the kiosks. Other customers are just as dumb as a bad employee and they have no monkey training, so they'll take five times as long to figure out how to use the thing as it would have taken to order face to face. And this is even with an interface that already assumes you're not as smart as a fifth grader.
]]>When I lived near Papa John's, I ordered my pizza online. Got a knock at the door 30 minutes later.
]]>However, in the case of airports and theaters, the amazing efficiency that really has resulted in shorter lines, simpler transactions has made me a fan.
Now - here are two counter-examples I really HATE in the same category
1. Grocery store machines where you self-check out are horrendous and stupid and unjustifed a. because more is involved and they mess up regularly b. despite not working well regularly as a concept it is forced on us anyway in a lot of ways, soon to have no choice c. Ever notice we aren't given the saved labor cost back like we should on our purchases for using them? Labor is the biggest expense of any business, you should proportionately get credit back on purchase cost since you aren't using their labor.
2. I saw an article here on automated mall "help" in department stores. You know, there are just things that SHOULD NOT be automated, and complex shopping like that being automated is ridiculous.
But just because it is ridiculous doesn't mean it won't be forced on us massively by corporations who frankly just don't care about the everyday impact on us, just like they outsourced our jobs and force us all to talk like trained monkeys to machines on the phone press 47 options and wait an hour and a half to talk to some poorly trained peasant who could care less in India or Russia.
So I guess what it comes down to is - transaction simple, okay as long as you have humans to help, just in case and people can choose humans to begin with.
transaction not simple - don't even think about it and how DARE you if you do roll it out, and consumers should fight back / sabotage, and strongly oppose it if businesses collude and force it on all of us in a given industry.
]]>Two problems. 1. You can't specialize the order (e.g. no mustard - or figure out if something has mustard on it). 2. It doesn't take change in payment. This might be fine, but if something ends up totaling $2.17 you will get a pocket full of change. But it does take credit cards.
I would note that in Pennsylvania, Sheetz, and I think Wawa had ordering kiosks three years ago.
]]>@Scrutinizer: So if you are asking when is it likely to happen? My friend Hofstadter has a prediction:
"Sooner than you think. Even when you factor in this statement into the calculation."
]]>The only thing I'd wonder about is special orders - no mustard, no pickles, extra ketchup, that sort of thing. I didn't try to do one so I'm not sure if it would allow it or not...
]]>Also, asking for "no salt on fries" is a difficult measure since most fast food places make fries in batches.
]]>@michaelgibbons: Don't worry. Instead of cashiers, all the counter kids at fast food places will now be able to say they were "computer support technicians."
]]>@MostlyHarmless: Basically it has to do with the statistics of gambling odds.
]]>The Arby's in Menlo Park had this set up back then- CRT touch screens, but they still had people behind the counter to actually take your money and give you change. All you were really looking at was the exact same screen the workers used, so it was a real pain in the ass to figure out how to order anything.
It was a pretty awkward situation, because the workers still had to stand there attentively, waiting for you to finish punching in your order so they could take your money.
]]>I saw that thing a month and a half ago month at the JIB in Van Nuys, CA on Laurel anyon Canyon. I stood in line to order from the person, I avoided the drive thru because have gotten ripped off at the drive thrus so many times at different places that it's not even funny,
]]>idiot
]]>@Cant_stop_the_rock: Are you kidding?
It's hard enough getting people not to screw up orders for "no mayonnaise on the burger" and "no salt on the fries" when talking face to face. I'd bet my money that special requests via computer will be ignored just as often, if not more.
]]>You get a written record of what you ordered down to the condiments, you can request funny combinations like horseradish, extra ketchup, and "a little bit of mustard", and you can order for a group or family sequentially without taking up a lot of time hemming and hawing with the cashier. Just pick out what you want on the screen, taking as long as you need.
]]>Of course robots may never be able to replace the jobs of musicians, filmmakers, etc., but with robots doing all the actual *work*, people could pretty well do those things for free, not having to pay anyone for their labor. (Resources could still be an issue though...)
]]>But we're just eliminating another rung on the employment ladder; we're now devoid of a handful of jobs at this JOB.
To the HS kids, this is not too big of a deal if they go to college or see this as a HS job only. To those who intend on making the industry their career, we're all now a bit poorer.
]]>No Taco Bell in the universe has ever gotten it right when I go through the drive thru. I would love it if they had a kiosk.
]]>Jack in the box is awesome and I wish more places did this. Viva la skynet.
]]>Isn't that around where the haunted Toys R Us store is? In Sunnyvale, on El Camino? I never got to go there darn it.
]]>@Nolarchy: When I saw this, my first thought was Wawa.
]]>@nerdtalker: Yeah saw one of these at the JITB in Milpitas right off Montague. They said it was out of order when I tried to use it though...
]]>@MaelstromRider: As a Houstonian oil industry tech support analyst, i can tell you two things for damn sure:
1. The problem is, 99 percent of the time, a PEBCAK error (problem exists between chair and keyboard, for those of you who don't know). The machines are not going to replace counter help. The counter is going to turn into a machine support help desk.
2. You can't have a burger in Texas without mustard. What are you, some sort of Commie?
(kidding)
]]>correct, you gotta take your ticket and pay for your food and then go back to retrieve it.
]]>I remember it being in that Arbys too (on El Camino I think it was? Or maybe it was Matilda) back in like 1995.. I thought back then they would have become popular, but we left the state about a year later and I've never seen one anywhere else..
I still miss Sunnyvale/Milpitas area. :(
]]>It was actually very well done; order everything (on a cool 3D UI to boot), pay, and then take a receipt which folds and sits on your table. I found myself ordering things I didn't know were on the menu that way.
]]>Because they "encourage you to visit your place of worship", just like Hobby Lobby.
]]>@You know what ole' Jack Burton always says: Agreed.
And what does Jack Burton always say, anyway? I'm afraid I don't know.
]]>People NEED these jobs, especially in times like these.
]]>This one I am ok with though - about 50% of the time they get my order wrong near my house.
]]>@eelmonger: There used to be one at American University when I was there in the early 2000s. It was nice because you could walk in and have your order done in 20 seconds if you knew where the buttons for your options were.
]]>I want this in starbucks- it would free up more baristas to actually make coffee, and it would increase the chance they get my milk choice right.
]]>Hey, atleast when the inevitable robot uprising happens, they'll know who their friend is. Maybe they will offer to hook me up with some cybernetic implants too.
]]>Machines should do this work. If the order taker at your local fast food joint is just going through menus and pressing the correct buttons, then there's no complexity involved in their job that can't be assumed by the user. I've worked every job in a fast food restaurant as a teen, and as far as taking orders the only complexity is memorizing where the less-used options are on the touch pad. A order kiosk doesn't want to go on break, it doesn't complain when asked to do some unwanted task, it doesn't get frustrated and it doesn't take offense to getting yelled at by impatient customers. It just runs code.
And the greatest thing about capitalism is that your dollar is your vote! Are you creeped out by the prospect of ordering from machines instead of live humans? Then take your money to a restaurant that gives you what you ask. Speak to the owner or manager of your favorite restaurant and let them know you won't do business with a robot. Or open your own restaurant with 100% authentic flesh-n-bone humans! Your freedom to choose is supported by an open market that allows competition for your business.
...unless the government starts getting into fast food like they have for cars, and health care, and airlines, etc, etc.
]]>@hungryhomer: what's more disturbing....when the computers want tips and put little jars on top of themselves.
]]>I went to Chick-fil-a the other day during the dinner rush, and they had a actual human with a touch clipboard taking the drive-thru orders. It was some of the best and quickest service I have ever had.
Why, oh why must they be closed on Sunday?
]]>There's something about the quality of workers stores choose to hire. The McD's and Burger King restaurants in my area make me yearn for one of these, even in the drive-thru, but the Chick Fil A employees are consistently clear, as if they are paying attention to what they are doing.
The upside for stores, in addition to clearer orders, easier upsells (a la the side salad in original post), and potentially needed to sked fewer order-taker human hours: Less (unwanted) free toppings. Back when Wawa filled out a carbonless two-layer description of your sandwiches, workers assumed you wanted everything on it; now with touch screens, plain is assumed and you can take your choice of more options than ever. Win-win, as mkting ppl you want to shoot say.
]]>what's a jack in the box?
]]>Is this news? Taco Bell tried this in 1996 in Boulder, CO.
]]>Stop & Shop in Mass has these now for the deli department. You can place your order through a kiosk and just wait for them to fill it without having to order by hand, a la The Wrestler.
They also have scanners you bring with you, you scan your items as you shop then scan something at the register and your whole order pops up already scanned. It's a complete honor system.
]]>That's really cool... I wish my local fast food places had that. I'm one of those annoyingly fussy people that can never just order the sandwich as prepared normally. That would at least remove the cashier error of them not ringing it up properly and leave the place for error as the kitchen.
On a side note, have you ever noticed anything like this? Where I live, it seems like regardless of which particular one I go to, at McDonald's the error is always with the order-taker--they fail to put the "no mayo" or whatever on the ticket. At Wendy's, the error is always with the kitchen. The "no mayo" or whatever is always on the ticket, but the food is prepared wrong. Oh, and at What-A-Burger, if you tell them no mayo, they put mustard on it instead, without asking, if you don't tell them not to. WTF?
]]>I may give it try the next time I'm there.
]]>