A Whole New Way to Love McDonald's

November 29, 2023 8:00 AM

McDonald's New Terms and Conditions Have People Deleting the App (Mashed, Daily Meal, Daily Dot, Parade) The latest terms and conditions for using the McDonald's app contain many customer-affecting changes: updates to McDonald's liability in cases of injury, third-party errors, and app malfunction; waivers for a customer's right to a jury trial or class action lawsuit; and an agreement to solve disputes through a strict arbitration process.
posted by box (64 comments total)

> The only choices? Agree or delete the app.

Even better, just don't eat at McDonalds.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:05 AM on November 29, 2023 [21 favorites]

The obvious question is: why is there a McDonald’s app in the first place?
posted by eviemath at 8:07 AM on November 29, 2023 [28 favorites]

The app finally (well, I mean like a half a year ago or so) broke the one thing I actually liked that they did compared to other fast food ordering apps. And I know why they did it! It's still annoying. They used to take your order and send it to the store but not activate it until you got there and said "ok I'm here now". Sure, that meant your order took an extra few minutes to make, but it was always reasonably McFresh, and in the Pandemic Era cases where the store wasn't actually open, it meant that your order just sort of died in limbo, never charging your credit card.

Now? Now they go "ah I see you're close, we'll start making your order now" and on the one hand it does mean you get your order a minute or two after walking in the door, on the other hand it means if there's a technological or staffing problem, you get to fight to get your money back because for all corporate knows, you already got your McRib and Shamrock Shake.

Harrumph. Harrumph harrumph.
posted by Kyol at 8:17 AM on November 29, 2023 [11 favorites]

2013: if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.
2023: If you're eating the product, you are the product.
2033: You are an indentured servant.
posted by UN at 8:20 AM on November 29, 2023 [31 favorites]

Disputes will be mediated with Willard Scott in a clown suit? Losers will be sent to the jail in Officer Big Mac's mouth? (shrug)
posted by credulous at 8:27 AM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

We need to start mass-mailing terms and conditions to corporations.

"If you or any of your agents accept my money, you agree to the following terms and conditions. If you refuse this, simply never accept my money.".

Use click-wrap license agreements to fight back. Because the legality of these imposed contracts is pretty crazy.
posted by NotAYakk at 8:31 AM on November 29, 2023 [19 favorites]

Last week, I was in Barbados visiting a friend, and she told me that the country is very proud of how McDonald's failed there. The local fast food chain alternative is called Chefette.
posted by wicked_sassy at 8:42 AM on November 29, 2023 [27 favorites]

why is there a McDonald’s app in the first place?

Gamification of your eating habits -- you earn points, get free stuff, etc. And, in theory, you order on your app and then get faster service with fewer mistakes, but you still have to go through the drive thru I guess? Because the drive thru always asks you if you're using the mobile app.

However, the app means your McDonald's drive-thru experience now goes like this:

Obviously pre-recorded greeting from speaker: "Hello -- will you be using your mobile app today?"

Me: "No"

Some disembodied computer in a distant server room again: " OK, order when you're ready"

Me: *orders*

Person actually working at the McDonalds I'm physically at: "Could you repeat that please?" -or- *reads me back only half of what I said*
posted by AzraelBrown at 8:54 AM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

What exactly do people think is going to happen to them as a result of using the app that would necessitate a jury trial...?
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 9:08 AM on November 29, 2023 [4 favorites]

Something like this, perhaps?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 9:10 AM on November 29, 2023 [7 favorites]

We occasionally pick up late night Mickey D on the way home from whatever and have never used the app. At least once the staff on hand clearly didn't know how to take an order in the drive thru. They asked about the app and we said no, and the order process just stopped.

Fortunately this was late enough at night that nobody was in line behind us while they found someone who knew how to take a drive-thru order.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 9:13 AM on November 29, 2023 [5 favorites]

I use the app all the time because I’m poor and I search out the best calories per dollar ratio I can find. Also, free Big Mac whenever the Eagles win.

I’ll delete it now though-this is nonsense and I needed a slightly better reason to quit the habit than the manager’s ’TRUMP 2024’ bracelet.
posted by chronkite at 9:17 AM on November 29, 2023 [18 favorites]

reason to quit the habit than the manager’s ’TRUMP 2024’ bracelet.

Look at the back of your receipt; there's usually a "fill out a survey to get a free burger" option, to which when I encounter this (particularly fast food restaurants with Fox News on loudly) is I take the survey, rate the store cleanliness/friendliness/etc points low, and in the comments say "WHY DOES MY CHEESEBURGER COME WITH POLITICAL BULLSHIT". I don't know if it helps, but these surveys go to somebody other than the actual store first, and it feels good to have some place to write it where somebody'll read it.
posted by AzraelBrown at 9:21 AM on November 29, 2023 [17 favorites]

I eat at McDonald’s maybe once a year. Two years ago, I stood inside with the cashier just ignoring me forever and finally found these dumbass giant touchscreens where I spent triple the time trying to create an order. More recently I did the drive thru and got “are you using the app”? Fuck off, no I’m not using the app. I’m just ordering a cheeseburger combo, why would I need an app?

Everything is terrible .
posted by caviar2d2 at 9:22 AM on November 29, 2023 [25 favorites]

I've come around, mostly, on fast-food apps, mostly because you can make complicated orders without someone mishearing you and getting them wrong, or worse, having to repeat yourself three times because everyone's working in a noisy, busy environment. It's nice! However, the binding arbitration thing was so blatantly weird that we've deleted the McDonald's app (understanding that, for all we know, all the other apps do the same thing, just less blatantly).
posted by mittens at 9:24 AM on November 29, 2023 [8 favorites]

We get McDs only for breakfast and only for road trips and that is the right amount. I have too many fucking apps already.
posted by emjaybee at 9:34 AM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

This is a silly article. App deletions are going to be statistically insignificant. The app discounts McDonalds by 30%+ through a points-for-food system, and online-only specials, including regular offers of 20%-off and 30%-off coupons. I'm no fan of pre-dispute binding arbitration agreements with consumers ... but trading away that discount for the right to have a jury trial is insanely bad math. This is one of those things that will be solved by Congress, not by consumer agitation.
posted by MattD at 9:39 AM on November 29, 2023 [13 favorites]

I got the app only recently, and only because I was broke and it was the only way I could cash in on all the points from the monopoly stickers that I hoarded all summer.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 9:42 AM on November 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Not really interested in outrage from a group of mobile users that, in the majority of cases, have never read the entire terms and conditions of their own device.
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:46 AM on November 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

What exactly do people think is going to happen to them as a result of using the app that would necessitate a jury trial...?
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 9:08 AM on November 29 [+] [⚑]
Something like this, perhaps?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 9:10 AM on November 29 [+] [⚑]

definitely. I was thinking that McD
-could be implicated in or accessory to homicide, maybe, i'm not a lawyer

-if McDs sends push notifications prompting someone to order pancakes
-someone using their phone while drunk or intoxicated driving
-during which time the McD app user becomes involved in a vehicular homicide of two or more persons (including fetuses in Louisiana) due to distraction

due to the intrusive thought of pancakes from the app beeping at them while they are trying to navigate the vehicle

But

Delete the app. We have pancakes at home. Also, eat a salad. For mother earth.
posted by eustatic at 9:48 AM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

ugh. I don't eat at MD's but this is awful. I was explaining the concept of "enshitification" to my husband yesterday (which he got!) this is definitely an example.
posted by supermedusa at 9:49 AM on November 29, 2023 [6 favorites]

I do like their fries and cheeseburgers... It's the American way... Don't use apps or drive thru. I need to be inside the place.
posted by Czjewel at 9:52 AM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

indeed. McDonalds' free wifi is the closest thing we have to municipal broadband in the USA.

but....how do i know if the local Waffle House has broadband? And does Waffle House have an app?
posted by eustatic at 9:56 AM on November 29, 2023 [4 favorites]

Do the new terms and conditions on arbitration apply to disputes arising specifically from your use of the App or any and all interactions with McDonalds? Because there is a difference between 'you can't sue us if you ordered 20 ice cream cones for your baseball team and the ice cream machine was broken and now your kids are sad and we didn't give your money back' and 'you can't sue us if we negligently poison you with food you happened to order through the app'.

That said, lobby your various levels of government to ban arbitration clauses and other limitations on judicial recourse in contracts of adhesion because they are bad and should be reserved for fully negotiated contracts between parties of reasonably equal bargaining power.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:57 AM on November 29, 2023 [7 favorites]

Do the new terms and conditions on arbitration apply to disputes arising specifically from your use of the App or any and all interactions with McDonalds?

The linked article from Mashed suggests that it's all interactions, but the language in the T&C seems to explicitly limit the scope, unless I'm misreading.

any claim or dispute (whether in contract, tort, or otherwise) you may have with McDonald’s or any other Members of the McDonald’s System arising from or related to the online services or these terms will be resolved exclusively by final and binding arbitration

And furthermore,

Each restaurant is solely and independently responsible for its legal and regulatory compliance, for any issues relating to the supply of the products to you, and for any employment related matters in the restaurant.

posted by uncleozzy at 10:24 AM on November 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Because the drive thru always asks you if you're using the mobile app.

To be fair, I think this is because you can collect points, not because you have to go through the drive-thru to pick up an app order. When I go, they specifically ask if I am collecting points through the app.
posted by asnider at 10:37 AM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Now? Now they go "ah I see you're close, we'll start making your order now"

For a burger joint, they sure know a lot about you. I like to walk up to a place, pay in cash, and walk out.
posted by pracowity at 10:55 AM on November 29, 2023 [8 favorites]

Is this significantly different than the terms and conditions for all the other apps and devices out there? And you can count me in with those who aren’t interested in downloading yet another app i will only use a few times a year to clutter up my phone and/or tablet. Many of which don’t work very well or lack functionality that the website has (I’m looking at you, Capital One!).
posted by TedW at 10:55 AM on November 29, 2023

For most users, particularly if they're frequent patrons, such apps apparently offer some level of convenience and/or cost-savings. Most users don't understand, or much care about any data/privacy implications, and they're not statistically likely to interact with or be bothered by any of the other Terms & Conditions. Ditto for other similar commercial apps, I imagine.

I confess that on road trips that start early, we will often hit a McD's for a breakfast break after a couple hours. The coffee's usually not bad, and I'm partial to McGriddles. And of course, free wifi. But this is like once every couple of month or less, and we detest drive-thru's, so there's no real upside to the app for us.

We've tried their ginormous in-store order terminals. It took a little while to understand them, their touch is often unresponsive, and the printers were not working like 60% of the time. Automation fail. So I'm going nowhere near their app, given that track record.
posted by Artful Codger at 10:59 AM on November 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

"Robble-Robble"
posted by clavdivs at 11:04 AM on November 29, 2023 [15 favorites]

I'll reserve judgment until The Doughboys determine whether or not The App is Crap.
posted by saladin at 11:05 AM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Man, you all are so angry about everything. I'm always surprised, for such a tech-industry heavy user base how much people here seem to hate technology

If you don't like McDonald then that's valid, but also

The obvious question is: why is there a McDonald’s app in the first place?

I mean - you're ordering food from them. The app makes it easier for quite a lot of people to order food, including people who, for a variety or reasons, have trouble making themselves understood verbally or who have issues with auditory processing to confirm that their order is correct.

It also provides cost savings (free fries!) and a way to save favorite orders, and order ahead so if it takes to for a family member to decide on things they can do so on the way there and you're not holding up the whole line

At least where I am you don't only have to go through the Drive through you can also walk in and pick up your order and then leave, if that's what you want - no human interaction required

Does that mean they're also getting your data? Sure. Absolutely. ("Ask App not to Track" is your friend here) But if you are, say, a nonverbal teenager who greatly enjoys French Fries as a reward after school is over, or an elderly gentleman who wants a cup of coffee and a hashbrown every morning but has a tough time hearing, or on a family road trip and its crucial that you make sure to specify NO PICKLES every single time .... its a useful tool.

If its not the right tool for you, that's cool. But it is the right tool for some people. Maybe don't shit all over tools that provide savings or convenience or help for people just because its not for you.
posted by anastasiav at 11:13 AM on November 29, 2023 [49 favorites]

("Ask App not to Track" is your friend here)

I am in 100% agreement with your comment otherwise, but this feature is nearly universally misunderstood and either held on a pedestal as fixing a lot more than it fixes, or derided as being completely useless, which also isn’t true. Short version is, even when the developer’s self-certification of this isn’t a blatant lie, it often doesn’t actually prevent a lot of data sharing due to the way these relationships exist in the real world.
posted by tubedogg at 11:27 AM on November 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

anastasiav, a webpage would allow that and not be legally overadvantaged, AIUI. (IANAL)

Also, knowing more about an art or techne means having stronger opinions about it. It’s not a team for us to be on.
posted by clew at 11:41 AM on November 29, 2023 [6 favorites]

I've never used the McDonalds App (We don't go there enough to bother), but we've developed a flaming hate for pizza place apps and web sites. They're slow and annoying, and if there's an issue (like the food being an hour late), good luck talking to someone.
posted by Spike Glee at 11:43 AM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Love me some McMuffin. Never bothered with the app.

I've come around, mostly, on fast-food apps, mostly because you can make complicated orders without someone mishearing you and getting them wrong, or worse, having to repeat yourself three times because everyone's working in a noisy, busy environment. It's nice!

Taco Bell has a lot of off-menu options (like adding black beans or spicy potatoes to anything!) that are more readily visible than at the drive-thru or in store.

Overall apps suck, as do EULAs and T&Cs. I've gotten in the habit of getting rid of any app I don't use regularly. Although Chiptole got me with their app cuz quesadilla. And Sheetz, cuz I hate standing in those stores as they make me a cheese sandwich.
posted by slogger at 12:43 PM on November 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

As far as the benefit of apps or online ordering, I will say that sometimes for work I'm tasked with collecting lunch orders -- it is so, so, SO helpful for me to be able to email a link to the menu to everyone, have them respond, often with screenshots and annotations, and then order everything through an app for pickup. It is an absolute gamechanger versus verbally receiving orders and then reading orders to the restaurant over the phone.

(Also, I have unilaterally decided that if the chosen restaurant does not have an app or web ordering, I must deliver the order in person, at which point I order a (nonalcoholic) drink on the company card and sit at the bar or in a booth until the food is ready.)
posted by AzraelBrown at 12:56 PM on November 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

Don't ever go up to the drive-thru, OK? They fuck you at the drive-thru, okay? They fuck you at the drive-thru! They know you're gonna be miles away before you find out you got fucked! They know you're not gonna turn around and go back, they don't care.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:18 PM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

When's the Metafilter app coming out? "Browsers" are kinda sus IMHO

{|}
posted by tigrrrlily at 1:22 PM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

indeed. McDonalds' free wifi is the closest thing we have to municipal broadband in the USA. --eustatic

Apparently, in Australia, it's the closest thing we have to a failover for mobile services.
posted by krisjohn at 1:23 PM on November 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

I've come around, mostly, on fast-food apps, mostly because you can make complicated orders without someone mishearing you and getting them wrong, or worse, having to repeat yourself three times because everyone's working in a noisy, busy environment

Very much this. As someone with food sensitivities coupled with shyness, now I don't have to actually tell someone face-to-face that I want an egg mcmuffin without the muffin and have to have the conversation about why that might be. I can also assess exactly what is available for order without someone waiting for me to decide, which is such an anxious process with the new LEDs that display only a fraction of the menu and are constantly changing because apparently every person has memorized the entire fast food menu for every fast food restaurant or something? And meanwhile I only eat it once every few months or so, so I know nothing but the basics.

I like the app for Starbucks (though I am currently not going to Starbucks) because I can put in my order and then walk over and grab it from the one five or so blocks away and it will be ready for me. It's also easier for tipping for me as a non-cash user, though who knows whether the workers actually get the tips, come to think of it.

Plus with a lot of these places now, compensation for the cost of the rewards programs are built into the prices, so if you are going and not using their rewards program for them to stalk your habits, you're now paying a premium. How nice. This is definitely a part of what is happening to grocery prices, for instance, combined with all the credit card rewards programs - they're charging us more money to avoid having them track our every move.
posted by urbanlenny at 1:32 PM on November 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

I work as communications manager (and designer/writer) at a small but venerable, respected nonprofit social services agency. We are going to do a rebranding (which we desperately need, our logo and website is terrible), but people higher up have already mentioned...

making an app (!!)
...and "incorporating AI into our web experience" (!!!!!)

as part of this exercise.
posted by SoberHighland at 1:53 PM on November 29, 2023 [6 favorites]

The obvious question is: why is there a McDonald’s app in the first place?

I can answer this, as I use the app frequently. With the app, you can order before arriving at the store. As someone said above, the app currently uses GPS to determine if you're almost at the store and signals the kitchen to begin preparing food then so you won't have to wait long to eat after arriving.

Someone suggested the app is "gamification." I guess it is, but only so much as customer reward programs going back decades are. Restaurants have done this at least since Subway had their (sadly missed) Sub Stamps program. The app also provides a paper-free alternative to coupons, although I notice lately that print coupons are often better deals than the app. There are apps that try more substantive gamification: Burger King just wrapped a promotion where you had to play a stupid, badly-controlling video game to get "Crowns," their promotional currency. It didn't offer many of them though. Burger King's promo system has been flagging lately, while McDonald's "points" tend to pile up pretty quickly.

With food prices very high right now (most likely due to price gouging, I think), the app offers me a way to get a combo meal for a relatively decent price, $6.39 at local stores. Not great, but okay.

Some years ago, however, McDonalds' app charged me three times for food received once, and never made it right despite repeated complaint from me. it took me a couple of years before I could allow myself to trust it again. I am not happy at all about this terms change, since it seems to be enshrining the policy of ignoring customer complaints.

I've used a number of fast food discount apps, and can tell you that they're largely a wasteland, and sometimes hide shady practices. Burger King around here would secretly add 20 cents to certain orders, in such a way that it was difficult to detect, and would offer a "free loyalty upsize" that it turned out cost 10 cents. I contacted corporate customer support about it, and they eventually ironed it out, but it took rather some months before they fixed it. Fast food apps are also frequently error-prone, may remove deals unexpectedly for mysterious reasons, often are just gussied-up interfaces to their website in bespoke browsers (especially in the case of Burger King), and are often badly optimized and much slower than you'd expect them to be.
posted by JHarris at 1:56 PM on November 29, 2023 [5 favorites]

Eh, I have the app because McDonalds is the one convenient place to pick up coffee on my commute. I'll use it every other week or so. For one thing, it acts like those loyalty punch cards and offers freebies from time to time, and for another my order never changes so I can very quickly post my order from the very long red light two blocks from the place. It also means I don't have to deal with taking out a card or cash to pay. It "knows" the user is approaching the store to send the order because if the app is open, it has access to GPS data (do be sure to close the app when done.) The "Are you using the mobile app?" at the drive-through is clearly a recording, like the greeting almost every drive through. You probably don't even have to say 'no' -- just order as usual if you are not using the app. (If you are, you say "I'm picking up a mobile order code R2D2," and they ask if you are YourName and off you go.
posted by Karmakaze at 2:05 PM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

I have a soft spot for McDonalds as a reliable purveyor of free internet
... and as the social hub of many Asian elders.

This has resulted in some kerfuffles between Korean elders and store managers, because having three tables of Korean retirees nursing their one cup of coffee for three hours is not ideal from a profits standpoint.

On apps, I resist as much as I can but the dang grocery store chains have got me tethered. So many coupons.
posted by spamandkimchi at 2:08 PM on November 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

I walked into an asterisk dollar sign (as I insist on calling it, since I am that kind of weirdo) recently, and the person at the counter told me that it was a "pickup-only" store and that I couldn't order except through their app. I went to a competitor instead.

In retrospect, I could have ordered on their website, but actually I couldn't have because the website doesn't believe my drink exists (a decaf frap), even though actually humans at *$ can make it just fine with 100% success. The website is trying to sell me an Oleato which I refuse to believe isn't coffee plus Olestra.
posted by novalis_dt at 2:12 PM on November 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

anastasiav, a webpage would allow that and not be legally overadvantaged, AIUI. (IANAL)

As much as app developers like to protest otherwise, there is not much functional difference between an app like most restaurant apps (including McDonald's) and a webpage. It is basically a glorified WebView, meaning a native frame around what is, for all intents and purposes, a webpage. If you've ever used an app and gotten linked out to the internet and an in-app web browser has appeared, that's a WebView, except these apps are ever so slightly more specialized and without the back/forward buttons and address bar.

There is a little bit of difference in terms of what permissions they can obtain running as a webpage versus having an on-device app, but it's not much different in this space.
posted by tubedogg at 2:18 PM on November 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

(Starbucks buries the option, for reasons I don't understand, but you can pick the Frap, hit 'Customize' and then 'Add Espresso Roast Options,' and then select decaf (or half-caf, or 1/3-caf, or 2/3-caf, or blonde roast).)
posted by box at 2:20 PM on November 29, 2023

Using an app to order food instead of in-store is just another step in the same process supermarkets are undergoing with self-checkout. First, they remove the person-staffed checkouts and make you do that work for free, next they'll start offering you an app to do that work for free using a device you (and not them) have paid for. McDonalds has just accelerated the process by forcing you to use their stupid, slow 'kiosks' in-store while simultaneously encouraging you to use a device you paid for (I wouldn't be surprised to find out the in-store kiosks are deliberately hard to use to encourage use of the app instead). The obvious next step is they'll remove the kiosks and make it so you can only order food on your own device. All of this is just about cost-cutting and not about better service or convenience. in the process, they're taking away more and more jobs currently relied on by the young and the poor.
posted by dg at 2:45 PM on November 29, 2023 [9 favorites]

The website is trying to sell me an Oleato which I refuse to believe isn't coffee plus Olestra.

I'm sorry for this, but-- "Oleato: smooth going in, smooth going out!"
posted by JHarris at 2:50 PM on November 29, 2023 [3 favorites]

So I love the app, and I think there are real good reasons to use the app.

1) My wife loves McDonalds and hates pickles. I don't really like McDonalds and I almost never eat it alone, but I can get something I think is OK by adding mayo, lettuce and tomato to a quarter pounder. This has been our "standard order" for decades. Ordering burgers in this simple configuration at a physical McDonalds has honestly never resulted in a correct order. But with the app, it's always been right!

2) There's no cash or card handling. It's just paid. Even with PayPal!

3) There are almost always "buy one get one" deals on Big Macs and Quarter Pounders in the app, which ends up with a cost of only around $2 per sandwich, which is a totally decent deal in today's inflation-racked economy. This may go away any time, but it's been pretty consistent and a pretty good deal. It's hard to pay full-price for McDonalds these days.

4) If there is not a decent enough deal in the app, then it's simple - no McDonalds. Sure, they can track me. They'll learn that I'll only buy their food if they have low prices. That's information that I actually want them to track.

5) anastasiav also has good points about accessibility, but even for a neurotypical person, does anybody like yelling at the drive-thru speaker? It's been a hilariously awful experience at every fast food restaurant, one that's been mocked by literally everyone for years. The app makes pickup easy and accurate.

I dunno guys. It feels like the opposite of enshittification, it obviates a whole lot of what I dislike about going to McDonalds.
posted by I EAT TAPAS at 2:58 PM on November 29, 2023 [4 favorites]

Using an app to order food instead of in-store is just another step in the same process supermarkets are undergoing with self-checkout.

In undeserved fairness to McDonalds, it isn't just another step, is nice to order from home and not have to spend extra time waiting in the store. Many restaurants already offered web ordering. It's possible to offer an app-based ordering experience that isn't made of waste-grade suckolium. They just don't want to pay for that, because they won't consider offering any customer amenity that they can't use to reduce costs in some way.

And they absolutely would add "features" that cut costs but don't help any customers. Which is why you can probably expect fast food companies looking into A.I. in some way.
posted by JHarris at 2:59 PM on November 29, 2023

There are almost always "buy one get one" deals on Big Macs and Quarter Pounders in the app, which ends up with a cost of only around $2 per sandwich, which is a totally decent deal in today's inflation-racked economy.

That is almost certainly related to the combination of your store and how long you've been using the app. I've been using it for years, and the quality of deal I get offered is much worse: they offer "buy one get one for 29 cents," for example, the $1 Whopper Wednesdays Burger King used to do now going for $3, and the "4 for $4" special Wendy offered actually listed at $5.
posted by JHarris at 3:05 PM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

(I wouldn't be surprised to find out the in-store kiosks are deliberately hard to use to encourage use of the app instead)

I eat McDonalds way more than I should but I almost always use the kiosks. It was a godsend in Germany because I didnt have to talk to a person in a language I dont speak very well. The kiosks aren't that bad actually. It asks you lots of things but just follow the questions and you'll do fine. You get time to explore the menu in more detail than looking at the menu screens at the counter actually. They may get shittier now that they're encouraging the app more, hopefully not though.
posted by LizBoBiz at 3:12 PM on November 29, 2023

I think if they managed to incorporate a drone that will fly out to me as I pass by to deliver my order I could be convinced they need an app for that, but until then - suck it Ronald!
posted by some loser at 3:19 PM on November 29, 2023

Hating corporate over-reach is nowhere near the same thing as hating "technology".
posted by dumbland at 3:40 PM on November 29, 2023 [10 favorites]

I almost always use the kiosks. It was a godsend in Germany

So, in Germany, the kiosks actually work?

Here, I've found them (well, the 50% of them that are actually up on any visit) unresponsive, having to almost pound on them to get the touch to register. Spreading all the important choices and controls all over the nearly 1 meter screen when you can only be about 60 cm away from it is dumb. The pay terminal isn't always working. And more often than not, the kiosk printer is broken or out of paper. So we still have to finish up at the counter with a person, maybe two out of every three times we try the kiosk.
posted by Artful Codger at 3:53 PM on November 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

They may get shittier now that they're encouraging the app more, hopefully not though.

I would be willing to bet money the kiosks are using the exact same system as the app is, just with a larger viewport. They are certainly accessing the same API with the same product images and whatever; I'd be very surprised if there are actual differences beyond layout specifics.

So, in Germany, the kiosks actually work?

It's obviously not statistical data but I've never had a problem with the kiosks in any of the US and Canadian McDonald's I've used them in. Given they don't want to have to staff the counter any more than absolutely necessary, it's in their best interest to push anyone who insists on going into the restaurant to the kiosk, so it's very unlikely to be intentionally broken.

and the quality of deal I get offered is much worse: they offer "buy one get one for 29 cents," for example

You responded to somebody saying the deal was BOGO and you're countering with your worse deal as BOGO 29¢? I mean, yes, technically that's 29¢ worse, but... It's not worse like my local US McDonald's which charges $15 for a 20-piece McNuggets. (The Canadian one across the river charges like $10 for a 6 piece, but that's more about Canada's asinine chicken quotas than anything else.)
posted by tubedogg at 5:22 PM on November 29, 2023

The one thing I remember about the Austrian McD's is that there was a pay turnstile to use the WC. And murals of people in Lederhosen.
posted by credulous at 5:43 PM on November 29, 2023

I feel like I wasn't clear in what I said above, about the quality of deals in the app. I mentioned they're crappy right now, but they didn't used to be. It used to be a pretty good place to get discounts on McDonalds food. But it seems the longer you use it, maybe the longer you use it regularly, the worse those deals become.
posted by JHarris at 7:01 PM on November 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

In undeserved fairness to McDonalds, it isn't just another step, is nice to order from home and not have to spend extra time waiting in the store.

My local fish and chips shop takes phone orders. It is nice to be able to call them, order what I want, and have it fresh and hot and ready as soon as I walk in their door.

Their T&C are: we cook you fish and chips, you pay us money. As far as I can tell, the only data they collect is a name, which they need so they know which parcel to give me.

But that model doesn't scale! I hear you cry.

Damn straight.
posted by flabdablet at 4:50 AM on November 30, 2023 [4 favorites]

The kiosks aren't that bad actually.

Yeah they are. They continuously make assumptions about your order and require lots of unnecessary clicks to customize, and the customization options are weak. For example, go try to order a happy meal without the apples that taste like chemicals (double fries) and remember the screen is the size of a flatscreen tv turned sideways. It's like 10 clicks!

The TacoBell TacoPuter on the other hand is amazing - and the screen is an ipad size. Go use that and then tell me the McDonalds kiosk is fine.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:38 AM on November 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

They continuously make assumptions about your order and require lots of unnecessary clicks to customize, and the customization options are weak.

I’m not sure what you mean here. When I choose an item, it asks if I want to make it a meal. I can then customize the item (one tap to get into the customize menu, one or two taps to add/remove/modify density of components).

The TacoBell TacoPuter on the other hand is amazing - and the screen is an ipad size.

??? What are you talking about? The Taco Bell kiosk is roughly the same size. For example, look at Taco Bell’s versus McDonald’s. They’re configured differently with where the credit card machine is, but you can use that machine (which is pretty standard) to estimate the size of the screens against each other. And having used both in person, the Taco Bell version certainly is not “iPad size.”

Go use that and then tell me the McDonalds kiosk is fine.

I have and I am. I have had the same experiences with both. They’re both giant touchscreen menus, with all the benefits and problems that brings. I’m not saying either of them are perfect (they both have annoying quirks) but I also thinks it stretches credulity to say they are massively different experiences (either in size or usage).
posted by tubedogg at 1:14 PM on November 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

Huh, the screen of the TacoPuter at the Bell nearest me is about mmmm maybe 2/3rds or 1/2 the size of the screen of the McPuter down the road? So there may be variants of them. I do think the TacoPuter is more responsive than the McPuter, but since I find the McApp to be more reliable than the TacoApp (well, more specifically the staffing of my local 'Bell - did the one guy with keys call in sick?) it's kind of a wash?

I'm not sure if they'd think I was weird for actually measuring them or if that would just be another day in fast food hell, and the staff would be thankful I wasn't trying to engage them.
posted by Kyol at 2:08 PM on November 30, 2023