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Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

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Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cut it out. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/a-fair-shake/

You are not going to change my mind. I was in Missouri in 1979 and they apparently had strict labeling laws. On the McDonalds Menu it said “Cone (contains 17% edible plastic)”.

What qualified in 1979 as "edible plastic?" Gelatin, like pill outers?

Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still worth watching though. The last part (@ 23 mins) looks at how an enterprising 3rd party developer decided to help franchise owners solve the problem and got shut down by head-office.

Didn't make it that far. Time is too precious to waste on someone that is purposely wasting it.

> Time is too precious to waste

Sure. Which is why my default youtube playback speed is 1.5X.

Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#33
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are not going to change my mind. I was in Missouri in 1979 and they apparently had strict labeling laws. On the McDonalds Menu it said “Cone (contains 17% edible plastic)”.

Your mind might be unchangeable, but if you want to change others’ minds in a world where memory is unreliable and anonymous internet posters even more so, you’ll need something more than a claim of a 40+ year old recollection of the McDonalds menu in Missouri to beat Snopes for credibility.

I 100% believe him. What we define as plastic may have changed. Perhaps we are all eating things that were formally classified as plastic. Perhaps someone was making a joke on their way to quitting.

I never discount a person or a users memory. They are usually right over my assumption. When I look closer I see more reasonable answers that I never considered before.

Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#34
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems that even a megacorp like McDonald needs the right to repair... On second thought, not exactly the megacorp, but the franchise owners.

McDonald's the corp isn't hurt by this, individual franchise owners bear the cost. In particular, mcdonald's the corp mandates the particular icecream machine that is used, rather than allowing the franchise owner to pick from several machines. The video argues that this is done because mcdonald's is interested in benefiting the company that makes and services the ice cream machines.

I’ve seen franchisors collect kick backs from vendors for being an “approved vendor” the franchisee has to use.

Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#36
post #3

Tldw: the machine throws obscure error codes (too viscous, failure to heat to proper temps, etc) and can “lock out” the operator, who has to then call an authorized service technician that bills hundreds of dollars for repair. Any attempt to self repair or hire someone else will void the warranty and is disallowed by McDonald’s corporate. The ice cream maker company, Taylor, reports 25% of their revenue is service an…

As someone who worked in stores for years, this isn’t entirely accurate. The machine isn’t just being an asshole to drive up service calls.

The machines are filled with a dairy product which makes the “ice cream”. This is boiled nightly to keep the mixture free of bacteria. If the nightly heat cycle fails to complete for one of a dozen reasons the machine locks out. Those unaware of the process usually end up calling for service even if it’s a operations error(not enough product to boil successfully)

Every two weeks the machine must be torn down and cleaned. It’s slightly complex but all well documented. Once the 14 day marker has been passed the machine is inoperable. It must be cleaned for food safety reasons. If your “cleaner” is out or you just have poor operations you’ll end up placing service calls out of confusion.

If the heat phase fails or the 14 day timer has expired the machine "locks out" and becomes inoperable. This is where the vast majority of service calls come from.

I never had an issue with a machine that was less than 20 years old. Taylor makes good equipments you just need the most basic level of operations proficiency.

Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#37
post #3

Tldw: the machine throws obscure error codes (too viscous, failure to heat to proper temps, etc) and can “lock out” the operator, who has to then call an authorized service technician that bills hundreds of dollars for repair. Any attempt to self repair or hire someone else will void the warranty and is disallowed by McDonald’s corporate. The ice cream maker company, Taylor, reports 25% of their revenue is service an…

> Any attempt to self repair or hire someone else will void the warranty and is disallowed by McDonald’s corporate. And from McDonalds point of view this makes sense and is ethical. The minute you start letting the franchise people make these repairs, they will inevitably cut corners (and get away with it 99% of the time). However, at McDonalds’ scale that would likely result in dozens of people dying at a minimum an…

No one is dying from repairing a milk shake machine. McDonalds is concerned about poorly mixed shakes hurting their brand, which they regard as nearly as bad.

Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#38
post #33
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your mind might be unchangeable, but if you want to change others’ minds in a world where memory is unreliable and anonymous internet posters even more so, you’ll need something more than a claim of a 40+ year old recollection of the McDonalds menu in Missouri to beat Snopes for credibility.

I 100% believe him. What we define as plastic may have changed. Perhaps we are all eating things that were formally classified as plastic. Perhaps someone was making a joke on their way to quitting. I never discount a person or a users memory. They are usually right over my assumption. When I look closer I see more reasonable answers that I never considered before.

If you believe everyone’s memories you believe a lot of false things. Human memory is notoriously unreliable, and old memories are often patched together out of stories, dreams and entirely different events.

Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#39
post #3

Tldw: the machine throws obscure error codes (too viscous, failure to heat to proper temps, etc) and can “lock out” the operator, who has to then call an authorized service technician that bills hundreds of dollars for repair. Any attempt to self repair or hire someone else will void the warranty and is disallowed by McDonald’s corporate. The ice cream maker company, Taylor, reports 25% of their revenue is service an…

As someone who worked in stores for years, this isn’t entirely accurate. The machine isn’t just being an asshole to drive up service calls. The machines are filled with a dairy product which makes the “ice cream”. This is boiled nightly to keep the mixture free of bacteria. If the nightly heat cycle fails to complete for one of a dozen reasons the machine locks out. Those unaware of the process usually end up calling…

Do you have any insight into why the machines are broken so often then?

Re: Investigating why McDonald's ice cream machines are often broken [video]

#40
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who worked in stores for years, this isn’t entirely accurate. The machine isn’t just being an asshole to drive up service calls. The machines are filled with a dairy product which makes the “ice cream”. This is boiled nightly to keep the mixture free of bacteria. If the nightly heat cycle fails to complete for one of a dozen reasons the machine locks out. Those unaware of the process usually end up calling…

Do you have any insight into why the machines are broken so often then?

They aren't "broken". It's operations failures. The basic fact of

1. Keeping the machine full of the right amount of product to complete it's nightly heat cycle

2. Have someone trained to fully clean the machine every 14 days

Is a burden too great for many franchisees to bear. The turnover is too high and investment in people too low to keep them operational. Nothing about them is "broken"

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