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

Post by throw0101a » Mon, Apr 26, 2021, 11:40 AM UTC

jokoon wrote: post #150

boatsie wrote: 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…

Wooow, I would never have thought the issue would be software. So ironic. As a developer I just feel bad, it's like I'm working for the industry that is part of the problem. Crazy to imagine that another simple non-software issue might have not been such a problem and would have been easily fixed. I hope that one day, engineers will understand that the less electronics/software there is in a machine, the better it is…

Post by saalweachter » Mon, Apr 26, 2021, 11:42 AM UTC

noahtallen wrote: post #42

wronglebowski wrote: post #36

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…

> 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) This example is covered in the video. ;) The thing is, at least according to the reporting, even these operations errors are not clearly defined by the messages given by the machine. So,…

Post by fighterpilot » Mon, Apr 26, 2021, 11:47 AM UTC

Post by LordAtlas » Mon, Apr 26, 2021, 11:51 AM UTC

ogurechny wrote: post #86

boatsie wrote: 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…

Add to this a lot of overacting, and video clips repeating 20 times, and you'll have a half an hour program mostly about nothing. One can easily see that YouTube (as a platform) became just a shitty television when the host unironically flips through stacks of papers exactly the same way it was done in the classic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=128IR21ZQa0

Post by ddevault » Mon, Apr 26, 2021, 11:55 AM UTC

throw0101a wrote: post #151

jokoon wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wooow, I would never have thought the issue would be software. So ironic. As a developer I just feel bad, it's like I'm working for the industry that is part of the problem. Crazy to imagine that another simple non-software issue might have not been such a problem and would have been easily fixed. I hope that one day, engineers will understand that the less electronics/software there is in a machine, the better it is…

> Wooow, I would never have thought the issue would be software. It's not software, it's business processes which have ordered the software developers into a particular design.