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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]

#191

Post by bkirkby »

As I read the comments (not watched the video yet) where people are discussing the misaligned incentives of both the ice cream machine vendor (Taylor makes money on maintenance) and the McD franchisee (ice cream is a loss leader), I was reminded that a convenience store chain here in Utah has a self-serve shake machine (I forget the brand name) that has always been broken when I thought I'd try it out.

I asked my wife, who goes to Maverick every day, if my perception that the shake machine is always broken was accurate and she said "yes. I've never seen it working. I've always wondered why they keep them because they just take up space."

Fwiw

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

#192

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

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…

> the machine throws obscure error codes (too viscous, failure to heat to proper temps, etc)

Clearly they just need to adopt the modern computing style of error codes and just display a frowny face emoticon.

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

#193

Post by sumtechguy »

matthewdgreen wrote: post #168
raverbashing wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s part of the problem because Taylor is incentivized to keep people calling in technicians, which means they deliberately update the machines with error codes even more difficult to understand. (Examples covered in the video too) I do believe this happens but I'm also "skeptical" of the ability of a high attrition place with underqualified workers working under pressure to get themselves up to date in maintenanc…

It is very common for engineers to hypothesize (often with limited evidence) that the problem is “the users” rather than the technology and its support infrastructure. I think this can be true, but two points: 1. The high-attrition low-skill workforce at fast food restaurants is a fact of the industry. (I am not endorsing it either.) So if a solution is failing widely when faced with the reality of its users, then th…

There is another bit in the vid I watched there was a dongle they could buy for awhile. It was telling them exactly what they did wrong and how to fix it. Basically taking the obscure error code and turning it into human with pictures. The franchise dudes were extremely excited for it.

That lends a decent amount of credence to a 'process' issue. If that many people are messing it up. Then something is wrong either in the physical or training realm or both. I usually have to have this conversation every few years when someone says 'oh we will just train the users'. Then I go 'dude I know how this should work and I am totally lost, do you expect someone who does not give much of a crap about it to pick it up?'.

One thing the vid misses though is the lockout rate could be coming from mcdonalds itself in a different way. They do not want to end up on the wrong side of a lawsuit and bad publicity. Remember the lady who spilt coffee on herself, and got 2nd/3rd degree burns. That cost them a lot of time, money and bad press. So they may have set the machines to be oversensitive.

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

#194

Post by gruez »

60secs wrote: post #190
gruez wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>According to the video other vendors like Wendy's don't have this problem. because their machines don't self-sanitize.

The video covers this. All franchises for all companies typically do this overnight.

They all have to be cleaned nightly, but they're not all self-sanitizing. The woman at the wendy's drive-through said they "wash" the machines nightly, which suggests they take it a part and wash it rather than running a self-sanitizing cycle.

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

#195

Post by arbitrage »

gruez wrote: post #180
C19is20 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't "mansplaining" nowadays so far gone that, as a word, it has become gender-neutral and is used instead of "condescending".

I literally never heard of it used in a women-explaining context.

I use "womansplaining" or "ladysplaining" when i'm talking with other women, sometimes.

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

#196

Post by gruez »

fouc wrote: post #188
gruez wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The supplier is Taylor, which supplies ice cream machines to many other restaurants which do not suffer from the same problem. AFAIK the difference is that the other restaurants machines don't self sanitize. >The Taylor-made machine for McDonald's is deliberately designed to have a secret menu that only “authorized service personnel” are allowed to use While I can see this being nefarious, I can also understand why…

Apparently the secret menu gives better error codes / feedback so that users are more informed and know how to avoid problems like "putting too much mix in the tank". Rather than being a means of just faking the parameters.

>Apparently the secret menu gives better error codes / feedback so that users are more informed and know how to avoid problems like "putting too much mix in the tank".

Where was this mentioned? The part about the secret menu is around 19:47 (from skimming the transcript), and it only mentions "critical operating parameters".

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

#197

Post by userbinator »

FridayoLeary wrote: post #111
fastball wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mine has just kept getting faster and faster, thanks to this Chrome extension[1]. Right now I average 2.5x speed for most videos, and 2.2x for people that talk fast. [1] https://github.com/igrigorik/videospeed

music videos must be fun, then

Nightcore is a remix genre of music that is basically "turn the speed (and pitch) up". It can be surprisingly good.

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

#198

Post by arbitrage »

mjrpes wrote: post #58
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…

The video says the Taylor machines at other fast food places (Burger King, Wendy's) rarely break down, or at least much less than McDonald's. So you're saying this is untrue? If not, why the discrepancy?

mcdonald's has much higher customer volume, and possibly much more intense burst traffic ... lunch & breakfast, for example.

the higher frequency of machine breakdown probably should first be linked to frequency of use, rather than trying to find something nefarious going on.

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

#199

Post by arbitrage »

grecy wrote: post #67
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…

Do you have any explanation why this is purely a McDonald's problem, and other fast food places who use essentially the same ice cream maker have much, much less down time?

mcdonald's has more customers.
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