Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think this is the pivot.
If patent troll doesn't work do legal concern trolling as a public interest research group serving suits.
Should McDonald be allowed to lie and destroy a company?
Ice cream machine hackers sue McDonald's
151–160 of 162 posts
Re: Ice cream machine hackers sue McDonald's
#152This great (mini) YouTube documentary gives some background what lead up to the lawsuit. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrDEtSlqJC4 )
Despite how fucking shitty YouTube has gotten, it's content like this that could never be available anywhere else on the Internet today for free.
Why is YouTube "fucking shitty"? And why then if it were so that this content could never be available anywhere else (since _any_ storage cloud service could host it)? I think your answers to the second will counteract the first
Re: Ice cream machine hackers sue McDonald's
#153I cant think of anything more definitionally anti-competitive than keeping mcflurry machines available so you can crush any DQ that pops up in your vicinity by fixing it ("oh whoops... it was unplugged!"), and then also crushing a business that aims to solve your problem to help serve customers better. Let's get the FTC on this, afaik it's illegal to advertise a product you have no intention of actually serving. eg:…
THis "theory" doesn't make any sense. It's the Franchisee who doesn't get the sales AND pays the huge cost for an official repair rep to come out and basically restart the cleaning cycle. This doesn't jive with crushing an upstart DQ; they're only really competitors in that they both sell "fast food". Ice cream @ a McD is a loss-leader (soft serve) or minor line item (McFlurrys) while it is the core product of DQ, de…
> lce cream a McD is a loss-leader (soft serve) or minor line item (McFlurrys)
This is why the franchisee has little incentive to keep them functioning until there's a competitor next door? I don't know if it has to even do with the whole Kryst debaucle
Re: Ice cream machine hackers sue McDonald's
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Ice cream @ a McD is a loss-leader (soft serve) or minor line item (McFlurrys) while it is the core product of DQ, despite their hot food offerrings. IMO this is actually the point being made. There's no need to run a loss leader if the competition doesn't exist.
1. if it's a loss leader that they don't want to continue, why not just... stop offering it? After all, you see "participating restaurant" disclaimers everywhere. Why can't a particular franchise just choose not to participate if it's not in DQ territory? 2. Regardless of whether it's a loss leader, I doubt the marginal cost of the ice cream is more than the $1 or whatever the discounted price is. They paid for the e…
because customers drive in to purchase the loss leader, and even when unavailable will purchase alternate items
Re: Ice cream machine hackers sue McDonald's
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
The fact that the design intent is to reduce downtime does not mean it is achieved in practice. McDonald's ice cream machines constantly being "broken" is so well known that it's a meme among normal people. This is not the case for other fast food places that use Taylor machines. I've seen statements from employees confused about why it's such a big deal to clean the machine once a day because it's not that hard. (Pe…
In practice, there's a huge difference between someone at corporate buying machines that don't work as well as expected, and a shadowy deal where someone at corporate is getting kickbacks from the vendor for buying a deliberately sabotaged machine. The former is just the normal sort of shit that a franchise has to deal with, the latter is what a lot of people, myself included thought this issue was... But I've turned…
It doesn't have to be all dark, suitcases full of money, cigar smoke filled rooms, and maniacal laughter. You can get the same effective outcome just with misaligned incentives over a long period of time and a steady rotation of pressured middle managers creating a ratchet effect. "The evil of banality" to turn the phrase around.
Re: Ice cream machine hackers sue McDonald's
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
Everyone says that until their health starts failing and you realize the way to death is a slow procession of fear inducing, painful medical conditions that tortures you while youre on your way out
An occasional burger and milkshake isn't going to be the thing to send you into a painful downward spiral to your death.
The chain isnt massive as it is bc people are having it occasionally
Re: Ice cream machine hackers sue McDonald's
#157>Kytch has argued that Taylor was incentivized to keep its machines broken; repair and maintenance contracts across its business lines accounted for a quarter of the company's revenue stream in 2018, according to a document Taylor published at the time. But Kytch cofounders Nelson and O'Sullivan admit that doesn't explain why McDonald's would similarly seek to prevent a fix for its embarrassing—and expensive—ice crea…
What's even more strange is once they started getting bad publicity and the lawsuit talks became public, mcflurry machines magically all started working in my city. All of them. Some had not worked since the store opened. Another thing companies seem to be doing a lot is false advertising. 7-11 is so bad with this. Sales posted everywhere but when you try and buy them 'it's not in the system sorry it will be regular…
> I'm so tired of companies running our country.
...are you proposing that the government run everything? You might be a bit disappointed with what you receive in that scenario. Choice is powerful.
Re: Ice cream machine hackers sue McDonald's
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does this mean that the ice cream machines at other places are just happily dispensing unsafe food?
No. It means that they just open up and clean the machine each day, just like every other appliance that touches food. The MD machine was designed to run without daily cleaning.
> No. It means that they just open up and clean the machine each day, just like every other appliance that touches food.
Maybe on paper, but having worked in jobs that required the routine cleaning of things, I can state with certainty that said things were often either 1) not actually cleaned or 2) not properly cleaned.