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We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

ifixit.com

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Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

#211

Post by newsclues »

minitoar wrote: post #161
bonestamp2 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, and with these new machines, they should have two of them (for several reasons). I worked there for a couple years in high school and summertime was just order after order of ice cream. The lost profit from the only machine being broken, or during it's downtime to chill the soft serve liquid after a refill, would pay back the investment in one summer, not to mention the customer service improvement. The ad ca…

Is there anything stopping a franchise from putting 2? I think it can’t be required because they have to meet some sort of smallest viable footprint.

Space is a premium because much of their real estate is high traffic and cost, so every square foot is used

Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

#212

Post by awestroke »

Liquix wrote: post #194

iFixit is a strange entity. Their website, repair kits, and tutorials are all excellent. The amount of success they've had in championing right to repair initiatives in legal arenas is commendable. But it's not so great that the two are intertwined. It seems inevitable that conflicts of interests will arise between their exclusive deals with manufacturers, business selling repair kits, and increasing influence in the…

I don't see it. No single manufacturer deal they make will be worth enough to them to change their strategy or values. They also know from experience that companies withdraw from such agreements or deals without warning, so they can never rely on them

Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

#213

Post by delusional »

hypeatei wrote: post #209
ClumsyPilot wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they can’t be trusted with cleaning they should not be allowed in the kitchen. This is like asking if a developer can be trusted with a laptop

> asking if a developer can be trusted with a laptop This analogy doesn't seem to track with my experience: newer devs don't understand computers and filesystems at all :D

And a lot of workplaces in fact don't trust the devs with a laptop. Instead they get a text editor and compiler machine controlled by some sweaty guy in a cellar somewhere with a sign on the door that says "IT".

Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

#214

Post by 63stack »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #204
bobsmooth wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that you trust this person to clean the machine properly lest many people get food poisoning.

If they can’t be trusted with cleaning they should not be allowed in the kitchen. This is like asking if a developer can be trusted with a laptop

I think this is getting more and more common. I had a job where I had to work remotely through citrix, because the company didn't trust developers to have their own computers. I have also heard stories from others having to do the same. It's the most brain wrecking way to work due to the latency when typing.

Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

#217

Post by [deleted] »

delusional wrote: post #213
hypeatei wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> asking if a developer can be trusted with a laptop This analogy doesn't seem to track with my experience: newer devs don't understand computers and filesystems at all :D

And a lot of workplaces in fact don't trust the devs with a laptop. Instead they get a text editor and compiler machine controlled by some sweaty guy in a cellar somewhere with a sign on the door that says "IT".

[deleted]

Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

#218

Post by cj »

lukan wrote: post #206
bombcar wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t lose many customers - because they’re not required to light a huge “ice cream machine broke” before you get in the drive thru. And once you’re in line and ordering you’re unlikely to cancel just because the machine broke. I’ve even had the app be wrong and let you order an ice cream when it doesn’t exist - then they lose money giving you a more expensive substitute.

But next time you might go somewhere else. Some people go there every day and they tell their friends - that sums up.

This summarizes my relationship with Chipotle.

We have 1 location in my area. I go maybe once a month hoping for a decent experience, but every single time they are out of key ingredients (no chicken, no beans, no chips, etc).

I really don’t understand how that can even happen at Chipotle where the entire menu consists of a grand total of (maybe) 10-15 core ingredients?

I would go way more often if they simply weren’t out or ingredients 90% of the time I go.

But he’s right about not canceling the order. I think last chipotle visit I subbed black beans for pinto, and tofu instead of chicken. The “sorry no chips today” was icing on the cake at checkout.

Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

#219

Post by legacynl »

minitoar wrote: post #161
bonestamp2 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, and with these new machines, they should have two of them (for several reasons). I worked there for a couple years in high school and summertime was just order after order of ice cream. The lost profit from the only machine being broken, or during it's downtime to chill the soft serve liquid after a refill, would pay back the investment in one summer, not to mention the customer service improvement. The ad ca…

Is there anything stopping a franchise from putting 2? I think it can’t be required because they have to meet some sort of smallest viable footprint.

I think that the opportunity costs are just too high.

Since the reliability of these machines seem very low, even having 2 machines doesn't guarantee that you're always able to serve ice cream.

And if you're able to serve all your customers with one machine, in times when both are functioning, the second machine doesn't really enable more sales. But you do have to power it, have a dedicated space for it, have someone clean it daily, and pay for the maintenance contract.

It's probably more beneficial to dedicate the space for an extra ice-cream machine to storage, frying station or something else that is more useful.

Another point is that I don't think not being able to sell ice cream reduces sales that much. Because by the time you find out the machine is broken, you're already in the store or drive through anyway

Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

#220

Post by Dilettante_ »

fsckboy wrote: post #210
jMyles wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's nice when you hear about our government doing something good for once. Critically, what the government is doing here is reducing its own authority with regard to information, the internet, and ultimately at some level, thought. Sharing methods for basic home and business improvements, including repairs of machinery, is one of the most fundamental functions of society. It's rare (but of course not unheard of by…

just as an aside, in political science/international relations, a "state" is what you are calling a nation state. A "nation" is like canadian first nations or the cherokee nation or the german nation before there was a german state (not very long ago), i.e. it's an ethnicity/language. A nation state is when a nation and a state are combined, like Italy (a country, a polity, where the italian people live) and Japan. T…

>The USA is not a nation-state, it is just a state, nor is Canada.

That throws up the question in my mind: What makes a people into a nation? How uniform do they have to be?

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