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We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines

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

#221

Post by 05 »

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.

> But next time you might go somewhere else.

But variable reinforcement works better than fixed one, so ice cream machines working being a gamble might actually increase customer addiction.

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

#224

Post by jhbadger »

dangus wrote: post #177
PedroBatista wrote: post #93

Does anyone else thinks this is actually a great incidental marketing campaign for McDonald's? Not only the free reach but also tons of people discussing the "problems" with a big co and how to "fix" them as they are an essential part of society, and this case ice-creams. Sure we focus on the big brain things like copyright, business malpractice and MBA lore but with it comes McDonald's embedded. I know this might so…

I totally agree. Who cares if the McDonald's ice cream machine is broken? It's shit ice cream. Most of you probably live near a better local ice cream/soft serve/custard joint. Heck, most of you probably live near a better corporate chain ice cream joint that probably also serves better food than McDonald's: Dairy Queen, In-N-Out, Shake Shack, Culver's, etc. If McDonald's didn't have breakfast or coffee the whole cha…

It's pretty good soft serve ice cream, which is a style many people like. It isn't really any worse than other chain soft serve ice cream like Dairy Queen's. It's not the same sort of thing as scooped hard ice cream, and it isn't something you can really make at home, whatever the merits of home made ice cream are.

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

#225

Post by chuckSu »

dangus wrote: post #177
PedroBatista wrote: post #93

Does anyone else thinks this is actually a great incidental marketing campaign for McDonald's? Not only the free reach but also tons of people discussing the "problems" with a big co and how to "fix" them as they are an essential part of society, and this case ice-creams. Sure we focus on the big brain things like copyright, business malpractice and MBA lore but with it comes McDonald's embedded. I know this might so…

I totally agree. Who cares if the McDonald's ice cream machine is broken? It's shit ice cream. Most of you probably live near a better local ice cream/soft serve/custard joint. Heck, most of you probably live near a better corporate chain ice cream joint that probably also serves better food than McDonald's: Dairy Queen, In-N-Out, Shake Shack, Culver's, etc. If McDonald's didn't have breakfast or coffee the whole cha…

[dead]

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

#226

Post by ThinkBeat »

The biggest reason I have read for why machines do not work, or are not being used is due to lack of maintenance, and employees who are trained to do so. (and people quit all the time).

Having worked at a fast food join (not McDonalds) much earlier in my life, any lacking maintenance and proper cleaning, especially if there has been a power outage will turn the the machine into a rapid incubator for bacteria that will make you ill.

Since shifts change and not everyone keeps on the machine, a power outrage can quickly be lost to the workers.

Getting angry if an employee tells you the machine is broken and demanding ice-cream is an exceedingly bad idea. Take that as a blessing. The employee may have saved you from running to the bathroom a lot.

I personally stay away from softicecream entirely. But if you must, try to find a place where a lot of people are buying so the machine is in frequent use. That doesn't mean its safe but it makes it a lot more likely.

Of course not being used frequently is not an automatic reason for the machine to be in incubator mode, it may will be well cared for, well cleaned, great maintenance.

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

#227

Post by next_xibalba »

bombcar wrote: post #207
majormajor wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Either the McDonalds by me is fairly lucky or this is far less common than the meme makes it out to be. It doesn't seem like good marketing - I hadn't had it in years but wanted to try a promo mcflurry a couple years ago, and wasn't expecting it to work, which make me wonder if I shouldn't even bother going. That's the opposite of what they'd want. But then I went, and have gone probably a couple dozen times since th…

The machines go into maintenance if not cleaned in time. Smart franchises clean the machine in the morning or after closing each day so it “never runs out”. Just like smart airlines always reboot the plane regularly instead of learning the 787 has to be rebooted every 56 day.

Is this real or a joke that’s over my head? Why does a 787 need to be rebooted every 56 days?

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

#228

Post by gosub100 »

dangus wrote: post #177
PedroBatista wrote: post #93

Does anyone else thinks this is actually a great incidental marketing campaign for McDonald's? Not only the free reach but also tons of people discussing the "problems" with a big co and how to "fix" them as they are an essential part of society, and this case ice-creams. Sure we focus on the big brain things like copyright, business malpractice and MBA lore but with it comes McDonald's embedded. I know this might so…

I totally agree. Who cares if the McDonald's ice cream machine is broken? It's shit ice cream. Most of you probably live near a better local ice cream/soft serve/custard joint. Heck, most of you probably live near a better corporate chain ice cream joint that probably also serves better food than McDonald's: Dairy Queen, In-N-Out, Shake Shack, Culver's, etc. If McDonald's didn't have breakfast or coffee the whole cha…

> if you had a half a million dollars in freely available non-borrowed assets and you couldn't think of your own business model to try

the problem isn't a lack of thinking-up something new. It's a matter of risk management. Any new business idea has a significant risk of ruin. Compared to owning a chain restaurant, especially mcd's.

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

#229

Post by graemep »

PedroBatista wrote: post #93

Does anyone else thinks this is actually a great incidental marketing campaign for McDonald's? Not only the free reach but also tons of people discussing the "problems" with a big co and how to "fix" them as they are an essential part of society, and this case ice-creams. Sure we focus on the big brain things like copyright, business malpractice and MBA lore but with it comes McDonald's embedded. I know this might so…

> MBA lore

What exactly do you mean by this?

> Not only the free reach but also tons of people discussing the "problems" with a big co and how to "fix" them as they are an essential part of society, and this case ice-creams.

It is an example of a general problem. I very much doubt the number of people discussing this are a significant proportion of McDonald's market.

The actual ruling was an exemption for "commercial food preparation equipment", so it applies to all machines in all restaurants in the US.

> If there is criminal activity let who gets paid deal with it, otherwise just move on and stop "fixing" problems that are not of your concern,

This is not about criminal activity, it is about not making criminals out of people who fix their own property.

Fixing the public interest is everyone's concern. This ruling would not have happened if people hd not campaigned for it.

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

#230

Post by caballeto »

next_xibalba wrote: post #227
bombcar wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The machines go into maintenance if not cleaned in time. Smart franchises clean the machine in the morning or after closing each day so it “never runs out”. Just like smart airlines always reboot the plane regularly instead of learning the 787 has to be rebooted every 56 day.

Is this real or a joke that’s over my head? Why does a 787 need to be rebooted every 56 days?

Boeing 787s must be reset every 51 days or 'misleading data' is shown (2020)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41939318

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