2024 was the year that an ice cream fix post became the most voted article on HN
N gate died far too soon.
We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines
271–280 of 326 posts
Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines
#272Earlier 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…
https://mcbroken.com/ scrapes online ordering and confirms not just a meme, 1/10 locations broken atm, 1/3 in some markets.
even funnier, it looks like it's owned by wendys now, so when you zoom in it highlights wendys locations nearby
Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines
#273What's the over/under on how many franchises will now resume selling ice cream?
I think they're going to stop selling ice cream period as a company. If it was important to their bottom line McDonalds would have done something as a collective rather than having individuals enter this fight for back-channel repair options. At some point they'll probably have their main contracts expire and stop dealing with the mess altogether.
God damn. Antitrust comes up and HN insists that businesses are just going to pull out of the EU any day now. McDonalds is forced to start fixing their ice cream machines and now you want to tell us that they'll refuse to serve ice cream out of petty anger.
Do we just assume every business is run by the zombie of Steve Jobs? I genuinely have no idea where this libertarian extremist sentiment is coming from.
Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines
#274The 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 wil…
Part of the issue as I understand it, is that the machine is fairly opaque as to why some failures occur can appear somewhat "flaky" as a result. When this occurs during a cleaning cycle, the whole cycle is void and a new 4 hour cycle must be run. If the machine was clear about communicating the issue, it would be fine. It's not and can require a technician to come out with a tool to both read the machine status in d…
McDonald is big enough to change suppliers of machines and impose easy maintenance.
Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines
#275Earlier quoted context omitted.
Space is a premium because much of their real estate is high traffic and cost, so every square foot is used
Most of the sales at a McDonalds are via the drive-thru. Inside sales have dropped so low that many stores don't even staff the front counter, you have to enter your own order at a kiosk in the lobby or use their mobile app. I think your conjecture was correct 20 years ago but not at store with the latest remodels. Counter sales and inside dining are an afterthought. The ice cream machines (all restaurant equipment,…
Space costs money per square foot, doesn’t matter if it’s in the kitchen or dining area.
Lots of locations are in the smallest sized location possible that can fit everything they need to serve the menu.
Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines
#276Earlier quoted context omitted.
McDonalds owns the company that makes and fixes these machines, and franchise owners foot the bill. It's a way of taking more money from franchise owners.
They do not, this is disinformation. The machines are manufactured by Taylor for McDonald’s and maintained by Taylor’s service network. Taylor’s the largest manufacturer of commercial ice cream making equipment in the US. Franchisees also have the option of using Carpigiani machines, but they’re Italian so parts and service are not as easy to come by. And all ice cream machines are known for being easy to break, espe…
Then why is the situation what it is? As numerous people have pointed out, other fast-food chains don't have this problem. They are able to provide ice-cream products that are consistently free of either toxins or excuses.
Occam's Razor suggests that the most likely explanation is that the McDonald's Corporation is deliberately setting their franchisees up to fail by continuing to sign contracts with Taylor. Which I agree makes no sense.
Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines
#277Earlier quoted context omitted.
It correlates with demand. These things go down quickly during peak demand because they can't maintain cold temps. You'll often see this during summer heatwaves as people flock to drive-thrus to grab some ice cream!
I’ve never come across a broken McDonald’s ice cream machine in Australia either.
I think McDonald’s is under different ownership in different countries. They may even be using a different supplier for ice cream machines in Australia!
Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines
#278The 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 wil…
people who get angry at the underpaid employees are the worst, treat them like human beings please
The world would be a better place if more people had to work an underpaid service job at the start of their employment.
Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines
#279Earlier 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…
You know it's funny; I actually went back and forth several times on that part. I really just wanted to distinguish between city-states (and for that matter, cities), which, it seems obvious, have an easier time staying in their lane with regard to this conflict with IP.
But you're absolutely right; the point was better made with simply the phrase "large states".
(FWIW - and I think it's not worth much - I have a degree in political science).
Re: We can now fix McDonald's ice cream machines
#280Earlier quoted context omitted.
They do not, this is disinformation. The machines are manufactured by Taylor for McDonald’s and maintained by Taylor’s service network. Taylor’s the largest manufacturer of commercial ice cream making equipment in the US. Franchisees also have the option of using Carpigiani machines, but they’re Italian so parts and service are not as easy to come by. And all ice cream machines are known for being easy to break, espe…
Then why is the situation what it is? As numerous people have pointed out, other fast-food chains don't have this problem. They are able to provide ice-cream products that are consistently free of either toxins or excuses. Occam's Razor suggests that the most likely explanation is that the McDonald's Corporation is deliberately setting their franchisees up to fail by continuing to sign contracts with Taylor. Which I…
That’s not what Occam’s razor would suggest at all. That’s a silly conspiracy theory that’s easily verified as false if you know anything about the ice cream industry or just bother to Google who makes the machines.
Occam’s razor might suggest that their competitors use a different machine entirely (I really don’t know but Wikipedia’s page on Taylor only mentions McDonald’s).
McDonald’s corporate making a bad decision about a machine seems a whole lot simpler than some convoluted conspiracy theory, doesn’t it?