Automated kiosks

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I know this will become more and more the norm, but I predict in 10 years there will be a bit of a pullback from everything being AI. People will eventually long for the human element and interaction again.

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precisely the opposite dude. Right now you have kiosks but humans in the back actually making the product. At some point you're probably going to go in and there won't be any humans in the building other than the customers

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but I predict in 10 years there will be a bit of a pullback from everything being AI. People will eventually long for the human element and interaction again.

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Customer demand only has so much impact in our consumer culture and the only thing the modern corporation cares about is numbers. Greed takes and takes away and I suspect the pullback will be these corporate monoliths being crushed under their own weight because there aren't enough salaries left out there to buy what they're selling anymore.

I prefer apps and kiosks if, for no other reason, they result in better quality.

Quality (per Deming, anyway) is basically repeatability, ie, minimizing variability.

In the process of eating out, there are two primary variables: communicating the order and making/delivering the order.

With kiosks, the latter is still there. If I am the one communicating the order, though, the former is significantly reduced. I am not subject to low-attention-span minimum wagers mishearing or mis-keying the input.

I’m all for these places being “starter jobs” for kids or people who need to cover job transitions. As soon as you want me to believe they should be paid like a career, I’m out.

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Automated kiosks

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This is what happens when adults start depending on high school and college students' jobs for a living and then demand adult pay.

I’ll even take it one step further.

The first few times I traveled to Australia, I was not used to a very common approach they take in restaurants.

Here, we have historically had two basic models: One where you look up at the menu and one where you look down.

For the first, it’s generally been instant delivery, and the second has been somebody taking the order and then delivering it. Not a whole lot in between.

In Oz, it’s very common to order at a counter, then wait at a table while your meal is fully prepared (ie, not pre-made fast food). You are then summoned to pick it up at a counter. Very little “waiter” element.

I realize this is done some here, too, but it was much more the common approach there and full table service was more upscale-limited.

My point: I’m all good with minimizing the cost of things by having to pay for high-cost people to do things that require no special skills.

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everything was automated inside, to the point we had zero interaction with the employees the entire time.

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That sounds amazing. That's what I want.

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In Oz, it’s very common to order at a counter, then wait at a table while your meal is fully prepared (ie, not pre-made fast food). You are then summoned to pick it up at a counter. Very little “waiter” element.

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Culver's brings it to your table.

Top shelf fast food service.

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So what do we do with all of the former workers?

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There used to be a lot of people who made buggy whips. There used to be a lot of people who made a living as horse farriers. Heck it used to take a lot more people just to build a car. Jobs go away all the time

Went to Rally’s in Arabi yesterday and the the kiosk was a robot. Surprised the hell out of me.

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Any other tips on using the apps while maximizing privacy or do you just say frick it in this case, the juice isn't worth the squeeze?

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I honestly don’t worry about the privacy stufffor daily commerce, and don’t really understand why people do. Maybe it’s because I have a son that’s pretty deep in cyber stuff, but I have long since stopped pretending that privacy is going to be a thing.

There is very little about my life that I need to truly be private, and what I ordered at McDonalds is not one of them.

At some point, you just have to accept that your consumer habits are borderline public knowledge. You can take these steps, but your phone knows you’re there anyway.