Originally published at: No more self-serving drinks at McDonalds—after 2032 | Boing Boing
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They could also switch their food for printed pictures. Taste-wise it’d be about the same, if not better.
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Soft drinks are low-cost, high-margin
My friend’s mom used to run a restaurant - he said that the cups cost about what the drinks themselves did to the place. And cups don’t cost too much, so yea…HUGE margin.
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Is it, though? I always assumed they did it in the first place because it saved them money somehow. Like, by increasing throughput at the
counter, or reducing spillages in the kitchen area or something.
I don’t doubt the real reason is petty, but given they can probably refill the whole machine for less than an hour’s minimum wage, I’d guess it was more about Taylorism.
Or maybe changing regulations? Last summer at the Wingstop in Dalston, after the server handed me my drink cup with a curiously guarded expression, and after I puzzled at the plastic bags crudely taped over parts of the machine, the several tablespoons of live ants dispensed into my soda reminded me that you really take a lot on trust with these machines, hygiene-wise.
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I have been the recipient of many such explanations. I refer to this as “we are closing to serve you better.”
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Bummer. I haven’t drank soda in decades, and I am not alone. Most people I dine with use the soda machines for water only. Somehow I doubt they will be replacing these with better free water taps.
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From what I was told when I worked for the college cinema, the most expensive bit was the ice, followed by the cup. Not sure how that differs from a restaurant.
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More than 25 years ago, I went to a McDonald’s in Germany once and was not allowed to serve myself. There were also no “free refills” in Europe for anything, not even a cup of regular black coffee. A large drink was the size of an American medium size drink, yet somehow I still fell horribly ill the night I consumed a Royale with Cheese.
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All my local McDs did this during the pandemic. They were closed for dine-in for the longest time, and when they did finally re-open, they had been remodeled. Self-service kiosks only, only a tiny unmanned counter that you have to shout to the back if you want to pay with cash or use a coupon or something, and even then before you can say why you need a person they’ll tell you to use the kiosk to order.
No more self-service soda fountain. If you ask for a refill at the counter they’ll tell you to order another one at the kiosk. No more napkins or condiments or anything else out either. If you want a ketchup packet, a napkin, or whatever, you have to order it at the kiosk.
They even ripped out all the remotely-comfortable seating and replaced it with junk that’s actively uncomfortable. Something with the texture underneath the veneer of cushion pokes into your butt.
They’ve purposefully made dine-in a near-abusive, practically hostile event. And that’s regardless of the attitude of the staff, which although almost equally near-abusive and hostile. I could at least excuse that as being overworked/underpaid/underappreciated, as I can’t imagine the experience has treated the employees any better than their customers.
I guess they succeeded, I’m never going back.
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oK, so I have to say how much I appreciated visiting a McDonalds when I was in Europe.
So, of course I mostly went to local cafes and restaurants while in Europe. But sometimes, stressed and out-of-sorts from travelling in a foreign country, McDonalds helped me de-stress and reset enough to enjoy Europe’s europeanan-ness.
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This does not mean that employees human resources will be filling the cups.
That job will be done by robots.
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Shit, I’ve been charged for tap water in Europe.
Yeah, they serve beer! On my first trip to Paris my friend and I were staying at a hostel outside of the heart of the city and there were subway repair issues that meant we got back to our neighborhood really late. The only thing still open was a McDonald’s. I was much vexed being a vegetarian at the time and decidedly not a McDonald’s fan. But then I walked up to the counter and saw that they served beer and remembered the fish sandwich. Paris je t’aime!
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Similar experience for me. There’s a McDonald’s across the street from a coffee shop I sometimes sit at on the weekends. And sometimes, you know, I’d rather have an egg & cheese sandwich instead of a crumb cake. Except I don’t know when the dining room opens. Door says “6 am”, but it’s locked, with cars all around the drive-thru (sorry I’m a little bit above standing in a drive-thru line for a greasy egg sandwich). They open the dining room at some point no idea when.
My point is they’re beginning to treat dine-in the same as drive-thru. Maybe it’s slightly cheaper, but I also think the proliferation of delivery services (grubhub/doordash/etc) have played a part in the transition too.
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“Self-serving” drink stations relinquishing their duties… 
ETA: Also thinking about this slow phase-out through the lens of the movie Phone Booth.
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Our organization previously had a cafeteria, which it could no longer afford to operate, and so switched out to leasing agreements with cafe services. Mostly pretty good! But because the profit margin is fairly low at some locations, there’s been trouble getting vendors. The organization recently switched to a mini-market model, no staff needed, and sure enough… ants in the “make your own coffee”.
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Some U.S. chain restaurants in Britain (not sure if McDs is among them) tried switching to free refills and I don’t think it worked out. I wonder if it’s a case of shared language and culture creating a consumer expectation that local economic conditions can’t sustain.
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‘Bottomless’ drinks are still very much the exception in Europe. It’s still something that throws me off every time I visit the US.
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I guess if 80% of your business is the drive through, might as well do what you can to drive the remaining 20% back into their cars and save on real estate.
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They moved to self-ordering to cut employee hours and now they are moving out of self-filling, makes no sense. It has to cost them more employee time than the soda is worth.
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Yeah, their wage bill is their only flexible cost, so this must save labor hours somehow, but it’s hard to see. Maybe fountains waste a lot of time due to spillage or something, but then how has that changed?
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