McDonald's "kiosk-only" can be insurmountable

The Morris McDonald's (tripadvisor image)

There was a time when Morris seemed too small to have a McDonald's restaurant. Willmar considered it big news when McDonald's came there in the early '70s. Morris did have the "Quik Stop" with its burgers priced at the start at 19 cents. Of course that comes across as a shocker now. 

Inflation is upon us as I write this. A well-known Morris restaurant (not McDonald's) raised prices as of Monday. But it's a phenomenon that seems all over. Surely it's in the news as we hear about an inflation rate of 8.5 percent. An awful lot of people with fine credentials look at that and say it's a low-end estimate. However, I do not sense any real inflation shock out and around. 

Restaurants attract people at the usual levels, it appears to me. I had to leave DeToy's and come back later on Sunday because of congestion. I'm told they'll have their buffet again this coming Sunday. The buffet surely helps ensure value even when prices are inching up. 

Remember the Yogi-ism? "That restaurant is so crowded, nobody goes there any more."

Let's consider our Morris McDonald's. A little sentiment comes into play for me. When I left the Morris newspaper, I began going there almost every morning to socialize with Brent Waddell and Glen Helberg, among others. It helped get me through the adjustment I was experiencing. Glen has left this life.

My last days with the Morris paper had been highly unsettling. The company in charge then has since left town, ignominiously IMHO. The manager under Forum Communications disappeared from the role when the new regime moved in. That's the current regime. I continue to feel PTSD about the idea of working for commercial media, sad because I actually lasted 27 years in that environment. It will define me to the end of my days. 

I should have written down the prices at McDonald's at the time I began my post-newspaper habit. Oh, Mike Miller was often there and was fun to engage in conversation. I should have had a notebook with me, to jot down his recollections of the UMM goalpost incident of 2005. The incident happened just a few months before I left the paper. I believe that is not a coincidence. 

I did not even witness the goalpost incident. I ended up "trapped" at the Sun Tribune office the rest of that weekend, unable really to field queries about it. The queries were streaming in unabated. The Internet seemed nascent in those days, still. So there was always an assumption that the local newspaper was the go-to source for elucidation on big happenings. Today the news or gossip flows through social media so readily. In fact, social media can be a conduit for big news in lieu of the commercial media. 

Mike Miller and Glen Helberg are both deceased, RIP.

 

News via social media

When Jim Carlson died last winter, news finally flowed through social media. The news was hard to come by at first. Word is, partly that was because of Carlson's own wishes. Naturally his friends were going to try to seek it out, with tenacity. 

A celebrity who was handled like this was Tom T. Hall. Finally an op-ed got generated because of the issue of relying on social media so much. It was one of those op-eds that "had to be written."

Tom T. Hall was the great country singer/songwriter of course. His cause of death had an unfortunate stigma: he took his own life. Through eons we have seen the affected families be restrained in having such news come out. The op-ed writer theorized it was time for a re-examination. The writer felt a celebration of life was still called for, with robustness that might accompany anyone's life. 

Suicide is not uncommon. Unfortunate? Well yes, but the time comes for all of us. 

Social media! Seems such a new term. But how ubiquitous it is. "It's on Facebook" has become kind of a refrain. The City of Morris used this in "scolding" people who claimed they had trouble finding updates on the city's snow removal emergency actions. Go to the City of Morris website? What makes you think it would be there? "It's on our Facebook page."

 

Strange new world

Something else that's new: the "kiosk" ordering system at McDonald's. I'd be happy to use it if I knew how. I have tried a couple times, sans any lessons. No dice. Of course, the option remains of being able to place your order at the counter. But I discovered that McDonald's was often discouraging this, even with a large homemade sign that reads "kiosk only, sorry for any inconvenience." 

So I was being told to get lost, frankly. 

I learned that persistent customers would probably end up having their orders taken the old-fashioned way. An employee who I know personally told me "we'll take your order if we're not too busy." Clearly the priority for them now is drive-through. Drive-through did not exist for anything when I was young. How can our culture change so much? 

Can you imagine how people of the '60s would react to the prices being charged today? Can you imagine our surprise if we were transported back to the '60s and saw the sign offering Quik Stop hamburgers for 19 cents? 19 cents! 

Well, I finally got frustrated enough with the Morris McDonald's to send an email to corporate. I'm geeky enough to be able to do that, even if I cannot handle the kiosk. Here is the email I sent, on April 24:

 

Hello, I'm not in habit of making these sorts of comments. A while back, our McDonald's in Morris MN began putting up a homemade sign at counter: "kiosk only," and then "sorry about any inconvenience." It was there intermittently. The word has gotten around that essentially, the restaurant does not want in-store counter customers. To support that, I can tell you that this morning there was a bunch of guys at Caribou Coffee who used to be at McDonald's on Sunday mornings. So I asked them if they'd switched due to circumstance I just described, and they said "yes." It does appear that if you walk in and are patient and/or persistent, they will in fact take your order. One employee who I know personally said "we'll take your order if we're not too busy." That's verbatim, and I'm a little taken aback. So they clearly prioritize drive-through. Is this OK with the higher corporate people?

 

Here is the nice response I got from McDonald's corporate, on April 25: 

 

Hello Brian:
Thank you for taking the time to share your recent experience at the McDonald's in Morris, MN with me. Your feedback is very important to us as it allows us to better understand how we can improve our service to you.
I am sorry for the unsatisfactory experience during your recent visit. Please be assured that we want to provide you with an exceptional experience every time you visit us. From your email, it is clear we did not meet your expectations. Again, I am truly sorry we disappointed you.
I want you to know that I have already taken action on your feedback. After reading your email, I immediately shared the information you brought to our attention with the local franchise owner of the restaurant you visited. Additionally, customer feedback is reviewed with our regional McDonald's consultants as part of our ongoing commitment to improving our restaurants' operations.
Again, Brian, we appreciate your business and thank you for sharing your feedback.

Deanniel
McDonald's U.S. Customer Care
 

What now?

I wonder about the fallout. I have told a couple friends I sent the email. So I'm cautious about going back for a while. I'd be happy to get a lesson on the kiosk. I just haven't found anyone. I need a geeky girlfriend. That could be the name of a song! I need help with ATMs too. 

I appreciate the generous response from Deanniel of McDonald's. The Internet age isn't always impersonal. I'm sure the corporate people worry about the extent to which they can raise prices. At what point will people start changing their behavior?

I wonder what my old friend Glen would think of the kiosk. Remember him from carry-out at Coborn's? Coborn's is a closed chapter of Morris history. I think the 24-hour store made Morris a better town.

And Prairie Pioneer Days is coming back? Or something like it? Sounds like it might be a private business promo, from what I've read. But the City of Morris has joined hands. We're a strange town sometimes. Is there still a Chamber of Commerce?

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com