We are constantly using kiosks and oftentimes we find kiosk implementations are less than best case to put it kindly.
Kiosk Experience 1
This is an email I received from a very experienced kiosk analyst at a Senior Living retirement facility
I used a new kiosk system last week to get a Visitor’s Pass at a big retirement facility where several canasta buddies live and where we were going to be playing that afternoon.. The touch screen was problematic but eventually I got signed up. I was told that once you registered, every subsequent visit would be much easier – you would just enter your phone number and the system would print out your visitor’s pass. Except when I entered my phone number, it said it wasn’t recognized and that I’d have to register all over again.
The people behind the desk said that if you registered at one kiosk (there are 2) you would also have to register at the other one. I was flabbergasted.
I told them that I used to evaluate these systems for a living and this was the STUPIDEST SYSTEM I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED.
Have you ever encountered a system so dumb?
Kiosk Experience 2
The next experience took place at a Chili’s and involved the Ziosk. I’m not of a big fan of touching units like these because I am a germaphobe and there isn’t any cleaning supplies or schedule indicated (unlike grocery stores I go into and get carts).We had a gift card with $20 on it and decided to use it up and went to Chili’s. I had the Rib Eye steak (which reminded me of trip I once took to Abuja) but the steak was fine.
We went to pay and I grabbed the waitress and asked if she would bring the check and take care of us. Gift cards always introduce extra variable into process and I knew how long it would take to complete. I figured 5 minutes in time to catch the news I wanted to see.
Start the clock. It’s 6:00pm.
She asked me if I wanted to use Ziosk and I said not really and she asked if I was sure and I said ok.
The bill came to $37 and the Ziosk took my gift card just fine though I had to swipe it on the likely dirty card swipe three times. It said Fine and I added a $7 tip, said ok and 30 secs later it started to print my receipt out.
I was surprised since I figured there was another $24 to account for.
For a brief moment I considered just walking out and considering it done and maybe I had more on the card than I thought. People like to think they have more money than they have as a rule.
But the print got stuck halfway thru and the red light started flashing. About 4 minutes later the waitress showed up and she said she’d take care of it. I mentioned I was pretty sure I only had $21 on the gift card. She flipped the Ziosk over and opened it up where the printer was and left it on the table.
A few minutes later she came back with receipt for $37. Meanwhile the manager stopped by and wanted to make sure there was no confusion.
My wife looked at her watch and said she had cash so we got that out and waiting for the waitress to return and we just counted out the balance and then added the tip and gave her the money.
Time: 6:20
Kiosk Experience 3
And then there is technical failure. Below is a McDonalds screen on the outdoor ordering kiosk. I believe this was in Los Angeles California. You can see the burnout spots. When an LCD overheats in the sun it goes isotropic. If it happens enough it cannot recover and those pixels die. This monitor is literally fried in those zones.
Kiosk Experience 4 “Not So Bad?”
And then there was Australia this week and McDonalds kiosk hack.
In the video, they order 10 burgers for $1 each using the kiosks. Then, they remove the meat from the ten burgers, which discounts each of the burgers by $1.10—leaving enough surplus to cover the cost of a regularly priced burger at McDonald’s.