It's been awhile (pre-pandemic) since I've seen a carhop at any Sonic I've been to. There's barely enough staff for that. My wife and I went to Sonic for lunch last summer and all they had was one employee at the drive through and one manager
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- Thread starter placebo1969
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This is Seattle. A town where the otherwise national hardcore insult of "Eat a bag of Dick's" is actually considered a great idea and even ends arguments peacefully. So we are a little sheltered that way.
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It's a different Dick's, gr8. If you haven't noticed, there are a lot of Dicks in the world.
Not to try to upset anyone, but by noon Thursday (12/16) Bellevue gets our Dick back. They left in the late 70's (downtown) and now setting up a shop at Crossroads. Those of us who are concerned about food health inspections are trying hard to overlook that it is a former PETCO.
Bellevue is bountiful with complete Dicks. At least this one will be a drive in again.
Come on, you know that sort of service wasn't a thing since probably 1959. Dag's never had them. McDonald's never had them. Herfy's never had them. Dick's never had them. Burger King never had them, either. There's a Sonic maybe 10 miles away, not sure if they have them or not. If so, it would be unusual.
As for voice tracking, it's the tech in use, and has been around since the 70's at least, and soon it will turn into AI-generated voices, with no people necessary. 'Soon' being probably 10-20 years....
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In 15-20 years much of the food will be cooked, wrapped, and delivered to the window by robotics probably.
And no, I'm not joking. Give it time.
McDonald's just signed a deal with IBM to develop totally automated drive through systems. The first step is in voice recognition and touch panel ordering, and it will be followed by automated food selection and packaging in a second step.
There will have to be special considerations to avoid liability issues with people who have food allergies or dietary restrictions so the system will have to be carefully developed... which is probably why the went to IBM and not an in-house department.
Interestingly enough, we heard that "if the minimum wage goes up, all the fast food jobs will be taken by automation so take that, peasants!. However, the kiosks at our McDonald's have stayed idle since the beginning of the pandemic
There will be people who will refuse to use the automated systems, just as there are people who refuse to listen to automated radio. They put that touch-panel ordering system in a local sub shop, and one customer complained to the manager. He wanted to speak with the person making his sub sandwich, and watch as it was made. The touch panel system didn't allow for personal contact, and the nuances involved in that kind of ordering. There will be similar objections made to this new system.
Back when ATMs were first available, there were people who refused to use them, refused to get the ATM card, and instead stood in line to speak to a teller.
Sonic about 5 miles down the road from me still had the car hops last time I was there, this past summer.
thats how Sonic works.. how else are you gonna get your food while staying in the car?
Drive through. Some Sonics have them.
Shows you how long its been since ive been to a sonic!!
All the Sonics in my area do. A lot of them aren't offering curbside dining due to lack of staff.
All in my area have drive thru as well. But here they still have skating waiters.
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