It’s not a good sign when you’re a fast-casual restaurant, and your company’s own chairman wonders whether he should just have just stayed home and had leftovers for lunch instead of driving there. Panera Bread Co.’s Ron Shaich realized that other people would ask themselves the same question, and made changes to the ordering process that are finally paying off. [More]
kiosks
Your McDonald’s Could Soon Offer Touch-Screen Ordering & Table Service
By 11.17.16
Last December, McDonald’s began showing a fancier side by testing table service at hundreds of locations in California. Now the company is rolling out its so-called “experience of the future” concept — which also includes touch-screen kiosk ordering but not all-you-can-eat fries — to all of its U.S. locations. [More]
McDonald’s Tests Having Customers Make Their Own Darn McCafé In Chicago
By 4.4.16
Do you have a credit card and very little time to spare standing in line at McDonald’s? If so, the chain’s new piece of technology that they’re testing in Chicago may be useful to you: it’s a McCafé kiosk where customers can tap a few buttons and the machine makes your drink. [More]
Walgreens Installing Drug Disposal Kiosks In 500 Stores
By 2.10.16
Do you have old and expired medicine just sitting in your medicine cabinet and you’re not quite sure how to get rid of it? Walgreens is installing kiosks in 500 stores in the hope of giving customers a way to quickly and easily dispose of their unused drugs.
[More]
Your Health Insurer Could Pay You To Take Your Blood Pressure And Weight (Sort Of)
By 10.27.15
The kiosks at pharmacies where you can take your blood pressure, pulse, and maybe even weigh yourself aren’t just for killing time while you wait for a prescription. Well, they’re mostly for that, but Walmart will be trying out a new rewards card that compensates customers to visit the checkup kiosks to take a few measurements. [More]
Kiosk That Copies And Stores Keys Expands To Lowe’s Stores, Your Smartphone
By 3.18.15
A few years ago, we shared the news that a company had placed do-it-yourself key duplication kiosks in some 7-Eleven stores in New York City. Since then, key kiosks (keyosks?) have expanded across the country, and the company that we wrote about back in 2013 has announced a deal with home-improvement megastore Lowe’s. [More]
Redbox Is Running DVD And Blu-Ray Price Hike Tests Again
By 8.28.14
Movie and game rental kiosk company Redbox is considering another price change to its DVD and Blu-Ray rentals. They’re testing out new pricing schemes in different markets, presumably to figure out which pricing scheme consumers hate the least. In the market where reader Dave is, in Salt Lake City, Utah, they’re trying the price points of $1.50 for DVDs and $2 for Blu-Rays, a price hike of 30¢ and 50¢ respectively. [More]
Would You Opt Out Of Tipping While An Employee Watches You?
By 5.21.14
Reader Bill was getting some sandwiches and paying with a credit card when he noticed something new and unusual on the payment machine. It prompted him to leave a tip between ten and twenty percent, to choose his own tip amount, or to decline tipping entirely. This makes sense in a country where most of us don’t carry much cash anymore, but there’s something about it that Bill doesn’t like. [More]
Panera Bread Replacing Some Cashiers With Kiosks — So Yes, The Robots Have Already Won
By 5.5.14
No one panic, but it appears we’re already too late to stem the inevitable tide of robot overlords waiting to take over our planet and suck out our souls via some as yet unimagined technological terror. Because clearly, adding more kiosks and taking away a few cashiers at Panera Bread is a clear sign of that impending doom. [More]
Magical Kiosk Prints New House Keys For Absent-Minded People
By 6.26.13
Imagine this scene: you’ve locked yourself out of your apartment. You could climb in the window, call up a locksmith for emergency service, or finally put to use all of those hours you spent teaching the cat how to operate a deadbolt. Or you could walk to a nearby kiosk, provide a thumbprint, and receive an exact copy of your key. [More]
Watch Out For Photocopied Fake Discs In Your Local Redbox Kiosk
By 12.17.12
Ian was annoyed. He sent us this photo while on hold with Redbox to complain. “Some jerk replaced the disk in the case with a paper photocopy so the return code could still be read,” he wrote. Well, that’s an evil trick. And not foolproof: Redbox knows who had their discs out at any given time, and also happens to have their credit card numbers. Once Ian got through, he explained what happened, and also how Redbox tried to make this up to him. [More]
Automated Cupcake Machine Now Available 24 Hours For Sugar Emergencies
By 3.1.12
Have you ever said to yourself at one in the morning, “I could really use some cupcakes,” but didn’t want to bake them yourself? Well, if you have the ability to get to Beverly Hills, cupcakery Sprinkles now has a pink cupcake kiosk installed outside of their store where you can buy fresh cupcakes, mixes, and even cupcakes for your dog. Of course there are cupcakes for your dog. [More]
Pennsylvania Pulls Plug On Wine Kiosk Experiment
By 9.20.11
As anyone who has tried to buy booze, wine or beer in Pennsylvania can tell you, the Keystone State has some of the most bizarre and byzantine liquor control rules on the books. Last year, the state tried to clear things up by introducing overly complicated wine kiosks in supermarkets, but it now looks like those have fallen victim to a payment dispute. [More]
Delta Auctions Off Flight Bumps To Lowest Bidders
By 1.5.11
A reader over at Marginal Revolution spotted Delta’s new system where when you check in at the kiosk it asks you to bid on what it would cost to get you to volunteer your seat. Below the entry box it says, “Delta accepts lower bids first.” Genius! [More]
Are Automated Kiosks The Future Of Retail Shopping?
By 8.18.10
In recent years, vending machines have gone from lunch room relics intent on eating your quarters and holding onto your Sun Chips to high-tech automated kiosks that sell everything from DVDs to ice cream, wine, beauty products, useless Farmville crap, electronics, designer bags and much more. But are they here to stay or is this just a trend? [More]
Redbox Rolls Out Blu-ray Rentals Nationwide For $1.50 A Night
By 7.30.10
After wavering between charging $1.50 and $2 a night for Blu-ray rentals during its test program, Redbox has decided to go with the cheaper price as it makes the high-definition discs available nationwide at 13,300 kiosks, with plans to nearly double that number by the fall. [More]
Blu-Rays Coming To Redbox With Price Hike
By 6.8.10
Redbox is finally latching on to the Blu-ray bandwagon, announcing it’s months away from adding the pricier HD movies to its kiosks, but will be charging $1.50 a night rather than the standard buck it costs for DVDs. [More]
Redbox Won't Take Reader's Money, Bans Credit Card Forever
By 12.16.09
What can you do when a company bans not you, but your only credit card? John explains that he returned some Redbox movies before his vacation. Then his vacation got really exciting, and his credit card was briefly and accidentally reported stolen. He straightened things out with the credit card company, but Redbox was not so forgiving. He owes the company $15, but they won’t accept his money. Now he’s unable to borrow from Redbox, and their customer service is no help. [More]
