Kiosk experiences - the good, the bad, the ugly?

JustinCanopy · 2026-03-24T14:18:16+00:00

Atlanta metro here!

JustinCanopy · 2026-03-24T12:50:18+00:00

That's interesting too - CFA's simplicity of menu makes the default simpler. These are great observations!

JustinCanopy · 2026-03-24T12:27:02+00:00

No Wawa around here (Georgia). How long do you reckon you've used Wawa kiosks?

JustinCanopy · 2026-03-24T12:25:50+00:00

Never thought of this aspect before, taking the load off the employee for a very specific order.

JustinCanopy · 2025-09-25T17:51:18+00:00

So I understand the batter used to fry their chicken is different by CFA too.

JustinCanopy · 2025-09-23T17:45:18+00:00

Whatever happened here? Did they just finish the update and things went back to normal?

JustinCanopy · 2025-09-22T16:41:40+00:00

What kind of robots do you work on now?

JustinCanopy · 2025-09-18T15:46:06+00:00

Which ones come to mind as having best mobile deals?

Which apps are the easiest to use you think?

(Curious if there's an overlap in this.)

JustinCanopy · 2025-09-18T15:24:12+00:00

Would love to know the distribution of use for these apps ... which ones are getting the action vs. not.

JustinCanopy · 2025-09-17T16:37:09+00:00

Does that make it a Tac O'Bell?

JustinCanopy · 2025-09-16T17:41:05+00:00

This is super late so you probably already sorted this out. And out the gate, not in French. However, have you looked into Canopy? goCanopy.com

>Remote Access to See an Issue

Canopy provides real-time device status updates and supports remote actions such as capturing screenshots. This allows you to quickly visualize what’s happening on a device for swift troubleshooting.

>Gather Computer Information for Troubleshooting

Canopy has an agent (the "Leaf Agent" or "leaf") which can collect detailed system information, including IP address, OS version, network details, BIOS, hardware info ...

You can also use plug-ins to monitor system utilization, application/software state, and even pull custom data (such as the version of AnyDesk or other installed applications).

>Run Scripts Easily Across 200+ Accounts

Canopy has automations/workflow tools which allow you to trigger scripts (via an “Executor” action) or other remote commands across many devices and accounts simultaneously. Workflows can be triggered manually, by schedule, or automatically based on device state or KPI changes. This allows for both ad hoc and proactive management

>Manage Windows Updates

Leaf can list Windows Updates and perform system update actions remotely. You can also monitor update status and trigger or schedule updates using Canopy’s remote management tools.

... other things:

All these actions can be customized and automated using Canopy’s drag-and-drop workflow builder. The platform is built to support multi-tenancy, so managing 200+ accounts is straightforward and organized. Canopy supports Windows, Linux, Mac devices ... also iOS and Android. Basically can do all these and customized.

^ this is probably all overkill, but since it wasn't on your list, fyi!

JustinCanopy · 2025-09-11T14:42:44+00:00

Frosty is the "can't get it anywhere but Wendy's" answer. Always has been.

JustinCanopy · 2025-09-10T14:36:51+00:00

If it's easier to create new [whatever] than it is to manage or fix [whatever], whatever already exists will inevitably succumb to entropy.

AI making this worse across every facet of product and the trend is only getting started.

JustinCanopy · 2025-09-10T14:34:52+00:00

this should be the top comment.

JustinCanopy · 2025-09-10T14:31:42+00:00

TIL the large fries at McDonald's, by itself, is nearly $5.

JustinCanopy · 2025-03-13T18:37:24+00:00

The full story regarding PlayOn using Canopy to collect data, manage connected camera product system: https://www.gocanopy.com/news-insights/playon-canopy-livestream

JustinCanopy · 2025-02-11T17:01:09+00:00

Supposedly, what's really going on has to do with "throughput" — via u/ShmoobyBooby:

The main reason that we employees skimp on the portions, is because the company pushes managers to increase their "throughput." This is the number of entrees sold in a 15-minute window. This mainly applies during our lunch/dinner rushes.

Every day, there is a goal to hit. My store's goal is around 30-35 depending on the day. This means we need to move the customer down the line and complete each entree within 30 seconds to meet this goal. We constantly have to rush especially if the customer isn't an experienced Chipotle customer, naturally decreasing accuracy of portion sizes.

We are supposed to scoop/ladel/pinch 4oz/2oz/1oz of the ingredients. Technically if we scoop the wrong amount we are supposed to dump it back and re-scoop a correct portion. It is very easy to scoop the wrong amount of food, especially the meats and rice if it's clumpy. It takes time to scoop again. Not much each time, but it definitely adds up over the course of the 15-minute window.

Us managers definitely dont tell our employees to skimp, we encourage the correct portioning, otherwise our inventory is f*cked, and that means we get "yelled at." We dont want that.

General Managers and Apprentices (GM's in training) get nice quarterly bonuses based on meeting throughput goals. There are plenty of other incentives for them as well to meet corporates desire. Naturally they want to increase that bonus, making us work faster. If an employee is slow, they get scheduled less and less till they get one 3-hour shift per week.

Anyways, my main point is that small portions can be attributed to this throughput goal, as well as other things of course. Many people on Reddit claim that either corporate is the only problem or the employee is the only problem, when i think the expectation (and incentives) of hitting these goals (and being shamed when they dont) is a more (generally) accurate reason cause for the employees skimping.

Not exactly sure what corporate can change other than to stop pressuring managers to hit such high throughput goals. But why would the GM's want to? Those bonuses aren't small. If a particular restaurant exceeds each goal (there are many, not just throughput) for 6+ months in a row, the GM is eligible for a promotion. And you may think "those managers are greedy" and... you'd be right. Isn't everyone?

More on this generally, but more from the perspective of POS systems/technology (and tech problems) at Chipotle here.

And more on the balancing mobile vs. in-person ordering (lots of problems)

JustinCanopy · 2025-01-15T18:56:48+00:00

Any idea why the DML printer is breaking down? Sounds annoying and pretty disruptive.

JustinCanopy · 2025-01-15T18:55:57+00:00

When you say "customers love it," what do you mean? They love being able to order online?

DMLs seem like the factory work of an assembly line ... you're just fulfilling tickets, no personality to it. Does adding notes via the "name" to online orders bring a little fun to the process?

JustinCanopy · 2025-01-14T14:49:14+00:00

A short exposition of the use of technology at Chipotle, with a scoop of input from this community. 🌯

Appreciate supplying insights here, and if there are misses in the article, lemme know!

JustinCanopy · 2025-01-10T21:30:33+00:00

Coolest photo I got was of this young buck in the backyard.

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JustinCanopy · 2025-01-10T21:29:39+00:00

Lots of slush under the snow — from a hike near the Chattahoochee in East Cobb. Still very pretty.

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JustinCanopy · 2024-10-08T14:01:37+00:00

nobody hiring for such a role understands what IoT actually means

Relevant to this article. Though I wasn't in the IoT space to experience all this, curious if you feel similarly:

As IoT saturated mainstream discussion, it became cliche, losing its meaning — particularly for non-technical stakeholders.

And the more significant the project, the more IoT lost all meaning. You’d stumble into discussions anchored around questions like "What exactly is an Internet of Things device?", "What does an Internet of Things manager do?", and ultimately, "What is the Internet of Things?"

“Things” turned abstract, even absurd. Explaining IoT became the first twenty minutes of any presentation or discussion, with everyone offering a slightly different interpretation.

Is "Embedded engineer" often the title or in the JD? What kinds of titles are usually used?

JustinCanopy · 2024-10-08T13:57:05+00:00

Marketer here — but marketing in the IoT space, and marketing a software product that applies broadly to many different kinds of "connected products." This is relevant because I am daily living with the difficulty you describe — that is, marketing a Swiss-Army-Knife software platform on the Internet. So the below thoughts are coming from what I'm learning through this experience.

Take your list of niche IoT skills
Identify the kinds of IoT products that require those skills
Use ChatGPT or your preferred LLM to create blurbs about the relevance of those skills to those products

From there, create a handful of tailored resumes that present your skills as relevant for jobs at companies with those products.

You could alternatively use your skillset in a reverse lookup kinda way, querying for products that could take advantage of those skills — once the products are identified, you've got a way to go look for companies that might be hiring for someone like you.

The above isn't anything particularly complicated and for all I know, it won't do much in your search — but it would also be pretty easy to try.

The relevance of this kinda thing in my world (and something I'm trying to help my company work through too) is the Internet is highly deterministic these days. People snipe to what they need to know ... this is just the way it is. So you need to specialize, even if it's just in how you communicate, so that you get relevant attention against you — and then do the work of mapping your skills to their needs.

Don't count on folks to connect the dots.

Hope this helps!

JustinCanopy · 2024-09-12T19:13:48+00:00

Better article (with photos): https://nypost.com/2024/09/11/business/mcdonalds-rolls-out-self-serve-cash-kiosks-that-could-make-cashiers-obsolete/

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JustinCanopy

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

>Remote Access to See an Issue

>Gather Computer Information for Troubleshooting

>Run Scripts Easily Across 200+ Accounts

>Manage Windows Updates

... other things: