If...

- You have good eyesight and can see the menu behind the counter

- You speak the same language as the order taker or they speak your's

- The person behind the counter actually is proficient at the machine

Then you run into the situation where over time people get better at using the kiosk. And much like lines to get subway cards (something replaced by kiosks in Boston long ago), if you get stuck behind someone who is really slow at using it there are usually more kiosks you can move to.

It worked in...

- Subway systems

- Self checkout at grocery stores

- Bank ATMs

Especially that last one. Pretty much the only time I use an actual teller at an ATM is if I need a cashier's check.

I think in fast food it is a bit of a foregone conclusion.

>It worked in Self checkout at grocery stores.

It's still too soon to say those self-checkout machines are a success. There are a few stores (Albertson's, Costco) that have eliminated them entirely, a few large retailers have scaled them back.

Mostly, the assumption was that ringing up items is easy enough for even untrained customers to do it, and that assumption has proved only partly correct. Every time (and I do mean every time) I've stood in line to use them, 1+ customers have needed assistance from a worker (alcohol, voiding an item, price discrepancy, item won't scan, can't find the picture, weird detection on the bag-side...).

Maybe when the generation that grew up with iPads becomes the eldest we'll see full self-checkout implementation, but for now the average customer is not equipped to effectively utilize the technology.

That's interesting. Here if I'm waiting in line it's usually in a situation where the human checkout counters have lines as well. I like the Walmart model... here they have six self-checkouts but one line. So if you're first in line you go to the first one that frees up. Very much superior to having one line per self-checkout.

And in those situations if one backs up you still have at least one alternative that is faster.

It will eventually happen in fast food, but it's not an accident that reason human bank tellers were replaced before fast food cashiers. Menus are complicated things

I use a human teller because I'm charged less than the ATM.

> I can see how this could reduce error, but I think this has more to do with cutting costs than adding efficiency to the ordering process.

After using the touche screen at McDonalds only the first time was a little slower than going to the human. Now I can punch in my order super quick. As an added bonus I've seen the staff deliver the order to a person's table instead of being chained to a register.

Wish the Wendy's here in Canada would implement that soon. The human keeps try to rush through parts of the order. They're already asking about my drink when I haven't yet got the chance to tell them to hold the disgusting new pickels and red onions. Then it's the same conversiation about me not wanting to substitute fries for an extra item I ordered. Yes, I want them both.

Plus the fact that Wendy's here almost always has only one person on register unless it's exactly lunch or dinner time. And then they usually only have two registers anyways. During less busy times there usualy isn't anyone at the register and you have to wait for them to show up. So they've already cut costs on not having a dedicated register person.

I think it depends on the situation. Perhaps in a true fast-food restaurant, like McDonald's, it might not be quicker. On Wednesday, I stopped at a Sheetz -- a chain of gas stations/convenience stores in the U.S. -- where I ordered a sandwich. It was all done on a touch screen. I picked the sandwich, bread, toppings, condiments via pictures. I was able to add fries or onion rings to the order. It was the first time I had ever done this and it was a clear picture-based interface. When it was placed, out popped a receipt. while my sandwich was being made, I took the receipt to the counter with the cash registers -- for the whole place, not just food orders -- the scanned the bar code on the receipt and I paid. The person taking the money did not have to take my order and was able to handle other customers not ordering food.

Talking to a person is antagonistic to new users and non-native speakers, especially at restaurants (In-n-Out I'm looking at you!) where the printed menu doesn't contain all the available items. McD's had this problem, too, when they switched to all day breakfast but didn't have menu boards that could show both breakfast & lunch/dinner items concurrently.