The Humans Are Rejecting the Machines that Were Supposed to Help Them
Chains are adding staff and redesigning stores after customers said human checkouts feel more valuable, a Drexel University study found.
- Fast-Food chains and retailers are actively reversing years of automation, removing self-service kiosks and screens to prioritize human interactions and address declining customer satisfaction.
- Latitude Food Group recently removed AI ordering and kiosks after chief marketing officer Sergio Perez said digital tools "erased any attempt at hospitality" and created a "disconnect" between customers and crew.
- A 2024 study by Drexel University found customers feel "treated more valuably" when interacting with humans; Starbucks is spending $1 billion on staff and amenities to restore its coffee shop atmosphere.
- Burger King is hiring 60,000 new employees for a new "Your Way Champion" customer service position, while Walmart, Target, and Costco are removing self-checkout stands and Amazon has closed its cashier-less stores.
- McDonald is training workers to emphasize hospitality with energetic greetings, reflecting a broader industry pivot away from tech-only service as consumers increasingly reject automation that complicates simple transactions.
12 Articles
12 Articles
Retailers and fast-food chains ditch kiosks to restore in-person connection
NEW YORK (CNN) — Touchscreen kiosks, self-checkout machines and QR-code menus were only here to help. The dream was that these self-service technologies would recommend food we’d like at McDonald’s and speed up CVS lines. But kiosks ended up presenting way too many choices when we just wanted the burger. Self-checkout machines kept announcing there were […]
The humans are rejecting the machines that were supposed to help them
By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN New York (CNN) — Touchscreen kiosks, self-checkout machines and QR-code menus were only here to help. The dream was that these self-service technologies would recommend food we’d like at McDonald’s and speed up CVS lines. But kiosks ended up presenting way too many choices when we just wanted the burger. Self-checkout
Do you put the goods on the belt and let the saleswoman mark them, or do you go to the rows of machines where you scan your purchase yourself? Self-service checkouts divide customers into two camps, and according to Czech and global surveys, age often determines their popularity. Older customers tend to head to the saleswoman behind the belt, as shown by the results of the American company Capital One Shopping and the Czech agency STEM/MARK. The…
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