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Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

(slate.com)
527 points lxm | 10 comments | 29 Jun 21 03:25 UTC | HN request time: 0.421s | source | bottom
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sksksk ◴[29 Jun 21 08:51 UTC] No.27673432[source]▶
When they work well, they're really good, but when they work badly, they're _really_ bad.

The other week, I went for dinner at a place that had a online ordering system. My experience was as follows...

Arrive at the table, scan the QR code

No phone signal in the restaurant, so I need to connect to the wifi.

Connect to the wifi, get a captive portal

Need to put my phone number in to connect to the wifi; there is no signal, so I need to go outside, to receieve the confirmation code.

Connected to the wifi, scan the code again, choose my food.

Go to pay, need to register an account

Put my email address in, I already have an account on this food ordering service!?

Do a password reset

Put in my credit card details (why not use apple pay?).

This whole time, we're sat at a table, in theory to meet friends, but we've spent the first 15 minutes all glued to our phones!

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HelloNurse ◴[29 Jun 21 09:00 UTC] No.27673485[source]▶
Assuming there was another restaurant nearby, I'd have simplified the process to "go outside". If a restaurant is too cheap to print a menu, why should I consider it good enough for me?
replies(1): >>27673590 #
topicseed ◴[29 Jun 21 09:19 UTC] No.27673590[source]▶
With covid, many restaurants removed paper menus to avoid transmission. I hate QR codes so that was a move I was not in favour of.....
replies(7): >>27673742 #>>27673766 #>>27673777 #>>27673998 #>>27674555 #>>27674981 #>>27675450 #
1. FractalParadigm ◴[29 Jun 21 09:47 UTC] No.27673777[source]▶
Most, if not all restaurants I've been to around my area, were already either using or switched to using laminated sheets, sometimes bound in a plastic or leather cover. Plastic-enclosed paper is trivial to sanitize and lasts a VERY long time, plus I would like to imagine a laminator is quite a bit cheaper in the long-term than maintaining separate menu websites for every individual location.

It's amazing how some can re-invent the simplest of ideas simply for the sake of getting tech rammed into the stream.

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2. a_imho ◴[29 Jun 21 11:03 UTC] No.27674195[source]▶
It is not for tech sake, this is building a database. Never attribute to incompetence what can be adequately explained by bogus engagement KPIs
replies(2): >>27674455 #>>27675990 #
3. dgb23 ◴[29 Jun 21 11:41 UTC] No.27674455[source]▶
Orders are typically stored anyways?
replies(1): >>27674520 #
4. atatatat ◴[29 Jun 21 11:48 UTC] No.27674520{3}[source]▶
But not how long you stared at the deserts, or what side of the "give me lobster" button you pressed.
replies(2): >>27674858 #>>27675334 #
5. tomrod ◴[29 Jun 21 12:26 UTC] No.27674858{4}[source]▶
Meaningless and trivial metrics, ultimately. Third order at best.
replies(1): >>27675138 #
6. bluGill ◴[29 Jun 21 12:56 UTC] No.27675138{5}[source]▶
Probably, but it is still data that is cheap to store. IF someone can find something useful in just 1% of those things 10 years from now all the cost to collect and store all that data will be worth the investment - or so they hope. They probably will too - the cost vs reward is very skewed.
7. w0m ◴[29 Jun 21 13:16 UTC] No.27675334{4}[source]▶
Maybe eventually; I haven't seen a PointOfSale system that worked remotely well enough I thought they could be competent to implement in a useful way.

I tend to not jump to malicious that can be attributed to virtue signaling and/or incompetence.

8. colinmhayes ◴[29 Jun 21 14:06 UTC] No.27675921[source]▶
The idea of menu costs is an extremely important one in restaurant economics. Sure laminated menus may last a while but they're a pain in the ass to change. If the restaurant wants to add an item or change the prices they're pretty much out of luck. None of the 30 or so restaurants I've been to post pandemic have had physical menus which is definitely not ideal, but I don't see them going back to having non zero menu costs.
9. tdumitrescu ◴[29 Jun 21 14:11 UTC] No.27675990[source]▶
Most of the restaurants I've been to the QR code takes you to a PDF of the menu as found on the restaurant's website. There's no auth and no way to track anything beyond I guess how many times people opened the menu file. Restaurants aren't doing this for tracking, they're doing it to stay on the good side of public health regulations in a period where they've learned they can be forcibly closed with barely any warning.
10. birdman3131 ◴[29 Jun 21 14:28 UTC] No.27676244[source]▶
A few here went the opposite route. Print the menu doublesided with a standard B&W laser printer. Every customer gets a new menu and it does not cost a ton extra.