Internet Innovators- McDonalds

     In the digital age there's an app for nearly everything whether it be controlling smart appliances or sports betting. Ordering food is no exception, in fact I would say it makes perfect sense. Minimizing human interaction is an introverts dream and ironically very helpful during the current pandemic. Not all apps are particularly well programmed or useful. Some offer specific incentives for using them. The McDonalds app is the perfect example of something that's practical, easy to use, and preferable to the standard drive through alternative. What is it that makes this app a must have for college students? Is it the ability to eliminate some of the awkwardness of ordering, having great deals, or cutting down wait times? I would say confidently that it's all three. 

    It goes without saying that my generation has a bit of an issue with anxiety. I myself struggle with it frequently. Some days you just dont' feel like speaking to people. As chatty as I am I find myself in that mood some days before I've had a meal. I wouldn't use the word hangry but it's not far off. This video will link in a brief tutorial of how to operate the app from one of the official McDonalds YouTube channels. This app allows you to place a mobile order and skip the hassle of having to order in person. You generally have three pickup options: Drive through, in-store, or curbside. For the drive through option you wait in line then tell them your order number, the food will already be paid for via your preferred bank card and you pick it up from the window. This is especially helpful if you have multiple orders to place seeing as how the regular drive through only takes two per car. In the in-store option you check in then they prepare your order to bring out as if you had ordered at the register, this is the fastest way in my personal opinion but it seems that due to covid it isn't available at all locations currently. It's my preferred option during high traffic hours for the restaurant such as breakfast. Lastly there is the curbside option. It is nearly contactless but in my experience takes longer than the other two options. In this method you park in a designated spot and they bring your food out to you. This is probably the least considerate option given the weather as of late. I wouldn't make a worker walk all the way out in the cold to bring me fast food. There's also a McDelivery option through DoorDash and UberEats but I don't believe it is supported in this part of the country. Even so this app has become somewhat of a pandemic essential for me.

    Let's talk about the real draw here, the deals. As a college student I appreciate any opportunity to save money when I can. The link above doesn't contain all the deals as they are specific to the mobile app but you can still access some of them via desktop. It's not uncommon to find fantastic deals that can virtually cut your meal cost in half or double the food you get for the usual price. The best breakfast deal in my opinion is getting a free breakfast sandwich when you spend $1.50 or more in the app. With things like bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits often being on the $2 spotlight it can make for a cheap combo that is sure to satisfy your hunger. There was a commercial that I thought highlighted the breakfast option pretty well. There are also a number of buy one get one deals that cut costs significantly. I feel as if this is one of the first restaurant apps that properly entices me to mobile order. My personal favorite is the buy 20 nuggets get two any size fries for free. This means my meal comes out to around $7 and I can get 20 nuggets and two large fries which is enough for a couple of meals. I'll admit this deal had been a go to for me on days where my money was running low. This is an instance of an app providing enough compensation to prompt me to frequent a business more often. Before downloading it McDonalds was always a last resort but with the amount of food I get for the price it's slowly worked it's way up the list to reoccurring contender in my nightly game of "what do I want to eat?". The great part about these deals is even if you already had a set order in mind you can always tack a deal on for something free. Who doesn't like free? The only slight drawback is that you can only access one deal per hour, it has a cooldown timer so you can't stack deals. 

 

    

    Overall the app seems to have pretty positive reviews. As for the actual functionality of the app? It works fairly decent with only minor bugs in location tracking and the occasional freeze up. The interface is very user friendly and I've taught numerous people of various ages how to use it. The oldest of which being my 50 year old father who is not tech savvy to say the least. He's an electrician and often has to grab lunch ahead of time or in a rush so he's made this app a part of his daily routine. My thoughts are that if he can successfully navigate this app then anyone can. It's a fairly streamlined process and I think it could be even more beneficial for people living in bigger cities. When things normalize a bit I'll probably return to using the in-store option for the sake of speed but until then I'll stick to the drive through option