McDonald's Straw & Napkin Dispensers

The McChronicles recently vented on the topic of unappealing condiment presentation, cup tops, etc. We'd now like to make amends by offering up a few more suggestions for improvement - and to share some things we like.

Napkin Dispensers:
There is more than one kind. The older wooden style is not as good as the newer pop-out type. The wooden style (see below) gets jammed up easily when too many napkins are put inside. We have even had the entire front panel fall out when wrestling with a recalcitrant napkin.

We prefer the newer tissue-dispenser pop-out style (to the right). The napkins come out easily - end of story. They also appear to provide ample heads-up when the supply is running low.

Straw Dispensers:
McDonald's offers several styles of straw dispensers, and they are found in various locations within each store, depending on the store (a little confusing sometimes). Pictured here (bottom image) is a problematic situation. This is an example of "two rights make a wrong". You see, the machine was built to dispense unwrapped straws. It works pretty well for that (not perfect - crooked straws can jam it up). But people don't like other people pawing at unprotected straws. So, the wrapped straw was introduced.

Wrapped straws remain cleaner, but they're too big for the machine - so they jam it up. Notice, in the bottom image, that, though fully stocked, the machine has no straws available for customers. They're all stuck (too wide due to the wrappers).

We like the new napkin dispenser and we like the wrapped straws. Once everything gets working smoothly this issue will be a thing of the past.

This should be easy - McDonald's should be the world's best at this.

All Images: The McChronicles
McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.