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The seemingly terminal decline of Tim Hortons

lenaitch said:
I don't have such wizardry but our daughter uses it and says it works quite well, at least the store she uses.
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I once downloaded the app, set up an account, and ordered my coffee while waiting in line. Just left the line and picked up my coffee from the pickup area. Customer service is atrocious. Increasingly, I'm find interactions with humans means worse service. I went to biodome in Montreal recently. I was in the line for tickets, which looked like it was going to be a 15 minute wait. I glanced around while in line and saw self-serve kiosks with no one using them. Went over and bought tickets in under a minute. They could make it more obvious that there is a self-serve option!

That said, I am seeing more McDonald's-style ordering kiosks at TH locations.
 
lenaitch said:
Very common. There is all sorts of staff covering the drive through and usually one lone staffer covering the counter (often along with other duties). Their metrics have determined that there is higher 'production value' at the window.
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And they always stick the workers who can't speak English on the counter lol. Tim's would be better off having self serve for walk in customers, i can pour my own coffee and pay and be out in seconds.
 
gabe said:
And they always stick the workers who can't speak English on the counter lol.
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Canada’s immigration and labour procurement policies oft times remind me of the Empire‘s indentured labour programs of the post-slavery period. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_indenture_system. Like the British of old, we seem to endeavour to bring POC to Canada to do the dirty jobs we don’t want to do. Self checkout and kiosks might impact this somewhat.
 
afransen said:
I once downloaded the app, set up an account, and ordered my coffee while waiting in line. Just left the line and picked up my coffee from the pickup area. Customer service is atrocious. Increasingly, I'm find interactions with humans means worse service. I went to biodome in Montreal recently. I was in the line for tickets, which looked like it was going to be a 15 minute wait. I glanced around while in line and saw self-serve kiosks with no one using them. Went over and bought tickets in under a minute. They could make it more obvious that there is a self-serve option!

That said, I am seeing more McDonald's-style ordering kiosks at TH locations.
Click to expand...
I'm often baffled by seeing a dozen people waiting in line at a grocery store looking miserable, and I just waltz past them to the self-checkout area where there are no people.
 
Admiral Beez said:
Canada’s immigration and labour procurement policies oft times remind me of the Empire‘s indentured labour programs of the post-slavery period. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_indenture_system. Like the British of old, we seem to endeavour to bring POC to Canada to do the dirty jobs we don’t want to do. Self checkout and kiosks might impact this somewhat.
Click to expand...

I'm sure Horton's will be fully automated in the near future. Right now it's probably cheaper to pay newly landed immigrants who have no idea what a horrible company Tim Horton's is. Once they realize the hell they stepped into and the fact Horton's keeps you part time basically forever, so they can avoid paying benefits, the workers will eventually move on to greener pastures and in through the revolving door another batch of new immigrants show up to take their place.
 
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gabe said:
I'm sure Horton's will be fully automated in the near future. Right now it's probably cheaper to pay newly landed immigrants who have no idea what a horrible company Tim Horton's is. Once they realize the hell they stepped into and the fact Horton's keeps you part time basically forever, so they can avoid paying benefits, the workers will eventually move on to greener pastures and in through the revolving door another batch of new immigrants show up to take their place.
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If the technology to prepare and assemble food using (halfways) fresh ingredients on-site existed, in any kind of volume, I'm sure McDonald's would have already exploited it.

I don't know what it is like in the city, but up here I have noticed a shift in the demographics of the franchisees to skew more to south/south east Asia and much of the staff is following a similar trend, whereas before the staff was decidedly 'local' in nature, often older. There is little-to-no south/south Asian community up here so I can only assume the staff are coming in from other areas.

I know a couple of Tim's franchise owners (both with multiple properties) but haven't spoken to them in a while. Given their age, they have or will shortly cash out and spend their retirement in their Scrooge McDuck rooms swimming in their money.
 
Id like to see Tims ditch the stupid soups/sandwiches and focus on making higher quality coffee & donuts (the donuts would be made fresh & priced similar to Krispy Kreme)

The chain is suffering from being a jack of all trades and master of none.
 
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lenaitch said:
If the technology to prepare and assemble food using (halfways) fresh ingredients on-site existed, in any kind of volume, I'm sure McDonald's would have already exploited it.

I don't know what it is like in the city, but up here I have noticed a shift in the demographics of the franchisees to skew more to south/south east Asia and much of the staff is following a similar trend, whereas before the staff was decidedly 'local' in nature, often older. There is little-to-no south/south Asian community up here so I can only assume the staff are coming in from other areas.

I know a couple of Tim's franchise owners (both with multiple properties) but haven't spoken to them in a while. Given their age, they have or will shortly cash out and spend their retirement in their Scrooge McDuck rooms swimming in their money.
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I'm always momentarily stunned when I go to a convenience store or fast food joint in some hick town outside the GTA and see a bunch of white people working there 🤣
 
T3G said:
I've never had any issues using self check out with a shopping cart at Superstore.
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Neither have I and I go there weekly. The only time they may say something is you are doing an instacart haul where you have a million things in your cart.

Think of self-checkouts like the express lane.
 
xy3 said:
Id like to see Tims ditch the stupid soups/sandwiches and focus on making higher quality coffee & donuts (the donuts would be made fresh & priced similar to Krispy Kreme)

The chain is suffering from being a jack of all trades and master of none.
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As would I, but they'd have to go back to on-site baking and I'm not sure a lot of newer footprints would accommodate it. If I was paying $1Mn+ for a franchise, I wouldn't be happy doling out coffee and donuts/muffins all day while watching the competition grab the breakfast and lunch crowd.
 
lenaitch said:
As would I, but they'd have to go back to on-site baking and I'm not sure a lot of newer footprints would accommodate it.
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I doubt many would.

Can you imagine a kiosk Tim's doing their own baking?

Years ago, the Markham and Lawrence location of Tim Hortons never did their own baking. They had the Brimley and Lawrence do the baking for the local area and shuttle it around. My Grandmother ran the Markham and Lawrence store in the 1990s and every morning their doughnuts, pies and cakes were delivered.
 
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