Federal regulators want fix McDonald’s ice cream machine is brokenthey asked for the expansion of right to repair method to solve this problem. In a letter to the U.S. Copyright Office on Thursday, regulators asked that commercial soft drink machines be exempted from existing laws that make them difficult to repair. These laws also make it harder for you to obtain McFlurry.
“The agencies believe that updating and expanding the repair-related exemptions will promote competition in the markets for replacement parts, repair and maintenance services,” the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission said in a statement. Joint letter.
McDonald’s broken ice cream machine finds itself at the center of a right-to-repair movement.reason McDonald’s ice cream machine keeps breaking It’s because of copyright law. Only technicians licensed by the company that makes the equipment have access to the machines, and their repairs cost more than $300 every 15 minutes, the letter said. The U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission identified business softservers as one of four categories of equipment that would benefit from relaxations in copyright laws.
Broken ice cream machines are not only frustrating for customers, but also causing headaches for McDonald’s. Soft drink equipment failure can cost a restaurant $625 per day. The scarcity of licensed repair technicians also means there are always long wait times to repair soft-serve ice cream machines.
McDonald’s purchased the ice cream machines from Taylor, a restaurant equipment manufacturer, and because of copyright laws, Taylor was the only person allowed to repair the machines. When Taylor’s ice cream machine broke, It displays meaningless error messages to confuse third parties. Repair company Kytch found a way to decode the message, but McDonald’s told its stores not to use it.
Regulators cited iFixit August Report, which breaks down one of Taylor’s soft serve machines and describes how to repair them. iFixit describes McDonald’s ice cream machines as a huge right-to-repair issue.
Often, right-to-repair disasters come from unexpected places, e.g. john deere tractor, Polish train scandal, even a McDonald’s ice cream machine. The common theme is that copyright laws allow large manufacturers to dominate the market, leaving small businesses and consumers frustrated. Regulators now appear to be paying more attention to these old, glaring issues.
Also on Friday, McDonald’s restaurants around the world were reportedly experiencing widespread power outages. time. This resulted in many stores temporarily closing as staff were unable to process electronic orders.