McDonald’s McFlurry Machine and its tendency to decompose has been the inspiration of innumerable jokes and twitter fights, and now it could become the subject of an investigation of the Federal Trade Commission. According to Wall Street Journal, the agency recently came to the owners of McDonald’s restaurants to collect more information about their experiences with machines.
Why is the FTC looking at McFlurry machines, you ask? The answer may have something to do with the right to the repair movement. At the beginning of July, President Biden ordered the agency to draft new rules to empower consumers and companies to repair their devices on their own. Later that month, the FTC did the good in that order, voting unanimously to face the restrictions of illegal repair.
For all accounts, McFlurry machines are a nightmare to repair. In addition, Taylor, the signing that does, is at the center of a legal battle about the measures he uses to prevent restaurants from repairing the machines on their own. When a McFlurry machine is broken down, only Taylor’s certified technician is allowed to fix it, which leads to long waiting times. Those waiting times have increased during the pandemic. A federal judge recently put on the side of a company that produces a diagnostic tool that threatens Taylor’s monopoly in repairs.
The FTC has not yet opened a formal probe. “The existence of a preliminary investigation does not indicate that the FTC or its staff have found any crime,” said the agency in the letter sent this summer, according to the magazine. However, according to reports, it wants to know how often restaurant owners can work on McFlurry machines on their own.
