R2R Meltdown … And A $900 Million Lawsuit against McDonald’s

When farmers and farm equipment dealers talk about right-to-repair (R2R), the conversations focus on tractors, sprayers and combines. But there are broader R2R concerns with cars, trucks, construction equipment and numerous machines used daily by both business owners and consumers.

We’re taking this moment – during national ice cream month, no less — to examine an unusual R2R fight going out there involving the Golden Arches and the non-workable soft-serve ice cream machines found in 13,509 U.S. McDonald’s fast-food outlets. 

As many customers know, there’s no difficulty in buying a burger and fries at McDonald’s (other than skyrocketing prices), but walking out with a soft-serve cone or shake is another story. The ice cream machines are broken so often that customers are told their ice cream order can’t be filled at all due to the downtime of the poorly serviced equipment. (Full disclosure, my son Mike and I walked out of a McDonald’s on a business trip in Michigan this week upon learning – to no surprise – that its shake machine was down.)