Outsourcing at the drive-thru

[Morrigoon]

Fast food joints outsourcing the order takers (http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/course/opns430/modules/capacity_management/Readings_Queuing/2006_NYT_The%20Long-Distance%20Journey%20of%20a%20Fast-Food%20Order.pdf)

I was just watching a thing on fast food tech that talked about this. Basically, they're experimenting with centralized call centers manning the order taking end of drive-thrus, then sending the order to the restaurant's kitchen.

I think this may be one of the best applications of outsourcing I've seen. The point, in part, is that for order taking you hire people who speak perfectly clearly, which is nice. Plus the workers in the hot restaurant don't have to wear a headset all day, and overall noise in the restaurant is reduced.

[Kevy Baby]

The point, in part, is that for order taking you hire people who speak perfectly clearly, which is nice. Plus the workers in the hot restaurant don't have to wear a headset all day, and overall noise in the restaurant is reduced.Well, it is a big assumption that the people hired will be clear speakers. Think about someone working an eight hour shift in a windowless cubical farm in East Podunk, NE. How hard are they going to work making themselves understandable?

Further, if we are talking auditory outsourcing, having the work handled in India is the next step. THEN see where the understandability goes.

While talking heads will hype how it improves CS, it is ultimately about the bottom line. By having a single source for order taking, you lower your overall labor cost.

[lashbear]

I hate the modern "Squeeze every microlitre of blood out of the stone" mentality that these call centres have nowadays. :mad:
This is the reason I will be avoiding call centres when I look for work after the trip (Emphasis mine, of course, my comments in brackets):

Ms. Vargas seems unfazed by her job, even though it involves being subjected to constant electronic scrutiny. Software tracks her productivity and speed, and every so often a red box pops up on her screen to test whether she is paying attention. She is expected to click on it within 1.75 seconds. In the break room, a computer screen lets employees know just how many minutes have elapsed since they left their workstations [just the relaxing atmosphere you need on a break - watching a clock tick down the time - and seeing how late back your fellow workers are]
.

Efficiency is certainly the mantra at the Bronco call center, which has grown from 15 workers six months ago to 125 today. Its workers are experts in the McDonald's menu [and they will be suitably chastised if they hesitate of forget anything]; they are trained to be polite, to urge customers to add items to their order [againg being chastised if they neglect to upsell] and, above all, to be fast. Each worker takes up to 95 orders an hour during peak times.
.

The remote order-takers at Bronco earn the minimum wage ($6.75 an hour in California), do not get health benefits and do not wear uniforms [ie: wear & tear on their own clothes, having to buy more clothes for themselves].
.

The call-center system allows employees to be monitored and tracked much more closely than would be possible if they were in restaurants. Mr. King's computer screen gives him constant updates as to which workers are not meeting standards. "You've got to measure everything," he said. "When fractions of seconds count, the environment needs to be controlled."
.

Ms. Aleman said that, over all, the system had improved accuracy and helped her cut costs. She said that now she did not need an employee dedicated to taking orders or, during the lunch rush, an assistant for the order-taker to handle cash when things backed up. "We've cut [[I]Jobs] labor," she said.


Bastards. And of course, without health benefits, you're screwed when the KPI pressure of the call centrre leaves you needing stress leave or so ill you can't work.

My 2c

[SacTown Chronic]

Welcome to India, home of the Whopper, the Big Mac, the Jumbo Jack, and the Western Bacon Cheeseburger. May I take your order?

[innerSpaceman]

Can Hindus even take orders for such beef products?





.

[SacTown Chronic]

They can at these wages!*



*You'd be laughing if you were on your first j and your second beer, trust me.

[innerSpaceman]

You'd be laughing if you were on your first j and your second beer, trust me.
^ That's cheating.


:p

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

and I'll still get Fries when I order Sprite...

[MouseWife]

My .02c?

These 'clear speakers' that they say we'll have? That is their opinion. As long as they are speaking English and it is somewhat clear, they are in.

How else can you explain the people we get on the phone these days when calling almost any customer service line? I try and be patient but damnit, it gives me a headache to talk to them because I am having to listen extra extra carefully and figure out what they are saying. They are speaking English, their accents just make it difficult to understand.

True about the insurance, clothes, and, these are the jobs that we need in our communities. These are not only the jobs where teens begin, but, they are the jobs where people who need second {third?} jobs go.

Another thing that I don't appreciate? The threat of being replaced by outsourcing/machines. I am a cashier and they've threatened to put in self service registers. It is insulting {compare it to saying a monkey could do your job}.

Ya know, once these people are gone, who will be next? The managers income will come down because they aren't handling as many employees. The business itself won't have as many employees, how safe does that make the business? Will they only accept debit/credit so they don't have cash?

{sorry...just had a really good cup of coffee....:coffee: }

But yeah, a sore spot. I love the technology but then I don't, too.

Hey, a thought, if they are cutting their costs, do they intend upon passing that to the customers? I highly doubt it. These companies only see their profit, not what is good for their employees...the very people who are their customers.

Oh, and, that reminds me, employee hours being cut by stores concerned by their profit will see themselves kicked in the butt because those very people whose hours they are cutting are their very own customers. Who will then NOT be their customers.

{sorry Morri, it is not my intention to jump down your throat...}

[BarTopDancer]

This was just on an episode of King of the Hill.

I generally go into the restaurant to order, I'll continue to do so regardless of where the drive-thru order taker is.

[innerSpaceman]

I like using the self-checkout when it's available, but only because most people don't --- and so the lines are so much shorter.


Don't get me wrong. I was a cashier at a few of my early jobs. But the truth is, "civilians" can do it. I can't see employers footing the bill for expensive labor when a machine will do the trick. I don't like that, but it's an economic fact.


The companies will only notice the problem caused by eliminating so many jobs when there aren't enough employed people left to be their customers.

But that's going to take a while. Till then, more misery everywhere.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

How hard are they going to work making themselves understandable?As long as people give feedback regarding their service, and if the bosses pay attention to satisfaction, they'll work hard to make themselves heard clearly.

This is the reason I will be avoiding call centres when I look for work after the trip (Emphasis mine, of course, my comments in brackets):It's all out of Snow Crash. If this kind of stuff continues to escalate we'll have a second rise of unions, much as the industrial revolution brought on unions 100 years ago. Too bad this isn't the case in most other places in the world and will just make us even weaker in the world marketplace, as other countries continue to exploit their workforces.

Another thing that I don't appreciate? The threat of being replaced by outsourcing/machines. I am a cashier and they've threatened to put in self service registers. It is insulting {compare it to saying a monkey could do your job}.

Ya know, once these people are gone, who will be next? The managers income will come down because they aren't handling as many employees. The business itself won't have as many employees, how safe does that make the business? Will they only accept debit/credit so they don't have cash?

{sorry...just had a really good cup of coffee....:coffee: }

But yeah, a sore spot. I love the technology but then I don't, too.As someone who works with self-checkout technology, I don't see this as an insult to my station. It would be an insult to everyone's intelligence if these jobs that have been rendered so simple anyone can do them still required salaried people to do them.

I've probably posted this before. I love it when I get a patron who comes to the desk and says "I came to you because I want you to keep your job." I smile, scan their card with one hand and pull their stack of books onto the pad with the other. After 2 seconds, I push the books back. "Due in 3 weeks." They blink and sputter, saying, "is that it?" Yes, yes it is.

It's easy for me to say, since there are still plenty of tasks at the library that require my help. But while I hate it when anyone loses their job, I'd also not want to pay for salaries when the jobs really aren't necessary.

I came up with a silly analogy for this. Let's say that there was no paper technology. All information had to carved onto tablets or written on slates or simply remembered. If you wanted to remember lots of things you'd have to hire people to remember them for you. A string of rememberers would follow you all day long. If someone invented paper, it would mean joblessness for all those employees, but it would be really stupid to ignore such an innovation.

[Alex]

On the one hand I would never work in a call center because for the most part unless you are in executive customer service it is most certainly soul sucking dehumanizing work.

On the other hand I understand the urge to drive every inefficiency out of call center operations. A department I work with (no involvement by me really) recently rewrote a simple script so that it is four seconds shorter. It is expected that this will save $300,000 over the course of a year.

I know it sucks but it is just like working an assembly line (which I have done).

As for McDonald's doing this for drive-thru, so long as it works I don't really care but it won't impact me much anyway. Regardless of quality of the drive-thru order taker I don't trust them to put my order together correctly anyway so unless that's all that is open I go inside and order so I can watch it come together.

[€uroMeinke]

I wonder if you'll be able to order Mango Lassi's or Channa Masala..

[Alex]

Hawai'i McDonald's sell saimin so that would make Lani happy.

Don't get the roquefort chicken sandwich that they sell in Italy. Lani said that was gross. But Japan's filet o' shrimp wasn't bad.

[Not Afraid]

I'm not sure outsourcing to India would provide speakers that are any less clear than what the drive-thru already presents. In fact, it might be an improvement!

[BarTopDancer]

Hawai'i McDonald's sell saimin so that would make Lani happy.

Don't get the roquefort chicken sandwich that they sell in Italy. Lani said that was gross. But Japan's filet o' shrimp wasn't bad.

McDonald's in Nova Scotia sell McLobster sandwiches. They were interesting.

[Alex]

Now that I think about it my last McDonald's drive-thru experience was something like:

Speaker: Can I take your order?
Me: <gives order ending with "that's all">
Order has been displaying on monitor while I talk.
Speaker: That'll be $X at the second window.

A little bit of recorded audio and some voice recognition software and it may have passed the Turing Test for all I know.

[Kevy Baby]

I generally go into the restaurant to order, I'll continue to do so regardless of where the drive-thru order taker is.Ditto. Mainly because they NEVER put enough ice in my drink.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Didn't fast food restaurants already do this before and gave up on it? The old two-window method? One person sitting at the first windows, doing nothing but taking orders over the headset and taking money. No one does that anymore. There are thousands of fast food restaurants with useless windows. I'm guessing there's a reason for it. I wonder if that reason will be rediscovered.

[JWBear]

I think most McDonalds still have the dual window system.

[€uroMeinke]

They use them at our local in and out as well - though they also deploy a person to take orders in the lot when the drive thru backs up

[Ghoulish Delight]

Hmm, I don't eat at McDonald's.

[Alex]

Didn't fast food restaurants already do this before and gave up on it?

The McDonald's nearest us not only has and uses (I haven't used it myself but I've seen it used) both windows for that purposes but also has two drive-thru ordering lanes that then merge into one before the windows.

I've wondered how they make sure that the cars stay in the correct order.

None of the other fast food places around here (including the other McDonald's) even has a second window to not use.

[Kevy Baby]

I think most McDonalds still have the dual window system.Some use them, some don't.

The McD's by our house used to have THREE windows: at the first window, someone took your order IN PERSON; window 2 was to pay and three was to pick up the food. Sometimes you would also pay at the first window.

Sadly, they have semi-permanently closed the first window.

I've wondered how they make sure that the cars stay in the correct order.Maybe they don't: it is like a food roulette

[Andrew]

McD's [...] food
Assumes facts not in evidence.

[Disneyphile]

I'm not a fan of outsourcing at all, because I know way too many people who have lost jobs due to outsourcing.

So, this makes me want to eat fast food even less, which I don't consider much of a loss.

[second class citizen]

The McDonald's down the street uses the two-window system. First Window (which is only visible by camera from where you use the speaker) takes orders and money. The Second Window puts together your meal and hands it to you.

So, let me get this straight. Their genius idea is to outsource only the first part of the First Window Operator's job...to take your order.

So now, who's going to take your money? The person at the First Window? That would now mean the company has hired TWO people (one off-site and one on) to perform what the original First Window Person did before: take orders and give change.

OR, are they going to shut down all the First Windows and now require that the Second Window Operator not only put together your order and hand it to you, but also make change? In that scenario, the company has just fired one person (First Window Operator) who performed two functions and replaced them with a one-function person while increasing the work for the Second Window Operator.

Somehow I know this will all end in tears.

[MouseWife]

As someone who works with self-checkout technology, I don't see this as an insult to my station. It would be an insult to everyone's intelligence if these jobs that have been rendered so simple anyone can do them still required salaried people to do them.

I've probably posted this before. I love it when I get a patron who comes to the desk and says "I came to you because I want you to keep your job." I smile, scan their card with one hand and pull their stack of books onto the pad with the other. After 2 seconds, I push the books back. "Due in 3 weeks." They blink and sputter, saying, "is that it?" Yes, yes it is.

It's easy for me to say, since there are still plenty of tasks at the library that require my help. But while I hate it when anyone loses their job, I'd also not want to pay for salaries when the jobs really aren't necessary.


I understand the self-checkout technology, and I also use it. I guess I should have said I feel insulted when my lead talks about replacing the cashiers. As a threat.

I also have had the guests who say they would not like the self-check out as they want to see people like me there, have a nice word and a smile. With the cut back of staff, people have come up to me quite upset saying they had no one to help them find something and they wouldn't be back. I guess I like old fashioned customer service myself. I love visiting the small towns and enjoy the rapport.

iSm~I hear you on the fact that regular people can ring themselves up. I'm not a cashier by 'trade', I came by it mostly as a dare. I feel I can be a bit objective as I am more of a shopper, or, even, looking at it from the customers point of view and how to best serve and please them. I really don't see it as a plus to get rid of the front line of service. While people can do it, I come across a lot of people who would rather not. It amazes me, sometimes, but, some people barely know how to shop, let alone pay.

I wouldn't call cashiers expensive labor....and, of late, they've cut the amount quite a lot, very little time to do the other tasks they have for us.

But yes, that it what I meant~they won't realize that they need to pay people to have people shop. I actually sometimes wonder how stores exist, what with on line shopping.

We have one of those two lane McDonalds~I've experienced mix ups. Aw man, a bummer when the line is so long at In & Out that they have someone in the parking lot taking orders!!!

[lashbear]

Didn't fast food restaurants already do this before and gave up on it? The old two-window method? One person sitting at the first windows, doing nothing but taking orders over the headset and taking money. No one does that anymore. There are thousands of fast food restaurants with useless windows. I'm guessing there's a reason for it. I wonder if that reason will be rediscovered.

I think most McDonalds still have the dual window system.
Our local McD's uses the two window system, although window #1 is a little booth sitting in the carpark all by itself. You drive around to the speaker box, and the lady 10 feet in front of your car asks what you want. When done, you roll forward 10 feet and pay her. Then you drive across the carpark to #2 window in the side of the restaurant and collect the food.

I don't know why you have to order through a tinny speaker and then pay the woman (whom you just spoke to) sitting 10 feet in front of you.

[Betty]

They f you at the drive thru. That is all.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I don't know why you have to order through a tinny speaker and then pay the woman (whom you just spoke to) sitting 10 feet in front of you.
So she can be taking money and making change while taking the next order, presumably.


OR, are they going to shut down all the First Windows and now require that the Second Window Operator not only put together your order and hand it to you, but also make change? In that scenario, the company has just fired one person (First Window Operator) who performed two functions and replaced them with a one-function person while increasing the work for the Second Window Operator.This is what has me scratching my head. Someone still needs to take money and hand you your food. So yeah, either they'll still have that one person who used to take your order, take your money, and hand you the food, in which case all they've done is hired MORE people. Or they'll cut staff by one and make someone else do 2/3 of the job. Doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.

[Kevy Baby]

Aw man, a bummer when the line is so long at In & Out that they have someone in the parking lot taking orders!!!I actually like it. While I believe it may help the lead time during crunch periods, I like talking face-to-face with someone who I know is 100% focused on taking my order.

And I should add: In N Out is the one place I can count on to consistently put enough ice in my drinks, not forcing me to go inside.

[MouseWife]

That is a good point, KB. I just hate the long line. But, it seems anytime we go there is one that long.

About the money issue, I wonder if it will come to a point where they will have a 'self serve' check out and that you use your debit card to pay, say, at the first window {like an atm} and then {if you're cleared} at the second window they hand you your food.

And/or that they require you to come inside if you want to use cash. A lot of fast food places already take debit/credit.

The outsourcing. Well, we've seen what it can do to the economy. Right? It isn't just me and my tin foil hat, is it?

[JWBear]

Now, I want In-n-Out for lunch....

[katiesue]

This does seem like a lame idea. Certain places I do just go in to order, KFC for one as they don't put the whole menu on display at the drive through and it takes me a minute to figure out what I want since I only go there like once a year. In and out has it down pat.

Or you can be the moron ahead of me last night at KFC drive thru who spent like 10 minutes aruging with the guy about something he got last time he was there that wasn't what he thought he ordered.

[Kevy Baby]

That is a good point, KB. I just hate the long line. But, it seems anytime we go there [In N Out] is one that long.I have noticed that with In N Out, the older style stores with the small cooking area between the two lanes are much slower than the newer, larger stores with a single drive through. While I don't know it for a fact, I am pretty sure they can put people through faster with the larger cook areas because they have much more grill space (cooking more burgers at a time).

Besides, In N Out is just simply better than the other fast food joints, so it will of course, be more popular (and therefor, busier).

Now, I want In-n-Out for lunch....Is that a complaint?!?

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I understand the self-checkout technology, and I also use it. I guess I should have said I feel insulted when my lead talks about replacing the cashiers. As a threat.What a dick!

I also have had the guests who say they would not like the self-check out as they want to see people like me there, have a nice word and a smile. With the cut back of staff, people have come up to me quite upset saying they had no one to help them find something and they wouldn't be back. I guess I like old fashioned customer service myself. I love visiting the small towns and enjoy the rapport. I love being behind the counter to help people, and I'm nearly always cheery on desk, ready to help with anything I can. It's a rare day that I'm not able to hold it together, mostly because I love interacting with everyone that comes in. In that way I'm very much an old-fashioned, customer service-oriented person.

The funny part is that when I am a customer somewhere, I would rather not deal with anyone. I want the stuff that I came for, I want it fast, and I want to get out without learning anyone's life story. When I do interact with checkers or staff I'm always friendly, but if every store had a self-checkout, I'd use it as often as possible. This may be because my standards for service are high, and if they seem annoyed at their job it makes me annoyed at them for forcing me to interact with their annoyance.

[madmonkeygirl]

My local McDonald's usually has 2 windows after you order. First window to pay for the food and someone there actually taking the orders. Second window to pick up your food. I only had 1 mishap with an order placed and given the wrong order. It's been rare when window #1 has been closed and you just pull around to window #2. So we'll see what happens.

I'm a cashier in retail and i know we have alot of returning customers who love to chat and who love to see the same face all the time. I doubt in petsales there will be self checkouts. One main thing that is always concentrated on daily is customer satisfaction especially with items wanted and needing help. If there weren't anyone at the register who would the customer ask since they usually go to the first cashier they see.

[MouseWife]

KB~ that makes sense about the bigger grills. And, I want In & Out, too.

CP~ Those above me are mostly women. You know, I get the same when we go places, too. I know what cashiers are and aren't able to do so when I see them slacking, I don't appreciate it. When I go shopping with the Hubster, I usually just let him do the transaction. That way he can chat with them if they want to. While I'm working, it is 50/50 who is the one who says something. What throws me is people reading my name tag and addressing me as if they know me. But they usually do it in a nice way, not like they are going to report me or anything. We are actually told to address the guest and ask them a few certain questions. I don't always.

MMG~Good point! I think you are safe, then. :) And,yep, people always ask me questions, first one they see walking in. And, I don't know how many people ask me for directions to other stores.....:p

[madmonkeygirl]

MouseWife i get asked directions to alot of places actually. And yet i don't know the area so well lol yet where i live i definitely do.

[MouseWife]

mmg~ I can't forget, someone asked me where the Trophys was at. I told them, Oh, you're in the wrong shopping center and directed them elsewhere.

Actually, I've been back where I thought it was and it isn't. :blush:

[alphabassettgrrl]

I think outsourcing the order-taking is not really going to help streamline anything.

One more reason why I won't use drive-throughs, though. Who said it, that they like to know the counter person is actually focused on taking their order? Yeah, I agree. I want to know that when I want my burger plain, that they actually type it into the little system.

I despise the self-checkouts and refuse to use them. Sure, they're efficient, but ick. I hate how slow they are, step by incremental step. I hated the the kiosks at DCA, too, when they had them at the burger place. I wrote to the company how much I hated them and didn't go back until one day I saw that somebody had decided to take the stupid things out. I liked the food, but those kiosks... no.

[Kevy Baby]

I despise the self-checkouts and refuse to use them. Sure, they're efficient, but ick. I hate how slow they are, step by incremental step.I am just the opposite: I love self-checkouts. Typically, there isn't a line for them and I can get through quickly. Also, my impatient self hates standing around while someone else is doing something: at least if I am doing the scanning etc., I am doing something and the time goes more quickly.

And the likelihood of getting stuck behind someone who doesn't start writing ANY portion of their check until they are given the total is eliminated.

[Drince88]

Ditto. Mainly because they NEVER put enough ice in my drink.

You should come around here. WAY too much ice in the drinks. I figure there should be a little bit left in the bottom of the cup when I'm done drinking. And yet I usually have half a large cup full of ice.

I usually use the self-check out at Home Depot, just because it's shorter usually, unless I'm getting something big and bulky that I'm NOT going to be lifting up to try to scan.