Outsourcing at the drive-thru
 

Fast food joints outsourcing the order takers

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.

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.

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):
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

Can Hindus even take orders for such beef products?





.

They can at these wages!*



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

^ That's cheating.


:p

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

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...}

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.