Latest 'rural sourcing' craze...

[Firethorn]

I seems that, due to high employment costs for the fast food joints in california, that they've started outsourcing their drivethrough order takers to North Dakota.

There was an article in the paper.  The contracting company has expanded three times and is up to over a hundred employees.  Not enough to really get noticed yet, but sheesh...

The print article didn't mention who, but I've heard elsewhere that they're McDonald's.

Personally, I can see many upsides, a few downsides, and end up with 'it'll work fine for some, but it's not for everyone'.

[Sindawe]

My, how convenient.  With the people manning the drive through windows based North Dakota there's a good chance they will speak fluent English.  Then there is little need for people who prepare the food to speak English.

Oh, thats right this is California we're talking about.  Or was it Colorado?

Any wagers on how long it will be before the order taking is outsourced further?

Heck, I say we should just finish the job and make fast food joints totally automated.

[Car Knocker]

Heck, I say we should just finish the job and make fast food joints totally automated.

They did, in 1902.  I remember eating in one in the mid '50s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat


It wouldn't surprise me to see a test fully-automated drive-through in the next 5 years or so.  With the dearth of English-speaking counter help, corp HQ gets lots of complaints about poor service and incorrect meals.

[Firethorn]

Heck, I say we should just finish the job and make fast food joints totally automated.

Personally, I'd sometimes like to just punch my order into a panel without talking to a clerk.

But yeah, I'm reminded of the Stainless Steel Rat series which had a burger joint that's completely automated.  You'd punch the buttons for what you wanted, pay and it'd cook it fresh for you.

That's the big problem with automats, the food isn't fresh(and hot) enough for many/most people.

Still, it seems that voice recognition technology isn't quite there.

[Guest]

Heck, I say we should just finish the job and make fast food joints totally automated.

Personally, I'd sometimes like to just punch my order into a panel without talking to a clerk.

But yeah, I'm reminded of the Stainless Steel Rat series which had a burger joint that's completely automated.  You'd punch the buttons for what you wanted, pay and it'd cook it fresh for you.

That's the big problem with automats, the food isn't fresh(and hot) enough for many/most people.

Thats easy, Just add more buttons!

[spinr]

Wait a minute...

Am I really understanding this correctly?

There are fast food establishments in Cali where you communicate your order electronically to someone in NoDak, who in turn transmits that order back to the restaurant in Cali?

[Firethorn]

Wait a minute...

Am I really understanding this correctly?

There are fast food establishments in Cali where you communicate your order electronically to someone in NoDak, who in turn transmits that order back to the restaurant in Cali?

Ayup.  For the drive-through lane, at least.  Instead of talking to somebody over a two-way radio inside the joint, you're routed over the internet to somebody in NoDak, because it's cheaper/more reliable than local help.

[280plus]

Unbelievable. I predict this will lead to a mass of incorrect orders and absolute chaos at the drive thru.

I remember the Automats in NYC from when I was a kid. I hear they're trying to bring them back. When I was in Japan you could get your cup o noodles and boiling water out of a vending machine on the street corner. I thought THAT was pretty neat. Especially at 4 AM.

[spinr]

MMmmmkay.

So what's the plan if you go inside and order at the counter, in person?



Let me guess... that'll end up like the old automat concept.  Go up to a menu board/screen, punch in your order, it's filled by a drone in the kitchen and then zipped out to you.

That actually might be cool... 'specially if they shoot your food out in pneumatic tubes, like at the bank.  Hells yeah!

[trapperready]

When I was in Japan you could get your cup o noodles and boiling water out of a vending machine on the street corner.

When I was a kid (early to mid-70s), we were travelling through Texas and I remember a gas station that had one of the old Coke bottle machines. You could get Coke, beer, and live bait, all from the same machine.

[K Frame]

"Unbelievable. I predict this will lead to a mass of incorrect orders and absolute chaos at the drive thru."

I suspect it's actually going to improve accuracy and efficiency quite a bit.

[280plus]

We'll see...

[mtnbkr]

"Unbelievable. I predict this will lead to a mass of incorrect orders and absolute chaos at the drive thru."

I suspect it's actually going to improve accuracy and efficiency quite a bit.

Probably because the people taking the orders in North Dakota may actually understand English.  Oops, I just noticed Sindawe said the same thing earlier...

I spent the last week on the road, traveling through various parts of NC and SW Va.  Oddly enough, many fast food joints in NC (well, at least those in/around Goldsboro) still hire Americans who speak and understand English.  It was quite refreshing not having to repeat myself multiple times just to order a Happy Meal for my daughter.  Not surprisingly, I ran into the same situation in SW Va.  Maybe Americans aren't as lazy in those places as they are here in NoVa.

Chris

[roo_ster]

My, how convenient.  With the people manning the drive through windows based North Dakota there's a good chance they will speak fluent English.

What Sindawe said.

Between the radio static and heavy accent, I regularly get what I like to call a "Multicultural Surprise" waiting for me when I pick up my order.

[280plus]

Yea, around here they still speak English too so it hasn't been a problem. They STILL  can't get an order right though.

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

There's a McDonalds on upper Grenville in Dallas, just up from Lovers Lane, where the rotund black woman behind the counter shouts out "DOSE  'AMBURGESAS, BAYBEE!" regularly in the general direction of the scullery crew.

I sat there for an hour and a half one evening just to hear her keep hollering at the kitchen crew. Its' found its way into our Family Litany of Colorful Expressions now.

West Dallas is a really interesting place to play drive-through roulette, I've found. Mostly Hispanic, but the number of Eritreans is increasing.  

'Number one, all the way, with cheese and a Dr. Pepper' is an absolute crapshoot at one Whataburger on Beltline.

Regards,
Rabbit.

[Vodka7]

I long ago gave up on the drivethrough, but to me it seems like this set-up couldn't possibly make it any worse.  It'd be nice to order from someone who spoke and understood English, but something tells me companies willing to outsource something as cheap as a minimum wage position are not going to have the most stringent hiring standards, whatever state they're in.

As for DIY ordering, I'd be a big proponent of it at most fast food joints.  Granted, I once spent five minutes at a local WaWa (basically a 7-11) trying to figure out their ridiculously poorly designed touch-screen ordering system, but I have faith that someone like McDonald's would have the money to design a system that actually made sense.  (I was trying to order a bacon/egg/cheese on a bagel--not brain surgery.  Was it under breakfast?  No.  Bagels?  No.  I gave up and went to a deli down the street.)

I used to be terribly against the idea of those self-checkout lanes at supermarkets, but they converted me.  Sure, the price of groceries hasn't dropped, and they probably put a high schooler or two out of a part time job, but them replacing two regular checkout lanes with six DIY express lanes means I spend a lot less time losing brain cells reading the front of the Enquirer.

[280plus]

Heh, I like to stand in line and then make a loud reference to whatever's on the cover of the Enquirer, "WOW!! Jennifer Aniston is pregnant with an alien LOVE child! What an amzing world we live in!!"

It's always good for a laugh.

[mtnbkr]

I used to be terribly against the idea of those self-checkout lanes at supermarkets, but they converted me.  Sure, the price of groceries hasn't dropped, and they probably put a high schooler or two out of a part time job, but them replacing two regular checkout lanes with six DIY express lanes means I spend a lot less time losing brain cells reading the front of the Enquirer.

Around here, stores that use self checkout lanes rarely have all or even most of them open.  I was at Wal-Mart one night and they had closed all of the self checkout lanes, leaving just two humans to check out the large number of people waiting in line.

Chris

[Fly320s]

I won't be happy until I can order my medium rare burger from "Bob" in India.

I already talk to Bob to check airline flights.

[Antibubba]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that "Bob" isn't going to be a Hindu, at least not for McDee's.

[Firethorn]

I used to be terribly against the idea of those self-checkout lanes at supermarkets, but they converted me.  Sure, the price of groceries hasn't dropped, and they probably put a high schooler or two out of a part time job, but them replacing two regular checkout lanes with six DIY express lanes means I spend a lot less time losing brain cells reading the front of the Enquirer.

Around here, stores that use self checkout lanes rarely have all or even most of them open.  I was at Wal-Mart one night and they had closed all of the self checkout lanes, leaving just two humans to check out the large number of people waiting in line.

Chris

They had like four of them at my walmart, they opened the new superwalmart a little while ago and there's zero self-checkout lanes there.

[spinr]

Around here, stores that use self checkout lanes rarely have all or even most of them open.  I was at Wal-Mart one night and they had closed all of the self checkout lanes, leaving just two humans to check out the large number of people waiting in line.

Chris

I've noticed this too.

In situations like this, I believe it's proper procedure to gather your purchases, throw a predetermined amount of money at the nearest WalMartian, and run like hell...

[American By Blood]

I used to be staunchly opposed to those self-checkout thingies.  The way I saw it they put people out of jobs, further alienated folks from one another, etc.  Bad business all around, thought I.

But then I moved to Baltimore.  The checkout robot has never yelled a crude comment to another cashier five aisles down while I was standing right in front of the yeller, thus inflicting pain upon my ears and spraying me with saliva.  The checkout robot has never talked on its mobile phone about how "she a skanky ho" and how "he in prison, but when he get out he gonna take care a' our keeds" while rigning up my cookies and soy milk.  Nor has the checkout robot ever allowed multiple people to cut in front of me because those customers were also robots.  I swear, the checkout robot is my best grocery shopping buddy these days.  Perhaps our relationship will end when I move back to the first world.

My hunch about the actual topic of the thread is that it's an intermediate stage before the order taking is done in Bangalore.  When it's happening in NoDak people will love it.  They'll understand the person on the other end, their orders will be screwed up a little less (or a lot less if what's transmitted to the kitchen is accurately and automatically translated into Spanish), and they'll get to make "Fargo" jokes.  Of course, once "Bob" in India is doing it things will go back to business as usual with orders being FUBAR.

[S_O_Laban]

Quote:

"but something tells me companies willing to outsource something as cheap as a minimum wage position are not going to have the most stringent hiring standards, whatever state they're in."


Here in Missouri (KC Metro area) McD's pays well over the 5something/hour min wage.  Starting pay at most fast food joints here is right at $8/hour,  well above what most retailers here offer(min to 6-7/hour.)



In school (long time ago, ) English was one of my least favorite subjects, but I sure appreciate the limited education I did receive.  The inability of many  white urban youth to communicate using English is sometimes astounding and just plain sad.