May I have your Order, Bwana?

A very interesting article from the LA Times today, March 26. It really points out to me why we should really try to patronize the roadfood places rather than chains.


March 26, 2005

FAST-FOOD NATION
The Long-Distance Burger




You know how you ease up to the "Order Here" sign in the McDonald's drive-thru and the scratchy sounds bursting from the intercom resemble no intelligible language whatsoever except for "ketchup" and "today"? Or was it "toupee"? Well, McDonald's is testing a fix for that, one even "Fast Food Nation" author Eric Schlosser couldn't have foreseen. It involves routing all drive-thru orders to a call center somewhere far, far away.



Exactly how communications spanning 1,000 miles and back would be substantially clearer than the 25 feet from your car window to the inattentive attendant with the headset inside the second window is unclear. In theory, you could get stuck with double onions via India or North Dakota just as easily. But that's what the tests at secret McDonald's sites in the Pacific Northwest are designed to determine.

Anyone who's driven home hungry only to discover a sandwich of fish drowning in tartar sauce where a quarter-pounder with cheese was supposed to await will appreciate McDonald's efforts to get drive-thru orders correct for the first drive-away.

Citibank, IBM, Ford, GE and Dell have successfully (in their view) outsourced customer service calls to India, where labor is cheap, English is common and our nighttime is their daytime. With today's technology, the location of the outsourced telephone desk is immaterial, as long as McDonald's doesn't serve curry.

But the fries-with-that outsourcing test does spark curiosity about what other communications might be moved far away to save time and money. In reality, almost any public announcement could be outsourced. When the day's cafeteria menu is read on each school's PA system, the low-paid reader could be in Bangalore or Bismarck. Same for the authoritarian airport voice threatening all sorts of terrible fates for unattended luggage. Or the jolly airplane "pilot" who points out interesting sights along the way. Who said he needs to be on the plane with you?

Outsourcing is a nightmare. The cultural competence cannot be taught. I have been yelled at way too many times because the person has no idea what I'm talking about.

I can't express how much that angers me. I have heard about it before and it blows my mind that they find it a viable option. I mean c'mon, you are two feet away from a real live person at the drive-thru!!! How can they think it would save money when they don't need to do it in the first place? The whole thing is ridiculous! At the risk of sounding like my dear Mom..."What is the world coming to?"

I do not know that I can explain it but it is a new way of life and I believe it began with the airline industry changing the check in way. Now there are Kiosk that are slwoly replacing the standard way of check in. The hotel industry is slow adapting to the same thing and now is available is many of the larger hotels. It is believed that it will evolve into most other industries such as fast food, grocery and Walmart.

In the fast food arena, the drive through will probably change a lot. Perhaps at first, two drive through lanes. The first could be what we experience now and the second would be like the bank. You press a code number and your food is delivered instantly.

Things will change. I for one never would have thought the drive through would have such success. It did! Evolution is here.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

I guess it comes down to whether evolution is a good thing. As a person who's career was ultimately "outsourced" I know that outsourcing is definitely cheaper----but not necessarily better. And I'm not sure how it would make the ordering more accurate anyways. Besides, will the operator in India really take an order for an all beef burger with a clear conscience?

Fortunately for me I never use drive-thru service. I just never had any faith in it.

I think that the most interesting comment on the outsourcing trend was the one uttered by George Bush during the campaign. When asked about it, he said, "This is just another form of exporting. Instead of exporting products, American industry is exporting something else that helps their bottom line". A few days later, after his handlers had apparently explained the concept to him, our leader said that he "had been misunderstood" regarding his comments. Too bad they were already on the record.

I am very glad that our President is thinking about what helps US companies. Now if only someone would try to keep the interests of the US citizen in mind, that would be even nicer. And just think--this guy was re-elected after supporting the idea of outsourcing!

Joe Pesci's diatribe in LW2 seems appropriate here.