A story has been making the rounds for about a month regarding McDonalds fast food restaurants in Oregon which are apparently outsourcing their order taking to North Dakota for some reason. The idea being that when you drive in and place an order at the microphone in Oregon, you're actually talking to someone in North Dakota who takes your order and then sends the info to the pickup window by computer. There are currently only 14 McDonalds involved and the plan is to initially limit participation to 50 selected stores. This means that even if you're in Oregon your chances of visiting the drive-through of one of the stores testing this system are relatively low. If the system succeeds it will presumably be expanded.
The coverage of this has ranged from skeptical to outraged. Some see this as a blatant attempt to outsource jobs from a state with an inflated minimum wage to a state with a very low minimum wage. It's been latched onto by liberal bloggers and leftist media as an example of how rapacious businesses can be to save a couple of dollars.
There's a particularly incensed article on MSNBC based on complaints from residents of Hermiston Oregon who are enraged over the implementation of this system. News coverage of this issue has died out in the last few weeks, perhaps because only a few McDonalds are participating or perhaps because the reality of the situation doesn't quite match the alarmist expectations trumpeted in the MSNBC article and elsewhere.
As to the frequently heard complaint that this is a case of outsourcing within the country to save money and cut employees, that theory really doesn't hold up on examination. The presumption is that because Oregon has a state mandated minimum wage of $7.25 and North Dakota uses the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour, the people taking the orders in North Dakota are being paid less than the employees in the actual stores in Oregon. The conclusion is that this is a way for the bastard managers of the McDonalds in Oregon to save money and fire employees.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - RJ
None of this will stop the trial lawyers from suing them for "making" their customers morbidly obese...
2 - Scott
Jeez, and I thought they got my order wrong alot now! And now they're sending it to another state? Aye aye aye.
3 - Dave Nalle
>>Jeez, and I thought they got my order wrong alot now! And now they're sending it to another state? Aye aye aye.<<
I think the key is that they're sending your order to another state so it can be processed by someone who's a few IQ points smarter than the guy filling the coke cup and perhaps qualified to tell that cog in the McDonalds machine what to give you more accurately and reliably than another cog just like him.
Dave
4 - Steve S
We might get a lunch at a mcdonalds maybe once a month. I would say probably 80% of the time, they've gotten an order wrong. It never ceases to amaze me because their menu is so simple. A number 1 or a number 2 or a number 3....with a coke. It's amazing how many times they get that wrong.
5 - simon hb
Here in the UK, the orders are often wrong at the drive-thru; at least at the monet you can park up and go back in and remonstrate: 'didn't you take my order"?
Clearly, the idea here is to provide an extra layer between customer and product which allows the typical customer service shrug "sorry, someone else took the order..."
6 - Mike Kole
Pizza Hut centralized their phone orders long ago for delivery. While the phone bank jobs weren't relocated over state lines, they undoubtedly were over municipal lines.
Keep in mind that fast food joints are automated and streamlined in their processes to the greatest extent possible in order to keep costs down. This is just the latest wrinkle in that approach.
If there is a serious problem in the livelihood of a significant number of adults due to changing the ways fast food orders are taken, there is a bigger problem than the issue of trying to cut costs, mainly, the education people are getting, and the ambition of these people.
Really, if the best one has to offer to potential employers is the ability to say, "make that a combo?", then they really have almost nothing to offer. Let's look at addressing that problem.
7 - Dave Nalle
Really, if the best one has to offer to potential employers is the ability to say, "make that a combo?", then they really have almost nothing to offer. Let's look at addressing that problem.
Despite the negative impression many have of McDonalds they're actually an extraordinarily good corporate citizen. They offer training and advancement opportunities to those workers who stick with them and have any ambition, and they also offer college scholarships and other incentives.
Dave
8 - dg
What truly amazes me is the sheer volume of people they have working. I've often counted something like 12 people "working" behind the counter. Yet, even though I'm the only one at the front of the counter, it may take 2 or 3 minutes for them to find the time to take my order. Then, some pre-pubescent teen wanders over, clearly annoyed that she can't continue describing in vivid detail how she got the ham-sized hickey on her neck to the other death-metal, spiked-haired, stud encrusted femme "laboring" at the counter.
And then, the order is wrong more times than not.
I also find it facinating that the registers now output how much change I'm getting back, and, how often they have to glance up at the LCD display to even get that correct.
To quote R.E.M. "It's the end of the world as we know it"
9 - DrPat
Thanks for digging below the surface, Dave. I have to admit that for burgers, I go to Burger King (or that California icon, In-and-Out). But Mickey D's still has better fries than BK, so I've been known to drive through both places to get a lunch fix.
MD's folks here are often nearly unintelligible over the drive-up speaker. (Although for absolute gibberish, I can always count on the drive-through at my local KFC...)
BK seems to hire people who can talk and do data-entry at the same time. So I would welcome MD's outsourcing this function to a similar specialist, even if they have to go to Fargo to do it.
10 - Tristan
I love it!
I've gone to the Mc D's next door to me for breakfast the last 2 weeks a few times; they have consistently gotten my order wrong right in the store in line!
The last time I went-- 2 days ago--I asked for a steak, egg, & cheese biscuit and a milk for "here"---
the Latin girl was quite busy playing with her hair as I walked up and talking to another employee---I waited patiently until she stopped and turned to me. I saw by her badge she is an asst. mgr.
She then repeated back--"sausage biscuit ?"-- I said no--told her my order once again-and said "for here"....
one minute later she hands me a bag with a steak biscuit and cheese--no egg---and no milk---IN A BAG...!!!!
I asked if she could please stop talking to her friend and listen to the order this time...she got very snippy and upset....and threw a tray towards me and said "sorry". I had to ask AGAIN for my milk that she HAD charged me for~~!!!!
Phewwwwwwwwwww........
And they wonder WHY they are losing business ...!!!!!!
11 - Dave Nalle
I have to point out that not all McDonalds are created equal. After hearing all these horror stories, I realize that many of you deal with McDonalds which are nothing like what we have around Austin. Almost all the Austin area McDonalds are efficiently run, the employees are clean and courteous, and they get your food to you with amazing speed.
Rather than outsourcing the order taking, many of the McDonalds here in Austin use the double window technique, where they have no loud speaker and instead have one person take the orders face to face at a window - massively reducing confusion - and then another fill your order at the next window. This method seems to produce very few errors. Another technique which seems to work is the computer screen at the ordering speaker which shows your order in text before you finalize it. That works even better.
I also think that the quality of service is directly related to the amount the fast food restaurant pays. If they pay even 50 cents more than everyone else they get the cream of the high school crop. People who can do things like listen and type at the same time. If they pay less they get the nitwits who have been described in some of the previous comments. I know that the starting salary at a couple of the better McDonalds I've been to is $8/hour, which is a dollar more than most fast food workers around here.
How well a fast food restaurant works is largely the responsibility of the franchisee. McDonalds franchisees typically own multiple restaurants and you can tell which ones belong to which owner by the quality of the service. The corporation makes a lot of assistance available - like those order screens - but some franchisees are too cheap or put too little emphasis on service to pay for those kinds of innovations.
Finally, my fast food horror story. We've got a local burger chain - which will remain nameless - which went through some troubles a few years ago when the owner and his wife divorced. They ended up splitting the chain and the quality of the wife's portion suffered substantially and had a lot of problems with worker-management relations. One of my wife's coworkers had the unique experience of going to the drive through at one of their outlets recently and hearing whispered conspiratorially through the speakers "You don't want to eat here today, it would be a very bad idea. You should go somewhere else." Scary.
Dave
12 - Lono
For the record, I covered this story last summer right here. Also interesting, at least to me, is that no one cared at the time.
Anyhow, read on if you are interested:
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/07/20/124500.php
13 - RJ
"I have to admit that for burgers, I go to Burger King"
"But Mickey D's still has better fries than BK"
Dude, we are on totally opposite wavelengths on this one.
McD's has decent burgers, but I can barely choke down the filth that BK offers. But, McD's fries are just so-so, whereas BK has some of the best in the FF industry.
IMO, of course. It's all very subjective...
14 - RJ
FWIW, we have only one Hardee's around these parts. And I'm not a big fan of their food. But on those rare occasions that I go there (usually for breakfast, which is decent), their service is exceptional. Better than you get at most sit-down restaurants, like a Denny's, for instance.
15 - Dave Nalle
>>For the record, I covered this story last summer right here. Also interesting, at least to me, is that no one cared at the time.<<
Yes, but you just repeated the initial alarmist take on what was going on without looking into the reality of the situation in any greater depth. A good start, but not the complete picture I've tried to present here.
Dave
16 - Bill
Just another example of a company having poor management who unable to get the job done using local employees.
17 - Dave Nalle
Or of a company having management good enough to realize that their local employee pool isn't cutting it and willing to take the initiative to look elsewhere - and in an inventive way.
Dave
18 - Eric Olsen
I care Lono
not only are all MCdonald's (or whatever) not created equal, but individual stores seem to vary widely in terms of accuracy depending upon the actual employees in the place at any given time. We go to Wendys a fair amount because it's right on the way home from picking up the little kids at school, and they have a pretty good variety besides just burgers (theirs are the best of the major chains, I think) but I have learned to check the bags every time right when they are handed to me because errors are so common
19 - Tristan
i hate that~
especially when i'm at lunch at work & i'll give in and take an order for the girls at the front~~~
even though i always~~every single time~~
end up paying a few bucks extra----
go through all the emotional turmoil & trauma----
get back to work late---
AND~~~
nothing in the bag is "right" ---
call up--get the manager:
same story--oh--what's your name? tell us next time and it's on us~~~
(i should drive up---make up like a $200 order and "remind them" ...!!!!!)
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr............!!!!!
http://witchery.myblogsite.com
20 - HW Saxton
I feel pretty lucky to be out west and
to have In & Out Burgers and Whataburger
at my disposal. Esp.Whataburger, as they
make REAL Ice Cream shakes and they have
jukeboxes in their stores chock full of
Blues,Jazz and 40's/50's Jump Blues and
R & B(Big Joe Turner,The Treniers,Louis
Prima,etc.)Very cool way to lunch.
21 - Dave Nalle
>>Whataburger, as they
make REAL Ice Cream shakes and they have
jukeboxes in their stores chock full of
Blues,Jazz and 40's/50's Jump Blues and
R & B(Big Joe Turner,The Treniers,Louis
Prima,etc.)Very cool way to lunch. <<
Wow, we're in the homeland of Whataburger and not only do the ones around here not have real ice cream, they also don't have juke boxes - even the original one in Corpus Christi isn't that nice. Damn, I'm jealous.
They do have a damned fine breakfast sausage biscuit tho.
Dave
22 - HW Saxton
That's strange Dave.I'm out in Las Vegas
and all of the "Whataburger"s here have
the real shakes and cool sounds.I always
thought they were de rigeur in each of
the places. They've been open here about
8 or 9 years maybe and I only knew of
them as another LA fast food joint that
finally started to expand around the
southwest.I've never had their breakfast
sandwich but I'm hooked on their double
Chili cheeseburger topped with a fried
egg.
23 - Dave Nalle
They actually originated in Corpus Christi, Texas about 70 years ago. My guess would be that when they went to fancier areas they upgraded their features and because all the stores here have been around for decades they won't get the cool stuff until they have to be replaced or upgraded because they get too old. It's a lot easier to implement innovations in a new location than in one which already exists.
Dave
24 - Michael Walsh
McDonalds needs to do something to improve customer service. I dont know how many times I need to repeat my order or listed to someone say Huh? when I go in there. It must be hard to run a business with all part time people. This call center idea just shows you that they are trying
25 - fred-the-drive-thru-guy
Its really too bad. I'm an order taker, and bloody good at it, too.
What Mcd's wont tell the ordering public, is that most food errors are due to customer errors in ordering. Mom is yakking on the cellphone, and thinks she told me no onions, when in fact, it was the person at the other end of the phone that said 'no onions'.
etc. etc.
A little customer cooperation goes a long way here. Save yourself time and hassle, and toss the damn pickles out the window like everyone else. You'll live.