In 2006 we reported that McDonald’s was testing a system in which drive-thru orders were being taken by employees at a remote location, usually in another state altogether. Nearly 2 years later, the system has proven successful in some areas and is being used in over half of the McDonald’s in Hawaii, according to KITV. Apparently, the system enhances the speed and accuracy of orders and most customers don’t even realize the difference. More, inside…
The article says,
McDonald’s began trying the idea four years ago in Illinois and Missouri. Out-sourcing drive-through order workers began in Hawaii two years ago. Recently it has expanded.
KITV went to one drive-through Wednesday and found the company is still working out the kinks. At the Keeaumoku Street McDonald’s, the people taking drive-through orders were in another time zone. “I am currently talking to you from El Paso, Texas, sir,” the drive-through operator said.
KITV asked the Texas call-takers if they are having a difficult time understanding people from Hawaii. “We’ve been out here for about seven months, so it kind of takes me a while just to understand,” the worker said.
The long-distance call-takers send back the orders to the restaurant via the Internet. There the restaurant employees take the cash and hand over the food.
We suppose that fast food is meant to be fast, so if the system works then why not? Who hasn’t been to a drive-thru that could have benefited from a little more speed and accuracy?
McDonald’s Using Out-Of-State Workers For Drive-Through [KITV] (Thanks to Gregg!)
Many Hawaii McDonald’s Drive-Throughs Use Workers In Texas [KITV]
(Photo: Getty)
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Its kind of funny they mention that the call center is in Hawaii.
It makes for a dramatic statement, but the distance is really doesn’t matter to the story.
They could be in an office building across the street, or in the basement of the McDonalds. Its the technology and departing of normal methods that’s the story.
just my ob.
This sounds like work I could do from home. Where do I sign up?
@InThrees: Beat me to the punch, lol.
Must everything be done today by having a call center involved. I am all for technology but really I just want a damn cheese burger with having to deal with call center people
@jamesdenver: The call center isn’t in Hawaii, it’s in Texas. The McD’s that are using the system are in Hawaii (among other states).
I would like them to use this in my area as well because, as one other person stated, the people who work at the local fast food places are typically Hispanic with a limited knowledge of the English language. So, if you try to order anything out of the ordinary it will most likely be wrong.
@Youthier: i have ALways, always wanted touch screen ordering. even at “real” restaurants. what do i need to tip a waiter for? just have the busboy run out the food. or i’d even be willing to walk and get it myself.
also, this outsourcing makes me sad, because it will preclude the best fast food ordering experience i have ever had, in which the order-taker at taco bell somehow snuck outside and hid behind the big menu board, then jumped out at us after we finished our order. we didn’t know her, and there was no reason for it, and it was amazing.
Yeah, I agree with other posters on McDonalds doing this to avoid paying higher minimum wages. This does nothing for local economy – especially when the outsourcing moves to India.
You all have it wrong. My FIL’s wife is a McD’s order-taker…from her computer room in Podunk-town, North Dakota. There is no call center. All these people work from home. And McD’s doesn’t pay too bad, if you don’t have any skills and live in the middle of nowhere and save money by not having to drive 40 miles to work every day. I don’t know what she makes exactly (although I know she was ok with whatever it was), but minimum wage in ND is the lowest, national minimum wage.
And she is not “dedicated” to one restaurant, she takes calls from different McD’s for every call. She still has quotas she has to meet, and I’m sure all normal call center rules apply, but she works from home.
Just wait until you get one of those CSRs like the one mentioned in that hosting article the other day.
Customer: I’d like a cheeseburger. Does that have tomatoes on it?
CSR: It frightens me when people don’t know what is on a cheeseburger.
Customer: Ok. We’ll, please don’t put tomatoes on it.
CSR: You lack the knowledge to eat at McDonald’s.
@Fujikopez: I stand corrected. My only point is the BS that call centre type matrics start applying. Will the order taker have 235 things they will have to say in the course of taking an order? When things like this are done that means people are recorded/monitered. That means required phrases and upselling. I hate this sort of thing. If that type of stuff does not happen I am all for it.
what if my local McDonalds is out of something or other? will the people in India know this, via some sort of monitoring system?
Taco Bells around here seem to be doing something similar. When it’s my turn at the speaker I hear a canned recording (in stereotypical radio announcer voice) that says “WELCOME! To Taco Bell” before a human breaks in. I’m pretty sure the human on the speaker and the human at the window were not the same person last time around.
@floyderdc: you better believe there’ll be upselling, promotions, etc.
@floyderdc: I think you’re right about the call center metrics. It’s my goal to provide you with excellent insight with this post. Have I provided you with an excellent level of service today?
I would like to have a touch screen system that you can order your food with; that goes for any and all restaurants. As long as it is done right (has options for people like me, “only ketchup on the burger”, etc…) it should be good.
I also don’t really understand (kinda do) why at sit down restaurants that you have 1 waiter/waitress….why not have the touch screen system with a staff of waiters and whoever is available, help the customer…
I live in NH and some of our Wendy’s restaurants are using these. I’ve generally had a good experience with them, and the only way you can tell you’re not talking to the person at the drive-thru window is that our order takers have a distinctly Southern accent. Not common up here in New England.
In France, in addition to regular cashiers at McDonald’s, there are also touch screens you can use to order and pay for your food. There is a separate line to pick up the food you’ve ordered and most of the time it is much, much faster than waiting in line to pay and be served.
This is really, really nice. Unfortunately my local McDonalds restaurants stopped using it. No idea why.
Here’s why I liked it: Orders were fast, easy and accurate. The people in the “call center” take orders all day and they always did a perfect job of it. No asking me to repeat myself, no screwing up when keying the order in (the screens at the drive-thru show what they’re doing in real time). Just perfect. I said what I wanted, it came up on the screen nearly as fast as I said it, and “Your total is $x.” Perfect.
Since they got rid of it, now it’s right back to the way things used to be: Keying orders in wrong. Asking me to repeat myself. Long delays while they try to figure out the computer system. Watching the screen display things I didn’t order, then having to correct them. Just general crap service from poorly trained local employees.
They should just start buying large touchscreens and eliminate drones and ordering mistakes by forcing people to do it themselves. I just used one a few weeks ago inside a Jack in the Box and it worked just fine. The only errors that could occur then are limited to prep and packing, which could then assign blame easier and retrain those that can’t properly place a burger in a bag.
One of the reasons that this works well for Hawaii is that the cost of employees on an island is pretty high. Hawaii has a fairly low unemployment rate and no easy way to import employees (even from one island to another). Paying $7 an hour in Texas is better than paying $12 in Hawaii — especially if it’s easy to find and keep the people in Texas.
The biggest issue has to be the accents on both ends of the phone.
@cmdrsass:
“boo-hoo sniffle sniffle”
Was that really necessary?
At the McDonald’s where I live, the people you talk to have no brains at all…what’s the difference in that or ordering from someone who isn’t there??
I’m waiting for the day a McDonald’s RObot wakes me up to force feed an egg mcmuffin down my throat, waits around a few hours and massages my stomach o make me digest it and wipes my ass while getting ready to feed me a quarter pounder for lunch, rinse, repeat.
I live in Hawaii where they’ve been using this system, and it sucks. I’ve yet to have a successful order; they always mess it up somehow.
this “bright idea” is transparently about the cost of hiring and retaining workers. I can’t get past the fact that these contracted CSR firms are located in low-wage states like North Dakota & Texas, and that this system will only be implemented in areas where entry-level labor is relatively costly (Hawaii, New England, etc.)
@NameGoesHere: The Portillo’s in my town (I am in the Chicago area) does the same thing. During busy times there will be one or two employees going up to cars taking orders – if it is super busy there will also be another employee out there taking money, and one will go to the window and bring your food out to you if your order is done before the person’s who is actually at the window!
The White Castle in my town uses an outsourced drive-through system. I’ve never had a problem getting my order correct, but I am not super fond of the idea. And I have a feeling it is only a matter of time until these jobs go offshore too.
@pat_trick: It does suck. But count me as one of the ones who didn’t know it was in place, I just thought McD’s was being incompetent like usual.
This also explains why the order-takers always have funny accents…I thought we were just hiring more out-of-state people than normal.
Philly and pitt gas stores Wawa and Sheetz both have been using this for years. It’s the best thing since sliced bread. I have friends come in state and those them these things and they wonder at these things like they were from the future.
Most of all? i honestly don’t think I’ve had a major screw up ever with one of these machines.
Faster, more accurate and focuses more on what’s important, getting the food out fast.
McD’s lets see it nation wide in 2 years!
I’m just waiting for an accountant at McD’s to figure out that they can save a lot more money by having the order taking out sourced to India. And isn’t that ironic, since the majority of Indians don’t even eat beef.
@GMFish:
In many urban areas finding someone who will work in a fast food restaurant and has a decent grasp of the English language is difficult. Sometimes even the cultural issues are a challenge.
I was in a McD in Southington CT a year ago. It was bad enough that the staff members each only knew a handful of English phrases and could only nod and smile when I asked questions. The real kick was when I went to the mens’ room. While I was standing at a urinal (doing what one does at a urinal), a non-english speaking female staffer came into the bathroom and started cleaning the bathroom, including the urinal next to the one that I was using. When I complained to the (barely english speaking) manager on duty, she saw nothing wrong with the situation.
Outraged, I called McD corporate who apologized and referred the matter to the franchise owner. They called and agreed that it shouldn’t have happened. They promised to send me a gift cart, which, of course, never arrived.
I suppose that I should have be grateful that at least they were trying to keep the can clean.
I guess then, that anything that increases the likelihood that your order might be correct has to be an improvement. At least they’re outsourcing to the US and not India as the airlines do.
Apparently this is working well, cuz I live in Missouri but hadn’t really noticed a difference.
Hardee’s and Taco Hut should take a lesson. Often they have one person (recording?) say the greeting spiel, then another actually take the order. Pretty obnoxious having to repeat stuff all the time.
The McDonald in the Wal*Mart in the Georgia town I used to live in had the option of using a touch screen kiosk or going to the counter with a human order taker.
The kiosk was not easy to navigate and frequently lost the order in progress and one needed to start all over again.
It’s a great theory, but a customer touch screen ordering system is problematic.
As a previous poster mentioned, In & Out routinely sends humans out with a wi-fi ordering computer. It works fabulously well. The darn places are too friggin popular, though. There is nearly always an unavoidable wait.