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Phone is still the best way to order pizza

dan.bulwinkle.net

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Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#161

Post by jeffbee »

lostgame wrote: post #100
jimmyswimmy wrote: post #23

Most of the comments here are focused on the question of why you would prefer an app to calling. The author's point is a great one though, and something I've wondered a lot. Why should I create an account to order a pizza? The app should reduce friction even from the very first order. Instead it adds, and adds for every order... Got to go look up coupon codes! On the phone I just ask the guy what their best deal is i…

>> Why should I create an account to order a pizza? Most of the apps in my area (Toronto, Canada) absolutely do not require account creation and allow you to just use a ‘guest’ account; usually just requiring (reasonably) your phone number. As to why I’d want an account to order? Let’s say I have a local favourite pizza joint and a favourite pizza I like to order. Having my personal info and payment info already fill…

Just FYI, this is something I really like about Google Maps integration with restaurant take-out ordering. They put the "Order Again" button front and center and let's face it, I'm not really planning to switch it up at my corner lunch spot. Obviously in that case I need an account, with Google, but I already had that and I trust them with my info more than I just some merchant's white-label mobile app.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#162

Post by Lamad123 »

Lamad123 wrote: post #158

On the other side of the communication channel things are even worse! You'd think not calling the restaurant would free the workers so they spend more time making food, but it doesn't always. Now a restaurant would have 3 or more tablets, one for grubhub, another for doordash, etc. There is no way for you to tell the customer you don't have green pepper, you don't have the time to update the thing so people stop orde…

Sometimes you have to scroll through that fucking screen and there would be a long list of identical items that only differ on some tiny details like extra ranch.. You scroll on that thing with your grease-covered gloves or might have to take them and use new ones and there are a million other things to do!

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#163

Post by egypturnash »

I just ordered a pizza tonight. Went to the main site for the local pizza joint, clicked on the link to the ordering page for the proper location (there’s two of them), constructed a custom pizza order, entered my contact info and credit card, and about 25 minutes later there was a guy at the door with a hot pizza. No accounts, no apps, just a website built sometime in the nineties that works perfectly fine. Or maybe a little later, I’m looking at the source and there’s a comment in the HEAD with a 2011 date.

Took maybe a minute or two, including taking the card out. If I’d called I might have had to wait on hold while they dealt with another order, they only have the one line. I am pretty sure that’s what happened when the site was broken for a month or two last year.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#164

Post by LegitShady »

perth wrote: post #132
ecshafer wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But then you would have to eat... Dominos. I get that its not the same everywhere, but in the pizza belt, I couldn't imagine going there. Luckily my local place has a good website though.

Really depends on the location, Cleveland has horrible Dominos, Cincinnati Dominos is pretty good, and Portland dominos is also pretty good.

In my experience the difference is per store. Some in my city are good and some are bad, all dominos.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#165

Post by DecoPerson »

Fraud & pranksters. That’s why you need to create an account & pre-pay when ordering online.

You can reduce fraud a few ways.

One is friction:

- Calling takes time. It can’t be automated.

- The pizza shop can blacklist a phone number. Acquiring new ones to keep defrauding is difficult.

- Creating an account and solving a captcha can be automated, but the barrier for entry is higher.

- Requiring pre-payment is a big one… it costs you money! If you actually pay with your own card, it’s not really even fraud anymore. If you pay with stolen details, then you had to acquire those which is really difficult.

- Emails can be blacklisted. Re-usable email domains (such as Mailinator) can be blacklisted. Creating a new email on most sites is a bit of effort.

Another is traceability (make the fraudster scared):

- Most countries require a real identity to be linked to phone numbers. Hence phone orders are a worthy gamble to accept without requiring a voice captcha, pre-payment, an email, etc.

- Pre-payment requires a real card. If it’s yours and you do a chargeback, you can be traced. Cards can be blacklisted. If you’re using stolen details, then the store can get the police involved.

The best way is detection:

- Even if you can automate phone calls, the employees taking the orders would notice patterns eventually, even in the short conversations where you give only first name, number, and the order. People are really good at detecting patterns (though it might take a few successful fraud attempts before they become aware).

- As accounts & emails get blacklisted, the online site can employee expensive third-party fraud detection software, which does work AFAIK. It looks at thing like data entry speed, IP addresses, order size, issuing card bank, etc. If fraud is suspected, it usually results in an additional soft barrier, such as SMS verification, rather than a hard block. This brings it back to phone numbers & their need for real identity verification — increasing friction & traceability.

This should explain nearly all the things mentioned by the OP. Anything else, like needing to enter your age or whatever, can be explained by some marketing executive desperately trying to hit their KPIs.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#166

Post by LegitShady »

mulmen wrote: post #54
post_break wrote: post #9

I'm sorry but I don't agree. Dominos pizza has coupons, deals, etc. Trying to get those deals over the phone is a chore. Ordering specific toppings can be a chore since it's a relay back and forth vs a button. Multiple pizzas with multiple toppings? The delay just compounds. If you live alone and order one pizza or one style of specific themed pizzas then sure, it might be faster, if that's the metric of "best" but i…

When I was in college I could call my local Dominos, ask for a large pizza and a two liter of soda and at the end say "if I pick it up will you double it?" They never said no. A local pizza shop always offered the same deal so Dominos had no choice. Good luck doing that in an app.

Domino's here has a straight 50% off for students. Lots of late pizza delivery study sessions were had.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#167

Post by paulcole »

throwawayboise wrote: post #157
paulcole wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What halcyon era of Dominos pizza are you remembering? Dominos has had a choice of crusts for about 30 years now that I can remember.

1980s and earlier.

Lol a grudge you’ve been carrying for quite awhile.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#168

Post by Lamad123 »

iwanttocomment wrote: post #53

Who on earth has ever ordered just a "large pizza for pickup"? Without specifying ingredients, type of crust, anything. This is like ordering a chair by phone from a furniture store by dialing the number, saying "Armchair for pickup" and heading on over to the store. Why reserve books online from the library? Just call them and say "10 books for pickup" and then hang up.

"Large cheese regular crust!" Voilà!!

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#169

Post by Bluecobra »

DonHopkins wrote: post #28

Just fax a PostScript picture of the pizza you want! https://medium.com/@donhopkins/the-story-of-sun-microsystems... >The Story of Sun Microsystems PizzaTool: How I accidentally ordered my first pizza over the internet.

I used to work at a company that ran all their proprietary applications on x86 Solaris 10 and used OpenWindows (same greenish color scheme) all the way up to 2014 or so. I would have loved to have had that pizza app! :)

I still have a fondness for the simplicity of OpenWindows and how well it it handled virtual desktops. It was really cool to use on quad monitor setups.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#170

Post by ineedasername »

hnal943 wrote: post #108
ineedasername wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because traditional pizzarerias don't have crust options like that, and if they do they are not the default. With my local place the call really is as simple as: Me: I'd like a large plain pie for pickup. Pizzeria: what's your name? [Name]. Okay $name, 15 to 20 minutes. And we're done. If you're ordering from a big 3 chain then you have to deal with a bunch of non-dedault options, but if you know what you want it can…

you don't order toppings? They don't ask?

When you say "plain pie" you've told them everything. They may ask if you want to order anything else, but it's not a corporate chain so they aren't mandated to try to upsell you on everything and tell you about the 2 special sides that corporate marketing wants to push that month.
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