10 votes

Meet Freshii’s new ‘virtual cashier’ — who works from Nicaragua for $3.75 an hour

3 comments

  1. [3]
    an_angry_tiger
    Link
    Putting aside the ethics and such (as the Reddit thread I saw was filled with, reasonably), I can't help but feel like this is just a bad move operations-wise? Like you've got a remote worker...

    Putting aside the ethics and such (as the Reddit thread I saw was filled with, reasonably), I can't help but feel like this is just a bad move operations-wise?

    Like you've got a remote worker taking orders, can't have good contact with the kitchen, has different objectives from the rest of the staff in the store, can't really do much in terms of customer service with a person in the store. In periods of high demand, I just envision this leading to worse efficiency than having a worker in the store, at the cash register, able to field your questions.

    And as a Canadian, I have gone to Freshii, it's alright, it's not bad, I enjoy it, there's one next to my apartment that I've gone to often, but I can't help but feel like if I go in to one and I have to talk to an outsourced worker[1] screen to order a basic bowl that I'm just going to come out of it feeling like the experience was degraded overall. I can't see a way this doesn't lower my feelings of going in to one.

    I've used things like Ritual (order food on an app ahead of time, walk in for pickup when it's done) before, along with self-service kiosks in McDonalds, and those are different -- they're much more convenient in times of high demand, they cut out the middleman of the (virtual) cashier to talk to, and there's still someone at the counter if you want to go order with a real person, or have a problem with your order. This just seems to me like a strange strategy to try.

    [1] Nothing against people in Nicaragua, or outsourced workers, I just mean the experience of talking to a person on a screen thousands of km away to order food for the food place that you are standing in.

    5 votes
    1. [2]
      stu2b50
      Link Parent
      Yeah, I'm very confused at what the point is supposed to be. If I'm reading the article right, the human is, in this case, nothing more than a speech-based interface, turning speech into some...

      Yeah, I'm very confused at what the point is supposed to be. If I'm reading the article right, the human is, in this case, nothing more than a speech-based interface, turning speech into some structured form that goes to the actual on-site workers to fulfill.

      Is there no way to more directly have the customer make the order? App? Tablet? Alexa? Logistically getting this set up seems more expensive than just manning one register with a local employee to handle the elderly customers uncomfortable with touch screens and other edge cases - that's essentially what all the fast food near me has done.

      4 votes
      1. ICN
        Link Parent
        My guess is that the point is a union-busting thing. Unions have been on the rise recently, so companies are probably looking for anything they can do to try and avoid them.

        My guess is that the point is a union-busting thing. Unions have been on the rise recently, so companies are probably looking for anything they can do to try and avoid them.

        4 votes