“Americans love knowing where their things are,” says Chris McGlothlin, chief information office at Domino’s. Folks constantly tell Domino’s how much they hate not knowing when — or if — their pizza will arrive. The Pizza Tracker, used by 75% of Domino’s online customers, is an attempt to solve that problem. While current technology also could track the whereabouts of drivers, Domino’s won’t track that for security reasons.
Besides connecting consumers to their pizzas, the tracker gives the first names of workers who make and deliver their order, says Russell Weiner, chief marketing officer. As a society, “We’re not just time-starved, we’re starved for connections to others.”
Emphasis mine. I think this is an interesting case of technology redefining old and existing consumption patterns. Does a service like this diminish the joy of hearing the doorbell ring and finally getting your pizza? How does it affect the socializing aspects that used to happen between the order and delivery? Are we really better off knowing exactly when our pizza arrives?
Personally, I think this is a very cool feature. I’m intrigued by how it works. Do they have some kind of tracker that automatically updates the pizza’s status (RFID-style) or do employees manually have to fill in the information, or – quelle horreur – is it based on something like averages? My guess would be that it’s a mix of the two latter ones.
Based on some quick searches, no clear answer:
http://www.ppc.bz/get-money-get-paid/dominos-pizza-tracker-bbbbullt
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090512142443AAXTjQZ