'App Truthers' Question the Accuracy of the Domino's Pizza Tracker (foxnews.com)

Despite the fact that 60% of its pizza orders arrive digitally, "A growing number of Domino's delivery customers are casting a critical eye at the company's online pizza-tracking app," reports the lifestyle editor at Fox News. "More specifically, they think it's a bunch of crap." Fault-finding app users -- or "app truthers," as The Wall Street Journal calls them -- are subscribing to the notion that the Domino's pizza tracker is nothing but a bunch of smoke and mirrors. One user who spoke with the Journal claims his app told him that "Melinda" would be arriving shortly with his order, but when he opened the door, a delivery man he already knew handed him the pizza. "Ever since then, I knew everything they said, I felt, was made up," he said.

Another man claims the tracker told him his pizza was en route, even though he could see the Domino's restaurant from his house, and there was no sign of the pizza being out for delivery. Others claim the pizza app told them their food had been delivered when it hadn't, or that there were huge discrepancies between when their pies were supposed to be delivered and when they actually arrived. A whole thread on Reddit suggests that the app is just an automated timer disguised to look like a real-time tracker.
In a statement Domino's blamed the problem on employees not entering correct data, while also insisting that "the vast majority of the time Pizza Tracker works as designed."

According to the article, "A person who claimed to be a Domino's employee also said nearly as much in a 2015 Reddit thread. He/she added that the name of the person preparing the pizza -- as far as the app is concerned -- is usually the manager.

Comments

Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone who could see the restaurant ordered DELIVERY?!?

WALK OVER AND GET IT!!!!

Re: Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

Some places do delivery only late at night

Re: Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

Some places do delivery only late at night

Which Domino's? Names please.

Re:Really?

[Grishnakh]

Maybe he was testing the Domino's App's accuracy.

Re:Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

sometimes they close the lobby but still deliver.

Re: Really?

[freeze128]

97th and Lyndale Avenue South. Just last week I ordered a pizza for Carryout at 10:58PM. When I got to the store, the "open" light was off, and the waiting area was dark. The door was unlocked, so I went in. The Manager there said that they close for carryout orders at 11:00PM, but still make deliveries. This is done to prevent robberies late at night at the store.

Re: Really?

[Antique Geekmeister]

I can attest to this. It's not just Domino's that does this with small franchises.

Re:Really?

[mikael]

Maybe they are disabled or some other medical injury (sprained angle, leg in cast). Hobbling down a flight of stairs and across several corridors isn't going to be practical.

Re: Really?

[cstacy]

Some places do delivery only late at night

Which Domino's? Names please.

This is common in most suburban areas I've ever lived in. (Not just Dominos, all of the chains.)

Re:Really?

[thegarbz]

WALK OVER AND GET IT!!!!

Sure in perfect weather on a sunny day and when I'm wearing my going out cloths and have done my makeup I will.

Or ... since the delivery is free in some cases I could just use the service that was offered, which was a pizza at my door.

Re: Really?

[Zero__Kelvin]

Or another option the clearly unemployed OP didn't consider is that maybe the guy has a job where he gets paid to be productive, not to walk across the street and stand in line with a bunch of people who have nothing better to do than stand in line while not figuring out that some people have jobs, and that job isn't pizza delivery.

Re:Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't dress at home in a way that would make you feel ashamed outside. Unless you want to be a couch potato and douchebag. Live with style.

Re: Really?

[sound vision]

The jobs Ive had that involved significant productivity were cool with letting me run down the stairs for 10 minutes once a day. That's in addition to the normal lunch hour. But next I guess you'll tell me you and the guy in the article both work Mission Control at NASA and can't leave the room.

But if your time really is that valuable, and your mission that critical, the pizza delivery guy actually serves as support staff for the fatass Sperglord, thereby increasing HIS productivity. But then you also have to factor in the wasted time on the toilet shitting out double the normal human allocation of fuel.

Re:Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

At certain hours, there are locations that only take orders for delivery and will not allow pickup orders.

Re: Really?

[Zero__Kelvin]

I'm not sure what job you had where you can underestimate time like you have, but the fact that you thought there was a possibility that the management objecting was a problem makes it clear that it was a very low level position. When you grow up and get a job with responsibility, if you ever do, it will be because you exhibit the kind of good judgement and focus to know how to best use your time.

Re: Really?

[Falos]

I just realized who you are.

You are the same kids we had 20, 30 years ago on playgrounds, the ones who would say "OH YEAH PROVE IT"

I'm glad you're all doing well.

Re:Really?

[Rolgar]

So what does it mean that there was no sign that it was out for delivery? He couldn't see the car between the store and his place? Perhaps the delivery driver had another pizza or two that came in earlier and they were going to deliver his last on the return trip.

Re:Really?

[lsatenstein]

Dominos where I live give a discount for a phone order with delivery. Some days its 50% off if you text or phone the order and then pick it up.

If you walk into the restaurent, there is no deal. Perhaps it's because there is too much traffic or the place is not clean enough at the time

Re:Really?

[michael_wojcik]

I do almost all my in-town errands on foot, or on bike when I'm at my other, somewhat more remote house. Regardless of weather (and we get a lot of rain and snow here), because I like to be out and about.

But we still use delivery for pizza, even though the pizza place is half a mile from the house. They transport the pizza in an insulated bag, so it stays hot; it'd cool off significantly even in a 5-minute walk home in cold weather. And carrying a pizza by hand half a mile is awkward, because you have to keep the box horizontal. And I don't mind supporting someone's pizza delivery job. (I'm also a good tipper.)

In short, the OP should shut the fuck up.

Re:Really?

[michael_wojcik]

Perhaps I should add that when I say "pizza", I mean pizza. Not that crap that Domino's sells. I'd pay to have that removed from my home.

Time to sue

[Anonymous Coward]

I want eleven billion dollars for mental anguish.

More specifically, they think it's a bunch of crap

[DogDude]

"More specifically, they think it's a bunch of crap."

"They" are correct. Why do "they" keep eating it, then?

Re:More specifically, they think it's a bunch of c

[b0s0z0ku]

Because maybe they're from a corner of flyoveria where good pizza doesn't exist?

Obama Tracker

[Anonymous Coward]

- Born in Kenya.
- Possible illegal immigrant

First World Problems

[Anonymous Coward]

For sure.

Re:First World Problems

[belthize]

This is like zero'th world problems.

You have to be pretty tightly wound to be spun up when your phone gets the delivery person's name wrong.

Duh

[110010001000]

Duh. They aren't entering in info on every step of the process and transmitting it to a server somewhere. It is just a timer.

Re:Duh

[b0s0z0ku]

Couldn't the app use the deliverator's phone GPS to determine distance to target automagically without the deliverator entering data into a server directly?

Re:Duh

[Anonymous Coward]

That would involve making sure pizza drivers had phones with gps and data. That may mean providing it in some cases.

Re:Duh

[Rick Zeman]

Couldn't the app use the deliverator's phone GPS to determine distance to target automagically without the deliverator entering data into a server directly?

Only if they supply the "deliverator" a phone.

Re:Duh

[Anonymous Coward]

Here in NZ and AU, yes, absolutely - more precisely, the GPS is on the magnetic 'domino pizza delivery thing' they stick on the car with magnets.

(In reality, I'm pretty sure the GPS data is delayed - the driver will arrive just as the tracker says they're coming down the street -- and I have a feeling the drivers give themselves a head start and the in-store tracking is... well, often lied to by staff claiming they're further along than they really are.)

Re:Duh

[Anonymous Coward]

Or just the app.

Re:Duh

[PPH]

Which pizza went out with which deliverator? Was that information entered correctly in the tracking app?

Chad always carries the pizza orders to the sorority (antic ensue). Yours is brought by the fat slob who always steals a slice.

Re:Duh

[sheramil]

Couldn't the app use the deliverator's phone GPS to determine distance to target automagically without the deliverator entering data into a server directly?

If they did, the headline would be "Pizza delivery rights infringed, being tracked on their delivery routes"

There is a solution to that. It involves an empty Twisties bag.

Re:Duh

[ShanghaiBill]

Only if they supply the "deliverator" a phone.

Nobody does that. When you use Uber, do you think the driver's phone is supplied by Uber?

Re:Duh

[sjames]

Sure, so they should skip the fake song and dance and just provide a timer. Had they done that, they wouldn't have people complaining now.

Re:Duh

[will_die]

Uber is still going by the illusion that they drivers are not employees so it is reasonable that contractor(aka driver) provides the car and phone.
However with dominoes the drivers are employees so I would expect they cannot say if a person has a phone much less a smart phone.

Re:Duh

[Daemonik]

Part of the reason Uber fights having their drivers designated as employees, is that if you require an employee to have certain equipment to perform their job, then you have to provide it to them.

Re:Duh

[ShanghaiBill]

Your employer can require you to have a smart phone, at your own expense, in every state but California.

On the bright side, an employer requirement makes your phone and cellular service a tax deductible expense.

Re: Duh

[Anonymous Coward]

Nobody does that. When you use Uber, do you think the driver's phone is supplied by Uber?

You seem to be a bit slow today Bill.

Uber requires drives to have a phone and run their app.

Domino's requires no such thing for their deliverators.

They are the poorest of the poor; lucky to net more than $5 an hour in that job.

Re: Duh

[Anonymous Coward]

I am sure Dominosâ(TM) drivers make enough to deduct expenses.

Re:Duh

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, so they should skip the fake song and dance and just provide a timer. Had they done that, they wouldn't have people complaining now.

Not likely. These people are making up multiple contradictory statements all while not showing any facts to be true. These are the types that would always make up whatever they wanted to complain about and then proceed to do so.

The status and info in the tracker is entered by hand, it isn't made up. There is a timer too, but far from only a timer. That limit is mainly because they don't track their delivery drivers via GPS down to the second, and personally I don't think that is a bad thing.

One user who spoke with the Journal claims his app told him that "Melinda" would be arriving shortly with his order, but when he opened the door, a delivery man he already knew handed him the pizza. "Ever since then, I knew everything they said, I felt, was made up," he said.

So "Melinda" is the driver the computer scheduled to deliver. Obviously one of any hundreds of things happened and they had to change drivers.
Why is that even a problem? The pizza made it there right? It wasn't hours late was it?
Perhaps the drivers were swapped last minute. Perhaps Melinda had something come up and needed to call off work.

Had the manager held back the delivery to reschedule it in the system and wait for it to officially reschedule a driver, who most likely was already on a route and would need to return first to pick up the next batch, the pizzas would have been 30+ minutes later.

And that person would then still complain.

Another man claims the tracker told him his pizza was en route, even though he could see the Domino's restaurant from his house, and there was no sign of the pizza being out for delivery.

So which lie is the truth?

Did this man stay at home, in view of the pizza place? If so how the hell could he possibly see tens of miles away to know where the driver was? Why does everyone assume they are always the first stop on the route?

Or is the opposite true, and he was out stalking the driver along the route? That would be the only way to know where the pizza was at down to the second, and then obviously the pizza place wouldn't be in view.

I know this is the type of asshole customer that acts so entitled to being first on the route that I would intentionally make him the last stop before returning to the store.

So the app was likely completely correct, and this guy complains.
If deliveries were made how he demands, one at a time, instead of taking 4-6 orders out per route, his pizza would take 2-4 hours to arrive, and he would still complain.

If he was actually across the street the lazy fuck could have walked over and had it in 10 minutes.
Clearly having his pizza fast wasn't even a concern for the customer, so why should anyone else care? He would still complain no matter what happened.

Re:Duh

[sjames]

Route? Driver gets an order, driver delivers order. Driver returns to store for next order.

If things get really busy, a driver might get two orders that are close together, not 10 miles apart.

Re:Duh

[mrbester]

I'm sure there's a clause in the tax bill that says you can't do that any more...

Re:Duh

[mikael]

I think it does. I tried out the pizza tracker two days ago. Even made a video using my smartphone. They do use the deliverators GPS. I could see the icon slide around the streets between the pizza shop and my place. The funny thing was watching this slice of pizza wander all around the back alleys of the neighborhood like one of those maze solving AI algorithms. The deliverator was a new driver who didn't know which direction led downtown and which led out of town and ultimately had to call me to get directions.

Re:Duh

[Anonymous Coward]

Route? Driver gets an order, driver delivers order. Driver returns to store for next order.
If things get really busy, a driver might get two orders that are close together, not 10 miles apart.

That isn't how our location worked.

We had an almost 10 mile delivery radius, excepting the main road up north that was a border line.
The branch further north was similar with that road being their border too.

During exceptionally slow times we may only have one order to deliver, but most times it was 2-3, and at busy times up to 4-5 if the orders would fit.

A single delivery could be up to 15 minutes one way. That means taking a single order out could be up to 30 minutes round trip for that driver.

If 10 orders came in at the same quarter of an hour it was by far quicker to split those up and take more than one out for delivery at a time. Our typical delivery deadline was 30 minutes max and that only went up to 45 at times of high volume, such as a Friday of a big game or something.

If there was 3-4 orders sitting there ready for delivery, you don't just take one and run out, potentially 15 minutes there and another 15 back, only to grab the second order that was already made a half hour ago.
Four orders at thirty minutes each delivery would be up to two hours total if you did them one at a time.
Instead you split those up between drivers and deliver them along a route.

Maybe in a really small city you would see less orders and have a lower drive time, or in a really large city you would have enough branch locations to distribute the work into smaller delivery areas. Neither of those were the case for us.

Re:Duh

[SvnLyrBrto]

> Did this man stay at home, in view of the pizza place?

I generally phone in pickup orders to places that are within walking distance of my home. This is because I hate waiting in line or sitting around at the take-out waiting for my food to be done. None of these places are actually *visible* from my house, or part of app-enabled chains.

But if they were, and one of those take-out orders was not available for take-out at the time they specified; I could certainly see myself doing some experimentation... including summoning a delivery when I could walk and monitoring the store to see if the driver left when specified... to see just what other lies they were in the habit of telling.

Re:Duh

[magarity]

an employer requirement makes your phone and cellular service a tax deductible expense.

How to get audited in one easy step. You would have to prove what percent of the phone usage is for work vs personal.

Re:Duh

[MaskedSlacker]

I used to work there. It's not a timer (unless they changed it since I left, but I highly doubt it, since they use the same system to track internal operating metrics for planning staffing patterns). They are entering info every step of the way, except 'entering' info mostly means hitting the enter key on the computer at that station. One station at the make line when it goes in the over, one when it comes out of the oven and gets boxed, one when it goes out the door with the driver

All of the scenarios listed in the summary are basic errors by employees in the restaurant's workflow. Or, in some cases, fraud by managers trying to game their times to qualify for bonuses.

Re:Duh

[Rolgar]

Meaning that you get back a fraction of what you spend. If you're in the 15% tax bracket, and your phone is $30 a month, you'll get back $54 of the $360 in reduced taxes. Of course if you would use the same plan with the employer requirement or not, then you come out ahead.

You people sure do expect much from deliverymen...

[Anonymous Coward]

The load gets there when it gets there. And once I depart, the phone will remain unanswered until I decide it is time to answer, no matter how loudly it beeps before then. Even as a new hire, if bossman attempts to fight with me or pull rank and I think he don't have a good reason to do so, the issue gets escalated immediately and "mysteriously" ceases to be an issue.

Pizza Tracker - that's obviously just marketing fluff and should be dismissed as such. Your delivery man is quite likely to be treading water financially. Probably best to be grateful if he shows up while the pizza is still warm and behaves professionally.

Next up: Progress bars that aren't time-linear

[JoeyRox]

I will be petitioning for a federal investigation into this scourge of the Application world.

Re: Next up: Progress bars that aren't time-linear

[Anonymous Coward]

It's annoying when it gets to 100% and then a few more things happen that weren't included in the progress, but it's really lame when it's obvious the bar was just an animation and not even remotely tied to actual progress.

too much

[guygo]

sounds like someone has way too much time on their hands

Holy fucking 0.0001%'er problems!

[Chas]

Good fucking god!

As ANYONE who's EVER dealt with a computerized event completion timer knows it's just an ESTIMATE.

Trying to demand exactitude once you get HUMANS into the mix?

Seriously, when was the last time you nodded acquaintances with reality?

Some people just need to get a fucking job. They have too much time on their hands and have to invent stupid shit to bitch about.

Re:Holy fucking 0.0001%'er problems!

[drinkypoo]

As ANYONE who's EVER dealt with a computerized event completion timer knows it's just an ESTIMATE.

If you claim to provide a realtime view of pizza location and then you don't, that's not "an ESTIMATE", that's fraud. You're offering a service and then proceeding not to provide it, which is illegal everywhere. Why do you support fraud, and fraudulent advertising? You like being lied to? You like it when other people are being lied to?

Re:Holy fucking 0.0001%'er problems!

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem of pizza delivery time estimate inaccuracy reminds me of this Internet classic.

Re:Holy fucking 0.0001%'er problems!

[Chas]

Show me where they EVER claimed it was "realtime".

Re:Holy fucking 0.0001%'er problems!

[jareth-0205]

And if anyone has ever been into a Domino's, you can see them doing the work - they don't hit a button advancing the order between each stage, so we can see it must be mostly made-up. It's obvious from just looking at the process, eg there's no scanner when they put the pizza in the oven after it's made, infact it doesn't even have a label at that stage.

Re:Holy fucking 0.0001%'er problems!

[drinkypoo]

Show me where they EVER claimed it was "realtime".

If they claim to show you where your pizza is, there's no other way.

Re:Holy fucking 0.0001%'er problems!

[Anonymous Coward]

And you're bitching about the bitching? Do you need a job?

Re:Holy fucking 0.0001%'er problems!

[Anonymous Coward]

It has a label before it is even being made, the label happens first, labels come out of a label printer which is how we know the order exists, and yes, we do push a button at every next stage. It is one button (on the label printer) and takes about 1 second to press.

Re:Holy fucking 0.0001%'er problems!

[geoscodin]

I delivered pizzas in college and they sometimes sent me out with 5 deliveries at a time, so "out for delivery" may mean you still have to wait for 4 other deliveries before yours arrives at your door. Should yours be delivered first since it's within line-of-sight? Maybe, but yours may also be the last one ordered so it wouldn't necessarily get out-the-door priority.

Promote the lifestyle editor at Fox

[CanadianMacFan]

That's more investigation into a story than they do if the topic covers politics. Maybe the editor should be promoted to cover those stories instead and get some real news shown.

(Yes, I'm aware it's a decision made at the corporate level and even if they did any investigation it wouldn't hit the airwaves. Management would quickly kill any initiative shown or have them fired to be replaced by a lackey who says what they are told to say.)

Re:Promote the lifestyle editor at Fox

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, you don't cash a paycheck at Fox "News" by accurately reporting anything of consequence. Please note, though, that Domino's tends to contribute much more money to Democrats than Republicans. At least they did when I last saw the data (2012) and decided their pizza is far better than it tastes.

Also, the Noid is not an actual employee

[elrous0]

He's an IMPOSTER I tell you!

Re:Also, the Noid is not an actual employee

[Kohath]

Not any more. He committed suicide in 1995.

Re:Also, the Noid is not an actual employee

[Anonymous Coward]

*IMPASTA*

Re:More specifically, they think it's a bunch of c

[Aighearach]

That's why in my town all the Dominos are right next to the University, where they have lots of people from random places that don't know any better.

Locals buy Little Caesar's when they want "cheese" on soggy white bread. Why? They at least dump a bunch of oregano in the sauce to make it taste like it includes at least one human food.

In Japan

[theNetImp]

The pizza tracker on their website in Japan is fairly accurate. On busy nights it sits at the first stage until they actually work on it. When it's delivered we have a GPS option to watch the driver. The driver always arrives when they the map shows them in front of the house. I wouldn't be surprised if the US version is faked a bit. The Japanese wouldn't stand for that.

Re:In Japan

[Kohath]

I think the app just relays entered information. The Japanese pizza guys probably aren't entering fake info to make it appear like they are working hard and following procedure.

Re:In Japan

[complete loony]

Garbage In, Garbage Out; used to express the idea that in computing and other fields, incorrect or poor-quality input will produce faulty output.

Re: In Japan

[Anonymous Coward]

Also fake features give junk output. Also volkswagen.

Re:In Japan

[larryjoe]

I think the app just relays entered information. The Japanese pizza guys probably aren't entering fake info to make it appear like they are working hard and following procedure.

I have heard stories of technicians and IT folks in Japan being extremely meticulous in following all steps of a prescribed methodology. In contrast, Americans will skip or modify steps based on personal evaluations of a specific step's significance. Sometimes that's the end result of creativity and independent thinking.

Re:In Japan

[Mashiki]

To be fair, you love the food you grow up with. The same reasons why there's a pile of JP and Chinese(not american style) restaurants around the university I went to. Around 70% of the student body is either 1st generation kids from those regions, or kids who are from Japan, Hong Kong, or China studying there. Having grown up on three different "ethnic" food types as a kid, it's interesting to try it when you're back in your parents home country. Canadian food is well...a mishmash of everything from english, dutch, and french to local areas that were strongly ethnic german to the occasional weird stuff.

You're not going to be finding seal flipper pie in southern ontario, but if you head out to new brunswick or newfoundland you will. They'll also ask you if you want mayo with your fries, which is what nearly everyone uses instead of ketchup. The reason is, tomato's were too expensive in the early 1900's outside of Ontario. And ketchup was too expensive to buy for most people, but mayo? Everyone could make it or buy it cheaply. It's kinda like how do you tell who the poor kids are if you live there, or along the lakes in Ontario? They're the ones either eating lobster or fish for lunch. Because their family is in the business.

Re:In Japan

[DNS-and-BIND]

Uh, OK, this crazy bit of stream of consciousness does not negate the fact that Americans in Japan don't eat Japanese food and instead order shit pizza like Domino's. I mean, WTF. So much good food within arm's length and yet he chooses garbage pizza that nobody orders even in America.

Re:In Japan

[dj245]

I think the app just relays entered information. The Japanese pizza guys probably aren't entering fake info to make it appear like they are working hard and following procedure.

Domino's Japan is an entirely different company than the USA. They ride 3-wheel scooters that tilt around corners. The pizza has a much higher relative cost, and it tastes better than the US versions of the same pizza. They aren't playing by the same corporate playbook, it is not just cultural.

Re:In Japan

[Mashiki]

If nobody ordered that pizza in america, they wouldn't be profitable now would they. Try thinking a little bit. Just because you eat $40 artisan pizza's doesn't mean everyone else does.

I delivered for Dominos

[Anonymous Coward]

The sign on the roof of the delivery car has a GPS and a modem.

There is a delay as the messages propagate through their system before they end up on the web. The delivery driver can also change literally on their way out the door. So, shit happens. It's not malicious.

Re:I delivered for Dominos

[Farmer Tim]

The delivery driver can also change literally on their way out the door.

Bloody hell, they hire werewolves?!?

[Makes note not to order pizza on the full moon]

Domino's stores cheat on the numbers to make

[Joe_Dragon]

Domino's stores cheat on the numbers to make then look better then they really are.

Poke Pizza

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe they have turned pizza delivery into a spectator sport if not a variety show with dancing teenaged idols?

Shorter version

[Kohath]

That reasonably priced 6.8/10 pizza you can get delivered to your house in 30 minutes is complete crap because a more expensive 8.5/10 pizza exists somewhere within a 60 minute drive of your house. You should all be shamed mercilessly for even thinking about eating food the cool kids would never even look at!

(Ok, not really shorter.)

Re:Shorter version

[Kohath]

So what? Someone else has an even better pizza even closer. You're a relative caveman next to him. You should whimper in shame thinking about his pizza glory, whoever he is. Your 9/10 pizza is skunk vomit next to his pizza.

Re:Shorter version

[Anonymous Coward]

I live in "suburbia" yet I have two pizza places within a mile of my house. I'm also far less likely to get mugged on the way over there or back.

Re:Shorter version

[Anonymous Coward]

Good for you. You want a merit badge?

Re:Shorter version

[Anonymous Coward]

No, just more salty jealous replies like yours.

Re: Shorter version

[Anonymous Coward]

The best pizza i ever had was in long island suburbania.

papa johns

[Anonymous Coward]

The papa johns tracker can make negative progress. The worst I had showed that the pizza went from "on its way" to "boxing" then back to "baking". A few minutes later it was delivered. It is fun to think that the driver turned around, took the pizza out of the box, and put it back in the oven.

Looking at the code

[Anonymous Coward]

It looks like it should work as a real reporting system. You can just open the javascript console on any browser and look at the XMLHttpRequest/AJAX call to query a server for the time data. You can even send them custom messages even tho they only give you a drop down with pre-selected values.

some thing like _https://www.dominos.com/en/pages/tracker/#/track/order/123456789abc/StoreID/1234/

Gaming the corporate system

[Anonymous Coward]

As with many systems used in large businesses, this is due to store managers entering fake data to game the corporate system that measures their performance against unreasonable expectations. No doubt if delivery times are too long -- even if the store doesn't have enough available drivers, the store manager gets no bonus or gets fired.

Have other "trackers" been compared?

[King_TJ]

I know Papa John's pizza has an app with a tracker. Pretty sure Pizza Hut does too. Seems to be a pretty standard feature for chain pizza delivery places at this point.

I get the idea that all of them are just based on timers, plus some kind of data input in the computer at the pizza place? EG. Tracker starts counting down time pizza is supposedly baking in the oven based on when the sale is processed, and delivery time based on entering some other data that says a driver picked it up and went out the door with it.

Having it give an incorrect name of the driver supposedly arriving with your order? That sounds like an error made by whoever was keying the info in for it. That kind of thing is gonna happen and doesn't prove the app is "fake".

But unless each pizza has an embedded RFID chip or something crazy like that, I don't know how you can expect it'll be perfectly accurate all the time? UPS and FedEx have similar "fakery" in use with package tracking. (The package only gets scanned once in a while while in route to you. On stretches between scans, they just estimate delivery times based on when the trucks SHOULD get it from one point to the next in the middle of the route. When packages get lost, the trackers get "brain dead" and often indicate a box was last seen on a truck that it was never even loaded onto. When you call in about such instances, the dispatch people on the phone seem to have a second system where they can pinpoint things better than the user-facing web site data does.)

Re:Have other "trackers" been compared?

[Joe_Dragon]

ups uses rail for some of the longer moves and times you see rail delay on the web site tracker.

Re:Have other "trackers" been compared?

[Hal_Porter]

Funny thing is I know a business in the UK. They wanted a realtime map on their webpage that shows how far away their nearest delivery van is. The conversation with the website developers went like this

Business Owner : Just say the van is fifteen minutes away from wherever they are. That way people are more likely to order.
Developers : But how can that work? That means we need to fake a location and also that two users using the site in different places will see different locations for the van
Business Owner : Just say the van is fifteen minutes away from wherever they are. That way people are more likely to order.
Developers : How about we put a GPS in the van and show that?
Business Owner : Just say the van is fifteen minutes away from wherever they are. That way people are more likely to order.
Developers : How about we put a fake van at the midpoint of the locations of all the users currently asking. That way it will be consistent if multiple users in different locations compared notes.
Business Owner : Just say the van is fifteen minutes away from wherever they are. That way people are more likely to order.
Developers : How about we have multiple fake vans patrolling so that any one user is guaranteed to have one within fifteen minutes of their location. About fifteen should do it for the size of area you cover.
Business Owner : Just say the van is fifteen minutes away from wherever they are. That way people are more likely to order.

And it went on in that general vein ad infinitum. I don't think the 'where's the nearest van?' realtime feature ever actually got implemented.

Some people are both simultaneously too stupid and too smart for this world.

Re:Have other "trackers" been compared?

[Anonymous Coward]

You should have humoured them and had the website report that was van was 15 minutes away from whereever they are, just as the business wished. Then once the customer placed the ordered, and it was put into a real van, they see the real location, and raise hell asking why their delivery is now suddenly hours away.

Silly business owner anyway. Who cares how far away the van is if it doesn't have stock of what you want, the warehouse location (or equivalent depending on the goods) of where the goods are actually coming from is far more informant to a customer.

Re:Have other "trackers" been compared?

[Hal_Porter]

Silly business owner anyway. Who cares how far away the van is if it doesn't have stock of what you want, the warehouse location (or equivalent depending on the goods) of where the goods are actually coming from is far more informant to a customer.

The business in question was fixing or replacing equipment. So if someone calls and they've not busy they'll arrive in 15-30 minutes because the area they operate in is pretty small and all the places in it are within 15-30 minutes. If not they'll visit as soon as someone is available.

As far as fixing stuff goes they've got a couple of vans with a stock of the most common parts in the them, so there's a fair chance they can do it one visit. As far as replacing stuff goes, they'll need to order the parts and come round when they're in stock. They probably need a visit anyway to see how much space they have to do an installation and see if they should fix what's there or replace it.

So "15 minutes away" is a bit of an exaggeration but not that much of one. What's funny is that it's not that hard to do with geolocation and Google Maps. You just geolocate the customer, work out which map square they're in, pick a random point inside it and snap it to the road and say 'that's our nearest van to you'. It'd have nothing to do with where the nearest van was, but the distance between you and the point is accurate, give or take a bit of marketing spin.

Most Extreme Pizza Delivery Challenge! (N/T)

[Monster_user]

Most Extreme Pizza Delivery Challenge!

Re:Most Extreme Pizza Delivery Challenge! (N/T)

[ScottyKUtah]

Damn I wish I had Mod points, got a good laugh out of this. Love that show (MXC)!

Jeeze

[Lisandro]

https://amolosdomingos.files.w...

Slow news day, /.?

Re:There's no questioning the accuracy of this

[Pikoro]

Might want to check your bot again APK. This is even less relevant to this story than it normally is.

If you're such an awesome coder, how come your scraper is crap?

Seriously

[Anonymous Coward]

Walk your fat ass over. Hell take out orders are half off now. You can have a second pizza to devour because you ate the first one along the way.

Easy:

[no-body]

Ask the developers under oath what they programmed. Probably have to fly on the other side of the planet to do that..
Good luck!

Re: Easy:

[TimTucker]

Dominoes actually went much closer to home than you think: https://www.detroitlabs.com/do... Great agile team over there with a commitment to TDD and trying to put out stuff that people have fun using. I'm sure that pulling one over on customers was the last thing on their minds.

Re:"Pizza" tracker?

[tquasar]

There are two authentic Italian restaurants near my house, one I can walk to and the other delivers. Affordable and serving lasagna and spaghetti with great sauce and real Parmesian and Romano cheese.

Store dependant

[darkain]

This could highly be store dependent, most specifically on what that particular store is equipped with. The one near my house is a fairly recent store (within the past year or two). My brother orders from them regularly online. The tracker has been quite accurate for us.

Another guess from being a developer who writes ecommerce software: you have to account for human error as well. It doesn't take much for someone to accidentally press the "Jill" instead of "Bob" button when selecting the driver for the order, than handing off to Bob because he's the one that's actually available. Same goes for prepping the pizza itself. It doesn't take much to accidentally click on one order and "prep" it vs another.

This shit happens. Your pizza still arrived within about five minutes of you expecting it. Is it really that big of a fucking deal!?

Re: More specifically, they think it's a bunch of

[Anonymous Coward]

The tracker has jack shit to do with the food.

Here I'll break it down for you.
When you place an order it starts a timer.
When it's being made it starts a timer.
When it goes in the oven, new timer!

The employees don't get any trouble for being slow, they get in trouble for the time on the computer looking bad.
They are trained to keep those timers under a certain time wether they got to that step or not.

When all the timers are done they assign it to a driver who's probably still on some other delivery just keep the timer number looking good.
Then it gets reassigned to the first driver to show up.

This is called micromanaging and it's retarded in a restaurant,

Time to Bring In Uncle Enzo

[Anonymous Coward]

Yup, time to bring in Uncle Enzo, Domino's is merely a cheesy NorColumbian outfit.

Re: More specifically, they think it's a bunch of

[Anonymous Coward]

"They" are correct. Why do "they" keep eating it, then?

Maybe the quality of the app has nothing to do with the quality of the food?

Re: "Pizza" tracker?

[Anonymous Coward]

There are two authentic Italian restaurants near my house, one I can walk to and the other delivers. Affordable and serving lasagna and spaghetti with great sauce and real Parmesian and Romano cheese.

That's amazing. But what has it got to do with what we are talking about, American style pizza?

And what on Earth is 'Parmesian' cheese? Cheese from Parmesia?

It's based on averages..

[sizzlinkitty]

I had an issue last year when my Pizza showed delivered for almost 30 minutes and then I called to find it it hadn't even left the store yet. The manager told me the app works on the average time it takes to make and deliver a pizza. It is not a accurate representation of the Pizza's location. I don't bother letting them deliver it anymore, I'll drive up to the store and wait.

I ordered Domino's tonight

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the tracker for me was actually correct.

It said the delivery left the restaurant at 7:19 and was due to arrive by 7:44. It finally arrived around 8:27 and was cold and blechhh.

Re:I ordered Domino's tonight

[Anonymous Coward]

Next time around, if you want your pizza to show up on time, don't attempt to merge into your deliveryman & force him to exit the highway from the worst possible ramp and have to reroute through a construction zone jammed with rush hour and local event traffic.

Re: I ordered Domino's tonight

[Anonymous Coward]

But then it wouldn't be free...

Re:More specifically, they think it's a bunch of c

[Narcocide]

Even in The Big City, Dominos stays open 2-3 hours later than any respectable "good pizza" place.

Re:More specifically, they think it's a bunch of c

[Narcocide]

No, Little Caesar's and Pizza Hut are both fast food too. Real pizza doesn't come from a chain and most certainly doesn't push a spamware tie-in delivery app.

One time...

[Anonymous Coward]

I once heard that the big 'button' at crosswalks that you can press is nothing but that, just a big button that doesn't actually do anything and doesn't send a signal to the stop light to turn red. I can't vouch for the veracity of that claim and this was some time ago so maybe things have changed. Anyways, not sure exactly why I thought of that, but it did remind me of the 'theatre' this Dominoes app presents to you to make you feel like you have a sense of agency when in fact your fat pizza craving ass doesn't.

Re:One time...

[cstacy]

I once heard that the big 'button' at crosswalks that you can press is nothing but that, just a big button that doesn't actually do anything [...]

Not true. However, the "CLOSE DOOR" button on some elevators is not connected to anything. Only a timer and sensors operate the door. The button gives nervous riders something to do.

Re:One time...

[Joe_Dragon]

the CLOSE DOOR is hooked up just some times turned off in firemen s mode you must use it to close the doors

Re:One time...

[Known Nutter]

Not true. However, the "CLOSE DOOR" button on some elevators is not connected to anything. Only a timer and sensors operate the door. The button gives nervous riders something to do.

At the risk of being pedantic, this just isn't true. The Close Door button works when the car is in fire service mode, medical emergency mode, inspection service mode, and attended service mode.

Re:"Pizza" tracker?

[Grishnakh]

Want pizza? I can raise you many local places that sell the real stuff.

Only if you live in a pretty decent city. In a lot of places, Domino's is the best available.

What about the 'cooking' tracker

[Anonymous Coward]

It's been awhile since I ordered online from Dominoes, but they used to have this animation that actually showed an animated representation of your pizza actually being made, from dough prep to pizza prep to cooking. It was supposed to be an actual facsimile of what was going on 'real time' so you could feel the staff was on top of that shit and making your pizza with the utmost of urgency. I've no idea if that was accurate or just theatre but seeing this article makes me feel that it was pretty much just that, a nice animation that was more show than reality.

What the heck was wrong with just ordering and waiting for the darn thing to be made. Oh an get off my lawn.

Re: More specifically, they think it's a bunch of

[fj3k]

It's called 'managing by numbers'. Micro-managers would have known the timers were being faked because they would be breathing down the necks of their employees as they did it.

Re: More specifically, they think it's a bunch of

[Anonymous Coward]

You can't have one without the other.
A manager acting like that is most certainly present, and is the one instructing them to cheat the timers.

Why?
Because those are the metrics of his performance.

Re:Found the LUDDITES!

[Hal_Porter]

Electric ovens can't melt cheese beams! Wake up sheeple!

Re:There's no questioning the accuracy of this

[Hal_Porter]

Just waiting for the cdreimer post extolling the virtues of Cheesy Pizza.

Re: "Pizza" tracker?

[Anonymous Coward]

Parmesia is a place in Italy that sunk back into the Feywild. They are apparently famous of their cheese.

Real truthiness

[93 Escort Wagon]

âOne user who spoke with the Journal claims his app told him that "Melinda" would be arriving shortly with his order, but when he opened the door, a delivery man he already knew handed him the pizza. "Ever since then, I knew everything they said, I felt, was made up," he said.â

Come on, we know he was really upset because it ended up being a dude who delivered his pizza.

Re:Real truthiness

[Anonymous Coward]

And how dare they gendershame the driver!!!! I for example, identify as a small field of tulips, with the pronoun "yeti-piles". Yet strangers keep insisting on using the pronount "Yo, dude!!!" when I deliver my delicious pies.

When I try to explain, they then keep misgender me as "Suck it up, buttercup!" How, oh how, can I ever shed my white privilege and fulfill me dream of identifying as a YouTube channel millionaire?

so how many children did Killiary

[Anonymous Coward]

sacrifice to satan in this Pizza scandal?

Re:so how many children did Killiary

[Anonymous Coward]

You're still alive to post inane shit like this, so at least one less than the rest of us wish had been sacrificed for the greater good,.

Re: More specifically, they think it's a bunch o

[Anonymous Coward]

Numbers are for corporate. The manager organizes the lies in store.

Re:Pikoro where are your manners?

[Pikoro]

See, your bot has done it again. I said your post had nothing to do with the story at all. It's completely unrelated. Yet, here your bot is, scraping up the comments and replying nonsense. You're so worried what people think of you on the internet that you don't have anything better to do than spam your crap on unrelated stories. I feel sorry for you, you sad little man.

Anyone else noticed that APK's posts are an awful lot like Trump's tweets? Incoherent ranting not related to anything.

Re:Quoted /.ers disagree w/ you Pikoro

[Pikoro]

Oh, you do know that most of these comments you like to tout as extolling the virtues of your software are sarcasm, right?

not too sure how to spell this

[ishmaelflood]

whiny whiny whiny whiny snowflake whine first world problem whiny whiny snowflake.

I think that covers it.

Re:not too sure how to spell this

[thegarbz]

whiny whiny whiny whiny snowflake whine first world problem whiny whiny snowflake.

Yeah, I too prefer to roll over and take whatever corporate bullshit is shovelled down my throat in the name of the "consumer". When they do something for my benefit and it turns out to not actually happen or be right my first reaction is to scream out "YES MISTRESS I WANT ANOTHER"! /end stupid reply.

Re:not too sure how to spell this

[Anonymous Coward]

I find it interesting that so many posters support fraud and false advertising.

Re:not too sure how to spell this

[Opportunist]

We're not talking about a corporation abusing a monopoly position to deliver a crappy product to inflated prices. Well, that happens too, but that's not the complaint here. The complaint is about a "tracking" app that CANNOT track anything because anything it could track is completely arbitrary. Please tell me how you would track the status of a fucking PIZZA?

We are talking about a "service" that adds exactly zero value to a product but makes the user feel like he's in some sort of "control" over the process. Only to now realize that he controls exactly fuck all. What changes? Nothing. He had no control before, he didn't gain any with the app and he didn't lose any with the app not working.

If anything, we have another corporation that thought they MUST have some sort of app because that's cool today, and I'm pretty sure they thought long and hard just WHAT that app could do, and they obviously came up empty handed because this has to be the pinnacle of ridiculous, superfluous apps.

I'd rather question what kind of information the app sends to its master.

Re:not too sure how to spell this

[Opportunist]

OMG! They lied about my pizza status, they say it's being "en route" but it has arrived already! Now they say it's in quality control but the pizza man is ringing at my doorbell already.

Be honest: Do you really care beyond whether it's here in 30 minutes or earlier?

Re:not too sure how to spell this

[GrumpySteen]

When they do something for my benefit and it turns out to not actually happen

What on Earth made you think that a pizza chain was producing an app to benefit you?

The purpose of the app is to get more people to buy their pizza. Helping you doesn't come into the equation.

Re:not too sure how to spell this

[thegarbz]

We're not talking about a corporation abusing a monopoly position to deliver a crappy product to inflated prices

Nope, we're talking about a corporation introducing something to the benefit of the consumer which they were *allegedly* actively lying about to the consumer's detriment.

Only to now realize that he controls exactly fuck all. What changes? Nothing.

Planning, customer satisfaction. Now I don't actually believe that the system is fake, but since I actively plan my order around the pizza tracker (when do I need to leave to meet them at the gate, when do I need to leave to pick up the pizza etc). If you provide information that changes nothing, then don't provide the information. But the reality is they provide the information since people see it as a positive service. Lying about it has an effect despite your assertions otherwise.

I'd rather question what kind of information the app sends to its master.

Now that IS a worthless first world problem.

Re:not too sure how to spell this

[thegarbz]

Have a think how that second sentence of yours works in conjunction with the former. Think really hard. Think along the lines of: If there is no benefit then why would it get more people to buy pizzas.

You anti-corporation tinfoil hatters fail to realise that most of these developments rely on something for something. To sell more pizzas you need to provide value. Just like Google actually does care about its customers because if they leave they lose a product they can sell on to third parties.

Re:not too sure how to spell this

[GrumpySteen]

Think along the lines of: If there is no benefit then why would it get more people to buy pizzas./quote

Have a think on how your whole comment is completely detached from reality. Think really hard. (isn't being a condescending asshole fun?)

Think along the lines of JC Penny's "No sale prices" strategy. Their idea was simple; rather than price everything 40% higher so that they can have fake sales like very other retailer, they just priced everything at a fair price. And then their sales figures tanked because people don't want a fair price, they want to think they're getting a bargain even when they aren't.

There's no value in being told something is 'on sale' when it's the normal price marked down from an inflated price, yet that's what most consumers prefer.

The Dominoes app works on the same principle. It's not real, but it provides the feeling that the customer is getting something even though they aren't. The company doesn't have to provide anything of value at all.

Re:not too sure how to spell this

[Opportunist]

Not knowing exactly where a damn pizza is at every moment in time is not a first world problem, but worrying about handing a corporation the contents of your cellphone to do with the information anything they please is?

I somehow can't really find the logic in your priorities.

Not really seeing the issue here

[DrXym]

You enter an order into the store's system. The computer knows how many orders are ahead of it. The computer knows how long it should take to prepare the pizza, how long it should take in the oven, how long it should take to box it, how many delivery drivers are working, how many have clocked in through the door, how many deliveries are ahead of your pizza, how far roughly your house is from the store and long it should take to get there.

Then the computer makes an ESTIMATE based on adding up those values and your pizza resides in a particular state according to how long the chain it is. Is it "smoke and mirrors"? No because the estimate will usually be accurate assuming the system is working, traffic is usual, the driver doesn't get lost etc.

And like any system it's only as good as its inputs. Maybe "Melinda" is some dude, or Melinda doesn't like the "app truther" creep who tracks her online and swapped deliveries, or its maybe just the person who logged in that day. Maybe the driver did get lost. Maybe the pizza order got screwed up and so the tracking is out of whack with reality. Does that render the system worthless for the 99% of the time that it works as intended? Of course not.

Re:More specifically, they think it's a bunch of c

[drinkypoo]

Real pizza doesn't come from a chain

Elitist nonsense. Shitty pizza is real pizza too. It's just really shitty pizza. I'd rather have Papa Murphy's than Domino's.

Small wonder

[nospam007]

"Domino's pizza-tracking app is a bunch of crap." ?

So it fits their pizza.

Re:"Pizza" tracker?

[Anonymous Coward]

Solution: don't live in a rural rathole.

This is the new America

[Anonymous Coward]

You're now so lazy, sedates, and unphased about everything else in the world, that you can't even make your own food, and the only things that make you upset is how long it takes for your ready-made pizza to arrive at your doorstep.

and the world is laughing at you...

On the UK tracker

[Anonymous Coward]

You can poke him in the eye if he is too slow. I have noticed that a lot of the time the Pizza is stuck in "quality control".

The far more likely reason

[Opportunist]

The restaurant workers have to enter the "status" manually (how else would it get updated?) and don't give half a shit about that OCD control freak app, so whoever walks by the terminal on his way to and from the pizza oven clicks a few orders at random that "deserve" an update.

Re:"Pizza" tracker?

[JaredOfEuropa]

Whatever. As long as you're not calling them "pies".

Re: "Pizza" tracker?

[Anonymous Coward]

Papa Johns is everywhere and it is magnitudes better than dominos.

Your Mileage May Vary

[StormReaver]

Where I live (somewhere in Midwest USA), the pizza tracker has been either completely unavailable or (when it's not down) very accurate. And, having a former Dominos quasi-manager in the family, I'm certain the Dominos statement is correct: the accuracy of the tracker depends entirely on the employees entering data into it.

Re: "Pizza" tracker?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Rural areas" are usually too small to even have chain restaurants of any kind. In fact, where I live the only pizza place is independently owned and is great.

Re: Quoted /.ers disagree w/ you Pikoro

[Anonymous Coward]

Shut up zAParKie and come back when you can actually sort and dedupe an array of strings. Your app does not work now like it didn't work 5 years ago. Just gave it another try on a ryzen 5 1600 running at 3.75GHz with 16gb of ram. It's been hogging up the CPU for over 15 minutes. Got killed and deleted.

Re: "Pizza" tracker?

[mridoni]

I was born, raised and I live in Rome, Italy, and I'm writing this very message from my house in Rome

I can confidently affirm that no such thing as "Romano cheese" exists.

Re:"Pizza" tracker?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ooh.. you're so brave stating that edgy opinion! Next up: airline food sucks!!

(stfu)

Re:"Pizza" tracker?

[jeremyp]

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amoré

Americans have got a lot to answer for.

pies?

[Cederic]

huge discrepancies between when their pies were supposed to be delivered and when they actually arrived

Wait, we were talking about Dominos and pizzas. Dominos now do pies too?

Do they do a decent steak & ale in shortcrust?

Re: "Pizza" tracker?

[Gojira Shipi-Taro]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

There is no shame

[Arzaboa]

This is the crossroads between advertising and reality. They'll sell it as real, and if you complain, they'll tell you it was just a gag.

Someone noted that in Japan, they wouldn't stand for this. If it holds that corporations are people, this should be the same in the U.S.

--
It's a bird, it's a plane, its superman!

Re:More specifically, they think it's a bunch of c

[Anonymous Coward]

"oregano"

Say no more, say no more, wink, wink.

News Flash

[TRRosen]

Fast food employees often fudge data they enter into systems that track their performance. I've watched McDonalds employees (managers) reset the drive thru clock even though the line hadn't moved. watched as warehouse service clocks magically reset the time spent to get an item before anyone had shown up to find the item. If there is a goal that says service in 5 mins they will hit the button at 5 min whether or not the service is performed.
Sadly if the corporate idiots implementing these systems spent even 5 min analyzing the data they would see the fake info easily. why are there 300 orders finished in exactly 4:58?

Others disagree + takes under 10 minutes here

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny it only takes under 10 minutes here to complete on an Intel Core I7 4790k 6gb RAM using its default dataset - Sounds like you bought yourself a lemon!

* Wouldn't surprise me coming from an UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous trolling worm in yourself... lol!

( Quoted REGISTERED /.ers disagree (want more than THIS list in this link -> Ask & "ye shall receive" to your PUBLIC dismay) https://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11432635&cid=55666617/ )

Yes, I know it's you Pikoro FAKE NAME (now posting unidentifiably after you had to RUN from 3 simple questions asking WHY you stalk & harass me constantly).

Additionally - SEE YOU HAD TO TRY "DOWNMOD HIDE" THIS LAST TIME I POSTED IT TOO https://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11432635&cid=55667651/ WHY'S THAT? Is it since you are outnumbered badly?? Yes!

APK

P.S.=> Lastly - Pikoro, You're welcome to create one of equal quality that does a better job, but of course, an UNIDENTIFIABLE trolling worm like YOU can't EVER manage that, lol (Do one that's a GUI + multltasking & multithreaded that does MORE than mine does (impossible, mine does more than ANY host file mgt. program there is, bar-none, & faster))... apk

Re:More specifically, they think it's a bunch of c

[Anonymous Coward]

"Flyoveria"? Sounds like misandry to me...

Pikoro where are your manners?

[Anonymous Coward]

See subject & where you had to EAT YOUR WORDS https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=8277631&cid=50873927/ - Don't talk w/ your mouth full as you EAT YOUR WORDS (it's impolite).

* RoTfLmAo!

QUESTION: How'd EATING YOUR WORDS taste?

A wee bit like your FOOT IN YOUR MOUTH ramming them back down your chicken-neck washed down w/ the bitter taste of SELF-defeat? Obviously yes as you had to try "downmod hide" via your many sockpuppets last time I posted this https://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11432635&cid=55666599/

APK

P.S.=> Additionally Pikoro FAKE NAME for your FAKE LIFE - you're welcome to do BETTER - but that's an impossibility for a "ne'er-do-well" like you & you KNOW it!

Plus - I never said I was an 'awesome coder' (you project you think I am) - I have said many times "I can get the job done" & clearly, I have, better vs. any program like mine... apk

Citibike app is the same way

[Anonymous Coward]

It supposedly tracks the distance of your ride. One night I didn't dock a bike properly, and when I went to lock it in the dock in the morning, the app said I rode 1000 miles or something. There are no GPS in the bikes, they just have a timer that multiplies the time you had the bike out by some random distance. Also, the calorie estimate, while obviously not accurate since it doesn't ask your body size and age, doesn't even try to be accurate, it just multiplies the fake distance by some random calorie amount. I felt so disappointed once I realized the bikes weren't really tracking your stats. On the other hand, once you have an Apple Watch you don't really need a third party tracker for fitness stats, so whatever.

Answer 3 questions Pikoro... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

Question #1: Your post's on topic Pikoro? Question #2: Hypocrite much Mr. Pot calling a kettle black??

* Most importantly, Question #3: - Why are you ALWAYS stalking me around this forums harassing me for???

(Your post history bears it out for me that you stalk me & I see you sockpuppet "downmod hid" this last 2 times I posted it instead of you answering 3 simple questions in each link too https://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11432635&cid=55667465/ https://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11432635&cid=55667493/ as well as all my other posts - no biggie - only takes me seconds to repost them to expose & humiliate you, troll!

Pikoro = "Run, Forrest: RUN!!!" RoTfLmAo!

APK

P.S.=> Grow up Pikoro! ... apk

Answer 3 questions Pikoro... apk

[Anonymous Coward]

Question #1: Your post's on topic Pikoro? Question #2: Hypocrite much Mr. Pot calling a kettle black??

* Most importantly, Question #3: - Why are you ALWAYS stalking me around this forums harassing me for???

(Your post history bears it out for me that you stalk me & I see you sockpuppet "downmod hid" this last 2 times I posted it instead of you answering 3 simple questions in each link too https://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11432635&cid=55667465/ https://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11432635&cid=55667493/ as well as all my other posts - no biggie - only takes me seconds to repost them to expose & humiliate you, troll!

Pikoro = "Run, Forrest: RUN!!!" RoTfLmAo!

APK

P.S.=> Grow up Pikoro! ... apk

There's no questioning the accuracy of this

[Anonymous Coward]

See subject & NEW APK Hosts File Engine 10++ 32/64-bit https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=&bih=&q=%22APK+Hosts+File+Engine%22+and+%22start64%22&btnG=Google+Search&gbv=1/

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APK

P.S. - Safe https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/e01211ca36aa02e923f20adee0a3c4f5d5187dc65bdf1c997b3da3c2b0745425/analysis/1433430542/ (self checking vs. infection of it built-in)

Re:"Pizza" tracker?

[Desler]

real Parmesian

If that’s what they call the cheese I can gaurantee it’s not “real.” The real stuff would be called Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Quoted /.ers disagree w/ you Pikoro

[Anonymous Coward]

"I'm going to continue using the Host File Engine. Your software is well written, functional. The Host File Engine performs exactly as promised" - by mmell on Thursday February 16, 2017

"I've never tried to belittle (APK's work), I've flat out said it's good" - by BronsConon Thursday February 11, 2016

"his hosts program is actually pretty good" - by xenotransplant on Monday August 10, 2015

"his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources" by alexgieg on Friday September 25, 2015

"I like your host file system." - by Karmashock on Wednesday September 09, 2015 (#50489401)

"I do use APK's host file on all my systems at home" by OrangeTide on Friday December 01, 2017

"I personally use a HOSTS file blocker produced from a genius called APK. Ever heard of him?" by 110010001000 on Friday October 27, 2017

APK

P.S.=> Need more? apk

Re: "Pizza" tracker?

[mapuche]

"Many stores in the United States sell "Romano cheese", which should not be confused for genuine pecorino Romano which is an Italian product recognized and protected by the laws of the European Community. Unlike the Italian cheese, American Romano is milder and uses cow's milk instead of sheep's milk."

He was right.

Re:"Pizza" tracker?

[Anonymous Coward]

I, however, have a Red Pencil Box... Top that!

Who the "F".....

[MerlTurkin]

.... Tracks a damn pizza???

Re: "Pizza" tracker?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, at 4x the price it better be.

Re:More specifically, they think it's a bunch of c

[Aighearach]

You do realize that even things that are not as good as the best thing, can be better or worse than each other?

Is that actually a difficult concept?

Honestly I imagine "Melinda"

[Trax3001BBS]

is very happy about this.

"...reports the lifestyle editor at Fox News."

[jpellino]

They have this much time on their hands?

Re:Answer 3 questions Pikoro... apk

[Pikoro]

I never mod down any comment by an AC. besides, your posts bury themselves.

Buried? Yet you REPLY (& RAN, 'Forrest')... ap

[Anonymous Coward]

See subject: IF they 'bury themselves', why reply? You ran from answering 3 simple questions https://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11432635&cid=55668007/ why? Cat got your tongue boy??

* You act the ass is WHY you refuse to answer simple questions in that link above - "Run, Forrest: RUN!!!", lol = you Pikoro!

(Pikoro, your childish "ne'er-do-well" bullshit games give me a HUGE wealth of things to toss back @ you EVERYTIME you do this shit - you're doing me a favor!)

APK

P.S.=> You're online trolling trash Pikoro - plain & simple, no doubt about it... apk

Progress Bars

[Anonymous Coward]

I feel the same about progress bars in windows. Where amazingly 30 seconds continues for a few minutes.

Re:More specifically, they think it's a bunch of c

[Narcocide]

I was just drunk and angry. I am sorry.

In-store displays too

[dschl]

I picked up pizza for the kids on Friday. I don't usually buy Dominos, but had to get something next door. I ordered online to see a 25-35 minute pickup time. Showered and got dressed, arriving there 25 minutes later. I see a monitor over the counter with three pages of names cycling though, around 10 names per page.

My name had a pizza wait time of 11 minutes when I arrived at 5:48pm. It was down to 9 minutes by 5:50, then 8 minutes at 5:51. I thought to myself, wow, this was impressive tech. Except that the countdown froze at 8 minutes until 5:59 when the pizza hit the oven. I think it was in a box by around 6:08.

It was very busy, so I'd guess that their software isn't accounting for the finite production rates of the human workers. They were all rushing about, but it's too bad their software time estimation is so bad. You'd think it would be easy to look at the rate that pizzas are hitting the oven (in pizzas/minute), and then calculate the remaining time for the queue using live production rates. Very disappointing since the initial appearance of accuracy was belied by the reality of their low quality time estimate and the frozen countdown timer.

tl;dr. Don't give exact times if they are not accurate

Re:Quoted /.ers disagree w/ you Pikoro

[OrangeTide]

"I do use APK's host file" by OrangeTide on Friday December 01, 2017 @11:21AM (#55657921)

Aww.. you do care what I think. All this time I thought you hated me. I'm glad we can finally behave like reasonable adults without threats of violence performed by certain military people on your request.

So let's see what you think OrangeTide

[Anonymous Coward]

Backup your bs w/ proof OrangeTide https://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11425437&cid=55663429/ provide proof of me picking on you 'for years' as you said in the post parent to mine in that link I just posted - you can't.

(If I had issues w/ you I'd have bookmarked it & I never have before YOU came in calling me a "git" (fool) starting hassles!)

* I am going to let YOU finish YOURSELF boy.

Additionally - CLASSIC & PRICELESS: I also CAUGHT YOU posting UNIDENTIFIABLE AC vs. using your registered 'lusername' yet you point to YOUR POST that was done under your REGISTERED 'lusrname' claiming it too (YOU = FLATOUT-BUSTED -> https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11432439&cid=55667787/ )

SEE YOU DOWNMOD HID THIS 6x TIMES I POSTED IT TOO https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11430293&cid=55668641/ & https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11433711&cid=55669021/ + https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11432725&cid=55669055/ https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11432725&cid=55669519/ https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11430293&cid=55669493/ https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11432483&cid=55666417/ - weak trying to hide it!

APK

P.S.=> This is the 20th time you've done a "Run, Forrest: RUN!!!" vs. it OrangeTide - why's that? I caught you lying?? Cat got your tongue??? Yes, obviously - pitiful... apk

Re: More specifically, they think it's a bunch of

[Anonymous Coward]

The tracker has jack shit to do with the food.

Here I'll break it down for you.
When you place an order it starts a timer.
When it's being made it starts a timer.
When it goes in the oven, new timer!

The employees don't get any trouble for being slow, they get in trouble for the time on the computer looking bad.
They are trained to keep those timers under a certain time wether they got to that step or not.

When all the timers are done they assign it to a driver who's probably still on some other delivery just keep the timer number looking good.
Then it gets reassigned to the first driver to show up.

This is called micromanaging and it's retarded in a restaurant,

My kid works at the local Dominos, which I used to manage, there are no timers used in regards to the app.

Updates are done manually, by the employees, however, there is nothing to force the employee to honestly report what they are doing, or what steps have actually been completed, or who they were completed by.

You swipe your badge or type your employee number, depending on if your store has chip cards yet, and you press a "next" button that moves the tracker to the next stage.

The stickers on the side of your pizza with your name and order, those are printed automatically, the "order received" button is pressed when someone in the store rips that label sticker off of the printer and attaches it to a box (this is the first thing done)

Then someone starts making your pizza, they type their number/swipe their badge to notify the customer that the order is being prepared (unless it's the same person as who did the previous step, if you just push "next" it assumes the same person and tells the customer the same name a second time)

The same thing happens when a pizza is placed into the oven.

Again when it comes out of the oven.

Again when it is handed to a delivery driver.

Again when the driver either presses an "I delivered it" button on a cell phone issued to the store or calls the store and says "I delivered the pizza for person X"

Sometimes pizzas can be delivered before it even says your order is received or your order can say it is delivered before it's been cooked depending on how well individual employees of individual stores follow procedure.

Don't hate you: I pity you & violence?

[Anonymous Coward]

See subject: What "threat of violence"? Quit playing 'wannabe victim' when YOU are the scumbag running from https://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11434053&cid=55671649/ backing up your lying bullshit after YOU STARTED CRAP WITH ME!

* I merely pointed out HOW I 'zeroed-in' on Coren22 who disappeared in March of this year due to it is all - no threat of violence @ all, I just pointed out WHO/WHERE & more importantly WHAT he was (a troll who was lying about me also).

Lastly & fitting: The CAPTCHA for this post was what "your kind" are - WENCHES, lol!

(... Except "your kind" behind your "bugs bunny" FAKE NAMES are WORSE than wenches - you're "not men", lol who try "twist things" & LIE - well, you're only exposing yourself publicly + "ReAcTiNg" despite your SMARMINESS attempts, & I LOVE IT)

APK

P.S.=> I am letting you destroy yourself in you running away from proving your own words you now have to EAT, lol (you can't backup your bullshit & it's hilarious letting you humiliate yourself this way - BIG entertainment) - you did it to yourself... apk

Accurate statement

[Rick Schumann]

In a statement Domino's blamed the problem on employees not entering correct data, while also insisting that "the vast majority of the time Pizza Tracker works as designed."

My impression is that this is an accurate statement, and the different stages of making and delivering the pizza you ordered are advanced by a person, not any algorithm or computerized estimate, and considering how busy it gets in a place like that I'm not at all surprised if they do or don't get around to advancing the status of an order in a timely manner -- nor am I bothered by this.