Prompt's TechBlog

In what will likely be touted as the greatest technological advancement of the year (at least in the "Food Delivery" category), Domino's Pizza announced its new "Pizza Tracker", a service which allows you to follow the status of your order through an online portal.

Customers will no longer be required to sit in angst pondering the current state of their meal- by logging in to the Pizza Tracker they will see which step your pizza is in. The system informs you of the following stages: preparation, baking, boxing, and delivery.

The Pizza Tracker will be provided in conjunction with Domino's current promotion "You Got 30 Minutes", which pledges to get the pie to your door in half an hour. Of course the fine-print for the promotion states "Because safety is a priority 'You Got 30 Minutes' is not a guarantee but an estimate. You may get more."

However the creation of the Pizza Tracker would indicate that 30 minutes is apparently too long for people to go without updated information on their food. The CTO of Domino's is quoted in USA Today as saying: "It's an emotional roller coaster when you order. Customers wonder: Did they get my order? Are they taking care of me? Will it show up?"

Well I don't think Domino's is going far enough with this: I mean, if 30 minutes is too long to wait patiently and for pizza, to the extent where you need to log on to your computer to check its status, Domino's may as well just deliver a bottle of Xanax with your large pepperoni. They can throw in a large diet Coke and call it the "Anxiety Combo Meal".

The system, which is being tested in 3,400 franchises around the US, will be active in all Domino's outlets by this summer, and be tested by me this weekend.

# posted by Zach Hofer-Shall at 5:40 PM