Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling

Re:Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling by jandrese on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @01:01PM (#24710251)

Coffee shops ask for your name so they can write it on the cup to make sure you get the right order at the pickup counter. It's a quality control measure. I guess they could ask you to think up a random number instead, but some people would find that mildly offputting I think .

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Re:Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling by bee_rider on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @01:13PM (#24710377)

Some places will just give you an order number, which usually increases sequentially, and has the side-benefit that you have a vague measure of how far your order is from being completed. Although, having the person's name is also nice, because people tend to be good at recognizing when their name is called.

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Re:Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling by hnick on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @09:43PM (#24714803)

Replacing names with numbers? How dystopian!

This is of course a joke, I am a fan of the number system. The honour system also works fine here in Australia, they just call out the order and you go and take it after a tiny delay to see if the guy who was there first goes for it.

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Re:Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling by rovr138 on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @01:21PM (#24710483)

Perfect,your order is #56

You don't have to ask for a number, just give them one.

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Re:Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling by pwinnski on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @04:49PM (#24712558)

That is indeed what most places do: the names are a more recent thing. Of course, now you need to keep the paper receipt with the number on it, or a plastic number card that might or might not be returned to the counter, then train yourself to listen for an arbitrary number, even though your brain is already quite adept at hearing your name. For most people, most of the time, the first name is an upgrade. For edge cases, unfortunately, it's worse.

One restaurant I love approaches the problem by giving out name cards (brightly-colored paper, so disposable or cheaply replaceable) rather than numbers on the receipt, but the names are of famous personalities. I've been Dolly Parton, I've been Arnold Schwarzenegger, I've been Jackie Robinson, etc. They're fun because unlike numbers, they're easy to remember and can provoke conversation in a group, or fond thoughts when alone. Bravo to Twisted Root Burger Co for this approach!

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Re:Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling by hombre_fatal on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @01:53PM (#24710797)

You'd need a ticketing system so people even remember what their number is. And for what upside when names work fine?

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Re:Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling by another-dave on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @05:26PM (#24712929)

Names work fine if your name is easily pronounced. Otherwise you end up making up a name just for Starbucks which takes away from their personalisation thing

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Re:Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling by yencabulator on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @06:36PM (#24713617)

Taking away a corporation's personalisation thing sounds like a good idea.

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Re:Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling by a1369209993 on Thursday October 08, 2020 @12:59AM (#24715999)

It's definitely a good idea, but it's not clear why the corporation would want that.

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Re:Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling by berti on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @05:57PM (#24713238)

It works fine for McDonalds. They just print the number in a huge typeface on the receipt. They don’t have to pretend to care, and I don’t have to mess around spelling my name out.

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Re:Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling by yencabulator on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @06:37PM (#24713626)

The world is moving on from paper receipts, though. For regular Starbucks customers, payment by phone is routine, and there's normally no paper receipt.

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Re:Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling by astura on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @01:58PM (#24710854)

There's potential overlap using names when it's busy. This happened to me once and my name isn't particularly common.

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Re:Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling by TylerE on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @08:03PM (#24714263)

Do names work fine when 3 John's walk in in a row?

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Re:Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling by scollet on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @03:47PM (#24711946)

> ticketing system

Receipt.

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Re:Lessons learned from onboarding emails with no HTML styling by bshimmin on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @05:07PM (#24712746)

Yes, precisely. Even my local (definitely not very high-tech) fish-and-chip shop can manage to print a number at the top of the receipt, and then call that number out when your food is ready.

Starbucks ask you for a name to make the process seem more personal and friendly. Apparently they started doing this in 2012; it was met with quite some head-scratching in the UK at the time. The other big coffee chains here do not do this, to the best of my knowledge.

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