Planet Money
Did a pizza restaurant’s humble status page change how we wait forever?
When you order a Lyft or Uber, you get texts every few minutes about your car approaching and arriving. When you have a package coming, you get a notification when it’s shipped, when it’s en route, and when it’s out for delivery. Why do so many companies send these constant updates?
We have a theory: It’s because of Domino’s. In 2008, Domino’s launched the Pizza Tracker, a novel tool that delighted customers by allowing them to obsessively monitor their pizza’s progress from order to oven to delivery. The Pizza Tracker became a canonical model for other companies trying to improve their customers’ experiences of waiting for all kinds of products and services. And now? Pizza Trackers are everywhere.
On today’s show: how the Domino’s Pizza Tracker shaped the internet, and how trackers went from transparently sharing information with consumers to — in some cases — actively deceiving us.
Support:
— Planet Money+
Read:
— Our book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life
— Our weekly longform Planet Money newsletter
— Our weekly Indicator round-up newsletter
Follow:
— Instagram
— TikTok
— YouTube
— Facebook
This episode was hosted by Nick Fountain and Alex Mayyasi. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler, edited by Liza Yeager, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Cena Loffredo and Jimmy Keeley. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.
Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
-
The year NYC went broke
In 1975, New York City ran out of money. For a decade it had managed to pay for its hundreds of thousands of city employees and robust social services by taking on billions of dollars…
-
How the government got hedge funded
The U.S. government spends a ton of money, on everything from Medicare to roads to defense. In fact, it spends way more than it takes in. So…it borrows money, in the bond market. By selling…
-
Two ways AI is changing the business of crime (Two Indicators)
Pre-order the Planet Money book here for your free gift. Our sister show, The Indicator, is chronicling the evolving business of crime for its Vice Week series. Today, we bring to you two cases of…
-
BOARD GAMES 2: Making our prototype
It’s here! It’s free to download and playtest! It’s the Planet Money game! (Download here.) Download and playtest the game go here Sign up for the 11/1 virtual AMA event and get updates about the…
-
BOARD GAMES 2: Making our prototype
It’s here! It’s free to download and playtest! It’s the Planet Money game! (Download here.) Download and playtest the game go here Sign up for the 11/1 virtual AMA event and get updates about the…
-
BOARD GAMES 1: We’re making a game
We want to make a board game. It must, of course, teach the world about economics. It must be fun. It’d be nice if it sold lots of copies! How hard could that be!? (Monopoly…
-
BOARD GAMES 1: We’re making a game
We want to make a board game. It must, of course, teach the world about economics. It must be fun. It’d be nice if it sold lots of copies! How hard could that be!? (Monopoly…
-
How refrigeration took over the world
The next time you open your fridge, take a second to behold the miracles inside of it: Raspberries from California, butter from New Zealand, steak from Nebraska. None of that would have been remotely possible…
-
How Jane Street’s secret billion-dollar trade unraveled
On Wall Street, fortunes are often won and lost with the tiniest advantages. And for the past few years, one trading firm has stood out from the rest for both huge profits and careful secrecy…
-
In Gaza, money is falling apart
Israel has been blocking the flow of physical money into Gaza since the start of the war. So whatever paper cash was in Gaza before the war, that’s all that’s been circulating. It’s falling apart…