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.
-
When CEO pay exploded (update)
(Note: A version of this episode originally ran in 2016.) It’s no secret that CEOs get paid a ton – and a ton more than the average worker. More than a hundred times than what…
-
The U.S. now owns a big chunk of Intel. That’s a huge deal.
Last month, President Donald Trump announced an unusual deal. Intel, the biggest microchip maker in America, had agreed to give the United States a 10 percent stake in its business. That means the U.S. government…
-
Asking for a friend … which jobs are safe from AI?
There’s one question we seem to be hearing everywhere: “Is my job safe from AI?” Dozens of you, our listeners, have written to us about this. Saying things like, “Maybe my yoga teacher side gig…
-
What happens to central banks under pressure?
President Donald Trump has been pressuring the Federal Reserve from a few angles. So we wanted to look at other examples of political pressure on central banks, to see what it might mean for us…
-
The million dollar mystery behind Milk.com
When we stumbled upon Milk.com, we were mystified. It appears to be someone’s personal website. But memorable domain names can be worth a million dollars or more. So, why is someone using this valuable internet…
-
Lisa Cook and the fight for the Fed
The Federal Reserve has been under intense pressure from President Donald Trump as he pushes for more control over the historically independent agency. The Fed is tasked with keeping inflation and unemployment under control, and…
-
Summer School 8: Graduation LIVE!
Get your own personalized summer school diploma here. Today on our final episode of Summer School 2025, we will test your knowledge. We will salute the unsung heroes of government service. And we will pick our valedictorian from…
-
Buy discount Ozempic here now click this link
In the past couple years, demand has gone wild for drugs like Ozempic – and its cousins, Zepbound, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. For people who had never been able to lose weight before, suddenly the numbers…
-
Summer School 7: Trade blocks and blockages
Tariffs are the favorite tool of our current president, but there are lots of other ways that governments insert themselves into the free exchange of goods and services. Some of these trade barriers are so…
-
Summer School 7: Trade blocks and blockages
Tariffs are the favorite tool of our current president, but there are lots of other ways that governments insert themselves into the free exchange of goods and services. Some of these trade barriers are so…