In the Sept. 19 edition of The Slate, I wrote an editorial titled “Is it worth the wait,” in which I had sharp criticism of the mobile ordering system used by Shippensburg University’s dining services.
Loyal Slate readers may remember my situation of placing smoothie orders at Freshens for multiple days and having to wait 10 to 15 minutes past my scheduled order time.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have back-to-back classes in Rowland Hall from 11 to 12:15 and 12:30 to 1:45. I always order my smoothie before the first class starts with an order time of 12:10. In the first weeks of the semester, I was late to my 12:30 class twice because I had to wait until my order was completed.
However, my appetite is happy to report that my smoothies have been far more punctual in recent weeks. For the past several class periods, I am greeted with “Your order is ready!” from the Transact app as I leave Rowland.
In the original article, I said “the current system of mobile ordering is entirely unsustainable.” There is still more work that should be done to allow for increased customization within the app — I can only order smoothies because the app will not let me get a rice bowl without lettuce — but the ease of my experience as a Ship Dining customer has vastly improved since the start of the semester.
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