Amtrak's 400% food markup

[hessjm]

Is there a Wawa in Wawa? http://www.wawa.cc/ No? Waaaaahhh!!

If you hang a right (east) at Wawa about 20 minutes down the road is Hawk Junction - that's where I usually grab a Beaver (crazy old float plane) to fly into northern Ontario for some great fishing!

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Regarding a point of sale system.... An iPad in a pelican case is all you need for hardware. Any, and I mean ANY app developer with any real knowledge can make you an App or 2 that will handle all of your needs.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Is there a Wawa in Wawa? http://www.wawa.cc/ No? Waaaaahhh!!

There is a Wawa just over a mile from Wawa, PA, where Wawa's got their start.

https://www.wawa.com/StoreLocator.aspx

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Regarding a point of sale system.... An iPad in a pelican case is all you need for hardware. Any, and I mean ANY app developer with any real knowledge can make you an App or 2 that will handle all of your needs.

On the one hand you're absolutely correct. On the other hand the extranet purchasing, intranet inventory, specialized accounting, regulatory reporting, legacy interfacing, and irregular operations solutions may require a bit more knowledge than a random application developer would be able to handle on their own. Some of these solutions seem like they should be cheaper and easier than we make them out to be. On the other hand properly mixing systems as diverse as iOS and SAP can be prone to unexpected complications and limitations.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Regarding a point of sale system.... An iPad in a pelican case is all you need for hardware. Any, and I mean ANY app developer with any real knowledge can make you an App or 2 that will handle all of your needs.

On the one hand you're absolutely correct. On the other hand the extranet purchasing, intranet inventory, specialized accounting, regulatory reporting, legacy interfacing, and irregular operations solutions may require a bit more knowledge than a random application developer would be able to handle on their own. Some of these solutions seem like they should be cheaper and easier than we make them out to be. On the other hand properly mixing systems as diverse as iOS and SAP can be prone to unexpected complications and limitations.

Agreed. But their are certainly many app developers out there who could do the job very easily.

 

[veriria]

OBS on Amtrak deserves every penny of their compensation. Standing up for hours on moving trains, away from home and family, forced overtime, working holidays, weird work schedules, part of the crew in emergency situations......Its not Applebee's or McDonalds. They deserve more compensation, not cuts in their wages.

Iowa Pacific provides better service for less money.The Downeaster provides better service for less money.

Either the other OBS on Amtrak are overpaid... or there's a giant money-suck somewhere other than their wages. Knowing Amtrak, I'd actually bet on the second option.

For instance, how much time do the OBS *WASTE*, and yes I mean *WASTE*, on counting stock and keeping track of paperwork? A point of sale system should simply eliminate this work entirely. They shouldn't be paid for this work because this work shouldn't be happening *at all*. Perhaps Iowa Pacific and Downeaster have more efficient accounting operations?

This is just one example. I don't know enough to find other examples, but knowing Amtrak, I expect there are others.

Not much time at all, with the way doing our paperwork changed. Especially once we get back to our home city; everything is counted prior to arrival and it takes less than 20 minutes to finish up once we arrive.

 

[John Bredin]

Regarding a point of sale system.... An iPad in a pelican case is all you need for hardware. Any, and I mean ANY app developer with any real knowledge can make you an App or 2 that will handle all of your needs.

And then a Congresscritter stands up on his hind legs on the House floor and croaks "I-PADS! Amtrak is handing out iPads to its employees at the taxpayer's expense! And with fancy cases, too!" hboy:

 

[jis]

Regarding a point of sale system.... An iPad in a pelican case is all you need for hardware. Any, and I mean ANY app developer with any real knowledge can make you an App or 2 that will handle all of your needs.

And then a Congresscritter stands up on his hind legs on the House floor and croaks "I-PADS! Amtrak is handing out iPads to its employees at the taxpayer's expense! And with fancy cases, too!" hboy:

Yup. For those frickin' Neanderthals (Oops I am probably denigrating Neanderthals here, Sorry!) anything beyond a ticket punch and a pencil and pad would probably be considered too high tech anyway.

 

[John Bredin]

Regarding a point of sale system.... An iPad in a pelican case is all you need for hardware. Any, and I mean ANY app developer with any real knowledge can make you an App or 2 that will handle all of your needs.

And then a Congresscritter stands up on his hind legs on the House floor and croaks "I-PADS! Amtrak is handing out iPads to its employees at the taxpayer's expense! And with fancy cases, too!" hboy:

Yup. For those frickin' Neanderthals (Oops I am probably denigrating Neanderthals here, Sorry!) anything beyond a ticket punch and a pencil and pad would probably be considered too high tech anyway.

Well the ticket punch still reigns supreme on Metra. Especially when a passenger falls asleep (or pretends to) without displaying his ticket and the conductor RAPS his ticket punch RAP! against the gallery railing RAP! to wake him up RAP! to show RAP! his ticket. A melodious sound for all the other passengers. :angry:

(You can buy an electronic ticket through the Ventra app, but you confirm it for the conductor by touching the screen: the virtual ticket changes color and the train moves. No scanner needed.)

 

[Triley]

OBS on Amtrak deserves every penny of their compensation. Standing up for hours on moving trains, away from home and family, forced overtime, working holidays, weird work schedules, part of the crew in emergency situations......Its not Applebee's or McDonalds. They deserve more compensation, not cuts in their wages.

Iowa Pacific provides better service for less money.The Downeaster provides better service for less money.

Either the other OBS on Amtrak are overpaid... or there's a giant money-suck somewhere other than their wages. Knowing Amtrak, I'd actually bet on the second option.

For instance, how much time do the OBS *WASTE*, and yes I mean *WASTE*, on counting stock and keeping track of paperwork? A point of sale system should simply eliminate this work entirely. They shouldn't be paid for this work because this work shouldn't be happening *at all*. Perhaps Iowa Pacific and Downeaster have more efficient accounting operations?

This is just one example. I don't know enough to find other examples, but knowing Amtrak, I expect there are others.

Not much time at all, with the way doing our paperwork changed. Especially once we get back to our home city; everything is counted prior to arrival and it takes less than 20 minutes to finish up once we arrive.

We still need to count our stock upon arrival of the commissary at the start of our trip, and in the case of Acela First Class, at the end. Still need to number crunch the 896 too. We also need to count the stock upon doing an LSA to LSA transfer, and if on a train where we did a transfer, we need to count the stock at the end of the trip as well.

Then there's the whole...having to rearrange and load the Cafe cars to our liking. I for one support the idea of remodeling the Amfleet Cafes to take the roll on carts like the Acelas use, that way everything is always in the same place no matter what Regional I work, and it's a lot easier to count, we can fit more stock in less space, etc. But...that is a subject for another topic.

 

[Palmetto]

Regarding a point of sale system.... An iPad in a pelican case is all you need for hardware. Any, and I mean ANY app developer with any real knowledge can make you an App or 2 that will handle all of your needs.

And then a Congresscritter stands up on his hind legs on the House floor and croaks "I-PADS! Amtrak is handing out iPads to its employees at the taxpayer's expense! And with fancy cases, too!" hboy:

Yup. For those frickin' Neanderthals (Oops I am probably denigrating Neanderthals here, Sorry!) anything beyond a ticket punch and a pencil and pad would probably be considered too high tech anyway.

Well the ticket punch still reigns supreme on Metra. Especially when a passenger falls asleep (or pretends to) without displaying his ticket and the conductor RAPS his ticket punch RAP! against the gallery railing RAP! to wake him up RAP! to show RAP! his ticket. A melodious sound for all the other passengers. :angry:

(You can buy an electronic ticket through the Ventra app, but you confirm it for the conductor by touching the screen: the virtual ticket changes color and the train moves. No scanner needed.)

The MBTA in Boston could take a lesson from the conductors on Metra.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Regarding a point of sale system.... An iPad in a pelican case is all you need for hardware. Any, and I mean ANY app developer with any real knowledge can make you an App or 2 that will handle all of your needs.

And then a Congresscritter stands up on his hind legs on the House floor and croaks "I-PADS! Amtrak is handing out iPads to its employees at the taxpayer's expense! And with fancy cases, too!" hboy:

Yup. For those frickin' Neanderthals (Oops I am probably denigrating Neanderthals here, Sorry!) anything beyond a ticket punch and a pencil and pad would probably be considered too high tech anyway.

Well the ticket punch still reigns supreme on Metra. Especially when a passenger falls asleep (or pretends to) without displaying his ticket and the conductor RAPS his ticket punch RAP! against the gallery railing RAP! to wake him up RAP! to show RAP! his ticket. A melodious sound for all the other passengers. :angry:

(You can buy an electronic ticket through the Ventra app, but you confirm it for the conductor by touching the screen: the virtual ticket changes color and the train moves. No scanner needed.)

The MBTA in Boston could take a lesson from the conductors on Metra.

And I've experienced many a Metra/C&NW ride where the Conductor enters the car and LOUD enough to wake the hard dead proclaims HAVE YOUR TICKETS OR DISPLAY PASSES OUT AND READY. And they can get everyone punched and cleared faster than a machine could scan.