Scheduling Operations – OM in the News

1099-K Changes Impact Small Firms and Individuals

With the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021, an important provision related to the 1099-K tax form affects those who receive payments through third-party networks. Just a few examples of those who may be affected: anyone paid for a side hustle through Paypal, who sells on eBay, or who contracts with companies such as Uber and Lyft.

In this post, we’ll focus on the capacity and productivity impacts of this tax law change on a variety of stakeholders.

WHAT […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2022-08-15T04:27:35+00:00August 18, 2022|Tags: automated processes, capacity, gig economy, regulations, service processes, technology|

Grubhub’s NYC Free Lunch Failure

On May 17, 2022, Grubhub offered New York City residents a free lunch. Specifically, Grubhub offered $15 off orders placed between 11am and 2pm, not including tax, tip, or delivery fees.

The offer was tremendously popular. At one point, Grubhub received 6,000 orders per minute. Orders arrived at a rate six times higher than a similar promotion the company ran in 2021.

Unfortunately, instead of being a tremendous success, it turned into an epic failure. Almost immediately, the app failed […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2022-06-06T06:46:27+00:00June 14, 2022|Tags: capacity, fast casual restaurants, forecasting, queuing theory, quick serve restaurants, scheduling, service delivery, service recovery|

Santa Barbara Chick-fil-A Too Successful?

Santa Barbara’s Chick-fil-A restaurant has been so successful that cars back up onto the road in front of the restaurant for about 90 minutes a day, and up to 155 minutes a day on Saturdays.

The backups have become such a problem that the City is in process of declaring this Chick-fil-A a public nuisance.

Santa Barbara has an ordinance that bans the construction of new drive-thru restaurants, but this Chick-fil-A location was previously a Burger King restaurant with a drive-thru, and […]

By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2022-05-17T06:06:37+00:00May 18, 2022|Tags: capacity, facility location, process design, queuing theory, regulations, waiting lines|

Airlines Stuck on Runway with Pilot Shortages?

With demand for travel rebounding, pilot shortages have caused a host of flight cancellations in recent months. There is no easy solution in sight.

Some airlines in the United States are looking to hire pilots from other countries such as Australia, Canada, and many other global locations to fill the gap. Candidates from Australia are particularly attractive because of a “specialty occupation” U.S. visa that is fairly easy to get and can be renewed two years at a time as many […]

By Lisa M. Spencer|2022-05-10T02:25:12+00:00May 9, 2022|Tags: aircraft, capacity planning, work force scheduling|