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Comment by DoreenMichele | Hacker News Reader

You can't get (or use) Rewards points unless you order online. They also have online coupons and discounts.

They actively encourage customers to order online, pick up in person and do carry out. Most locations have minimal seating and minimal staff. Some don't even bother to have bathrooms for their customers.

Their business model actively tries to reduce the amount of overhead for the business by promoting online ordering and carryout service. So, no, ordering by phone isn't the same thing by any stretch of the imagination.

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Seems like they missed a demographic with their strategy. It shouldn’t be hard to add accessibility support to their site.

I think that misses the point. There's a mile of difference between adding sufficient accessibility to serve a demographic vs adding new legal requirements.

(Especially new requirements for which customers are financially incentivised to file suits, and for it's trivially simple to code up automated scanning to find businesses you can target.)

Most handicapped people live in poverty. I'm quite convinced that a lot of privileged people are also moderately or significantly handicapped and hiding it. If you are important enough, people meet all your whackadoodle requirements without wondering why in the hell you can't do it "normally."

I've been in situations where I had privilege and I've been in situations where I couldn't get adequate accommodation for my handicap. Having privilege usually beats the tar out of having handicap accommodation.

If there are any genuinely blind people managing to supposedly "game the system" in the manner you describe, more power to them. Because trying to play it straight and do the right thing and earn my way and blah blah blah mostly seems to get me absolutely crapped all over.

If fear of lawsuits means businesses end up making their websites accessible to disabled people, then… mission accomplished?

> Some don't even bother to have bathrooms for their customers.

At least in California, any business with eat-in food services is required (by law) to provide restrooms. If a Domino's franchise does not offer eat-in service, it's entirely reasonable (and legal) they don't have public restrooms.

I've eaten at a Domino's with only one or two tables and no bathroom. I don't recall what state, possibly Arizona.

But I've done a fair amount of traveling and Domino's seems to position themselves as basically a carryout window. You can call and you can order in person, but most locations seem to do the vast majority of their business via the online ordering system.

They print off labels, slap them on the appropriate boxes and begin making the food. Some locations do a brisk business while only having one or two employees on site, plus one or more delivery drivers.

The employees sometimes clearly find it to be a hardship to take orders by phone or in person. It interrupts their workflow and they are frequently very busy just trying to fill orders coming in off the website.

This is a state-by-state thing. In Michigan, restrooms are required if dine-in is available. In NYC and Boston, there are numerous eat-in places with no bathroom. Good luck washing your hands before eating.

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