UX Naughtiness: OH domi-NO! Dominos are mean and tricksy.

I have that sinking feeling you get when you post a reference to a meme that nobody else is old enough to remember...

I find the focus on education for healthy eating fascinating. The idea that people just don't understand how bad for them junk food is. Of course we understand! That's exactly the point. 

The thing I like most about junk food is that I know it's killing me a bit. Imagine, if fish and chips was the healthiest food there was. A superfood. All you need to live a happy and healthy life. Would you still crave it so badly on a Friday night? Or would you realise that without the inherent naughtiness of eating it, it's actually a bit "meh" as a meal? 

I certainly feel that way about Dominos. I know there's enough salt in each pizza to turn my daughter's aquarium from freshwater to marine. I know that I'll wake up the following morning feeling like a tomato that's just been sun-dried. But, again, that's kinda the point. 

This is a long way of saying, I suppose, that I eat Dominos sometimes. And I know I shouldn't. But there we are. 

Now, I guess you have to accept that Dominos, a company that sell food that actively shortens life expectancies, probably aren't the most moral bunch...but you do expect a bare-minimum of honesty when you order.

So, what's got my goat? The checkout! This screen! 

I added these things to the basket as an example. It's not a real order. But it looks good, nonetheless.

So, what's the problem? 

The problem is in the ridiculous way Dominos (and other pizza places, to be fair) decide to structure their pricing. Rather than charge a fair price for the pizza and have people just pay that much, they have decided it's a nicer experience to overcharge for all of their products, then provide a variety of "deals" to reduce the cost back down to a reasonable level. 

So, in any given order you might be having a "two for £X" deal, plus a "save XX% when you spend £XX" deal...plus adding on a couple of upgrades. Then, of course, the "XX% off" only applies to certain items and the chicken must never be too cheap... And there are multiple permutations. 

Well, what if I don't use the 40% off code, and I use the two pizza for £30 code? 

What if I have the "Engineering Manger special", then add the chicken afterwards? 

All of this leads to one ultimate question at the end:

What is this going to cost me? 

This should be a simple answer, right? We understand how tabulation has worked since the dawning of time (or the dawning of tabulation, anyway). You put all of the individual costs at the top, then the total in big letters at the bottom. 

So, in the example above, it's clear that this particular permutation of offers will cost me £33.98. Fair enough. 

BUT NO. It's not that simple. Y'see where its says "Basket total"? That's their gotcha. Yes, the big number is in bold. Yes, it's at the bottom. Yes, any normal people would expect that to be what you're going to be charged. But, no, it's the "basket total" - which is to say, the amount you'll be charged _before_ delivery. 

So the delivery, despite being listed above the big bold number, is added afterwards. The actual grand total of what you pay isn't really shown to you at all in the app - you only get it as a little number on the Google Pay (or insert your payment provider of choice here) confirmation screen. 

I mention the pricing structure above, because it's really what exacerbates the problem. 

You might argue, under normal circumstances, that the consumer should notice easily that this "basket total" doesn't include delivery. I mean, if you had a £10 pizza and two £5 sides, you'd understand that £23 was £3 more than you were expecting. That would be self-evident.

But when people are reliant on Dominos correcting deriving the total for them, amidst all the various offers, you can't expect them to realise delivery is not included in the presented total. And I guess that's why this is really sinister - Dominos are just hoping people don't notice. 

Which I think is mean. And tricksy. 

Most often, I share these kind of UI tidbits in the hope that people will have a laugh and maybe do better in future. But this one's a bit different, as it's not a mistake or fail that they've done this...it's been done deliberately to scam people out of a couple more quid. 

So I suppose the questions it raises aren't really technical, but more ethical. As a UX designer, would you agree to design something like this? As an engineer, would you agree to implement it? As a shareholder, would you support it? 

Answers on a postcard, please :)