FC: Newsbytes on Y2K and McDonalds: "Senate in a Pickle"

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

> Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 12:24:25 -0500
> Subject: here's a cute one for you
> Cc: declan () well com
> From: Robert_MacMillan () newsbytes com (Robert MacMillan)
>
> Wrote this one up today - The bad puns called to me
> with an irresistible force...
>
> McDonald's Withholds Y2K Info, Senate In A Pickle 
>                  
>                  By Robert MacMillan, Newsbytes
>                  WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 
>                  20 Sep 1999, 11:54 AM CST
>
>                  Senate Y2K Committee Chairman Robert Bennett, R-Utah,
> and Ranking Democrat
>                  Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., are not counting themselves
> among the billions and
>                  billions that McDonald's has served. The senators
> tomorrow plan to castigate
>                  McDonald's publicly over the corporation's refusal to
> share its Year 2000 readiness
>                  information with the committee. 
>
>                  Bennett and Dodd plan to hold a "colloquy" tomorrow
> before their scheduled Year
>                  2000 Committee hearing on education issues, in which
> Bennett will respond to
>                  prepared questions from Dodd that ask him why McDonald's
> has refrained in offering
>                  a few McNuggets of its Year 2000 preparation strategy. 
>
>                  Dodd is expected to tell the committee how McDonald's
> declined to participate in a
>                  July hearing on the readiness of global corporations for
> handling the date change,
>                  saying that it would deliver the Happy Meal later in the
> year. 
>
>                  One Year 2000 Committee staffer described McDonald's as
> "arrogant" in its dealings
>                  with the committee, saying that "I don't know if Sen.
> Bennett is a McDonald's
>                  customer, but from now on he's going to Burger King." 
>
>                  "Unfortunately, McDonald's was unable to provide a
> witness at our July hearing,
>                  despite the fact that several well-known corporations
> were there, including Ford
>                  Motor Co., Phillip Morris and Procter and Gamble," reads
> the text of Bennett's
>                  prepared remarks. "(After) numerous attempts to elicit
> testimony or any information
>                  from McDonald's, we received word last week that
> McDonald's would not be
>                  testifying for the committee, nor would they be offering
> a statement for the record or
>                  any other Y2K-related information." 
>
>                  Dodd is expected to respond with a grimace-laden
> statement of his own: "That is
>                  disappointing, given our experience that those who are
> often best-prepared for Y2K
>                  are usually the most willing to testify. And those who
> are unprepared don't often care
>                  to share that information with the committee." 
>
>                  Bennett, according to his statement, is expected to
> comment that the committee is
>                  not passing judgment on McDonald's Year 2000 preparation
> efforts, saying that "We
>                  can't because we don't have any information from the
> company." 
>
>                  Dodd also will point out that the committee does not
> single out corporations for
>                  special on-the-spot unless they feel there is a
> "specific situation that warrants our
>                  attention." Since McDonald's is one of the Big Macs of
> the fast food industry, "I think
>                  McDonald's would be a valuable addition for
> understanding how the business
>                  community views the Y2K situation in various parts of
> the world." 
>
>                  Bennett will say that McDonald's' additional
> responsibility to share Year 2000
>                  information comes about because of its 25,000 locations
> in 117 countries, as well as
>                  because of its extensive network of shareholders,
> employees, customers, business
>                  partners and suppliers, all of whom "have a right to
> know if the company upon which
>                  they depend is going to be open for business on Jan. 1,
> 2000, and beyond." 
>
>                  "When a major company like McDonald's hides its head in
> the sand with regard to
>                  Y2K, it tends to erode public confidence about the
> preparedness of not just that
>                  company, but our national preparedness as well," Bennett
> will say. 
>
>                  He pointed out, however, that McDonald's in most other
> respects is a "good
>                  corporate citizen," citing its willingness to take on
> many first-time employees, as
>                  well as the Ronald McDonald House for sick children. 
>
>                  McDonald's officials did not return telephone calls
> seeking comment. 
>
>                  The company does maintain a Year 2000 page on its
> Website at
>                  http://www.mcdonalds.com . The company writes that the
> date change problem "is
>                  receiving full support and attention from senior
> management," adding that "a
>                  system-wide communications campaign to promote
> awareness, understanding,
>                  commitment and action has been executed." 
>
>                  "This campaign encompassed the communication of
> McDonald's compliance
>                  expectations to all third-party suppliers, as well as
> required compliance actions for
>                  McDonald's franchisees." 
>
>                  The company said that its inventory and assessment
> phases are complete, including
>                  internal applications, vendor software, hardware,
> restaurant systems and equipment,
>                  external data interfaces, environmental systems and all
> operations and services
>                  which are date- and time-sensitive. 
>
>                  The company also claims that all testing is complete
> except for one unnamed
>                  system that is expected to be tested and made compliant
> by Oct. 31, 1999. The
>                  company also has developed Year 2000 compliance contract
> provisions with
>                  third-party suppliers. 
>
>                  The company adds that three independent audits have been
> completed between
>                  January 1998 and April 1999, and that "recommendations
> have been incorporated
>                  into our processes." 
>
>                  A validation and verification process of "renovated
> application code" was held in May,
>                  with results that "were far superior to industry
> average." 
>
>                  McDonald's also says that contingency plans will be in
> place by next month. 
>
>                  Burger King officials were not immediately available for
> comment. 
>
>                  Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com . 
>
>                  11:54 CST 
>
>                  (19990920/WIRES TOP, ONLINE, LEGAL, BUSINESS, Y2K/) 

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