By KRIS BOYLE
kris@newsroom.byu.edu
BYU students are finding ways to use the Internet to help finance their education more than ever before.
Aaron Hardy, a graduate student in exercise science wellness, from Cardston, Alberta, started up www.anypizza.com on Oct. 15. The Web site includes the phone numbers of twelve pizza restaurants in the Provo area. Three of the businesses provide on-line purchasing.
Hardy said he came up with the idea last April when he got frustrated with the effort it takes to order pizza by phone.
Over the summer, Hardy approached the area pizza businesses with his idea. Hardy said most wanted to wait to see how things would go before they committed to the Web site, but Pizza Pipeline, 5 Buck Pizza and Papa John's all decided to give it a try.
Hardy said since its opening, the site received 40 orders during October and 80 orders in November. He said his goal was to provide everything necessary to ordering a pizza all on one page.
Once logged onto the site, the customers choose the pizza place they want to order from and they fill out an order form. They can also view specials that the business is running, Hardy said.
The customers fill out their name, address and phone number. They can also choose to pick their order up or have it delivered. Hardy said the order is sent to a secure Web site to ensure privacy, allowing customers to pay by credit card.
The order cannot be sent off unless all the necessary information is filled out, Hardy said. This helps prevent any bogus orders and insures the order is correct.
Once the order is sent, Hardy said an employee at the business is paged with all the necessary information. The pager is contacted around 30 seconds after the order is sent, he said. Orders are also sent to Hardy so he can keep track of the numbers of orders that are placed.
Hardy said the businesses he has worked with have been positive about the Web site. Once the Web site is working well at BYU, Hardy said he hopes to expand the service to other schools like Utah Valley State College, University of Utah and Utah State University.
Scott Reed is the assistant manager of Papa John's. Reed said response to the Web site was slow at first, but recently they've seen a good response.
Reed said it not only saves them time, but it's beneficial to the students as well.
'They can do it all on the computer without having to wait on us,' Reed said.
Reed said there were a few mix-ups at first, but those have been worked out. He said it's been beneficial to them and they plan to stick with it.
Terry Bartlett, owner of Pizza Pipeline, said the site hasn't had a big impact on his business, though things are picking up slowly. Bartlett said they are participating to keep up with other businesses.
'It's the kind of thing that everyone is on the Internet and if you're not on the Internet, you'll get left behind,' Bartlett said.
Hardy isn't the only who has found success on the Internet.
Kevin Voisin, a senior from New Orleans, La., majoring in history, started a teacher evaluation Web site in October. Before, the site was at www.ludwigandledyard.com, but now it's located at www.studentreviews.com, Voisin said.
According to Voisin, the site averages 1,000 hits a day. Their peak so far is 5,000 hits in a day. He said they are pleased with the success they've been experiencing.
'We had no idea of how big of a response we would get,' Voisin said.
Starting Wednesday, the site became fully automated, Voisin said. Rather than having to take 5-10 minutes to enter each evaluation individually, the evaluations will be entered automatically.
Voisin said he has his own web development company, so starting this Web site wasn't difficult. He said students interested in creating their own web sites should have a very clear idea of what they'll do beforehand.
'It's one thing to have an Internet site, but it's another to be successful and have money,' Voisin said.