and
About 500,000 inquiries a month pour into the system, but the live centers handle less than 4 percent, or an average of 19,000 a month, she said.
which is in conflict with:
Nearly 10 million Americans receive food stamps and use an electronic benefits, or EBT, card, which operates like a debit card. The Observer survey found that most of the more than 20 million calls each month made by food stamp recipients about their benefits are handled by automated message centers.
Employees in call centers, meanwhile, take calls about stolen EBT cards. Call center employees handle about 700,000 calls each month.
To me, the 2nd story seems like crap. Of course, the $30m price tag for only 19,000 calls per month is a little crazy as well. If correct, the $30m for 7 years equates to about $357,000 / month. Assuming the 19,000 calls/month is accurate, they are charging $18.80 per call handled by a human. Assuming 10 minutes per call, the humans are costing roughly $112.80/hour. This is cheaper?? Sounds like a massive load of profit for the execs... my guess... someone knows somebody.
Even better, with only 19,000 calls per month, or 4,384 calls/day, 6 calls handled per person per hour, and assuming a standard 12 hour dispersal of calls... this job could be handled by 61 people.
In the US, these people make about $8/hr.. cost per month for 61 people, $8/hr, 12 hrs/day, 7 days/week...$177,632/month. Even in the US the companies were making about 100% profit. With the labor cost dropped to $2/hr, monthly costs drop to $44,408.
Over $300,000/month profit for these guys?!
It sounds like a lot but you have to keep in mind that each person answering the phone is sitting in front of a pc. Say there are sixty people just working the phones...call centers are an office just like any other. The hardware adds up pretty quick.