McDonald's, the world's biggest fast-food restaurant chain, is giving its drive thru a makeover to improve customer satisfaction.

After a pilot program, the fast-food chain announced March 10 that it is looking to expand the recent outsourcing of drive-thru jobs in favor of a new system, which would use call centers to take customer orders.

Anna Rozenich, a McDonald's spokeswoman, said some restaurants are now replacing employees inside the restaurant with a system of call centers located miles away.

George Rapp (junior-accounting) said McDonald's new idea should not be too different than call centers used for computers and therefore wouldn't mind if the call centers were used in State College.

"It wouldn't bother me as long as they get the order right," Rapp said. "It's easier when you're dealing with fries."

Rozenich said the company first started using remote call centers to take customer orders about six months ago. Currently, with the use of remote call centers, customers in Oregon are asking someone in North Dakota for a side of fries.

"We're still in the learning process," Rozenich said. "This has only been done at a handful of restaurants and is still on a very small scale. The goal and benefit of the program is to make the customer experience more enjoyable."

Tom Stark, manager of McDonald's, 1615 N. Atherton St., said it is better to fix the root of the problem with order errors rather than changing to call centers.

"I can't imagine they're doing this for order accuracy," Stark said. "We only get a complaint once a month."

For regular customers, this movement of jobs also means a lost sense of community, he said.

"One of our oldest employees gets gifts from customers at Christmas, and people come just to see her," Stark said.

So far, McDonald's has five restaurants in Oregon and southeastern Washington that use call centers in Grand Forks, N.D.

Rozenich said that if these call centers are successful, other McDonald's restaurants are expected to start using call centers within a few months.

"It's all about the customer. Employees can focus on the customer versus managing the order taking," Rozenich said.

Although the purpose of the call centers is accuracy, many residents and employees question the company's motive.

"I think it's just a money thing," Marissa McElhaney (junior-aerospace engineering) said.

Alex Colvin, a Penn State labor studies and industrial relations professor, said corporations have been outsourcing nationally for years, but most have related to manufacturing jobs.

"Competition between states for jobs can have a negative effect on local economies," Colvin said.

"Once they move jobs around nationally, why not India where there are capable workers who will work for even cheaper wages?"

People are jumping to conclusions about the call centers before witnessing their success, Rozenich said.

"We test a lot of different things all the time," she said.

"We're a maximum opportunity employer at McDonald's," Rozenich added. "We want to help employees do their jobs better."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.