posted
Who here uses the drive through at fast food joints? Why.
I went to lunch today at the local Micky D's. When I got there I noticed several open spaces in the parking lot and about 10 cars in the drive through lane. So I parked and noticed what car had just joined the drive through lane. It was number 10 in line. I went in ordered and got my lunch. In less than 2 minutes. On the way back to my car I noticed that the car that had pulled in when I got there was now number 8.
Now here is my question? Why do you use the drive through lane? At lunch time it isn't any faster, in fact it is probably slower. You waste gas and have wear and tear on your car. You waste lunch time. I am sure I was back to my office before that car that go there before me even got their meal.
Why do places put these things in? They can only take one order at a time. Maybe it seems to relieve some people in the lobby, but I never seem to find a time where the drive through is faster. Ok I take that back. I am sure that there are times where it is faster, but not at the rush times.
quote: Now here is my question? Why do you use the drive through lane? At lunch time it isn't any faster, in fact it is probably slower. You waste gas and have wear and tear on your car. You waste lunch time. I am sure I was back to my office before that car that go there before me even got their meal.
I agree with you m^2, but do you know much less gas it takes to keep a car running rather than restarting the car?
Posts: 354 | Registered: Jun 2002
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posted
The drive-thru is so that all the people who want their meal quickly on a busy lunch hour don't have to stand behind all ten people in the drive-through line to get it.
[ October 24, 2003, 12:50 PM: Message edited by: Nato ]
Posts: 1592 | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
It takes a lot of gas to start the car.... Maybe not after then mintues, but if you keep the car running and you have an auto transmission, it should be put in neutral rather than requiring you to hold the brake and fight the engine. Manual transmissions wouldn't need this for obvious reasons (the clutch).
Let me get this straight: You have ten cars. It took you two minutes to get in and out of there. Car ten became car eight. That's one minute per car. That's faster than your two minutes!
Of course, that would only work with no line. Posts: 354 | Registered: Jun 2002
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posted
That's what I mean. When I go to this place I can see the drive up window. If there are no cars in the line I will use it. It is a bit faster. But why would any one get in a line where there are 10 cars ahead of you? There is one lady taking orders and one pick up window. Inside there are three ladies taking orders. I just don't get it.
quote: That's what I mean. When I go to this place I can see the drive up window. If there are no cars in the line I will use it. It is a bit faster. But why would any one get in a line where there are 10 cars ahead of you? There is one lady taking orders and one pick up window. Inside there are three ladies taking orders. I just don't get it.
I don't either. I agree with you, but I just wanted to tease. Posts: 354 | Registered: Jun 2002
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posted
Well, I know that when I worked in fast food, drive through orders had priority over inside orders; if two tickets came back at the same time, and were for the exact same thing, we'd put out the drive through order first.
That said, there's a time and a place; working in fast food, there were times when we had a huge drive through line and no one inside, and times when we had lots of people in the lobby, and no one in the drive through. Sometimes one was faster, sometimes the other was.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Actually, though, I enjoyed my fast food job (I actually had several, but only one of them lasted any time at all). The place was fairly slow, so I got to know my co-workers really well, and it helped distract me from a bad breakup I went through just before I got the job. Over the years I got a good number of my friends hired, so between the friends I made there and the friends I got jobs, I was surrounded by intelligent, funny, friendly people; it was a bit like Hatrack in that regard. The job could be pretty stressful at rush times, but for the most part it was a good way to get paid to hang out with people I'd have gladly hung out with for free.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
It's because Americans have a really hard time with the concept that they may have to exit their car. They'd rather wait in line and burn some gas rather than face the horror that would be getting out and walking somewhere. Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
During the lunch hour, Wendy's is over run by teenage kids from the High School who will never for the life of them use the drive through. So when there are all these kids in there who don't quite grasp the concept of ordering all the food in their groups party in one sweep, the drive through looks pretty tempting and fast.
However, unless it's past 10 when the doors close, I usually go inside because if I keep my cup, I get free refills. They even give you a new cup every time you get a refill. I love it!
Posts: 9754 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Sometimes I dress differently when I don't plan to exit the car, too. Or if I have a two-year-old with me, and would have to take him out of his carseat and try to control him while waiting in line inside, then it's easier to use the drive-thru. Some people probably use the time waiting in a car to make phone calls, put on make-up, etc. There are a wealth of possible reasons.
Posts: 6213 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
Occasionally we'd get a customer who probably used the drive through because they were too drunk to actually walk into the lobby. Once we actually had a guy pass out at the drive through window.
Of course we always called the cops on these people.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
If there is a huge line at the drive-up, I'll park and go inside. Normally I prefer the drive-up because 1. I'm just going to be taking it to eat someplace else (I don't need drink refills or anything) 2. My car stays cool - no parking and allowing the sun to bake it (even a few minutes in Phoenix can make your car unbearably hot) and 3. I am often stopping to pick-up lunch on my way back from a customer's site and would rather not leave my equipment (worth several thousand dollars) unattended in the back of my truck.
Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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I don't think working in a fast food resturant is a bad thing, I said that because I was conceding to you your obvious experience. Posts: 354 | Registered: Jun 2002
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posted
Dan's top 10 Reasons why waiting in the car is better than going inside:
10) Muzak v.s. Music 9) Physical Exertion is the last recourse of the unimaginative. 8) Thanks to cup holders, you don't need to wear pants to have lunch. 7) The sweet delicate aroma of hydrocarbons 6)Hot Coffee lawsuits just don't happen when you walk in. 5)Drive Thru people are just cuter to look at. 4)If you sing to the music in the Restaurant they look at you funny. (on the other hand, you do get served quickly) 3) While waiting in line with strange humans (as compared to their cars), one may accidentily -- make conversation. 2) People at the counter look confused when I ask for a salad for my 6 foot tall invisible rabbit friend.
And my Number 1 reason for going though the drive thru and not walking in to the restaurant.
1) Can you say Restraining Order?
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
My problem with drive throughs (and the reason my family and I no longer use them) is because I never ever get what I ordered. A British accent and a terrible microphone system, plus my inability to remember the official name for meals is not a good combination for ordering meals.
Now, I just get out the car and go and order that way. It saves broken hearts on the road, especially among my young siblings.
posted
On a distantly related note, does anyone not think 'Biggie Fries' is a stupid name? For the food, that is. For a band, maybe it'd be ok. Or for a rapper -- it's a great name for a rapper.
Posts: 6213 | Registered: May 2001
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i have tried the "go inside when there's a long line at the drive-thru" method, but more often than not, it doesn't work. i happen to stop by on the one day some school has a field trip or something like that, and there are a million and a half people inside, so it would have been quicker to use the drive-thru. i can't win. hence, my name. anyway, as long as i'm not in a hurry, i don't mind waiting. i subscribe to some of the points already made:
1. i'm too lazy to get out of the car and walk inside. 2. i make food runs in my pj's.
i have less patience with the customers in front of me than the workers, drive-thru or inside.
Posts: 1090 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
I used to go through the drive-thru at Wendy's (which I like) but I soon discovered that about 75% of the time they got my order wrong. Not badly wrong, but wrong enough to taste awful. (I'm a weirdo in that I like my burgers with just mustard--nothing else. Lettuce, tomatoes, mayo, ketchup, and onions are just plain nasty when put together.)
Posts: 1041 | Registered: Feb 2002
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I also refuse to say Biggie Fries on anti-stupid principle. I thought I was just weird that way. Posts: 2762 | Registered: Sep 1999
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posted
Nobody's mentioned the biggest advantage to going inside: the ability to take as many straws as you want, even if you didn't order anything to drink.
Posts: 1794 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
So we decided to get KFC for dinner last night, and just for fun I took note of the last car in line for the drive-thru when I went in. Inside there was only one person ahead of me in line, and there were about six cars, so I figured I'd win. After the person ahead of me ordered, everyone behind the counter started packaging and boxing and bagging and such. I stood in line for a good ten minutes before even placing an order, during which time the car continued to move up, until it was second in line at the pickup window (not the order-placing machine).
I placed my order (taking advantage of the current advertised special rather than any of the page of coupons I had, and instead provided coupons for four others behind me, in addition to the coupon I handed to the person in front of me in line because it was for what they were ordering -- I didn't use any coupons myself, but provided enough of them to offset a lot of free drink refills -- is that wrong?), and waited. The wait for the food was not as long as the wait to place my order -- they'd slowed down because they ran out of chicken, corn, and buckets. As I left with my order, the car in question was at the window, so it was pretty much a wash overall. The time difference was relatively negligible.
But by going in, I cost the company a good nine or ten bucks in redeemed coupons, and made five or six people a little happier than they would otherwise have been, so it was still a win-win, right?
Probably should have grabbed some extra straws, though.
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