Drive-thru parking?

[Immortalfire]

Have y'all seen these? If your drive thru order is taking too long, they tell you park over there and we'll bring it out to you.

McD's is the primary culprit, but some others are doing the same with or without the sign. This thing is totally missing the point of drive thru. The key word here is drive, so I have to park my car to wait for my order, I might as well park in a regular spot and go inside the store.

That said, I'm not a big McDonalds patron so really it doesn't matter to me. But I find the concept rather ridiculous.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

is the best response for this nonsense.

 

[Drizzle]

This thing is totally missing the point of drive thru. The key word here is drive, so I have to park my car to wait for my order, I might as well park in a regular spot and go inside the store.

I think it's more for the people who order like 5 meals in one order. You can totally tell the type too. If there's a minivan in front of you on a drive thru line, you're in trouble.

 

[Immortalfire]

We should protest.

 

[Ruth Fisher]

This has already been a thing for years

 

[Pink Ranger]

Only if the workers are in pink uniforms and roller skates.

 

[Drizzle]

It's also the spot you can park in when you realize all too late that they ****ed up your order at the drive thru so you have to go back inside anyway.

 

[Immortalfire]

It's also the spot you can park in when you realize all too late that they ****ed up your order at the drive thru so you have to go back inside anyway.

Now that you say that, I honestly don't think I've ever checked my order before I left the drive thru.

 

[James]

This has already been a thing for years

Literally decades.

In 32 years and all my travels, I honestly can't think of a single free-standing Mc Donald's restaurant that hasn't had this. And not just Mc Donalds, many other fast food joints have parking for the drive-thru. I'd even be willing to bet it's more common than not.

Where do you live Immortalfire? It's seems so strange to me that drive-thru parking is a new idea.

Truth be told, it's often a lot quicker to just walk into the store to begin with. I frequently mentally 'mark' whichever car is at the back of the drive-thru line when I walk into a place, and I'd say 9 times out of 10 I get out of there before that car has even reached the second window.

 

[tzarinna]

At least you'll know your **** is "fresh".

 

[Immortalfire]

Where do you live Immortalfire? It's seems so strange to me that drive-thru parking is a new idea.

Somewhere.


As I said, I'm not a big McD's patron, so if they've been doing it for quite some time, I haven't noticed. The fast food places I do visit, I have honestly never seen this nor have I had any of them say "park over there and we'll bring it to you"...seems like that defeats the purpose of a drive thru.

 

[Lighthouse]

They've been doing this as long as I can remember. Some stuff takes longer to cook or are special orders, so they have you pull ahead so they can serve the customers behind you whose orders are ready, then a worker walks out and brings you you're food. I've never seen designated spots for it, but I thought all fast food restaurants did this.

 

[James]

Somewhere.


As I said, I'm not a big McD's patron, so if they've been doing it for quite some time, I haven't noticed. The fast food places I do visit, I have honestly never seen this nor have I had any of them say "park over there and we'll bring it to you"...seems like that defeats the purpose of a drive thru.

As Lighthouse said, it's so the line doesn't get held up. The majority of the time the drive-thru at any given restaurant flows normally, but there's always going to be hiccups. Makes way more sense to have a reserved spot for someone to pull aside rather than hold up everyone else while one customer waits.

 

[the last son]

I couldn't find any parking spots, so had to park in the reserved spot yesterday. No harm right? If needed car that needs it can just pull up and wait.

 

[Captain Bryan]

Somewhere.


As I said, I'm not a big McD's patron, so if they've been doing it for quite some time, I haven't noticed. The fast food places I do visit, I have honestly never seen this nor have I had any of them say "park over there and we'll bring it to you"...seems like that defeats the purpose of a drive thru.

I get what you're saying, but most of the time when I go through the drive through it's because I'm feeling too lazy to walk in to a store and get food.
So even if I have to pull forward or go park it's not a huge deal.
I do tend to get annoyed if I'm in a rush, but that's pretty rare.

 

[Teelie]

I've seen these before usually at very busy restaurants where the food is cooked to order or requires a longer than average cooking time. Not fast food per se but not dine-in places either. I have only rarely seen them at fast food places. Most of the time they just have you pull up a few feet and wait.

 

[uadialej]

Some stuff takes longer to cook or are special orders, so they have you pull ahead so they can serve the customers behind you whose orders are ready

 

[Immortalfire]

I get what you're saying, but most of the time when I go through the drive through it's because I'm feeling too lazy to walk in to a store and get food.
So even if I have to pull forward or go park it's not a huge deal.
I do tend to get annoyed if I'm in a rush, but that's pretty rare.

If you get annoyed, its time for you to throw your mighty things.

 

[Mike_D202]

I demand my tasty food to kill me quicker god dammit.

 

[Kaleb]

I remember they had one at my nearest KFC,but they usually only put up the ''reserved drive-thru'' sign during the weekend.

 

[C. Lee]

In my area I know that McDonald's and Sonic do this.

 

[Immortalfire]

Sonic doesn't count because you park there anyway.

 

[C. Lee]

Sonic doesn't count because you park there anyway.

There is the area where you park (then get your food and then eat in your car while parked)....and then there is the DRIVE THROUGH, where the intent is to "drive through" and then get your food and then drive home, and NOT park....but at times when you pull up to the window to get your food, they direct you over to the side, to park and wait for your food while they continue handing out food to others behind you.

The point being.....this is not something new....it has gone on for decades by many different fast food joints.

 

[Yowza]

I get the frustration. However, assuming the employees aren't doing it out of spite which is highly unlikely most of the time, it's just a way to serve more people driving through in an efficient manner. Other alternative being to have people behind one's car food getting cold and cars getting backed up more so creating longer wait times and perhaps at times undue strain on the employees to provide good quality service.

Sometimes certain items take longer to make for many reasons (only so many items can put in the hot box at once without waste if not expecting mad rush so may need fry up some more meaning better food). Fast food places have to balance a certain degree of quality with efficiency.

I read an article the other day how casual dining business has gone down at places like TGI and BWW as people get things on the go or make at home moreso now. Fast food is where it's at but perhaps casual orders to go is a trend that'll pick up as well.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

Dairy Queen has like four spaces for this.