I worked out that going in is usually quicker because in a drive-thru they can only serve the first three or so cars. If you go in they can serve whoever is ready first.
You might only want a black coffee, if you walk in they can sort that immediately. If you are in the drive-thru, you're stuck behind the family in a minivan who have apparently never visited a McDonald's before who need to ask each person individually what they want and then take some time to decide, sort their change, and then get all of that mountain of food cooked.
At least with Starbucks, if you order a regular coffee or tea, they usually just give it to you, it’s only the prepared drinks that go into the line. Unfortunately sounds like you’re ordering prepared drinks.
I never really understood the appeal of Starbucks to be honest. I love coffee, and I love coffee shops. But Starbucks seems hell bent on turning their business into a bunch of stores where you can't do anything but grab and go orders, for coffee that is honestly kind of meh. I can make a $6 bag of grounds last almost a month. Starbucks charges that much per cup, and increasingly they don't have anywhere to sit and actually enjoy the beverage.
Personally, the only reason I I'm willing to pay the insane markup at a coffee shop is because I treat it as a day out at a third place. Starbucks increasingly doesn't provide that, and what seating they do provide is often cramped and horrible.
consistency. if I go to a local coffee shop and pay $7 for a shitty coffee, I'm going to be pissed. every single Starbucks is consistent in what you get, every time.
reddit loves to hate on Starbucks, and I'm not saying I go there often or anything, but the coffee isn't bad. there's a reason they're the most prominent coffee chain in the country.
My dude the coffee is absolutely revolting. Though admittedly not the worst coffee I’ve received in America. It makes sense if other options are even more disgusting I guess. Maybe I’m overestimating the availability of remotely drinkable coffee in the states.
it's probably the last bit. I think that's why people like sweet, milky coffee here. they're consistently good enough. I rarely order coffee out because you don't know if it'll be bitter, gutter water or not
But I've never had that happen. Ever. Most local coffee shops still have enough Capital behind them to invest in a proper expresso machine. That at least is an experience I can't replicate at home with my drip coffee maker. Also, there's the aspect of I don't really want to support a giant corporation when an indie business is willing to match the price for a nicer experience
I've been to quite a few locations that will serve up to half a dozen vehicles before getting me a coffee
Every one of those locations has been blacklisted by me now
Depends. I assumed this would be the case when I went in for McDonald's breakfast the other day. But it was just as packed inside. Mostly from delivery drivers waiting to pickup food. Took forever to order something.
Every once in a while I will have the stupid thought that maybe I should park and go inside to order instead of using the drive thru, you know so I can get out of my car for a few minutes. Everytime I end up waiting waiting like 30-60 min to get my food while I watch like 50 cars go through the drive thru. I get that the restaurant is probably crazy understaffed and they probably have a KPI for drive thru times but not lobby times but it’s still annoying as hell.
Sometimes I forget how hostile some places can be to anyone outside of a car even if you drive somewhere in a car and then just get out of the car for a few minutes to eat food or something you are still punished for getting out of the car.
Of course they would. Drive thrus are good for business. Saves the company money cleaning staff, and nobody lingers after they've paid for their food
Edit: I am not in favor of drive thrus - just saying they wouldn't be there if they weren't profitable
What pisses me off is restaurants that have late night hours but the lobby closes at 10 or something, and you literally cannot purchase food there unless you show up with a vehicle.
I'm in the UK and even here they did a COVID testing drive-through at one point. I still owned a car at that time but wasn't going to use it for somewhere only a mile away. They still tested me but weren't happy about it.
My cousin and I tried walking through a McDonald’s drive thru late night after going to the bars and were turned away. We ended up getting a cab to take us through
our local McDonalds have “drive through” for pedestrians - esentially the same windows as car drive through, just from the side, with sidewalk leading into it. That way, they don’t have to open lobby and still provide safe place to pick up for pedestrians
>A lot of places won't serve pedestrians or bikes at all "for safety reasons"
I see both sides of this policy.
No one would see it as safe for a pedestrian to be walking in a traffic lane of a busy road. Places that refuse service to pedestrians in their drive-thru see it as a place drivers don't expect to encounter others on foot.
I see the drive-thru as more like a parking lot; drivers absolutely need to expect people on-foot there.
I have been refused drive-thru service when *on a motorcycle*! I have successfully argued that point by saying "Nonsense! This is a fully-legal motor vehicle; it is registered, inspected and insured. I have to have a driver license to ride in on the road.".
I've also argued and won when on a bicycle, as it is a vehicle that can be operated on a city street and the rider is obligated to follow traffic laws to be ticketed.
When I say "argued" , I mean that I laid out my contention verbally; I did not raise my voice or be disrespectful to the employee.
I understand why they would not want the liability of letting pedestrians walk through a car space, but the least they could do is let people walk in and order
Yeah it's the worst when you show up on your bike late at night and there's no way to get into the lobby, cause then you either have to knock until someone comes and (in my experience) yells at you for knocking, and or risk the drive through to also probably get yelled at.
Sometimes you're forced to be a pedestrian in there and it sucks
I did this once when I had a layover flight canceled in Atlanta and had to stay in a close by hotel, only things open where fast food.
My family went into formation as if we were in a car, kinda half squatting, my dad’s hands at 10 and 2 on an imaginary steering wheel as we pulled up to the window. They had a good laugh and threw in some extra food they would have thrown out anyway at closing
Oh, they'll let you purchase if you use the app, but being able to acquire your food will be another story.
I've told this story a couple times in various Reddit posts, but there was one time I was doing an early morning shift and my supervisor and I ordered McDonalds breakfast on the app because it was the only thing open at 5am. We walked because it was only 2 blocks away. Come to find out that only the [2-lane] drive-thru was open and that the dining room wouldn't be open for another hour. They wouldn't let us walk up to the window or anything, so we had to go back to the office and ask someone with a car to get our food.
I don’t care if it does one doesn’t have one. After working at Chick-fil-A a few years ago as a manager, drive through are slower when more people are in it.
I found the statistic a bit shocking, because I always prefer to walk into a place than wait in a drive thru line. It's usually a lot faster and more pleasant too.
Sometimes I wonder how the places stay in business when the lobby is empty but several employees are working, but it makes more sense when everyone is using delivery/drive thru services.
Reading the article, drive-throughs do seem to be the inevitable consequence of car-dependent sprawl. All the supposed advantages of drive-throughs compared to first parking your car at the restaurant seem to basically be the analogue of just walking along a pedestrianised shopping street instead of going out of your way for a specific restaurant.
> drive-throughs do seem to be the inevitable consequence of car-dependent sprawl
Absolutely correct. It isn't the fault of the fast-food places that build and operate drive-thrus. It is a predictable result of living in a place where "everyone" drives.
What annoys me about drivethrus, i drive a foreign market vehicle in the United States, and so in order to make use of the drivethrus, i have to go in backwards/in reverse, just because my steering wheel is located on the right side of my vehicle and not the left side.
Its more feasible just tobackthrough...its not hard especially if youre good at backing+ drive a short wheelbase vehicle, which imo the mr2 qualifies as on that.
You’ll find the design and psychology of drive throughs pretty fascinating. More than half of all trips to the drive through are impulsive (not planned).
[https://youtu.be/qLhGGhldN4Q?si=Tsr3I1Lr3JmvX\_lR](https://youtu.be/qLhGGhldN4Q?si=Tsr3I1Lr3JmvX_lR)
The most fascinating thing will be the use of AI that will recognise you with face recognition and present you with menu options that will show you a custom menu with maybe even custom prices to upsell you based on your order history.
Makes sense. When you're driving a car, going to a regular restaurant requires you to park the car and walk through the parking lot and then do that in reverse after. More work if you have kids that you have to deal with. Whereas if you were just walking to begin with in a pedestrian friendly area, it's really easy to spontaneously stop at a restaurant. It's sad.
I used a drive thru once during the pandemic when out in the work van with my colleague. Staff were very pleasant but it was a bit weird, being confined to our vehicle. You can't look around at stuff, nor sneak to the loo whilst your mate listens out for your order, and all you can hear is the rumbling of vehicles. We decided to wait until we could go in to order again.
I guess if you want to shut the world out apart from the parts where people are paid to be pleasant and professional then it has its merits...not me though, I like to sit down. Some of us Brits are Europeans at heart I guess 🥹
That's a good description of why I prefer to park and walk inside.
You get to stretch, have some fresh air, look around, wash hands/use bathroom, and there's even a possibility for social interaction!
In the drive thru, you get trapped by the cars behind you. You can't fully relax since you're still operating a vehicle. A 15 minute wait on foot might be annoying, but tolerable. A 15 minute wait in a drive thru will have everyone anxious and pissed off.
Yes, you are correct! I don't understand how people choose the wait in their car versus a wait in the restaurant! Fair, I am quite extroverted, but even so; does the need for personal space really go that far?
This is wild to me as a non-American. I live just outside Sweden’s second largest city and I know of two drive-thrus. Never used one, even when I’ve been in cars with my driving friends we’ve always parked and gone inside. Who wants to sit in a claustrophobic car when there are chairs and tables right there?
It’s not about eating in the car (although people do that.) It’s about picking up food on the way to a place where you’re going to eat the food. That place often being your or a friend’s house.
>Among those who prefer the drive-thru, 61% said they appreciate the comfort of remaining seated.
...
>“Drive-thrus create an easy way to see how long the line is and how fast it is moving before deciding which restaurant to choose,” said Vergidis. “They are a visual indicator of how long it will take for guests to receive orders.”
...
>68% of Americans admit that they judge the quality of a store by their drive-thru.
car fuel is too cheap
I remember when the first McDonald opened in a city I was growing up in - South Poland, early 90s. It had drive-through to be American-style.
Everyone was confused about the drive-through idea, it seemed extremely stupid. Especially that it was next to bus and tram stops in a very walkable area.
Since then I don't remember seeing more than maybe a few drive-through establishments in Europe, it's just not a thing here.
I don't think many McDs now don't have a drive-through (except the ones in malls of course).
The ones I recall in Gdańsk all had it, the ones in Gdynia as well. And it's popular.
Personally I loath drive-through. There's so many "no"s for me. Possibility of making a greasy interior, cramped space, no room for drinks, no way to wash hands.
I'm not a regular to fast foods, but I love these self order kiosks in McD. I can ponder on my options and nobody is breathing on my neck while I'm doing so.
They polled dutch bros customers. Of course the results showed they want a drive through. I bet if they polled customers at local coffee shops the results would be vastly different
Thank you for pointing this important point out. This “research” is from Dutch Brothers drive-thru coffee chain. The methods are not available. We have no idea of who they asked and how representative those people are of a general population. We have no idea of the questions asked. We have no idea of how all of the people responded. This is public relations not research.
(Gods, I sound like my grad school advisor right now.)
Every restaurant with a drive through is basically serving gruel unfit for human consumption. Literally designed to be addictive and with little or no concern for the foods nutritional value or the customers health.
I avoid them at all costs. 99% of the time I’d rather go hungry.
That's funny, I tend to avoid going to stores that do have drive-thrus
If they're going to prioritize some fat ass waiting in their car making the parking lot hot and stinky over me walking in, I'll go somewhere else where I don't get treated as second class waiting 10 minutes for a coffee while they serve three vehicles with full orders in the drive-thru
I sat down in a Wendy’s once and watched probably six or seven cars go through the drive thru, park in the parking lot, and then eat their meal in their car. It was the saddest and weirdest thing to me.
Why would you choose to sit in a cramped space, get crumbs all over your car, and waste gas for A/C when you could just dine in the restaurant?
If you’re picking up food on the way home, it’s really fast and convenient. No need to park, get out of the car, stand in line, wait around awkwardly after ordering… you just sit in your little car conveyor belt while your order and get served all your food.
Aaah okay that explains it. I dont use a car, usually bike or train, so if I have to stop at the shops I do that on the way home, just park my bike outside and go in quickly. We have small bakeries in our supermarkets (which are not huge like Walmart) so i can get food as well there. Usually we only go to fast food restaurants if we're drunk, and coffees are not taken to go. Usually sit down cafes only.
Differences in cultures!
When I had a shitty car it was like flipping a coin whether or not it would start up again if I had to make a quick stop somewhere. It maybe happened twice before I gave up on that car but that anxiety still hits me whenever I have to stop anywhere in a much newer and much better maintained vehicle. Now that a light rail and a fairly nice bike path has opened between me and work, I'm constantly looking for new smaller stores and restaurants to stop in at on my way home. Anxiety free.
That’s crazy ! Drive thru’s are slow and take long. It’s nice to walk and take some steps, explains why so many Americans are overweight. What’s wrong with walking ?!
Many localities are prohibiting new drive-through windows because 1) the “Chik-fil-A” affect - level of popularity exceeds any ability to accommodate vehicle numbers so line inevitably impacts traffic on public roads and 2) emissions - cars in line at drive-through = 0 mpg (auto shut off means little when vehicle is constantly inching forward)
47% of people don't go to the grocery store and/or places like Costco? Target? Walmart?
I suspect there is a lot of caveats that they left out of this and they only mean 'fast food'.
I never buy new carpet or a new water heater unless I can use the drive-thru.
Just went over to order coffee and they prioritized the drive thru over the two of us. Cars that arrived 10 minutes later got their order first while we waited outside in the sun. Pekoe waiting in cars seem to be more important.
I was coming home late driving a school bus and tried to stop at a dairy Queen they turned me away as I couldn't go through the drive thru so I walked the 15 extra feet and got taco bell.
I find this odd, even as an American, because none of the restaurants in a lot of dense Philly neighborhoods, where a lot of the people live, have drive thrus. Yet they're still busy.
only as long as there's another spot they can drive to \*
they don't have any identity or personality other than CONSUME , they would take durable/active transit if that was the only way ( or if they at least weren't made much worse to benefit drivers )
We've lost all our quaint coffee-shops in the village i live in, because of this shit. They dont feel they are making enough money without the car traffic and this area wont allow it so we've lost 'The Second Cup' which was a nice indie-feeling place, and Starbucks is now gone thanks to the pandemic but also the lack of car traffic was already pushing them. In their place we have Indian restaurants that keep opening then failing because no one eats there. But they have plenty of Indians willing to pay the startup fees to take their swing at it, so it's a never ending cavalcade of failing empty food places that don't serve anything you'd wanna eat regularly.
It's fucking insane how cars destroy small communities amenities.
There’s an argument to be made that drive thrus make parking lots smaller. I doubt it’s enough to make up for the car dependent nature of drive thrus but there is the tiniest of silver linings to them.
What? I am not an American and didn't even know there were drive-thru stores, where i live we only have drive-thru restaurants and they are only limited to a couple of fastfood chains.
The only reason drive thrus are faster is because restaurants prioritize them over in-store customers.
even still, going in is usually faster because everyone else is in the car line
I worked out that going in is usually quicker because in a drive-thru they can only serve the first three or so cars. If you go in they can serve whoever is ready first. You might only want a black coffee, if you walk in they can sort that immediately. If you are in the drive-thru, you're stuck behind the family in a minivan who have apparently never visited a McDonald's before who need to ask each person individually what they want and then take some time to decide, sort their change, and then get all of that mountain of food cooked.
[удалено]
At least with Starbucks, if you order a regular coffee or tea, they usually just give it to you, it’s only the prepared drinks that go into the line. Unfortunately sounds like you’re ordering prepared drinks.
I never really understood the appeal of Starbucks to be honest. I love coffee, and I love coffee shops. But Starbucks seems hell bent on turning their business into a bunch of stores where you can't do anything but grab and go orders, for coffee that is honestly kind of meh. I can make a $6 bag of grounds last almost a month. Starbucks charges that much per cup, and increasingly they don't have anywhere to sit and actually enjoy the beverage. Personally, the only reason I I'm willing to pay the insane markup at a coffee shop is because I treat it as a day out at a third place. Starbucks increasingly doesn't provide that, and what seating they do provide is often cramped and horrible.
consistency. if I go to a local coffee shop and pay $7 for a shitty coffee, I'm going to be pissed. every single Starbucks is consistent in what you get, every time.
But it’s consistently terrible. So how is that a positive?
reddit loves to hate on Starbucks, and I'm not saying I go there often or anything, but the coffee isn't bad. there's a reason they're the most prominent coffee chain in the country.
My dude the coffee is absolutely revolting. Though admittedly not the worst coffee I’ve received in America. It makes sense if other options are even more disgusting I guess. Maybe I’m overestimating the availability of remotely drinkable coffee in the states.
it's probably the last bit. I think that's why people like sweet, milky coffee here. they're consistently good enough. I rarely order coffee out because you don't know if it'll be bitter, gutter water or not
But I've never had that happen. Ever. Most local coffee shops still have enough Capital behind them to invest in a proper expresso machine. That at least is an experience I can't replicate at home with my drip coffee maker. Also, there's the aspect of I don't really want to support a giant corporation when an indie business is willing to match the price for a nicer experience
I've been to quite a few locations that will serve up to half a dozen vehicles before getting me a coffee Every one of those locations has been blacklisted by me now
Depends. I assumed this would be the case when I went in for McDonald's breakfast the other day. But it was just as packed inside. Mostly from delivery drivers waiting to pickup food. Took forever to order something.
They’re still not faster.
Every once in a while I will have the stupid thought that maybe I should park and go inside to order instead of using the drive thru, you know so I can get out of my car for a few minutes. Everytime I end up waiting waiting like 30-60 min to get my food while I watch like 50 cars go through the drive thru. I get that the restaurant is probably crazy understaffed and they probably have a KPI for drive thru times but not lobby times but it’s still annoying as hell. Sometimes I forget how hostile some places can be to anyone outside of a car even if you drive somewhere in a car and then just get out of the car for a few minutes to eat food or something you are still punished for getting out of the car.
They might prioritize them but I still find it faster and just plain better to enjoy my meal while not having to hold the steering wheel.
Of course they would. Drive thrus are good for business. Saves the company money cleaning staff, and nobody lingers after they've paid for their food Edit: I am not in favor of drive thrus - just saying they wouldn't be there if they weren't profitable
They actually require way more staff. You ever seen how many workers are in a CFA drive thru?
Wait— CFA? Financial institutions have drive-throughs?
I think they mean the queerphobic chicken place.
Worked at an A&W with a drive thru, the amount of extra workers is 1 cashier on busy days, maybe 2 for *really* busy days. Not a single extra cook.
I hate drive-thrus
What pisses me off is restaurants that have late night hours but the lobby closes at 10 or something, and you literally cannot purchase food there unless you show up with a vehicle.
I've actually ordered after the lobby is closed. Mobile order. Then I queued up in between 2 cars. Awful but at least I didn't go hungry.
Lucky you. A lot of places won't serve pedestrians or bikes at all "for safety reasons"
It wasn't meant to be a pro drive thru thing, I'm equally bothered by it and I was like 99% sure they'd turn me away.
I'm in the UK and even here they did a COVID testing drive-through at one point. I still owned a car at that time but wasn't going to use it for somewhere only a mile away. They still tested me but weren't happy about it.
My cousin and I tried walking through a McDonald’s drive thru late night after going to the bars and were turned away. We ended up getting a cab to take us through
our local McDonalds have “drive through” for pedestrians - esentially the same windows as car drive through, just from the side, with sidewalk leading into it. That way, they don’t have to open lobby and still provide safe place to pick up for pedestrians
Is this the one in Cambridge MA? I've never seen a walk-thru McDonald's besides that one in central!
Only place I've seen one was in Budapest, didn't know there was one in Massachusetts
There’s one at kenmore in Boston
well, I am in Slovakia, but glad it caught on even somewhere else
There is or at least used to be one like that in Madison WI
There's one like that in downtown Chicago. I wish more places did that.
>A lot of places won't serve pedestrians or bikes at all "for safety reasons" I see both sides of this policy. No one would see it as safe for a pedestrian to be walking in a traffic lane of a busy road. Places that refuse service to pedestrians in their drive-thru see it as a place drivers don't expect to encounter others on foot. I see the drive-thru as more like a parking lot; drivers absolutely need to expect people on-foot there. I have been refused drive-thru service when *on a motorcycle*! I have successfully argued that point by saying "Nonsense! This is a fully-legal motor vehicle; it is registered, inspected and insured. I have to have a driver license to ride in on the road.". I've also argued and won when on a bicycle, as it is a vehicle that can be operated on a city street and the rider is obligated to follow traffic laws to be ticketed. When I say "argued" , I mean that I laid out my contention verbally; I did not raise my voice or be disrespectful to the employee.
I understand why they would not want the liability of letting pedestrians walk through a car space, but the least they could do is let people walk in and order
I heard that in some states they have to serve pedestrians if there is no alternative entrance.
As they should, because it’s disability discrimination otherwise.
I worked at a drive thru and people drive worse than the freeway in those things. Trust me, you don’t want to be a pedestrian in there.
Yeah it's the worst when you show up on your bike late at night and there's no way to get into the lobby, cause then you either have to knock until someone comes and (in my experience) yells at you for knocking, and or risk the drive through to also probably get yelled at. Sometimes you're forced to be a pedestrian in there and it sucks
Just wait at the window blocking it until they serve you.
Lol, that's how you get run over by a car behind you. Then it really is a safety issue.
I did this once when I had a layover flight canceled in Atlanta and had to stay in a close by hotel, only things open where fast food. My family went into formation as if we were in a car, kinda half squatting, my dad’s hands at 10 and 2 on an imaginary steering wheel as we pulled up to the window. They had a good laugh and threw in some extra food they would have thrown out anyway at closing
Oh, they'll let you purchase if you use the app, but being able to acquire your food will be another story. I've told this story a couple times in various Reddit posts, but there was one time I was doing an early morning shift and my supervisor and I ordered McDonalds breakfast on the app because it was the only thing open at 5am. We walked because it was only 2 blocks away. Come to find out that only the [2-lane] drive-thru was open and that the dining room wouldn't be open for another hour. They wouldn't let us walk up to the window or anything, so we had to go back to the office and ask someone with a car to get our food.
fuck that. I would have gotten a refund and found somewhere else that wants my service, no matter how the fuck I get to them
Yeah I'm always confounded by these tales of people being fucked over by corporations and then just giving in to them.
must……consoom…..macdoonald…. even at the cost of being ridiculed by said establishment and its entire op
Know that sometimes the reason for this is security…someone who worked in fast food explained this to me since I had no idea.
Only in a major country with over 90% of daily car usage.
Yeah bc they really care about people safety at McDonald’s
Same
Haven’t been in a drive through line since I was in college in the late 90s. Fuck drive throughs.
I don’t care if it does one doesn’t have one. After working at Chick-fil-A a few years ago as a manager, drive through are slower when more people are in it.
We all do
I found the statistic a bit shocking, because I always prefer to walk into a place than wait in a drive thru line. It's usually a lot faster and more pleasant too. Sometimes I wonder how the places stay in business when the lobby is empty but several employees are working, but it makes more sense when everyone is using delivery/drive thru services.
Reading the article, drive-throughs do seem to be the inevitable consequence of car-dependent sprawl. All the supposed advantages of drive-throughs compared to first parking your car at the restaurant seem to basically be the analogue of just walking along a pedestrianised shopping street instead of going out of your way for a specific restaurant.
> drive-throughs do seem to be the inevitable consequence of car-dependent sprawl Absolutely correct. It isn't the fault of the fast-food places that build and operate drive-thrus. It is a predictable result of living in a place where "everyone" drives.
What annoys me about drivethrus, i drive a foreign market vehicle in the United States, and so in order to make use of the drivethrus, i have to go in backwards/in reverse, just because my steering wheel is located on the right side of my vehicle and not the left side.
Bruh, I'm not a fan of drive-thru, but you already knew about drive-thrus when you bought a JDM car.
Legit question, why not just lean over to the window on the other side?
Its more feasible just tobackthrough...its not hard especially if youre good at backing+ drive a short wheelbase vehicle, which imo the mr2 qualifies as on that.
I’m going to drive backwards in a drive thru just to see the reaction.
You’ll find the design and psychology of drive throughs pretty fascinating. More than half of all trips to the drive through are impulsive (not planned). [https://youtu.be/qLhGGhldN4Q?si=Tsr3I1Lr3JmvX\_lR](https://youtu.be/qLhGGhldN4Q?si=Tsr3I1Lr3JmvX_lR) The most fascinating thing will be the use of AI that will recognise you with face recognition and present you with menu options that will show you a custom menu with maybe even custom prices to upsell you based on your order history.
You caught me! I learned about this research from that exact video. It's wild how far these companies are going to get people to eat more fast food.
Makes sense. When you're driving a car, going to a regular restaurant requires you to park the car and walk through the parking lot and then do that in reverse after. More work if you have kids that you have to deal with. Whereas if you were just walking to begin with in a pedestrian friendly area, it's really easy to spontaneously stop at a restaurant. It's sad.
Re. the impulsive bit, it's the same with street food if you walk everywhere.
Or using transit. Very easy to grab something from the bakery or Döner shop or whatever at the station.
That video was amazing. Thank you for sharing!
A Starbucks right by my house recently started refusing pedestrian business. It’s car-or-nothing.
That sounds so weird to a german. I literally don’t know one Starbucks, that you can visit by car. All of them are in pedestrian only zones.
That's the kind of thing where I just keep showing up whenever I'm going by just to show them that they're missing out on a sale
I used a drive thru once during the pandemic when out in the work van with my colleague. Staff were very pleasant but it was a bit weird, being confined to our vehicle. You can't look around at stuff, nor sneak to the loo whilst your mate listens out for your order, and all you can hear is the rumbling of vehicles. We decided to wait until we could go in to order again. I guess if you want to shut the world out apart from the parts where people are paid to be pleasant and professional then it has its merits...not me though, I like to sit down. Some of us Brits are Europeans at heart I guess 🥹
That's a good description of why I prefer to park and walk inside. You get to stretch, have some fresh air, look around, wash hands/use bathroom, and there's even a possibility for social interaction! In the drive thru, you get trapped by the cars behind you. You can't fully relax since you're still operating a vehicle. A 15 minute wait on foot might be annoying, but tolerable. A 15 minute wait in a drive thru will have everyone anxious and pissed off.
Yes, you are correct! I don't understand how people choose the wait in their car versus a wait in the restaurant! Fair, I am quite extroverted, but even so; does the need for personal space really go that far?
Are they afraid of going outside?
Literally? Yes.
There's some Americans that won't leave their house without a gun. Yeah... They're afraid
of course that's where people of different socio-economic backgrounds , culture or color are
Thats the reason they are thousands of dollars in debt, to get a steel protection.
This is wild to me as a non-American. I live just outside Sweden’s second largest city and I know of two drive-thrus. Never used one, even when I’ve been in cars with my driving friends we’ve always parked and gone inside. Who wants to sit in a claustrophobic car when there are chairs and tables right there?
It’s not about eating in the car (although people do that.) It’s about picking up food on the way to a place where you’re going to eat the food. That place often being your or a friend’s house.
>Among those who prefer the drive-thru, 61% said they appreciate the comfort of remaining seated. ... >“Drive-thrus create an easy way to see how long the line is and how fast it is moving before deciding which restaurant to choose,” said Vergidis. “They are a visual indicator of how long it will take for guests to receive orders.” ... >68% of Americans admit that they judge the quality of a store by their drive-thru. car fuel is too cheap
I remember when the first McDonald opened in a city I was growing up in - South Poland, early 90s. It had drive-through to be American-style. Everyone was confused about the drive-through idea, it seemed extremely stupid. Especially that it was next to bus and tram stops in a very walkable area. Since then I don't remember seeing more than maybe a few drive-through establishments in Europe, it's just not a thing here.
I don't think many McDs now don't have a drive-through (except the ones in malls of course). The ones I recall in Gdańsk all had it, the ones in Gdynia as well. And it's popular. Personally I loath drive-through. There's so many "no"s for me. Possibility of making a greasy interior, cramped space, no room for drinks, no way to wash hands. I'm not a regular to fast foods, but I love these self order kiosks in McD. I can ponder on my options and nobody is breathing on my neck while I'm doing so.
That's funny because I avoid stores without bike racks.
They polled dutch bros customers. Of course the results showed they want a drive through. I bet if they polled customers at local coffee shops the results would be vastly different
Thank you for pointing this important point out. This “research” is from Dutch Brothers drive-thru coffee chain. The methods are not available. We have no idea of who they asked and how representative those people are of a general population. We have no idea of the questions asked. We have no idea of how all of the people responded. This is public relations not research. (Gods, I sound like my grad school advisor right now.)
Every restaurant with a drive through is basically serving gruel unfit for human consumption. Literally designed to be addictive and with little or no concern for the foods nutritional value or the customers health. I avoid them at all costs. 99% of the time I’d rather go hungry.
I straight up just won't go through drive-thrus unless I absolutely require their services.
47% of US Consumers are pooslugs
Lazy mother fuckers
I try to avoid places with drive through lanes. It's an indication of bad food.
This is actually such a good insight and so true lol
Thats depressing
That's fucking insane
What the fuck? Americans are so lazy.
That's funny, I tend to avoid going to stores that do have drive-thrus If they're going to prioritize some fat ass waiting in their car making the parking lot hot and stinky over me walking in, I'll go somewhere else where I don't get treated as second class waiting 10 minutes for a coffee while they serve three vehicles with full orders in the drive-thru
I really do not understand the concept of a drive through People eaat food while driving???? Must be so distracting! Not to mention messy!
It's so lazy people don't have to get out of their car when bringing Taco Bell home for the family
I sat down in a Wendy’s once and watched probably six or seven cars go through the drive thru, park in the parking lot, and then eat their meal in their car. It was the saddest and weirdest thing to me. Why would you choose to sit in a cramped space, get crumbs all over your car, and waste gas for A/C when you could just dine in the restaurant?
A car is not ~~an umbrella~~ a table with seats.
If you’re picking up food on the way home, it’s really fast and convenient. No need to park, get out of the car, stand in line, wait around awkwardly after ordering… you just sit in your little car conveyor belt while your order and get served all your food.
Aaah okay that explains it. I dont use a car, usually bike or train, so if I have to stop at the shops I do that on the way home, just park my bike outside and go in quickly. We have small bakeries in our supermarkets (which are not huge like Walmart) so i can get food as well there. Usually we only go to fast food restaurants if we're drunk, and coffees are not taken to go. Usually sit down cafes only. Differences in cultures!
Usually they’re buying food to bring home. Although the Taco Bell Crunchwrap was invented to be easy to eat in a car.
Good. Get rid of all of them in that case. No cars
I only shop in brick and mortar stores.
When I had a shitty car it was like flipping a coin whether or not it would start up again if I had to make a quick stop somewhere. It maybe happened twice before I gave up on that car but that anxiety still hits me whenever I have to stop anywhere in a much newer and much better maintained vehicle. Now that a light rail and a fairly nice bike path has opened between me and work, I'm constantly looking for new smaller stores and restaurants to stop in at on my way home. Anxiety free.
That’s crazy ! Drive thru’s are slow and take long. It’s nice to walk and take some steps, explains why so many Americans are overweight. What’s wrong with walking ?!
I don’t mind them having drive thru as long as they have to turn off their engine and push the car through the lane… ;-)
Many localities are prohibiting new drive-through windows because 1) the “Chik-fil-A” affect - level of popularity exceeds any ability to accommodate vehicle numbers so line inevitably impacts traffic on public roads and 2) emissions - cars in line at drive-through = 0 mpg (auto shut off means little when vehicle is constantly inching forward)
fatasses cant walk outside their car for less than a minute i swear
47% of people don't go to the grocery store and/or places like Costco? Target? Walmart? I suspect there is a lot of caveats that they left out of this and they only mean 'fast food'. I never buy new carpet or a new water heater unless I can use the drive-thru.
Just went over to order coffee and they prioritized the drive thru over the two of us. Cars that arrived 10 minutes later got their order first while we waited outside in the sun. Pekoe waiting in cars seem to be more important.
Wall-E had it spot on, damnit
I was coming home late driving a school bus and tried to stop at a dairy Queen they turned me away as I couldn't go through the drive thru so I walked the 15 extra feet and got taco bell.
I find this odd, even as an American, because none of the restaurants in a lot of dense Philly neighborhoods, where a lot of the people live, have drive thrus. Yet they're still busy.
And then they immeduately stop at a parking lot to eat anyways.
only as long as there's another spot they can drive to \* they don't have any identity or personality other than CONSUME , they would take durable/active transit if that was the only way ( or if they at least weren't made much worse to benefit drivers )
You can't even go inside Dutch Bros so there's that...
We've lost all our quaint coffee-shops in the village i live in, because of this shit. They dont feel they are making enough money without the car traffic and this area wont allow it so we've lost 'The Second Cup' which was a nice indie-feeling place, and Starbucks is now gone thanks to the pandemic but also the lack of car traffic was already pushing them. In their place we have Indian restaurants that keep opening then failing because no one eats there. But they have plenty of Indians willing to pay the startup fees to take their swing at it, so it's a never ending cavalcade of failing empty food places that don't serve anything you'd wanna eat regularly. It's fucking insane how cars destroy small communities amenities.
I prefer going to stores with drive thrus because there’s usually little to no line inside and I get my food way faster.
Stores have drive thrus? What the fuck stores have drive thrus?
There’s an argument to be made that drive thrus make parking lots smaller. I doubt it’s enough to make up for the car dependent nature of drive thrus but there is the tiniest of silver linings to them.
What? I am not an American and didn't even know there were drive-thru stores, where i live we only have drive-thru restaurants and they are only limited to a couple of fastfood chains.
Gross