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Do drive-thrus save any time?

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I go through Wendy's, Subway and Jimmy John's drive thru every week.
Most of the time, it is a pleasant experience.

...except... when those bastards at Jimmy John's give me Salt N Vinegar chips instead of Jalepeno chips!!!
I always check the bag before I drive off now.
 
Vic Vega said:
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I love me some Cook Out, but that is by far the nicest Cook Out building I've ever seen. They were all dumps in the Triangle and Triad.
 
kranky said:
I know they all prioritize the drive-thru. Yet going in is almost always faster. At the counter you can take multiple orders and serve them in any order. If the guy in front of you ordered 12 items and you ordered two, you'll get yours when it's ready even if the other order is still being put together. But with the drive-thru you can't get your order until all the cars in front of you have been served.

There are those rare occasions where they tell someone to pull out of line and they'll bring the order out, but that seems to happen less and less. Probably because of safety reasons.

Not to mention when you go in you have the huge advantage of being able to watch them get your order ready so you have a fighting chance of it being right.
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I think what annoys me the most about the drive thru is how if there are like 4 cars in front of you, you have to sit in your car, idling or shut off, and then stop and go 4-5 times.

Really annoying. It's like being in a traffic jam.
 
At my old job, we'd take turns going to Tim Hortons to get coffee for the store. Most people are lazy as shit so they all line up in the drive-thru almost out to the road. Was always faster going into the store because there was never a line.
 
I stopped eating drive-thru in high school when fellow students who worked at Jack in the Box said what they did to the food (unmentionable).
 
I never understood why anyone uses the drive through. They should probably ban them on environmental grounds alone. The mental anguish caused by my recognizing that my countrymen are too lazy to walk 15 yards is terrible, too.

The worst is when fucking morons block arterial roads in their 40 car line-up to get shitty coffee from tim hortons. Everyone in the line should have their driving privileges permanently revoked for being so fucking stupid.
 
The answer to the original question is it depends on the restaurant. Some places if the drive-thru is the same length as inside, the drive-thru is faster, other places inside is faster. The highly efficient fast food chains typically have faster drive-thru while the more local independent restaurants inside is typically much much faster.

It always confuses me at the local Dairy Queen which does not have an indoors area, there can be a line of 6 cars in the drive-thru when it is very clearly visible no one is at the walk-up windows. I park, get my ice-cream from the walk-up window, and leave typically before the second car in line has made it through. AND, while I am at the empty walk-up window two additional cars turn in an choose the crowded drive-thru lane!
 
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I've never been in a drive through, I know there's a mcdonalds one in my state but I don't like that crap and I can just go home and eat anyway.
 
desura said:
But I bet that if someone actually did a study on it, they would find that a drive thru is about the same time if not slower than just parking your car, walking into the place, and ordering to go.
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You obviously pay no attention. They put the retards inside. The fast food line can do four cars in the time the inside can do one or two people.
 
I've never used it. It always seems slower to me.

I guess it makes sense if you have young kids. That's the only socially acceptable reason to use it.
 
Drive through is sometimes faster at some locations.

If I run out of coffee at home, and stop in the AM to get coffee at McDonalds on my way to work, the drive through is usually faster since it tends to be commuters who are just getting coffees and perhaps some mcmuffins. The line may be long, but it moves very quick.

Go at dinner time after work, and you usually have families with kids and a very slow moving drive through line.
 
i hate drive thrus. chik-fil-a one is the worst, wraps all the way around the building then backs up into the street. so much faster just to go inside. i bet all those people sitting there in their cars complain about the price of gas too.
 
I stopped by Starbucks this morning on my way to work for a cappuccino and there was a line at least 4 cars deep in the drive thru so I parked and went inside, there was nobody waiting inside. I walked right up and ordered my drink. No waiting.
 
I never use the drive thru anymore.

I am always the poor bastard stuck behind the biggest douchbags. Never fails. I always get the crazy ass person in the minivan that customizes every stupid thing they order. "I want a plain hamburger, one with extra pickles, fries with no salt, drink with little ice, ect" WTF if you want all that special crap park and go inside. Don't clog up the drive thru with all your BS. Then they will bitch about not getting extra dipping sauce and have a 10 minute argument with the drive thru guy about how they shouldn't have to pay for extra sauce. Then by the time I get there my order has been sitting there getting cold. (plus it is more likely to be wrong)

Then I will be the guy that they ask if I can go park my car and they will bring out my fries that aren't ready yet while my hamburgers are getting cold.

I have major drive thru rage!:twisted:

I will only go through the drive through if it is after hours and that is the only thing open.
 
I don't think so... but I hate that it seems like restaurants give priority to drive through customers over walk-ins when I'm there.
 
You guys who think it is faster to park and walk in are delusional.
You just tell yourself that so you feel better about your extra effort.
 
edro said:
You guys who think it is faster to park and walk in are delusional.
You just tell yourself that so you feel better about your extra effort.
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Depends on time of the day and where you live I guess. Where I am it is consistently faster, unless you hit some sort of big party thing happening at the restaurant.
 
edro said:
You guys who think it is faster to park and walk in are delusional.
You just tell yourself that so you feel better about your extra effort.
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While it may not actually be faster, I would much rather park & walk versus sit & idle the car for 10 minutes.
 
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