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I have never heard someone describe drive-thrus as a “famously bad experience.”
by PapaPalpatine 1y ago
I have never heard someone describe drive-thrus as a “famously bad experience.”
- acdha 1y agoThey’re usually a lot slower than going inside and people have been cracking jokes about the quality of the speakers since the 80s.
- PapaPalpatine 1y agoYeah... that's just not the experience with drive-thrus in Central Ohio.
- micromacrofoot 1y agooh central ohio, well in that case it's definitely everyone else that is wrong
- PapaPalpatine 1y agoOr maybe you and everyone else is of a certain age that y'all need to get your hearing checked more frequently.
- micromacrofoot 1y agoright again! logically we all need hearing aids specifically for drive-thrus
- PapaPalpatine 1y agoDo I win a prize?!
- acdha 1y agoMaybe they’re less busy there but everywhere I went in California it was faster to park and walk inside if there was anyone in line ahead of you, which was almost always the case. The problem is that you’re limited by the slowest order ahead of you but the same place usually has multiple registers inside and the people who are waiting for pickup don’t block you from ordering. (Head of line blocking in real life) This used to be worse when everyone was paying cash and you’d be stuck behind someone counting out quarters or dropping their change.
- micromacrofoot 1y agopeople rather sit in their car for 15 minutes than walk for 1 to save 10
- RogerL 1y agoOr because their kid or dog is in the car. Or because they have difficulty walking. Or because they just want to decompress and scroll their phone or listen to the news for 10 minutes. Or they hate crowds. Or they are immune compromised and don't want to be mingling with a bunch of people around a counter. Or they have social anxiety. Or they have a cold and just don't feel like getting out of their car. Or they are expecting a call from the baby sitter. Or they are having a fight with their spouse which they don't want to export into the public. IMO, drive throughs are great, I hate crowds and queues (yes, the car line is a queue, you know what I mean), and it is much kinder to my bad discs in my back (transitions from sitting/standing is just murder, steady state is much better). It would take a egregious queue to get me to go in in most cases. But sure, I'm lazy or just reaaally bad at math. edit: I also find it hard to hear in high volume rooms with lots of reflections (like an in-n-out), and yes, the drive through can have it's own sonic issues, but it is generally smoother for me. Sorry, but I get tired when people take the most uncharitable read, especially when they blanket apply it to everyone.
- micromacrofoot 1y agopeople are allowed to make broad generalizations without listing caveats for every exception, this kind of pedantry is exhausting people on the whole are lazy and bad at math, yes some people are not... that's not who we're talking about
- MangoToupe 1y agoInteresting. I've found going inside to be much slower because the cashiers are so busy with the drive thru. I guess this probably varies from brand to brand, if not store to store.
- JKCalhoun 1y agoDefinitely "Dunkin" (as it's called now) can fuck right off. (And don't let this old man get started on store employees that allow a caller on the phone to take higher priority than a customer standing in front of them.)
- devilbunny 1y ago> caller on the phone to take higher priority than a customer standing in front of them Oh. That triggers one horrific memory. I was buying some bread at a nice local bakery. I wanted a few items. While three or four of us were in line, someone called in. The in-store employee pulled the last loaf of one variety off the shelf to reserve it for them. When I complained, the manager told me that that was the correct move and they supported the decision. I suggested that polling the people who were actually in the store - actual, not just potential customers - before giving away the last loaf is probably wiser.
- wheelerwj 1y agoDo you not know anyone who has been through an American drive-thru?
- PapaPalpatine 1y agoI drive through them at least once a week. Ordering is not hard. Talking the order is a lot harder -- I've done that too.
- Aurornis 1y agoThe poor quality of drive through communication is a common joke because it’s such a universal experience.
- goalieca 1y agoHasn’t been the case since the 80s. Speaker tech works really well these days.
- loloquwowndueo 1y agoI disagree. First, there’s a 40-year chasm between the 80s and “these days”. Next - anecdata? I have found horrible drive thru audio systems in the past decade, let alone in the last millennium. I usually prefer to park the car, go and order to go inside.
- collingreen 1y agoThis is a crazy claim. I still routinely get bad speakers or mics, 40 years after your claimed cutoff. Where do you live? I expect you must have really great drive throughs pretty much everywhere near you in order to make this bold of a refutation of the comment above.
- kadoban 1y agoSpeakers work well if they're set up well, maintained well and used correctly. Most drive thrus sound like shit because none of those are true.
- JKCalhoun 1y agoNever mind background noise of traffic, etc. Location of the drive-thru, time of day, is important as well.
- dawnerd 1y agoSo the ai here isn’t what’s improving anything, it’s the companies forcing themselves to upgrade. But all of the chains around me have upgraded their drive throughs years ago and they’ve been great, outside of the recorded pre-sell they do. That’s caused me to just go inside and pick up my mobile orders.
- BobbyTables2 1y agoThere’s a StarBucks near me that takes about 3-4 minutes per car at the drive thru. Frequently there would be 3-6 cars in line. Yes, people literally wait 15-20 minutes in line before they can even order, much less get their order. Sure, maybe they’re just inefficient and shouldn’t be rewarded. However the people there are indeed working feverishly (and paid poorly). Going inside and ordering isn’t any faster. I’d put this in the “famously bad experience” category.
- kevin_thibedeau 1y agoMost Wendy's without a kiosk have the cashier's chronically ignoring customers at the counter as online orders queue up from the receipt printer. I'm on a personal boycott for this shit tier service.
- EZ-E 1y agoI've always been puzzled that Starbucks drive through is a thing, and even has long queues. It's coffee, do people really drive there just to get a cup? I understand if it's along the highway but otherwise. You pay the premium of the brand without getting to see or enjoy the facilities. Just my feeling as european, maybe just a cultural thing.
- bee_rider 1y agoThey make the dessert-coffee drinks that some folks like. Those can be kind of a pain to clean up after, with all the frothed milk and sugar… Of course, probably shouldn’t have one every day anyway! Coffee-to-go can make sense if the place already has a pot going, I guess.
- midnightclubbed 1y agoYeah it’s this, Starbucks isn’t a coffee place; it’s a caffeinated drink place. Their brewed coffee (outside of their higher end tasting room stores) is deliberately undrinkable to push you to their espresso drinks or their sugary concoctions.