Saturday, February 17, 2007
Pull forward. (I dare you!)
| For the record, I hate going through the drive thru window at any restaurant. Despite the fact that some places claim orders are "double checked" I still believe your chances of getting screwed at the drive through are astronomically higher than going in. I believe it is because the people working the drive through have an unhealthy lack of fear. Deep down they know, if they screw up, the customer won't know it til they're way down the road. They know the customer won't have time to come back and complain because if the customer had that kind of time they probably wouldn't be using the drive through. It's a sad but true fact that if the people taking and making your order know you're close enough to punch them, they pay closer attention to your order. Fast food places know the drive throughs are a source of customer dis-satisfaction, that's why you see so many different approaches on how to do it. Checkers and Central Park have the "Double Drive Thru" which is 2 windows and 2 speakers. Two completely seperate lines. This works for them because really its just the original drive through concept of one speaker/menu and one window. I have noticed a disturbing drive thru trend over the past few years and today I saw the latest evolution, and it left me stunned and speechless. I did not know it at the time I was working on it, but my Masters thesis was a study in logistics. I am fascinated by transportation problems, maps, and optomizing schedules. When I see the utterly stupid things companies are doing in the name of "efficiency" I wonder what 5 year old with a big box of Crayons is running their logistics department. Obviously having you place your order at a menu/speaker several car lengths away from a single window allows time to prepare your order. That was a good innovation. Sadly, that was probably the last good innovation. The problem started when the restaurants started to depend on the "order delay" between when you place the order and pay and then they give you your food. They got slack. Customers had to sit and wait for their food anyway. How many drive throughs do you see now with timers measuring the wait time of your order? How many have space for double digit minutes? How many do you see where this timer has been disconnected or turned so the customer cannot see just how many minutes they're sitting and waiting? In the old days, when they took your money and gave you the food at the same window, you would have the option of "pulling the rip cord" and swerving out of the line if the wait got to long. In the past 3 or 4 years I have noticed a lot of drive thrus being built where a curb is set up on both sides, preventing you from pulling out early. I have, on more than one occasion, gotten so tired of the wait, that I just drive right past the window and on my way. If they do not act like they want my business, I am more than happy to oblige them. Sure, I lost 5 or 10 minutes, but they lost a customer. They hate that. Thus the evolution of the "Two window drive thru." Not to be confused with Checkers and Central Park, this is one line with two windows, plus a speaker/menu. The idea is you place your order at the speaker, pull up to the first window, and pay there, then get your food at the second window. In logistics this sounds good, as it will give them MORE time to prepare your order, and you don't sit idle as long pondering your poor dining decision. However, the real motivation is to get their grubby paws on your money as soon as possible. Then, even if there isn't a curb preventing it, you won't bail out of line on them. Crafty idea, isn't it? How many times have you been to a two window drive through and placed your order and been told to "Pull forward." Sometimes they tell you the first window. Sometimes it's the second. Sometimes they never mention a window, and assume you'll figure it out. How many times have you pulled to the wrong window? Some places get smart enough to hang a sign in the 1st window if it is closed reminding you to "go to the next window." Sadly I have seen plenty of times the sign is up when it shouldn't be, or not up when it should be. Talk about confusing. I sort of figured evolution would cut down on us humans having to hunt so hard for our food. Well, if two windows is good (it isn't) leave it to McDonalds to go one step further and go with three windows. That right, a McDonalds in Macon was built from the ground up with three windows, plus a menu. At first customers topped at the menu and speaker and placed their order to the firl in the first window, a whopping 15' in front of them. You feel stupid talking in a speaker to a girl at a register when you can see and read her name tag. Eventually they decided you could just pull forward and place your order live and face to face with the person at the first window. Oh yeah, but you had to have memorized your order from the menu that is now 15' behind you. She'd happily punch in your order for you. But then you're left sitting in the line that now takes longer than the 2 window drive through. Apparently people were uncomfrotable with giving her their order and getting nothing in return, so they decided the first window would now be used for taking orders and giving you your napkins and straws. No drinks or food or anything. Just a hand full of napkins and straws. So now you have a hand full of stuff, while trying to fumble and find your money for window #2, while you sit in the astronomically long line that does the stop-and-go herky jerky between the three unevenly spaced windows. Then you get to window 2, give them your money and they give you... a receipt. Apparently after a while people got tired of again getting "nothing" for their money, so window #2 became your drink stop. So now you're holding napkins and straws, paying money, getting change, and drinks. Window #2 also used to be where you got any ketchup you needed, adding to your growing juggling problem. And trying not to run into the car in front of you. Finally you get to window #3. Usually they have your food ready, making you believe that it's been freshy prepared for you. Sadly, you've forgotten the 10 minutes you have actually spent in line since you first placed the order way back at window #1. Good luck shuffling the straws, drinks, napkins, change, ketchup, and money when they thrust that bag of food at you. And when it gets slow (like 2pm) just try and figure out which window they want you to pull forward to! It felt like the old game show "Let's Make A Deal" with "Door Number 1, door number 2, or door number 3?" Well the 3rd window only lasted about 3 months before it was sealed up completely and is now used for storage inside the store. I bet the guy we'll affectionately called "Third Window Willie" is not only still employed at McDonalds, but hailed as a genius, and is probably a VP by now. So let's see, we've had the simple drive thru. Then we got the double drive through. Then two windows, then three windows and a speaker, then three windows no speaker. Could it possibly get any worse? Well, sadly, yes. I saw it this morning. I'll have to go back later and take a picture or two, because you certainly won't believe it, and probably won't even understand it. Yes, our McDonalds (yes, those drive thru wiz-kids are at it again) down on North Ave. has put in 2 menu/speakers and 2 windows. Lets not confuse this with Checkers and Central Park where each window has a dedicated menu and speaker. Now, there are two seperate lanes with speakers and menus that then merge into one lane to go through the two windows. (In circuits they'd say the two menus are in parallel and the windows are in series with the menus.) Picture a capital letter Y. OK well you don't have to picture it since I just put one right there. On each arm of the Y there is a speaker and menu, with it's own drive thru lane. Just past the menu you merge into one lane that then goes to the pay window then the food window. Of course it all bends completely around the building in the process. I'd love to know how many wrecks they've had there, especially during the morning coffee mad dash, when tempers are short. Frankly, I just can't wrap my head around the guy who thought this was a good idea. First off it didn't go any faster, in fact it took just as long or longer than a normal 1 speaker 2 window set up would. The biggest problem I found was that I had to place my order 3 times. The first time at the menu, then I had to remind the lady I was giving my money to which order was mine, and lastly the guy giving out the food needed to know what I had ordered. I think for fun next weekend I am going to go back and place different orders at each window, and see how much havoc that creates: Speaker: Big Mac, no speacial sauce, small fry, apple pie, and a Sprite. Pay Window: 6 piece McNuggets, McFlurry, large fry. Food Window: Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Hot Fudge Sunday, Fruit and walnut salad. Now I am not really surprised at McDonald's utter incompetence at herding the masses thru their lines. It seems when I go inside to a McDonalds they all have a different way of doing things, and none of them really work. Most places the person who takes your order, then gathers your order and gives it to you. This works nice, but sadly, only serving one customer at a time is bad for business. So they will usually tell you to "step to the side" so they can take another order. This is where the chaos begins. In an effort to save space they squeeze registers in so there's no room to "step aside." You usually wind up at the register beside you, or bumping into someone in the next lane who "stepped to the side" the wrong way. (You always step to the left, people!) There is a McDonalds just up the road from the main campus where I work that is a study in chaotic order handling. When you place an order, you get no receipt (even when using a credit card, which freaks me out). They also don't tell you an order number. This might not be so bad except ALL orders are given to customers at the other end of the counter. So during rush hours, there's 20 customers milling around waiting on their orders. Sometimes the person loading up the food will yell "Big Mac Combo!" and 5 people raise their hands. One time the person giving out the orders kept yelling out order numbers, and was frustrated when no one picked up the orders. Obviously it didn't seem to click that we were never given an order number. For that reason we actively encouraged our students to go "anywhere but McDonalds" for lunch. We sort of depend on our students coming back after lunch, but McDonalds apparently didn't seem to think that swift efficient service was their job. One morning we saw a group of McDonalds big wigs in apparently going over staff training etc. They had their hugethree ring binders with official golden arches on the front. I was so tempted to stip up trouble by asking them when the restaurant would be open for real, or fully staffed, or if all the managers were out sick. Now I know I have busted on McDonalds pretty heavily. Krystals may seems to have been left alone. But lest you accuse me of favorites, I am already on the record as having trouble with the Krystal drive through. When I order my chiks with no mayo, I get mayo about every 10 times anyway. That is why I never order chiks at the drive through anymore, I always go in. Perhaps when they know the customer is close enough to choke them, they pay closer attention to preparing the order. My number one reason for going in to Krystal, though, is the smell. That delicious, unmistakable oniony steamy Krystal smell. If you're lucky and the wind is just right, you can occasionally get a whiff of that smell out of the drive thru window, but that's a gamble I'd rather not take. Sometimes it's best to just park the truck, go inside, enjoy the atmosphere, and get some delicious food. It's bound to be faster than the 3 window 2 menu disaster down on North Ave.  |
