McDonald’s adds extra lane to drive-through restaurants

[snopes]

McDonald’s is to open two lane drive-through restaurants to help cope with increasing demand from customers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...staurants.html

[Cowboy Joe]

We've had those in our area for several years. It is pretty good at speeding up the ordering process. If the McD's is particularly on its game, with the two ordering lanes and two windows working simultaneously, you can get your food quite quickly. But half the time, they don't have the first window staffed, so you still have to pay and get your food from the second window which slows the process down. It is so 2003!

[Errata]

"Menus are also being printed on kerbside signs"

The interesting part of this article for me is to find out that "kerbside" is apparently the accepted British spelling of curbside.

[bjohn13]

Wow...we've had two-lane McDonald's here for a long, long time.

My impression....they are a pain. Sure, having the ability to take two orders at once is great....but what happens when the windows are backed up through the order taking signs? That's usually the case around these parts, anyway.

Plus, people are rude and pushy in these drive throughs. I've been in dozens of near-accidents over the years because people insist on being first when the lanes merge back into one.

[WildaBeast]

Originally Posted by bjohn13

My impression....they are a pain. Sure, having the ability to take two orders at once is great....but what happens when the windows are backed up through the order taking signs? That's usually the case around these parts, anyway.

Plus, people are rude and pushy in these drive throughs. I've been in dozens of near-accidents over the years because people insist on being first when the lanes merge back into one.

I haven't been through a McDonald's drive through for longer than I can remember, so I'm trying to understand how this setup works. They have two lanes for taking orders, then they merge back into one before the pickup window? Are there two pickup windows then?

I think they should keep the lanes separate, and send you your food through a pneumatic tube like they do with drive through bank tellers.

More seriously, I like the way the In-N-Out Burger drive through works. You give your order to the employee standing by the line, who relays it to the kitchen. You then drive to the first window, where you pay. Then you drive to the next window to pick up your order. By splitting the process up they keep the line moving faster.

To be really nerdy and use CPU architecture terms to describe the process, McDonald's in attempting to paralellize the drive through, while In-N-Out is pipelining it.

[Singing in the Drizzle]

We have had the double order lanes here several years. It not they can take two orders at the same time, but rather there is less time waiting for someone that does not know what they want. The order taker alternates between the two lanes and save time by not waiting on taking an order.

[bjohn13]

Originally Posted by WildaBeast

I haven't been through a McDonald's drive through for longer than I can remember, so I'm trying to understand how this setup works. They have two lanes for taking orders, then they merge back into one before the pickup window? Are there two pickup windows then?

I think they should keep the lanes separate, and send you your food through a pneumatic tube like they do with drive through bank tellers.

More seriously, I like the way the In-N-Out Burger drive through works. You give your order to the employee standing by the line, who relays it to the kitchen. You then drive to the first window, where you pay. Then you drive to the next window to pick up your order. By splitting the process up they keep the line moving faster.

To be really nerdy and use CPU architecture terms to describe the process, McDonald's in attempting to paralellize the drive through, while In-N-Out is pipelining it.

You've pretty much described how it works. Two lanes and two windows....except the lanes merge back together before getting to the windows. You pay at the first window and pick up your food at the second window.

[bjohn13]

Originally Posted by Singing in the Drizzle

We have had the double order lanes here several years. It not they can take two orders at the same time, but rather there is less time waiting for someone that does not know what they want. The order taker alternates between the two lanes and save time by not waiting on taking an order.

Or....of course...the way they do it around here is that, during busy times, they have someone inside take orders from one lane and someone in a call center somewhere in Colorado (I think) take the orders in the other lane.

They also have an alternate system where there isn't enough room for two lanes. There is a single lane, but there are two speakers to place an order. That way, they can allow two cards to go place their orders at the same time. As long as the second car isn't dilly dallying around, this system seems to work much better.

A huge munchkin of mine is when a mini-van full of people goes through the drive through while everyone orders something special.

[Andrew of Ware]

Originally Posted by Errata

"Menus are also being printed on kerbside signs"

The interesting part of this article for me is to find out that "kerbside" is apparently the accepted British spelling of curbside.

I take it you have not been reading the 'Idioms from other countries thread. I mentioned this when I knew an American girl about to take her UK driving test.

I can't see this being used at many McDonalds in the UK as whenever I pass a McDonalds with a drive through lane there are never any cars there. Mind you, I only know of one in my area.

[lynnejanet]

Our Micky Dees also has two lanes, and has had for years. As others have said, it's two order lanes that merge into one pick-up lane. Two windows, one for payment, and one for pick-up.

I very, very seldom go to McDonalds, but on the few occasions that I have, there always seems to be at least one vehicle waiting ahead of the pick-up window for something that wasn't ready. Often there are two or three cars waiting. Because they've already gone through the line, an employee has to come out through the front of the restaurant and hand-deliver their order. This really backs up the parking lot, because the waiting cars block the exit from the drive-thru lane. You would think that they would redesign the lanes to accommodate the waiting cars.

[bjohn13]

Originally Posted by lynnejanet

Our Micky Dees also has two lanes, and has had for years. As others have said, it's two order lanes that merge into one pick-up lane. Two windows, one for payment, and one for pick-up.

I very, very seldom go to McDonalds, but on the few occasions that I have, there always seems to be at least one vehicle waiting ahead of the pick-up window for something that wasn't ready. Often there are two or three cars waiting. Because they've already gone through the line, an employee has to come out through the front of the restaurant and hand-deliver their order. This really backs up the parking lot, because the waiting cars block the exit from the drive-thru lane. You would think that they would redesign the lanes to accommodate the waiting cars.

You know....oddly enough...all of the Mickey Dees around here DO have parking spaces that accomodate vehicles waiting for their orders so that the lanes could, theoretically, continue to move. However, I don't think I have ever seen any of those parking spaces being used. In fact, until just now, I was wondering what those parking spaces were even for....

b "and I own McDonald's stock" john13