Artificially lowering drive-thru times?

It's like getting a star by your name for knowing your ABCs. Does the
winner also get to wear a little paper crown for a week?

I never actually knew all this stuff about drive thru times, but I can
say that I remember being asked to pull forward many times growing up
and recently at a Hardee's. I didn't ask why, but I was the only one
there, and it didn't really bother me, I thought it was weird, but
whatever. I was happy to have my breakfast!

I worked at BK, and I know up here after the 1 minute mark, the thing
makes loud, painful beeps in your ear every second. I once had a lady
refuse to move the car for six minutes while her chicken cooked!
That's 360 beeps!

As well, even thoug it doesnt seem more than trifial than you, a lot
of places DO have a lot of pressure on their employees to keep those
times down, sadly. The employee probably just doesnt want to get into
trouble.

Hopefully Corp will see this and do something about those wait times.
I know keeping a wait time down is good but shouldnt be punishing if
the situation is stupid.

I work at McDonalds. Above our drive thru window we have a sign that
states "If a car is at the window more than 30 seconds and you don't
have the food, put the order in hold and pull them up!"

The employee isn't gonna diddle around inside just because they pulled
you forward, the employee wants the customer out of there as fast as
they can get you out. I could see why the employee got a little irked
when you questioned why you had to pull up, plus you were getting your
food fresh.

It takes 10 extra seconds for them to run your food out to you, it's
not like they asked you to get out of your car and come inside to
wait.

I worked at Arby's in high school and once an order had been paid for,
it could be cleared from the screen at any time. We technically were
not supposed to clear it until the order had been handed out, but
people did it all the time. Most of the time, when we had to ask
somebody to pull forward, we would upgrade their fry to a large or
throw in a free shake, etc. for their trouble. I think it was kinda
silly of them to make you pull forward just to cut down on their
times, but I don't think it's that big a deal.

On a totally separate note, I'm surprised the school would allow you
to bring fast food for your kid for lunch. Many schools won't even
let parents pack a cookie or a candy bar as a treat in their lunches,
but fast food is okay? I'm not saying you're wrong for wanting to
give your kids BK once in a while, just trying to understand......

I had the same thing happen to me only better.

The cashier asked me to pull up 10 feet then BACK UP to the window
again to "reset the timer"


It was in Manchester, NH.

Out of curiosity, does anyone here know how BK actually handles drive
through speed? It seems odd for the window person to say something
about the "speed" of the transaction being timed. Most places I know
just tap a button when they are "done" with a transaction to clear out
the que screen.

It was annoying at McDonalds, because you would be trying to bag an
order (I was a newbie), and the order would get cleared off the
screen, you could only lay out so many paper receipts at a time and
you would have NO idea what was actually supposed to go in the bag or
what they wanted for their drink.

My guess is that this is what contributes to the high number of
mistakes at the drive through window.

This was probably a placeholder answer in lieu of a longer
explanation, not a very good one, though, since I doubt asking you to
pull forward actually affected their "speed." I don't hit drive
throughs often, but at Culvers I usually end up pulling ahead (Along
with three or four cars) because there are a lot of people behind me
and the food is all made fresh. I'd personally rather have it that
way.

To be fair, most places probably skew the delivery time. I doubt most
places are going to do anything about it though.

I think the reason the CSR asked the OP to move ahead was because she
wanted to allow others through the drive thru, not because of the
timer. Instead of telling the OP indelicately "I'd like you out of
the way," she brought up the timer.

BK should take a stance on whether asking customers to pull ahead is
appropriate, timer or no timer. Personally I don't see a problem with
it, but others here feel differently.

To me, it is no different than asking me to move aside inside the
store. At least in the store, others usually have the option of
choosing a different register. Outside, one car in the way holds
everyone up. While the concept is pull in, get your food and leave,
that isn't always possible.

I have never liked the fact that the emphasis seems to be on drive
thru customers when I am standing inside. We should all have the same
priority, no more, no less. This could be solved by just shutting
down the drive thru, which would result in more people getting
exercise and being healthier.

took my wife and kids to Wendy's. In the confusion of ordering meals
for kids - one vegetarian - we neglected to get one small drink.
While eating, we realized the mistake and I went back to the counter.
I told the cashier that I didn't get one of the kid's meal drinks, so
she got me one. Back at the table I remembered that the meal my
daughter got was not technically a "kid's meal", so I owed for a small
drink. I went back again to pay, but the manager wouldn't accept my
money. He flat-out wouldn't. But I am not going to write a letter to
corporate reporting him because he bent the rules. I am morally
corrupt, and would undoubtedly burn in Hell (if I wasn't an atheist).

I would actually like to write a letter of praise, but don't want to
rat this guy out. Terrence, I owe you a beer.

Haha! This is one of my pet peeves! Glad to know I'm not the only
one out there! I used to work a late shift, and would stop at BK on
the way home for dinner at about midnight once or twice a week. They
were not ever busy-most times I was the only person there. They
always, always, always asked me to pull forward. I can totally see
and understand if there was another car behind me. Even if one comes
up while I am waiting-they could then at that point after they took
the other persons order ask me to pull forward. But it was literally
"here is your change please pull forward and we will bring the order
to you".

The whole discussion on this letter is around what the OP and other
members here ASSUME to be a violation of a rule.

Consider this; Maybe there is a policy where employees can pull a car
forward if there is a legitimate delay, for example food is cooking
fresh. Maybe BK's upper management has decided that since these
situations are not typical and do not represent a "normal"
transaction, the car can pull forward and not kill the service time.
There still is a "check" on this system, because if too many people
are pulled up and have to wait, complaints will be coming in to the
store and management about the speed of service.

this letter is still #1!

When I worked at Target, there were certain "processing" levels we
were supposed to adhere to - Scanning and completing the transactions
in a specified amount of time to achieve "green" status. Each
transaction was timed and a percentage calculated. Good cashiers
would consistently process above 90% to maintain "green."

Often times, there were things out of our control - price checks,
customers hunting for change or credit cards, manual verification of
credit cards or processing of paper checks - that took longer. Should
*I* as a cashier have to take a hit on my speed score because of
something completely out of my control? Should my personal numbers
(that were used in reviewing and determining raises and promotions)
look bad because of the actions of a customer or a co-worker?

The answer is no. Which is why we had a little "Suspend Transaction"
button on the register to stop the clock if a situation like this
happened.

They didn't circumvent the system, there was a legitimate delay in
getting the food to you and that is why they stopped the clock. It
wasn't that the person at the drive-thru was slow or not being
attentive enough. It was something that was fully beyond their
control. You are completely twisting around the point of the clocks
and trying to pervert the situation to being some evil plan against
humanity that it's not.

I'm wondering if you've even ever worked in fast food establishment to
understand WHY they put those things in place to begin with! Perhaps
if you had, you might not have written a letter like this.

It's an insult to those employees that after they ensured that you got
fresh food in a reasonable amount of time, you still sought to punish
them.

Here is my thought for what it is worth....I agree as a customer that
it is an inconvenience although maybe not a big one.

The larger issue is that the store is cheating the system. They are
essentially falsifying corporate data and if they aren't honest with
little things then they aren't with big things either. If I owned a
store where that happened I would fire a store manager for allowing
this practice - In fact I've done just that in similar situations.

I can't believe this much thought has been put into this. When they
tell me to pull up, I just pull up. No big deal.

Which reminds me, when I visited Seattle a few years back, we went
through a McDonald's drive thru. Before we got to the window, our bag
was there. We still giggle about it to this day, that was some fast
service!

OP, unclench.

I don't blame you for being upset, it seems like they have
circumvented a safeguard to ensure a certain level of productivity in
regards to drive-thru times.

One rule though, I never argue with people who handle my food till
after it's in my possession and even then, only if I never plan on
eating at that establishment again.

Good luck, I liked your letter it was informative.

Just out of curiosity, does the OP say anywhere if this BK has a
specific time that they start serving lunch? I did a quick search and
found that it varies from Franchise to Franchise - some serve burgers
all day, some start at 10:30 and some at 11:00, etc.

Wouldn't it be a hoot if they didn't serve lunch until 11 and were
trying to be helpful by making burgers at 10:49?

i worked at a fast food restaurant for several years. i can tell you
that a person waiting on their food IS top priority, and the sense of
urgency doesn't go away when you ask them to pull forward.

i didn't always ask people to pull forward if i didn't expect another
car to come along, but i don't see anything odd about it.

one time i didn't ask a lady to pull forward, and when i opened the
window to give her the food, she wanted to know why i wiped her food
container with a NASTY rag. i wiped gravy off the side of a styrofoam
gravy bowl with a rag. i don't see what the problem was (then or now)
unless she was planning on licking the container. so, maybe they have
people pull up to avoid unnecessary comments like that. people who
have nothing to do can create all kinds of scenarios in their head
(like food tampering).

by the way, we weren't on any kind of timer. i asked them to pull up
just so (like someone else said) i didn't have to ask them later when
someone did pull up.

i'm asked to pull up all the time and i don't think a thing about it.

"Is it acceptable to ask them to pull forward without their order
complete just to stop the timer?"

Well, yeah. That's the "fast" part of fast food and a standard thing
in the industry. Even

It doesn't bother me any. To me, it's more important that my food is
cooked properly and my order is prepared correctly. Getting in and out
of the drive-thru in two minutes means nothing if my hamburger is way
undercooked and I get sick because of it.

I worked at Burger King for 2 years as a teen, and I did this to
people ALL the time. It was never a problem. Most people I served
understood our policy whether or not there was a person behind them. I
mean, what's the big deal? It will still be handed to you when the
employee walks outside to your car, you don't have to walk anywhere to
get it.

Also, the employee could actually get in trouble and written up if
their drive thru time wasn't good. When I worked there, the average
time HAD to be 2 minutes and 30 seconds or we would be reprimanded.

As a naive teen, also it being my first job, I accepted this and tried
my best and had no problem pulling people up.


It's a very common practice, and you're getting your food fresh. There
is no reason to complain.

I agree. If there was no one behind you there was no reason to pull
forward. If the timer is recording wait times, your full time spent
waiting should be recorded.

This will be my last response to this:

My complaint IS:

1. Asking me to pull forward turns off the timer. the timer tells the
boss how fast the orders were delivered. Once I pull forward, they
have met their objective of fast delivery time and the sense of
urgency is now gone. I instantly go from top priority to somewhere
lower on the list. Which, I believe, makes me wait longer than if I
remained top priority all along.

2. Asking me to pull forward will not make my order come out faster,
in fact it will make it slower. If I was top priority even after
pulling forward, they still have to run my food through the lobby, the
doors and out to my car instead of simply handing it out the window.

3. I am the customer. I believe that BK should be accomodating me.
In other words doing whatever it takes to get my order to me as fresh
amd as quickly as possible. pulling forward does not accomodate me...
in fact I would be accomodating them.

4. I don't like people using me to cheat the system. The timer is
used to time orders being delivered to the guest, not to time how fast
you can ask someone to pull forward. therefore the times in my
opinion are artificially lowered when they do this and unfortunately
at my expense.

My complaint IS NOT:

1. how long my order took.

2. losing 15 seconds of my day.

3. employees goofing off.

4. food quality.

If anyone is still confused, I am sorry. I am being as clear as I
possibly can. Good day!

Why should they get their time ruined by a guy who refuses to pull
forward? It's efficiency. How would you like it if you were behind
someone such as yourself who sat there arguing.

First of all I waited until 10:56 not 11:56... that was a typo,
sorry.

Second of all, there were 0 cars behind me from start to finish.

Third of all, and most importantly, The second I pull up and get off
the clock, is the exact same second that the staff doesn't care how
fast my order is prepared. They already earned their 30 sec.
drive-thru time. Why would they care if some customer has to wait?

Also, I never started an argument. I simply was inquiring about their
procedure. The employee was the one who determined it was an
argument.

I don't understand why you didn't move up like they asked. They would
have brought the food right out to you, so it would only add a few
seconds to the wait.

Once, I ordered a fish sandwich (among other things) from Wendy's.
Those can take some time to prepare. I was the only one in line and
they asked me to pull ahead and wait.

I only waited about ten minutes and nearly six cars went through at
that time. So, my point is...there wasn't anyone behind you *then* but
what if someone comes along a little later?

I would have just done what I was asked to do. No need to argue. They
are the experts, they know what they are doing.

In case another car does come along, it's easier to ask you NOW To
pull forward (they seemed to know that your order would take a while)
than to open the window and ask you to move after you've already
waited a couple of minutes.

If you pulled ahead and waited for your food to be brought to you when
it was prepared, you wouldn't need to be concerned about food
tampering or how average car time is calculated.

Problem avoided.

I guess I don't understand why you think you got worse customer
service by being asked to pull forward as opposed to sitting at the
window? I worked BK way back in High School, and yes we did get
dinged for long drive-through wait times. Asking someone to pull
foward if there was something that was going to take a while longer,
like waiting for a fresh burger, was common practice. 7 minutes from
order to food doesn't seem excessive at all, so I'm not sure I can
agree that your service was at all compromised.

At first I thought this was a valid complaint, but after reading the
responses, I too have to wonder why this was such a big deal. All you
had to do was move your car and have the order brought to you. I
don't understand how doing that would affect the food or service.
Unless your order was not completed satisfactorily, I really don't
what you are complaining about.

you only had to wait 7 minutes for the food (assuming the 11:56 was a
typo)

so the only issue is that they asked you to pull forward?

I don't see how customer service was degraded.


now if you had to wait 15-30 minutes with no line behind you... then
i'd see it as a CS issue, but I'm just not seeing it here.


And... i'm also wondering why the sudden suspicion of food tampering?

You pulled up at 10:49 am and got your burgers at 11:56??? Hopefully
you turned the car off




Good Day

This is standard procedure at most drive thrus. If an order is going
to take a long amount of time, you pull forward and they bring it out
to you. It is not necessarily them trying to artificially lower times,
it is an efficiency issue if another car or multiple other cars had
come. The timer would be completely shot if multiple cars who could be
served immediately had came and had to wait for 7 minutes because you
tried to start an argument with the lady at the window because you
didn't want to pull up.

So they asked you to pull up? whats the big deal? its more of a hassel
for them since they now have to run around the counter and outside to
hand it to you.

Why do people feel the need to argue with the workers. Would it bring
you a bit of joy to get someone fired over this?