14 Drive-Thru Ordering Mistakes You're Probably Making
Most fast food restaurants have a drive-thru. Whether you're in a hurry, don't feel like getting out of the car, or are just looking for a convenient option to pick up some of your favorite food items to enjoy, the drive-thru can be a great and easy option to fill up on some delicious food. Simply drive up to the speaker, place your order, and pull through to the next window(s) to pay for your order and have your items handed directly to you: It's that simple.
However, as simple and seemingly straightforward as it is to use the drive-thru, there are actually several mistakes people can make when ordering. These mistakes can cost you time, make you spend more money than necessary, frustrate the other customers in line behind you, or irritate the employees taking your order. Luckily, as long as you follow a few crucial tips, it's easy to avoid making these common drive-thru mistakes.
1. Not knowing what you want to order
One of the worst things you can do in the drive-thru line is to pull up to the speaker without knowing what you want to order. One of the main benefits of a drive-thru is that it can help customers get their food quickly and get on with the rest of the day. If you pull up to the window without already knowing what you want to order, you're going to be wasting the time of the customers behind you who are ready to place their order. Take too long, and you'll likely get honked at or hear some choice words about holding everyone up.
Moreover, you're also not showing respect for the time of the restaurant employee who is waiting to take your order. In fact, some employees may be rated based on how quickly they're able to move cars through the line, so you could be impacting their overall ratings and advancement opportunities. If you don't already know what you want to order when you pull into the parking lot of a fast food restaurant, pull into a parking spot for a few minutes. You can pull up the menu on your phone and decide what you want to order before getting in line.
2. Having too much background noise in the car
When placing your order in the drive-thru line, it is essential for the employee on the other side of the speaker to be able to hear you clearly. If they can't hear you clearly, it is only going to delay things by requiring them to ask you to repeat your order. This will end up wasting your time and the time of everyone in line behind you. If they can't hear you clearly, your order may not receive the correct order. They could miss you asking for no onion on your sandwich or think that you asked for a small drink instead of a large one.
To make sure that the restaurant workers are able to clearly hear everything you're asking for, try to limit background noises in the car. Turn down, or even turn off, your car's radio. Pause any conversations. Give the kids something to entertain themselves with so they aren't looking for your attention at the same time that you're trying to place your order. All of these things will help ensure that you can move swiftly through the line and that your order turns out how you want it.
3. Not ordering ahead of time through the app (if available)
Several restaurants now have their own apps. One of the benefits of many of these apps is that you can place your order ahead of time and pick it up when you arrive at the restaurant. In many cases, you can choose whether you want to grab your order in the dining room, curbside, or from the drive-thru. Placing your order before you get into the drive-thru line can help it be ready sooner than it otherwise would have been.
Another benefit of ordering ahead of time through an app is that you can feel confident that you ordered exactly what you want. You won't have to worry about background noise in the car interfering with the worker's ability to hear what you are ordering. Many apps will also allow you to customize your items and add or remove ingredients from them.
4. Not using restaurant rewards
Another reason you'll want to make sure that you've downloaded the app for the fast food restaurant you're ordering from is so that you can take advantage of any rewards program offered by the fast food restaurant. Every restaurant is different, but many let you set up an account where you can accumulate points that you can redeem for free or discounted items. Several restaurants also offer special savings offers that are only available through their app.
For example, with the McDonald's app, you'll not only earn points for every purchase you make, but you can redeem the app-only offers. These include a free medium-sized serving of french fries with any $1 purchase on Fridays and any size coffee for just $0.99. If you enjoy eating at Chick-fil-A, you should download its app too. Whenever you make a purchase, you'll earn 10 points for each $1 you spend. As these points accumulate, you can redeem them for cookies, hash browns, nuggets, and more. Sonic lovers will absolutely adore their app: With it, you can get half-price slushies and drinks with every purchase you place ahead of time.
5. Ordering for too many people
One of the main perks of the drive-thru line is that it can help you get your food quickly and move about with the rest of your day. However, there are times when it isn't a good idea to place your order at the drive-thru. One of these instances is if you're ordering food for several people. Large orders take more time for the restaurant workers to put together and will hold up the rest of the customers in line.
If you're placing an order for several people, the best choice is to go into the dining room. This will allow the restaurant staff to compile your order without making it impossible for others in the drive-thru line to get their orders. You also won't have to deal with someone trying to pass you a drink holder full of drinks that could spill through the windows. Consider ordering ahead through the restaurant's app (if one is available) when placing large orders. Doing so can help ensure that your food is ready to go when you get into the dining room and cut back on how long you'll have to wait for it to be ready.
6. Trying to split the check with others in the vehicle
If you and a friend are driving together and want to hit up the drive-thru, you might want to think twice unless one of you is planning to pay for the entire meal. If you want to split the check and only pay for your own items, you're better off heading inside to place your order. When you're in the restaurant and ordering at the counter, it is easy to do two separate orders: You each go up to the cash register, ask for what you'd like, and pay for your check.
However, placing two separate orders in the drive-thru line is not so simple. Each car should have just one order with one method of payment; otherwise, it is going to complicate things for the workers and slow down the entire line. Unless each person has cash or one person is willing to pay for both orders, make things easier for everyone and go inside to place your order.
7. Not having the payment ready to go
There are several mistakes people make when placing their orders in the drive-thru. One of these mistakes is not having your method of payment ready. When you pull up to the window to pay for your order, you should be ready with your cash, credit card, or contactless payment method. Digging in your purse, your pockets, or your wallet looking for what you need to pay is another way that you can hold up the line and disrespect the time of the restaurant workers and other customers.
If you're paying with cash, do everyone a favor and make sure that you won't need to use mostly coins to cover the cost. Taking the time to count out the coins yourself and then making the cashier count them out is another way to waste everyone's time and leave them feeling frustrated. If you only have coins, run to the bank or another location where you can convert them to bills.
Finally, don't get in the drive-thru line if you don't have sufficient funds to cover your order. If you plan on paying with cash, confirm that you'll have enough to cover the cost of the order. If you are using another method of payment, do a quick check to make sure that your wallet is really in your purse or pocket before you get in line.
8. Not paying attention in the drive-thru line
Another common mistake people make in the drive-thru line is not paying attention to the other vehicles around them. If you're caught up in conversation or distracted by something on your phone, you can easily miss the car ahead of you pulling forward in line. To keep the drive-thru line moving quickly, it is essential that every car moves forward promptly when it's their turn. Otherwise, you will be making the people behind you wait, and you are likely to hear some loud honks alerting you to the issue.
Another reason it is important to pay attention when you're in the drive-thru line relates to safety. At many restaurants, customers entering or leaving the dining room walk through the drive-thru. If you're distracted, you could end up hitting one of these people who are simply trying to enjoy a nice meal.
9. Adding on items after you've already paid for your meal
After you've paid for your meal, the expectation is that you'll take your food and exit the drive-thru line. However, some people think of something else they want after they've already paid for their food and try to add it to their order at the last minute when they're getting their food. This is a mistake that is inconsiderate to the people in line behind you and those working in the restaurant.
Adding items to your order at the last minute means that the cashiers will have to ring up a separate bill for you to pay, which will add time to the process. But, even more so, it means that they will have to go grab (or even make) the new items that you want to add to your order. This can significantly increase the wait times of the customers in line behind you.
Always request everything you want when you get to the speaker to place your order. This is also true if you're just asking for extra sauce because some fast food restaurants limit how many the workers are able to give out for free. If you get to the pickup window and realize that you forgot to order something, you'll have to either loop back through the drive-thru or run inside for it real quick.
10. Not checking your order before driving away from the restaurant
If you grab your bag from the worker at the drive-thru window and immediately drive home, or wherever you're planning on eating, you've been making a big mistake and taking a real gamble. While it would be nice to think that everything you order will be included in the bag you receive with any substitutions or special requests followed, that just isn't always going to be the case. The workers at the fast food restaurant surely have the best intentions, but mistakes are going to happen. At some point, someone is going to get a box of chicken nuggets instead of the hamburger they ordered. Or the extra pickle you asked for on your burger is going to be left off.
You deserve the meal you ordered and paid for, so before you leave the restaurant, it is always a good idea to double-check the items in the bag you were handed. This way, if there are any issues, you'll still be right there to have them corrected. It would be really sad to drive all the way to your final destination only to open the bag and find that something was missing or you received the wrong item.
11. Checking your order before pulling away from the window
While you do want to check your order before you leave the restaurant's parking lot, you should not check it while you are still in the drive-thru line. Taking the time to go through your order and make sure that you received everything you asked for is going to take a few minutes. Checking it while you're still at the window with other customers behind you isn't a good idea. Again, this will be increasing their wait time and will greatly slow down the pace at which the line of cars is able to make it through the drive-thru.
To understand why checking your order before pulling away from the window is a mistake, imagine how you would feel if every car in front of you took an extra two minutes to pull forward after getting their food. Even if there were only two cars in front of you, it would increase your wait time by four minutes. But what if you went during a really busy time and there were seven cars in front of you in the line? That would mean you'd be waiting nearly 15 extra minutes to get the items you ordered.
12. Not looking at your receipt
Do you just toss your fast food receipt from the drive-thru line in the trash without even looking at it? Well, we're sorry to tell you that this is yet another mistake you've been making. There are actually a few different reasons why it is a good idea to look at your receipt before throwing it out.
First, it is always a good idea to confirm that you were charged the correct amount for the items you ordered. With all the different orders being taken in the drive-thru line, it is possible that your order may have been mixed up with someone else's. Instead of being charged just $12 for a meal for yourself, you could have accidentally been charged the $40 that the car behind you owed for a few different meals.
The other main reason you should always check your receipt is that it could help you save money on a future purchase. Some fast food restaurants have links for a survey that customers can take to share more information about their experience. When you complete these surveys, you will often get a special code or coupon for a free or discounted item.
13. Not considering ordering inside the restaurant
The drive-thru can be the quickest and most convenient way to get the food you want. However, if you've been assuming that it is always the best option when you're in a rush, you may be incorrect. There are times when you may be better off running inside the dining room rather than ordering at the drive-thru to get your order. If there is a really long line of cars already in the drive-thru line when you arrive at the restaurant, but the dining room looks mostly empty, the fastest option could be to just go inside and place your order.
Sometimes, it seems like it takes forever in the drive-thru to get your order, even if there are only a few cars in line ahead of you. Based on a 2021 study from See Level HX, the speed of service for customers in the drive-thru line actually decreased by 25.59 seconds between 2020 and 2021. In 2020, customers waited an average of 356.70 seconds for their order to be ready. In 2021, the wait time was 382.39 seconds. That's a 7 percent increase in wait times. Unfortunately, you can never know for certain whether the drive-thru or dining room will be the fastest option on any given day. So, you'll always be making a little gamble when you order fast food.
14. Assuming the restaurant staff can't hear your conversations
The drive-thru line is not the place to have a private conversation. Whether you realize it or not, it is likely that the worker on the other side of the speaker can hear a lot (if not all) of your conversation. This is true whether you think the speaker is on or not. If you're talking to someone on the phone or in the vehicle about anything that you wouldn't say if you were in public, pausing the conversation until you're through the line is probably a good idea. You should also remember that most drive-thrus have a camera so that the workers can see when a car pulls up to the speaker. So this means that you're also on camera when you're in the drive-thru and should act accordingly.
Similarly, when you're waiting in line wouldn't be a good time to complain about the restaurant, talk down on the people who work there, or complain to someone else in the vehicle about the quality of service you're getting. Saying unkind things about the restaurant or its employees isn't likely to help you get the level of service you'd want to receive. If anything, they might just get upset and purposely mess with your order.