Fastest Fast Food

[cjk374]

It morphed from McDonald's kiosks...to self checkout lanes (which are akin to each other IMO)...to Wal-Mart. I am surprised Wal-Mart hasn't tried gettin into the fast food busin....oh wait. Does their deli cooking up fried chicken with sides count as fast food? 

[oscar]

It morphed from McDonald's kiosks...to self checkout lanes (which are akin to each other IMO)...to Wal-Mart. I am surprised Wal-Mart hasn't tried gettin into the fast food busin....oh wait. Does their deli cooking up fried chicken with sides count as fast food? 

Walmart has in some places more directly borrowed from McD's playbook. In addition to the bulkier self-check stations with the machinery to handle cash transactions (when it's working, which often it isn't), it has added self-serve kiosks similar to McD's that will only accept credit cards and other electronic payments. They take up less space than the traditional self-check stations, freeing up floor space for more stations.

[doorknob60]

I don't know what Culvers is

You are seriously, big time, missing out (although as mentioned, they're primarily a Midwestern chain).

Better burgers than Five Guys, and a lot cheaper as well.

I was talking to my friend from Chicago yesterday, and he was telling me the same thing. Apparently this Culvers is a pretty big deal in the Midwest. I certainly like a good burger, but I'm not holding out hope for them to show up in the Pacific Northwest anytime soon. Washington still doesn't even have a Cracker Barrel. We only just got Chick-fil-A in the last few years. We lag behind much of the country in chain options.

Well, they recently opened one in Meridian, ID (which qualifies as PNW as far as I'm concerned; Twin Falls and Idaho Falls also have locations), so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to Oregon or Washington at this point. I like it, it's pretty good, though nothing mind-blowing. I'd visit it more if it was in a more convenient location to me. Culver's, Taco John's, and now Freddy's (they had a short lived location in Boise) are all restaurants I enjoy that exist in Meridian and not Boise.

[abefroman329]

One place I didn't mind self-checkout machines at all was at car rental agencies, mainly because I hated all of the attempts to upsell me, particularly the attempts to scare me into buying insurance I never needed.  But those seem to have disappeared, and signing up for the various frequent-renter schemes where I can bypass the counter and go straight to the car is an acceptable substitute.

[jakeroot]

One place I didn't mind self-checkout machines at all was at car rental agencies, mainly because I hated all of the attempts to upsell me, particularly the attempts to scare me into buying insurance I never needed.  But those seem to have disappeared, and signing up for the various frequent-renter schemes where I can bypass the counter and go straight to the car is an acceptable substitute.

They certainly save time, but as a car-geek, the art of last-second negotiations for something nicer would keep me going to the counter.

On my family's last trip to Florida, we were supposed to rent a midsize SUV, but ended up in a Yukon for like $15 extra per day (hell of a deal for what is usually considered a luxury vehicle -- we weren't paying much per day already). We liked the 'truck' so much, we often joked about buying one when we got back to Seattle. But, with fuel prices the way they are up here, we'd really rather it had a diesel option.

[abefroman329]

One place I didn't mind self-checkout machines at all was at car rental agencies, mainly because I hated all of the attempts to upsell me, particularly the attempts to scare me into buying insurance I never needed.  But those seem to have disappeared, and signing up for the various frequent-renter schemes where I can bypass the counter and go straight to the car is an acceptable substitute.

They certainly save time, but as a car-geek, the art of last-second negotiations for something nicer would keep me going to the counter.

On my family's last trip to Florida, we were supposed to rent a midsize SUV, but ended up in a Yukon for like $15 extra per day (hell of a deal for what is usually considered a luxury vehicle -- we weren't paying much per day already). We liked the 'truck' so much, we often joked about buying one when we got back to Seattle. But, with fuel prices the way they are up here, we'd really rather it had a diesel option.

The kiosks made upsell offers to a bigger car class too.

[jakeroot]

One place I didn't mind self-checkout machines at all was at car rental agencies, mainly because I hated all of the attempts to upsell me, particularly the attempts to scare me into buying insurance I never needed.  But those seem to have disappeared, and signing up for the various frequent-renter schemes where I can bypass the counter and go straight to the car is an acceptable substitute.

They certainly save time, but as a car-geek, the art of last-second negotiations for something nicer would keep me going to the counter.

On my family's last trip to Florida, we were supposed to rent a midsize SUV, but ended up in a Yukon for like $15 extra per day (hell of a deal for what is usually considered a luxury vehicle -- we weren't paying much per day already). We liked the 'truck' so much, we often joked about buying one when we got back to Seattle. But, with fuel prices the way they are up here, we'd really rather it had a diesel option.

The kiosks made upsell offers to a bigger car class too.

Sure, but when you tell Suzie at the front counter that you only have an extra $10/day, she can make some magic happen! You can always ask for a bigger car, but they'll be more than happy to fuck you over with an outrageous upgrade cost. There's no way to negotiate with a computer.

[abefroman329]

One place I didn't mind self-checkout machines at all was at car rental agencies, mainly because I hated all of the attempts to upsell me, particularly the attempts to scare me into buying insurance I never needed.  But those seem to have disappeared, and signing up for the various frequent-renter schemes where I can bypass the counter and go straight to the car is an acceptable substitute.

They certainly save time, but as a car-geek, the art of last-second negotiations for something nicer would keep me going to the counter.

On my family's last trip to Florida, we were supposed to rent a midsize SUV, but ended up in a Yukon for like $15 extra per day (hell of a deal for what is usually considered a luxury vehicle -- we weren't paying much per day already). We liked the 'truck' so much, we often joked about buying one when we got back to Seattle. But, with fuel prices the way they are up here, we'd really rather it had a diesel option.

The kiosks made upsell offers to a bigger car class too.

Sure, but when you tell Suzie at the front counter that you only have an extra $10/day, she can make some magic happen! You can always ask for a bigger car, but they'll be more than happy to fuck you over with an outrageous upgrade cost. There's no way to negotiate with a computer.

True. And both a live human being and a computer will sell you an upgrade you were gonna get for free anyway, since they don't have any more cars in the class you reserved (but neither will tell you that fact beforehand).

[KEVIN_224]

I don't know if the Berlin, CT McDonald's (185 New Britain Road...part of CT Route 71) will have those kiosk things being mentioned soon. I do know that they just started a renovation project on Monday, June 25th. That wouldn't be so bad except...they already made the whole place over within the past 2 years.


Maybe they want ours to look like this one on US Route 1 southbound in Wells, ME? Is that a double drive thru lane? 

[abefroman329]

Yes, it's a double drive-thru lane. Well, two lanes to order, but funneled down to 1 for payment and order pickup, and if the second person to place their order cuts in front of the first one in the line, things go to shit pretty quickly.

[jakeroot]

I don't know if the Berlin, CT McDonald's (185 New Britain Road...part of CT Route 71) will have those kiosk things being mentioned soon. I do know that they just started a renovation project on Monday, June 25th. That wouldn't be so bad except...they already made the whole place over within the past 2 years.

Maybe they want ours to look like this one on US Route 1 southbound in Wells, ME? Is that a double drive thru lane? 

Double lane drive-thrus are very common around here. All new/remodeled BK's and McDonald's have them, as do Chick-fil-A's.