comment: >
  
  
  for same price I can get normal tasty burger
  
  Except you’re not gonna go to McD’s for a burger. No one sits in their house thinking” I really want a burger” and then arrives at McD’s as the answer for where to go get said burger. If you want a burger, there’s a million places you can go for a much better burger for not much more. You go to McD’s because you want McD’s.  You think “man, I could go for some McDonald’s”. Then you head out and have a “burger” or some “chicken” nuggets. I mean… is a McRib even ribs?
context: I understand what the term "fast food" means literally but I would argue that the modern meaning is just food that is cheap and easily accessible. >
  
  It might be easily accessible, but mcdonalds is no longer cheap. The food is exactly the same but twice as expensive as it was 2 years ago. No longer worth it >
  
  Just to give you an idea, me and my wife's order doubled in price pretty much since we met. >
  
  I'm not spying 2.85 for a regular  hamburger, formerly on the dollar menu >
  
  Well, I guess that first destroying the economy via lockdowns and then destroying the economy via anti-Russia sanctions has some impacts on us as well. >
  
  Yes, it has nothing to do with more and more laws being passed that are directly in favor of coporations doing absolutely anything they want >
  
  The car park method seems to take longer as when I use the drive through or walk in it's far quicker. >
  
  What I mean is that they make me park my car when I use the drive through. >
  
  Oh I’ve never had that, it could just be specific to the franchise you go to? >
  
  It's a regional thing I think. This is normal in the Northeast US. >
  
  So you just completely skip the second window or is someone there telling you to park? >
  
  Essentially, I think it's a way to try to keep the line moving. So let's say I order something and they need another two minutes to finish cooking it or something, like fresh french fries.
  At the second window they will direct me to park at a specific parking spot, usually one of the curbside pickup parking spots, and they will walk my food out to me when it's done.
  This means that if the guy behind me has food that they are ready to hand to him and have him fuck off, they can just do that, instead of him having to wait for my food to be done.
  I'll say that the idea makes sense in principle, but it doesn't feel good to be on the receiving end of it, when it feels like in the past I didn't have to wait extended periods of time  to get food at the drive-thru in general. >
  
  Only time I’ve been told to pull into the parking lot was when I ordered 10 McDoubles and 10 double bacon cheeseburgers for a small LAN party, which seemed fair >
  
  They are a real estate and logistics company that happens to sell food >
  
  THIS!!!!!!!  
  Man its crazy how much they make off their real estate hustle. Burgers are just a side hustle. Money is in the land and franchising. >
  
  I stopped when a quarter pounder meal was $15 >
  
  Absolute insanity. Remember when you could buy a cheeseburger for a dollar and it would take five minutes? Now the same thing takes three times as long and costs three times as much. >
  
  Just... get two McDoubles and a fry. It's like five bucks. >
  
  But then you don't get a drink.
  Although yeah fair point. It'll still take 15 minutes though. >
  
  That's because they ran skeleton crews during the pandemic. Saw how much they were making, and have decided always keeping their restaurants short staffed is good for their pockets.
  Same shit is happening at the hotel chain I work for. We're back up to full capacity for guests just like we were pre-pandemic, but we have a little over half of the amount of staff we had back then.
  They've just completely abandoned room service, and we've been without a concierge for over a year and we're supposed to be "one of the fancy properties".
  It's the same with major corporations all over. A lot of them saw decent profits during the pandemic and had a lot of people desperate for any kind of work so even though their skeleton crew practice was burning out employees, there was always another candidate. Now that's changed, but they've just decided it hasn't. >
  
  Couldn't agree more. Still not fast food anymore. >
  
  Whenever I use the drive thru I normally have food in hand roughly 1-3 minutes after paying >
  
  That's not the case where I'm at. >
  
  Don't you mean the various states you have been? >
  
  Exactly. >
  
  the price is not fast food price >
  
  same, i can go to another place and get the same product kind of product for the same price but way better >
  
  15 minutes, how much food are you ordering???? >
  
  Meal 2b. Bacon cheeseburger, large fry and a large coke. >
  
  Maybe they're trying to give you enough time to reconsider your life choices. 🤔 >
  
  I mean yeah, but they take my money at the beginning so I can't run away, lol. >
  
  That's what's called The Sunk Cost Fallacy. You can still drive away with your good health and come out ahead in the end! >
  
  Would you suggest instead that OP have a....big salad? >
  
  Yes, but make sure proper credit is given to whomever purchases it for you. >
  
  My girlfriend and I went to a diner in PA. The meal ended up being $16. If we went to McDonalds, probably the same price if not more. >
  
  Impossible fuck u lying for?  You each order toast and water? >
  
  I once asked a drive thru employee why they do this now and he explained it’s poor management of the franchise. Maybe his gripe was a bit bias since he’s a frontline employee, but I feel their pressure. Plus almost all fast food companies are in competition with each other so they have a drive thru timer and sensors in the lanes that send data to corporate. If the location doesn’t meet the numbers, they’re alotted a smaller budget for the fiscal quarter/year so the local managers try to cheat the system by having you drive out the lane so the timers basically show quick service to their head office. It’s stupid but that’s corporate America for you… >
  
  Should be considered fraud.. >
  
  I still go to McD about once a month. Never have to pull over. Must be what you're ordering. 
  You've gotten 10 double bacon cheeseburgers recently? >
  
  Listen I have a problem. That's not what this conversation is about ok? Let's stay on topic. >
  
  Either you're exaggerating, ordering a crap ton of food without calling ahead, or going to a seriously crappy McDonald's. I work at McDonald's, and the only time someone's order has legitimately taken 15 minutes is when we were waiting on mccrispy and mcchicken was put down by mistake, meaning the full 7 minute cook time had to be repeated. Wait times for a typical order are very rarely 15 minutes, even at the peak of a rush. >
  
  Maybe your store is just special cause this is the general consensus. >
  
  My McDonald’s is cranking. Suburban Chicago. Rarely a wait longer than 5 mins start to finish. Custom orders might take a little longer but never feels bad. 
  I think the delays are less about McDonald’s and more about labor shortage. My McDonald’s pays ~$18/hr >
  
  Chicago Suburb too!  All my comments are about how they get paid an okay wage and I never have a long wait.
  Maybe it's a PA thing. >
  
  Your analysis is completely contingent upon your location. I still go here in Chicago and is pretty fast. >
  
  I don’t know which McDonald’s you go to but according to the corporate franchise guidelines it should take no longer then 90 seconds from first ordering  to picking up your food. Unless your orders is larger then usual. >
  
  Can someone tell the entire southeastern PA region please? >
  
  Where are you that it takes 15 minutes to bring out your order? I’ve never had it take more than 5 minutes unless they’re super busy >
  
  Philadelphia metropolitan region. >
  
  Minnesotan McDonald’s are never that slow so idk what’s up with philly >
  
  Idk what you’re ordering but my wait is always less then 5min.  And my meal is less then $5. >
  
  I think it's my region but still, I'm not in some BS area, I'm in the Northeast and 15 minutes is the new normal here. >
  
  I would suggest using the app, and going in store.  Plus the app helps save money 
  Drivethru will always take longer unless it’s dead.  But if it’s dead, they might have to fry a new batch of fries and what not >
  
  Let’s worry about whether or not it’s fast instead of whether or not it’s food. >
  
  Exactly, you and I are on the same page my man. I could care less if it's actually food, I would eat dirt it if tasted edible and filled me up. But I need my dirt QUICKLY. >
  
  This happened to me frequently at one specific McDonald’s. I asked them why they do this and apparently it’s because they have competitions for service times. They tell you to park to cheat. 
  I just say no when they ask me to park and wait until they get me my food. Like if you want to win for best and fastest service provide the best and fastest service. >
  
  If it's taking that long to get your food each time, I think your local McDonalds is abnormally slow.  They're not supposed to take that long, and I think most fast food places would consider that way too long for the drive-thru.
  At my local McDonalds, I usually get my food really fast, and I rarely have to pull around and park.  Most of the time, the most time I spend is actually waiting in the line behind other customers if there are a lot of customers at the drive-thru.  Once I get up to the window, I get my food fast and get out fast. >
  
  This is every McDonalds I have been to in the past six months, which is many. >
  
  So it seems “fast” is relative here. For you anything under 5 minutes is fast, but for me I can probably wait up to 15 minutes before I’d like to be notified of a longer wait.
  That being said, I can walk into my local McDonald’s and get most simple orders in less than five minutes easily, so could be dependent on what you order/where you live. The former of which is especially important as a lot of joints these days are diversifying their menus so much that the niche items often aren’t readily available to be made like the basic burgers and fries are. However you do say multiple locations and a fairly basic order, so those points might not apply as directly. 
  So I suppose a third option could be that ordering inside the restaurant is better than drive thru, as I get my order very quickly when I go in compared to the drive thrus. Keep in mind drive thru near me often leaks onto the road in terms of length, whereas only a few orders indoors. Give it a try next time you go if you haven’t! >
  
  Huh, that's weird, usually it takes like 7-8 mins for me when I order stuff in Canada. >
  
  You must be going to some bad McDonalds then. The only time I ever have to wait at all is if they just ran out of fries or something and even then that’s just a few minutes >
  
  In my opinion, some of these fast food places need to cut back on their menu. Back in the 90s, McD didn't have a large value menu. Now you got salads, chicken sandwiches. Smaller the menu, more efficiency. >
  
  i dont think they make the orders in order, i went to Mcdonals today, i ordered some food and my friend ordered a single burger like 1,5 minutes after, he got his almost instantly, then he ordered 2 cheeseburgers with a free cupon and got them before me too, then like 1,5 minutes later i got my meal and nuggets >
  
  McDonalds is friggin delicious wutchu talkin about >
  
  They must just suck in your area, around here stuff like that occasionally happens, but most of the time it's around 5 minutes frim start to finish. >
  
  Honestly I think a lot of this waiting may have to do with worker shortages. As for being expensive.. yeah. Fast food has gotten quite expensive. >
  
  I was staying in a place with huge worker shortages and it was all 12 and 13 year olds working at mc dicks >
  
  I'd rather sit and wait for hot food than be served cold, stale food. >
  
  McDonald’s is not food and eating that shit in 2022/2023 is just insane to be completely honest. >
  
  Dude, that’s just a bad McDonald’s.  I eat there 1-2 times a week and have NEVER waited more than 10 minutes for my food >
  
  Its not cheap a meal is costing 12-15$ might as well sit down & eat something half decent for $5 more >
  
  Exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >
  
  It’s especially annoying here in canada a jr chicken & mcdouble our version of the value menu costs 7.80 inna meal & 3.50 for the sandwich. Or a 20 pc nugget meal is over 20$ >
  
  You know you can tell them "no" right? They can't make you park your car when you ordered thru the drive-thru. They only do this so they can protect their time stats on the drive-thru since if it gets too high they get written up or fired for it. 
  Simply tell them no, park your car at the window, and wait. They'll either work harder to make your food faster or get canned for it. It's not your problem if they can't do their jobs properly >
  
  I would agree. My local place also for the past 5 orders keeps leaving this huge gap in my L coke. Today I finally said, "You guys are literally unable to fill a large size? Stop selling it then." And I asked for the drink to be comped to a medium, they refused so I snapped a photo of my drink and said I'd email the franchise then and I got literally 4 orders refunded lol. I agree, their food has always been mediocre but now its overpriced slow garbaaaaage. >
  
  McDonald's isn't even food >
  
  you have a point. i think the "problem" (cause) is that the general public doesn't want shit-cheap ultra-fast food anymore. the public is more interested in "quality" (or at least the appearance of quality/fresh) food more than fast food.
  remember, in the '70s and '80s people just ate this shit up. someone would order a "custom" burger and it would cause the line to back up 3x its normal length.
  but then somewhere in the '90s the trend of "that food is really bad for you" and "that food is shitty quality" started up. parents were no longer feeding their kids fast food 4 nights a week and paying more attention to their food. not a LOT of attention, but MORE attention.
  and of course mcdonalds responded by changing their overall strategy.
  but if you can find a real drive-in burger joint that still exists you won't be disappointed. hell, dick's cheeseburgers in seattle can still crank 'em out for $2/cheeseburger with no waiting AND they're paying their employees $15/hour plus benefits like vacation and college tuition reimbursements. >
  
  
  you have a point. i think the "problem" (cause) is that the general public doesn't want shit-cheap ultra-fast food anymore. the public is more interested in "quality" (or at least the appearance of quality/fresh) food more than fast food.
  
  I mean cool, but for same price I can get normal tasty burger, not this frozen smol patty abomination. They are both expensive and NOT "quality" by any means.