Should Drive-Thru services be banned?

Question

With the rising price in fuel, an obesity epidemic, and increased concern for the environment, one more time.... should we do away with Drive Thru windows at fast food joints? Why or why not?

Answer 1

I think with all the crazy changing things in the world and the threatned environment around us ,we have to stop and think what is best for us-of course it isn't fast food which causes lots of problems , it isn't the way we are living ,we're moving even faster than the rising prices of fuel

Answer 2

thats a really good question. I think that maybe it shouldnt be banned because, like someone said earlier thier are alot of people who have problems that would make it difficult for them to get around. but however i do think that people should take the initiative to get out thier car and get thier food instead of being lazy because not only would it save them gas but it will also help the enviornment and maybe help them lose a couple of calories..

Answer 3

This is the most Marxist B.S I have heard, do you want to ban cars, how about fires, what about lightning(as in thunder), even better ban humans, we can also ban non-Marxist.

Answer 4

Fast food should be banned in general. It is disgusting.

Answer 5

No.  Many people have physical problems which make getting out of their vehicle hard enough.  I like to use drive thru's when I have my 3 young children with me.  I can't possibly carry food for 5 people and my baby, and handle a toddler.  But when I don't have the kids with me, I usually go inside.  Also note, I drive a hybrid.

Answer 6

I think they should be, but reality is they won't. Drive thrus and fast food chains go together. It's a westernised phenomena that comes with wealth, luxury and laziness in my opinion.

The major concern is health, safety and the environment. The person in the car behind the other suffers pollution, these days in the U.S you can get your car heisted and the environment suffers inevitable with running engines. I would love to see the quantitative data from any study done on this.

And if a person is having that much trouble to get out of a car then they probably don't need to be in a car to begin with. Or at least with someone who can.

Answer 7

Yes, absolutely! Ban those things. They are made for lazy people that won't get out of their air conditioned (or heated) SUV's - or cars - and would rather sit idling them. In many places idling has been banned.  It creates more toxic greenhouse emissions than anyone realizes.  

Maybe people will not go to the fast food joints (many are also pushing the meat addiction such as McDonald's) so much if they have to leave their vehicles. That would be a great improvement to the environment as well.

Answer 8

although drive throughs are not really a Green living service, due to the car idoling for anywheres up to five minutes or longer. at times the waits outside are longer than the waits inside.

there are things a person can do. if the wait is long turn off the car.

Not all drive throughs are fast food. some are for coffee too that offer healthy breakfasts, lunches,and soups.

still I think as a consumer, at this time should not be banned. A person chooses what they wish to do. if you want to use the hard earned money due to the rising costs of gas prices, that is a consumers wish.

I think construction Zones are worse for our pocket books in that area. slow driving, long waits stop waits, thats worse than any drive through. We don't even get the choice for that one. too bad construction companies cannot compensate those who live close to them and have no choice but to use that routes. hey? In our area it seems they do constuction unnessisarly on the same roads each summer, and they were fine to begin with!

Answer 9

NO. Because with drive thrus we have less parking lots, which means more green space (hopefully).  And in the cold weather of the north, i love drivethrus let me tell you.  MAYBE  businesses should make the service a little faster so as to consume less fuel.  Traffic jams on the highway and toll booths waste more gas.

Answer 10

NO are you stupid? Go move to a communist country. I hate people who forget we live in the USA a country where we realize communism sucks. Yet people still want it(some idiotic people).

Answer 11

I have a couple of issues with "banning" anything.  First of all, when you start banning services, books, ideas, whatever, you are infringing on the rights of everyone without giving any thought to the reason why these things came into being in the first place.  Whenever you ban something, it only makes people want to have or do it more.  A single group of people banning something for the betterment of everyone reminds me strangely of German book burning.

Secondly, regardless of your opinion on fast food, the food itself doesn't make people obese.  The people who make the choice to constantly eat it make themselves obese.  

Yet another reason would be economic.  Restaurants that offer drive thru service do not have to hire skilled servers, bus people, dish washers, and others to maintain the facility.  That is why the vast majority of the employees in such places are unskilled, minimum wage drones.  The turn over is high, keeping the labor costs down.  That in turn keeps the prices down where more people can afford to eat there.  Whether or not the food is healthy is not an issue.  

All of that being said, there are things the restaurants themselves can do to help protect the environment.  Use less packaging or use recyclable paper for serving, decrease the time customers spend in the drive thru, offer call in service and immediate pick up when you arrive(Outback Steak House and Chili's both offer this), or place your order, park, and the food is brought out to you.  

Instead of banning drive thru services, perhaps a better course would be to encourage fast food restaurants to be more responsible.

Answer 12

Lord no!  Have you ever seen a Mom in an suv with 8 Boy Scouts in there?   The drive through fast food is a savior for keeping all those children rounded up.

Have you ever hurt your back packing up your own personal library of impressive size?  Trust me, you will be SOOO thankful not to have to walk into the pharmacy, all the way to the back of the store, and stand around while your prescription is filled.

Have you ever traveled with your pets?  Try to find a shady spot to park them in, so you can go in and eat.  Virtually impossible.  Much easier to remain in your vehicle and keep your pet safe from sunstroke.

Have you ever seen an frail, elderly person walking accross a parking lot with two inches of ice, and 40 MPH winds?  Our little local convience store that allows them to drive through and pick up a loaf of bread, or a gallon of milk is a real blessing for them.

Have you ever parked, gone into your dry cleaners to pick up your clothes, come outside, and found someone parked dirrectly behind your car, with the nose of your car against the drycleaners?  Was there a city wide festival going on, and three hours after your MULTIPLE calls to the police, nobody had yet shown up, either cop car, or tow truck, because they were just too busy?  Did the idiots who parked behind you finally show up, completely drunk, scream insults at you, and roar off?  Would you forever after use the drive thru window of the drycleaners?

Have you ever been in a bank that was held up?  Do you have any idea how long you are detained by the police, to fill out reports, and answer questions?  Robberies do not happen in the drive thru.

Have you ever been to a drive in movie theater, and had a hot time making out with....well never mind.

We rarely go to fast food.  Because we are in the middle of a major move, we've been eating it quiet a bit lately.

Last Sunday, after an extremely long day of getting stuff ready, we finally found time for dinner.  It was 11pm on a Sunday night.  

We went into McDonalds and ate.  We walk out to the car, got in (pouring down rain I might add), did up our seatbelts, and started to back out of our space.  We were one of only two cars in the entire lot.

In the time it took us to get in the car, and do up our seatbelts, a teenager had drove up, with no headlights, parked right behind our car (about one foot from our bumper).  Hubby could not see his car with no lights on, in the dark, and in the pouring rain.  So we backed into his rear passenger door.

If dimwhit teen had gone through the drive thru, it would have saved us a dent in the bumper of our car, a dent so you could no longer open his rear passenger door, and , "OMG, my Dad is going to THRASH ME!"

Yeah...I think the drive thru joints should remain open.

~Garnet

Answer 13

Yes, it wastes energy, and with the rising price of gas its bad for us the people to go through them. It's bad for the place altogether because they waste money and energy and with the gas rising they cant afford to do that. As a person also against the gas prices, i just park and go in rather then sit at the window waiting while i waste gas. I dont see the problem with simply parking and going in anyway? The company may lose some money because some people wont go if there isnt a Drive-Thru there but its us the people that are losing OUR money doing that. The company will lose and save money but my bet is that no fast food places will get rid of theirs anytime soon.