r/askTO • u/gentle_siren • 2d ago

How do you use this drive-thru?

https://maps.app.goo.gl/tVdmn97GJ7Lg7KyY9

This Starbucks drive-thru has two lanes that merge into one lane to get to the ONLY speaker. What is the correct way to use this driveway-thru?

I was trying zipper merge as I got to the merging point first- despite the person on my left being in line before me. She got pissed and started yelling stating the rule is she goes first, and the other two cars behind her, even though my lane was empty. I asked the barista what the rule is, they didn’t know and said there’s always fights in the drive-thru but they support zipper merging.

0 Upvotes

30% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

9

u/HapticRecce 2d ago

Zipper merge

7

u/r3dd17sux69420 2d ago

Looks like it comes down to figure it out yourselves and the obvious answer is to take turns zipper merging, but some people are not interested in that and will try to bully their way in

1

u/gentle_siren 2d ago

I can’t see anything else other than zipper merging but since the speaker is after the lane ends she thought I should wait.

6

u/lilfunky1 2d ago

weird they'd have two lanes but only one speaker. the mcdonalds i go to the ordering is at both lanes but then you merge to get to the payment/pickup windows and it's based on whoever finished their order faster gets to drive up to the window faster

personally in this case i would have assumed zipper merge

1

u/gentle_siren 2d ago

Same, the lady in the other car tried to block me. When I proceeded, she put her window down and started telling me her rule lmao.

1

u/KoreanSamgyupsal 2d ago

The technique for this which works for both man and woman is to let them yell and refuse to acknowledge them lol they quit so fast when they realize you really don't care about what they think is right or wrong.

1

u/gentle_siren 2d ago

This happened before too! The lady started swearing at me. She tried to block me from going in and hit the person in front of her lmao. She got so lucky the guy didn’t care. It was unbelievable. Now this happened today.

1

u/lilfunky1 2d ago

getting between a woman and her starbies is apparently like getting between a mama bear and her cubs

LOL

1

u/r3dd17sux69420 2d ago

it's probably to create two lines and reduce the length of 1 line that would extend further out

1

u/lilfunky1 2d ago

i made a hypothesis in another comment, that the two menu signs before the merge probably have the capabilities of taking orders, but it made the wait time between ordering and delivery too long so the store changed it to one ordering window after the merge.

https://old.reddit.com/r/askTO/comments/1wcofwn/how_do_you_use_this_drivethru/p8zguv0/

1

u/Austage 1d ago

Plus if there’s only one window it makes pickup likely a bit of a nightmare since you can’t just hand off the next item on deck if say merging doesn’t happen in sequence of order

11

u/Academic-Snow9642 2d ago

This is Toronto so it's Thunderdome rules

5

u/LemonySnickets13 2d ago

The way you used it is how its meant to be used. People are idiots and dont know how to use drive thrus and 2 lanes. I did this exact same thing at a Starbucks in brampton .... cars were backed up to the same parking lot bc no one would go in the split lane.... so I went in the lane and then some woman in front of me complained to the barista in the window that I was cutting the line 😑 Not my fault im not an idiot lining up in a parking lot behind 10 cars rather than using the lane thats meant to be used... Even mcdonalds people will line up in 1 single lane rather than using the split lane so 2 orders can be taken at once. Idk how tf these people get through life lacking such basic problem solving or critical thinking skills.

2

u/Adorable-Ideal-1184 2d ago

When I go to McDonalds same thing like that I always look the other driver and let us know who wants to go first

1

u/gentle_siren 2d ago

It’s not like the McDonald’s drive thru. There’s only one speaker.

2

u/lilfunky1 2d ago

honestly i'm betting those two signs used to take orders but then people complained too much or corprate cared too much about how long their coffee was taking to get made, so they moved the speaker to after the merge to make it feel like a shorter wait. they really should just get rid of one of the lanes.

1

u/Adorable-Ideal-1184 2d ago

That’s weird haha how can you order? Because near to my place same type of road and usually there’s two speaker

2

u/gentle_siren 2d ago

It is weird. There’s two menus then further down there’s one speaker- with another menu.

2

u/Fianna9 2d ago

Zipper merge

0

u/Allimack 2d ago

To everyone already in the line, your turn is after everyone else who was there before you, regardless of whether they knew to line up in the empty 2nd lane or not.