[toast0]

Yeah, but there's a risk that people won't come back because it's exhausting.

I ordered from the wrong location once, and it's fine, they don't work the order until you arrive, and they refund it at the end of the day, but they lost a sale because I was so frustrated that I just drove home without picking up food like I was expecting to.

And the way prices are now, you need to order in the app if you want a chance at value, so if I don't have time to poke at the app, I won't go.

[jasomill]

Interesting.

As far as I can tell, they're at least supposed to use location services to start the order when you're nearby. When the store isn't super busy my order is typically ready when I arrive, and I've ordered 10-15 minutes before arrival a few times and my orders weren't cold.

Maybe this is what they're supposed to do, but the system and/or employees don't do it reliably.

Or perhaps it's because I typically do counter pick-up, and almost always have a small (1-3 item) order.

It makes sense that they wouldn't prep your order if you're just going to be waiting in a long drive thru line anyway, though this could obviously lead to further delays because they don't reliably have larger orders finished in the time it takes to get from the speaker to the pick up window.

[Dylan16807]

Wait, seriously? They make you show up before they start and the orders can't travel between locations?

I've only used the app a couple times so I only knew the first half of that.

[toast0]

I mean... I could have asked, and they might have been able to transfer, but there's no user accessible way to make it happen, and you can't (or couldn't) make a new order while one was pending. But I was coming back from kid's hockey practice and tired and now mad at mcdonalds, so I wasn't going to wait in line to ask. I have ordered to the wrong Starbucks, where they do start your order when you place it, and they were able to see the order and remake it at the one I actually showed up at, but Starbucks is always super nice whenever anything goes wrong, even if when it's my fault, which it usually is.

Not being able to start a new order is also great when you had a successful order that the app didn't notice and then you have to clear app data days later when you want to order again... but I think McDonalds may have added a button to just order anyway in the past not too long.