Non-fast food drive thrus

[guihong]

I don't know if this is a fish tale or not, but a friend of mine told me that in a Louisiana town, there once was a drive-through on a funeral home  .  You could go to a viewing without even getting out of the car. 

[Katana_Geldar]

In Australia, we have drive thrus but it's just for places like McDonald's or KFC. But from what I have heard, drive thrus are a bit if a thing over in the US, even for banks and wedding chapel ps.

Honestly, I find this not only odd but rather lazy. Is it too much trouble to get out if the car?I do admit, the donut-shaped drive thru one if my friends told me about when she visited LA sounded fun.

Is that really necessary? You have already posted once about not liking how Americans speak, and now you want to call us lazy. What gives?

I don't think anyone's calling Americans lazy. I think mostly it's an issue of differences in town planning and to those who don't live there, some of these things do come across as a little odd or different.

My father could never understand why Americans seemingly drove everywhere, for example, even to do the shortest of errands. And then he visited a family member in the States and realised that there was not one single pavement (sidewalk) in the town, so there was nowhere to walk safely, and then it suddenly all made sense.

How...is that possible?

I also would like to state that neither DH or I drive, but sometimes we wish we did. Usually when it means catching multiple busses while carrying heavy objects.

[Yvaine]

In Australia, we have drive thrus but it's just for places like McDonald's or KFC. But from what I have heard, drive thrus are a bit if a thing over in the US, even for banks and wedding chapel ps.

Honestly, I find this not only odd but rather lazy. Is it too much trouble to get out if the car?I do admit, the donut-shaped drive thru one if my friends told me about when she visited LA sounded fun.

Is that really necessary? You have already posted once about not liking how Americans speak, and now you want to call us lazy. What gives?

I don't think anyone's calling Americans lazy. I think mostly it's an issue of differences in town planning and to those who don't live there, some of these things do come across as a little odd or different.

My father could never understand why Americans seemingly drove everywhere, for example, even to do the shortest of errands. And then he visited a family member in the States and realised that there was not one single pavement (sidewalk) in the town, so there was nowhere to walk safely, and then it suddenly all made sense.

How...is that possible?

I also would like to state that neither DH or I drive, but sometimes we wish we did. Usually when it means catching multiple busses while carrying heavy objects.

Lots of neighborhoods have no sidewalks in the US. It's lawns all the way to the street.

[camlan]

Drive-through banking has been around for decades, at least since the 1960s. The ATM made it easier, as you can drive up to an ATM during hours that the bank is closed.

Then there's the fast food drive-through, the coffee shop drive-through, the pharmacy drive-through and in one city I know, the convenience store drive-through. I think the wedding chapels are limited to Las Vegas and the surrounding area. There are also fast food places where you can drive up, park, roll down your window and order a meal, which will be brought to you at your car.

You can also call a lot of chain restaurants and order a meal to go, drive there and pick it up, sometimes without getting out of your car. And at least one supermarket chain will let you order on-line then drive to the store an hour later, where you can pull up in a special lane and your bagged groceries will be brought out to you.

You see fewer drive-throughs of any type in large cities, where more people take public transportation or walk everywhere.

But out in the suburbs, they abound. Everyone's in their car anyway, just to get any place. The drive-though means one less stop, one less attempt to find a parking space, one less trek through a crowded store.

I rarely use them myself, except to deposit the odd check at the bank (now that I have direct deposit), but I don't see anything wrong with choosing to use them for their convenience.

[katycoo]

In Australia there are ATMs everywhere and you can get cash out at most stores where you can pay by EFTPOS.  Most service stations have an ATM also so that's an easy place to stop if you need cash while on the run.  I can't imagine there being much additional benefit of a drive through ATM on top of whatw we're already used to.  Though I imagine its much like a dishwasher - you're fine with nothing having something unil you have it and then when its not avaialbel its a real inconvenience.

Drive through pharmacies - I think that would only benefit me if they were open in particularly late hours.  Also - I've seen a lot of people talk about long waits at the pharmacy for prescriptions.  I never wait more than 10 minutes - why does it take so long in the USA?

[menley]

Many drive-through pharmacies are open 24 hours.

I think the difference in wait time is packaging. I live in Europe now and all my medications come prepackaged in blister packs and boxes. But I grew up in the USA and the majority of medications are hand prepared at the pharmacy and placed into bottles. Very few prescriptions in the USA are prepackaged.

[perpetua]

Could it also be something to do with having to check insurance details? Not sure how it works in Australia but we don't have that here, so we just hand the prescription over and either pay for it or sign for your exemption if you don't pay.

[veronaz]

I know a few people who drive but have difficulty walking.  One is in a wheelchair, one has cerebral palsy, and the other is recovering from knee surgery.  They all use drive-thrus, but probably wish they could walk normally.

Lazy?  No.

[Katana_Geldar]

Could it also be something to do with having to check insurance details? Not sure how it works in Australia but we don't have that here, so we just hand the prescription over and either pay for it or sign for your exemption if you don't pay.

And a lot of them keep your Medicare details on file.

[jmarvellous]

We used a drive-through Taco Bell on our drive across the country a month and a half ago. That was the last time; I haven't noticed any drive-throughs except in the suburbs of our current town.

In our old town, I used to use a drive-through at the bank to deposit checks because my bank's indoor teller closed before I was done working for the day, every day. The drive-through stayed open until 6. I occasionally got tacos at a statewide chain restaurant on my waaaay too short dinner breaks, if I thought getting out of the car would waste too much time.

Otherwise, I strongly prefer to go into a business, such as a restaurant, pharmacy or bank, if it's at all feasible.

I've been to places that sell liquor/beer in drive-throughs, and in one particularly unpleasant town, there were places selling just cigarettes and frozen mixed (alcoholic) drinks) in drive-throughs. They taped over the hole in the top of the takeaway cup where the straw goes because "open containers" of alcohol were illegal in cars in our state.

[veronaz]

It's safer to use a drive-thru than an outside ATM (imo).  I've seen reports of people being watched, approached/followed, and robbed.

[Katana_Geldar]

It's safer to use a drive-thru than an outside ATM (imo).  I've seen reports of people being watched, approached/followed, and robbed.

Not so sure about that, ATMs have been bombed here.

[mime]

I also do all my banking online, so I rarely use the bank drive throughs. I always use the pharmacy drive-throughs. I can keep the kids (8, 3, and newborn) buckled up in the car. Besides that, all the sick people staying in their cars keeps the germs from spreading!

I haven't had delays with insurance. Our doctors email the Rx to the pharmacy, which already has our insurance info recorded, so I just give my name and address and they give me my meds. The only delay I've had is when I get any liquid medicine for my kids, I usually have them add grape flavor.

I'm in the suburbs in Minnesota, and my town sure isn't made for walking anywhere. My development has sidewalks on one side of most streets, which was considered to be a special feature in our neighborhood. The sidewalks wind around the ponds, woods, and parks for a nice walk, but the closest store/bank/restaurant/whatever is a couple miles away. That may not sound like much until you hit the half of the year where everything is snow-covered and frozen.

[nuit93]

Ok, first post did sound a bit antagonistic but that may be because as I said, drive thrus aren't as prevalent here. Antagonism wasn't my intention. And thank you perpetua of seeing my point.

Though I think we used have drive thru bottle-o (liquour store).

I do like the idea of pharmacies being drive thru.

We've still got the odd drive through bottle shop in my part of Oz but they are becoming rarer, I think it's the whole drink driving issue coming into play.

Drive thru chemists could be good but you could end up spending a fair bit of time waiting while they filled your prescription if they were busy

I've only ever seen drive through at the big fast food chains, usually the US ones, the only non US based chain to have one that I've seen is Red Rooster

I'm assuming the US equivalent is a pharmacy.

I don't wait for mine to be filled in the drive through, I either drop off a prescription (if it couldn't be called in), or pick one up.  I don't know of anyone who waits for theirs to be filled while in the drive through.

[veronaz]

It's safer to use a drive-thru than an outside ATM (imo).  I've seen reports of people being watched, approached/followed, and robbed.

Not so sure about that, ATMs have been bombed here.

So.....what is it you're "not so sure" about? I said that ATM's were not particularly safe.  I'm not understanding what your point is.