# The lobby is closed...



## Captain Floppy (Dec 5, 2020)

and the only option is the drive through. Do you use the drive through to pick up the order, or cancel and move on?

I just had a pick up at Church's Chicken. The lobby was locked, and there were quite a few cars in the drive through. It wasn't paying very much (a little less than $1 per mile), so I texted the customer, explained and said that I would be cancelling. Before I could even make it out of the parking lot I got another ping for the same location. Instant decline. I had a pick up at Burger King this morning, and had to use the drive through line. It took about 15 minutes before I got the order. I'm not going to do it again but I'm starting to see this more.


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

Captain Floppy said:


> and the only option is the drive through. Do you use the drive through to pick up the order, or cancel and move on?
> 
> I just had a pick up at Church's Chicken. The lobby was locked, and there were quite a few cars in the drive through. It wasn't paying very much (a little less than $1 per mile), so I texted the customer, explained and said that I would be cancelling. Before I could even make it out of the parking lot I got another ping for the same location. Instant decline. I had a pick up at Burger King this morning, and had to use the drive through line. It took about 15 minutes before I got the order. I'm not going to do it again but I'm starting to see this more.


Due to a labor shortage a lot of these places sometimes have to close the lobby if they aren't fully staffed. I don't due drive thru unless there is no line or the payout is worth it. (almost never with fast food. If they are going back to last year Covid rules the lines will be tremendously long.


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## Captain Floppy (Dec 5, 2020)

It's unfortunate but that's the direction it looks like it's going. Learned my lesson this morning at BK.


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

I try to turn off Eats around 8:00 PM and do rides only after that. The fast food restaurants start closing inside or all together at this time and the drive thru gets backed up. Not worth the wait most of the time.


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## Captain Floppy (Dec 5, 2020)

Seems like a lot pf places here (and Tampa Bay when I was there) are closing the lobbies at 6pm, but it really seems to just be the big chain places. I was surprised to be seeing them closed late morning/early afternoon now.


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## ChelleNdaAtl (Feb 10, 2018)

Captain Floppy said:


> and the only option is the drive through. Do you use the drive through to pick up the order, or cancel and move on?
> 
> I just had a pick up at Church's Chicken. The lobby was locked, and there were quite a few cars in the drive through. It wasn't paying very much (a little less than $1 per mile), so I texted the customer, explained and said that I would be cancelling. Before I could even make it out of the parking lot I got another ping for the same location. Instant decline. I had a pick up at Burger King this morning, and had to use the drive through line. It took about 15 minutes before I got the order. I'm not going to do it again but I'm starting to see this more.


I never do drive thru when the lobby is closed unless there is no line. There are some local (Atlanta area) restaurants that I already know have closed their lobby so it's an automatic decline, but others that I'm not sure of, I accept and the cancel if the lobby is closed. It is not worth the wait in line. Usually get an even better delivery before I pull out of the lot.


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## Driving With A Purpose (Jul 28, 2020)

There is a learning curve with fast food places IMHO. 

I got 4 consecutive orders from the same fast food place after midnight Saturday- one time I had to wait about 30 minutes- the other 3 were only, say, 2-5 minutes. Made about $55 total for 2 hours work- drove only 14 miles total for all 4 deliveries, which were all very close to home.

There are indeed times when I pull out of a line. Often times I do this when I hear someone say they’re only taking cash for the next 30 minutes or so and the line isn’t budging.

Part of this is learning the quirks of each location. Some McDonald’s locations are great. Others are like a Hoover vacuum cleaner- they SUCK!


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## honda2020 (Aug 25, 2020)

I stopped accepting requests for FF places in my area except for McD’s in daytime. Waited in a popeyes drive thru for 15 minutes only to show up at the window and have the employee tell me (rudely) that they were out of food and closed. I called Uber Support and told them what happened so I wouldn’t get penalized for having to cancel the order. TIP: always call. And call out the specific restaurant. I have seen really bad places get suspended from UE if enough drivers complain.


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