Easy Way to Save Gas, Money, and Time

Yahoo has a post on how to save on gas costs. Most of the tips are ones we've all seen before, but this one seemed rather unique to me:

Ditch the drive-thru: One test in Toronto found that you can get a fast-food breakfast faster and burn less gas in your car if you park and go into the restaurant. Considering how much idling cars do in drive-thru lanes, this isn't surprising.

I always like simple yet effective tips and with this one we all can save gas, time AND money.

It seems to me that going inside is often faster than the drive thru window (why is that?), and we usually go this route even if we are taking the food home. Who knew we were following a money saving tip all this time too? ;-)

Comments

[ToughMoneyLove]

I agree with this and almost always go inside to buy my food. The other advantage of skipping the drive-thru is that you usually only have to deal with one employee having questionable skills.

[Eric G]

How about "ditch the restaurant and make breakfast at home?"

Bet you save even more money and gas.

[Master Allan]

Looking down to the street from my office window this past Friday morning Starbucks drive-thru had plenty of business. The around the back of the building line of cars was at least 11 in queue. Agreed, idling cars wasting gas and it probably was no faster then going inside for vehicle 11/11.

[Brad]

These are the sort of tips that drive me crazy, though. If you're to believe this saves any significant amount of gas, it requires that you're making numerous and regular fast food trips, which is a complete money drain.

I'm not saying we don't all hit a fast food joint on occasion, but if it's so often that this truly nets you gas savings, you're doing something wrong.

[Jim]

AT $4 a gallon for gas a typical car is going to waste about 2 cents per minute idling. If you spend 5 minutes in a drive through then thats 10 cents. Its not a huge amount but it certainly adds up.

Jim

[Zombie Money]

Ditch the fast food and eat at home :)

[guinness416]

Er, well the test having been done here in well built-up Toronto you're probably better off walking your fat arse to the fast-food restaurant rather than driving anywhere. Or making an omelette at home instead :)

[DCS]

Somebody had to do a "test" to learn that parallel order processing (counter) is faster than serial order processing (drive-up)? Since it took place in Toronto hopefully it wasn't a three year study funded by the US Government.

My favorite fast food place is the full-service grocery store for a rotisserie chicken, sub, custom salad from the bar, or some other ready-to-eat item from the deli. Quick, (fairly) cheap, less grease, few lines, no order screw-ups, and no idling. While there I can also pick up a few groceries, get some cash during check-out, or even buy gas at some stores. Instead of eliminating 5 minutes of idling, I eliminate two or three separate trips. I suspect the food is probably at least a little healthier that at most expeditious comestibles establishments as well.

[Matt H]

It depends on the drive through. There's a McDonald's near where I work that will consistently get you through there under 3 minutes. They have several people walking up to the cars and taking orders with PDA type devices in parallel. The cashier walks up to cars and takes payment several cars back from what would be her window. The only serial bottleneck is the final step, the window where they hand out the food. But that goes pretty fast as long as morning commuters are there, because they're more interested in getting on their way than making sure their order is correct. They're pretty confident because the error rate is very low there anyway.

Given all that, it almost always takes less time than parking and getting out of the car.

[Anni]

It's faster, healthier and cheaper to make breakfast at home. I make the girls egg sandwiches on whole wheat english muffins, which they can bring with them if we are short on time.

[Stocks, Bonds, and Rock & Roll]

Good point on the roto chicken. We'll grab one when they hit a certain price point (4 or 5 bucks) and can get 5 meals off them easy.

[Kevin]

At my Starbucks, I often do this when the drive through queue is backed up to the menu board. I've found this is the cutoff when it becomes faster to go inside. Otherwise, it's usually only a couple minutes in the drive through anyway.

[Bill Davis]

I learned this one a LONG time ago, though I use it less now that I a) don't eat much fast food and b) have children (not getting out of the car when I do indulge in the greasy stuff is a whole lot easier than taking two sub-3 year olds out of the car).

In and Out is notoriously faster if you park and walk in than their drive through lane.