Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Banning the Drive Thru

Rollin Stanley, the Montgomery County Planning Director, gave a lecture in Columbia last night entitled “No Density, No Diversity, A Smarter Way of Thinking About Growth.” He laid out his arguments for compact development with humor, insight and a boatload of data.

One of his funnier moments came when he was discussing the seeming obsession some retailers have with drive – thru windows.

“When I was working in Toronto,” he told the audience, “we banned the drive-thru. If you can’t get out of your car you shouldn’t be eating that donut.”

Very funny.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

CVS has a drive thru pharmacy, which is probably a god send to people who find it difficult to get in and out of their cars (and to people in a hurry).

Sarah said...

Drive-thrus make sense for folks who are disabled or people who have kids to strap in.

Otherwise, seriously? What did folks do before drive-thrus?

Oh, that's right, they survived.

Sorry, I just think they're dumb. Especially bank drive throughs, where folks will line up seven cars deep and the inside of the bank is empty.

Anonymous said...

Drive-thru pharmacy has been driven by societal demand for instant gratification, but it is at the very naive, significantly adverse impact to patient care. It is next to impossible to provide proper counseling and service through a drive-thru window.

Your medication matters should not be handled the same as that cheeseburger that has possibly caused you to need that medication.

Anonymous said...

who was at the lecture?

Freemarket said...

I think that banning drive-thrus is a great use of government power. Since gov't has every social problem solved, they need something else to work on. Railing against people who eat donuts seems like a natural choice. Yay!

Anonymous said...

I view the drive through as an opportunity. It gives me a chance to stay out of the rain or snow. If there is a huge line, I can go inside and get my order taken care of before the cars outside. I am never embarrassed sitting in the drive through since none of my neighbors know what I am ordering whether it is a donut, hamburger or viagra.
I don't have to touch anything in the fast food place or pharmacy that might give me H1N1. No one sneezes in my face without covering their mouths. If the Canadians are so smart, why aren't they us?
HH

Bob O said...

I want to make money. My customers what a drive-thru.

Who am I to judge?

Now, if you could combine a Krispy Kreme franchise with a CVS franchise, and have only drive-thru service, THAT would be Nirvana...if you could also pick up some good Australian Shiraz, too.


Hey, a man's gotta dream.