I've always done the drive-thru first, and then the dining room. Are we REQUIRED to do drive-thru first? It would appear less obvious to do the dining room first. I'm doing one tonight so I'd like to know.

Thanks!

They suggest you do the drive-thru first. I agree it would be less obvious, and I did them that way for a long time, then they started suggesting you do the drive thru first.
But I would like to hear other peoples opionion. Do any of you do the walk in first? Any problems with MFI doing them that way?

I always do the WI first and have never had a problem.
DT then WI makes no sense at all to me and I have no clue why they suggest it.

I have not done the MFI ones in years, but other ff shops that require both a drive thru and a walk in I usually do the walk in first and pretend to be on my cell phone as I am leaving to have a 'reason' to go through the drive thru. Overall it is equally obvious either way is my impression. But to go through the drive thru, park in the lot to sample and then walk in to buy another meal seems to me a little more than awkward. Some of my DT/DI pairs allow me to go offsite between them, so I am likely to do the DT, leave and swing back by for the DI.

I started out by following the suggestions and doing it by drive thru first. When I started doing the highway rest stop ones, it made no sense to do the drive thru first and drive by them twice before going inside. So now I do whatever is best based upon the location of the drive thru window and parking.

They used to suggest drive thru first, then walk in. Then they changed it to walk-in first, then drive thru. The reasoning being you can do the walk-in, then drive thru and even if they recognized you at the drive-thru, by the time they realized it, the timings were done and the shop almost over. It didn't matter if they recognized you.

then they changed it back to drive-thru first. I agree, the walk-in first makes more sense. Couple of times I've gotten strange looks while doing the walk-in portion. they might have recognized me.

vloglady Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
The reasoning being you can do the
> walk-in, then drive thru and even if they
> recognized you at the drive-thru, by the time they
> realized it, the timings were done and the shop
> almost over. It didn't matter if they recognized
> you.

This is exactly why I do WI first.

I've always done the DT first because it sounded like they preferred it that way. But I do take a few precautions against being recognized. I wear sunglasses & a visor or sunhat at the DT and regular glasses at the WI (here in FLA, it's looks normal). I also wear very plain, nondescript, totally unmemorable clothes (plain white top & khaki pants/shorts). I'm luckily never in a big rush, so I wait more than the 5 mins. required to do the WI and make my notes.

I always do the dine-in first. I too change my looks for the Drive-Thru portion. Also, I only sample the Drive-Thru items and then deliver them to my husband at work.

damn, i wish i could've read this post before doing my shops this past weekend. i only did the drive-thru though..SMH AT MYSELF

I've done a couple of small town FF's where the little staff knows everyone. I did the DT first then came inside saying "I knew I forgot something, I must be losing my marbles" when the order taker looked at me funny. I then order the other meal and then slip off to a booth in the corner to eat it where they won't be looking right at me.

I also figure it's more likely to forget something, and then drive thru, then it is the other way. I don't know, it just gives me more confidence to do it that way. I do toss up my hair and don sunglasses though.

I now do walkins first nearly all the time. I ussually work or play canasta using their WiFi while I pretend to eat that "stuff". I often leave and do another shop or run and error before coming back through the drive thru. A little time between visits and the removal of the sweater needed in the freezer they call a restaurant and addition of sunglasses in the drive thru helps with the illusion. I get lots of work done at the WiFi hot spot and often finish my report from a lot next door using their own signal. Then I take pictures of the receipts and I'm DONE.

I only do these place when there's a decent bonus involved. Got $15 for one in Indiana Saturday morning. I drove nearly 200 miles on route so $15 helped with paying for about half the gas for the day. That report was done before I left the restaurant. I did the inside first, wrote the report for the inside in the required 15 minute stay, checked email, drank lots of Diet Coke and refilled it. Went out to the car and waited behind 8 cars and made the recorded call for the tire shop I was doing in an hour. Got my order, pulled over and checked it, wrote the rest of the report, hit submit and was off to the next shop with enough Diet Coke to float a battleship. I pour all the soda into an insulated mug and it lasts me several hours. I drove 200 miles, did 8 shops and was back home by 3pm. Wheeeeeeeeee!

A nibble off of the muffin sandwich left an afternoon snack for a grandkid who loves them reheated in the microwave. lol I actually ate the one I bought inside. Only a tiny nibble off of those awful hash brown things though. I throw those away all the time. lol

I ended up doing the walk-in first last night and I think I'll start doing that first from now on. I brought my laptop, surfed the net while in the dining room. I ate one nugget, a few french fries and brought the rest home to my daughters.

I used to do the drive thru first and then the walk in. But I found that when I do the drive thru first, I am always spotted as the mystery shopper when I walk in. It is so obvious that I have been discovered because the employees start cleaning around me and staring at me. I did email the help desk to ask them if it was okay to do the walk in first, and they told me that it was okay. So I am now doing the walk in first, and I find that less stressful.

I'm so glad you've all explained your experiences. I'm going to start doing the WI first. If I do the drive-thru last, my husb won't mind me doing dinner shops as long as I bring home my one-taste-only food.

I also ALWAYS do the WI first. Chicken Nuggets as the DT meal are awesome because you can eat 'one' for the testing and there is no missing bite for whoever gets the 2nd meal.

I'll do one just a few miles from home; order a nugget meal for the kids at the drive thru; then stop at another McDonalds on the way home for my spouse & BAM! dinner is done for everyone. The kids don't mind that the nuggets have cooled & my spouse gets a hot sandwich. I do this about every other month. Other times, I do the shop at lunch when the kids are at school & I deliver the 2nd meal to my spouse.

Joytron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I also ALWAYS do the WI first. Chicken Nuggets as
> the DT meal are awesome because you can eat 'one'
> for the testing and there is no missing bite for
> whoever gets the 2nd meal.
>
> I'll do one just a few miles from home; order a
> nugget meal for the kids at the drive thru; then
> stop at another McDonalds on the way home for my
> spouse & BAM! dinner is done for everyone. The
> kids don't mind that the nuggets have cooled & my
> spouse gets a hot sandwich. I do this about every
> other month. Other times, I do the shop at lunch
> when the kids are at school & I deliver the 2nd
> meal to my spouse.


If you do the walk-in first, don't you have to order nuggets for the dining room? My guidelines state that for the first meal it has to be chicken/fish, so if you do the walk-in first, for the drive-thru you must order a burger (Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Mc Double, etc). Am I wrong?

Phoebe 70 - You're absolutely right. It says First Order/Second Order--not what you can order at a DT as opposed to a WI. Another well-timed heads up from this great group of contributors.

Funny, I am only aware of being spotted once in a McDonald's, and that was when an order taker noticed me futzing with my wrist watch/timer. I always do the drive-through first. Perhaps it may be different in a big city with busier McD's, but I cannot typically see the drive-through order taker from inside and the order filler never seems to notice me. I may just be a boring man.

I can't say I always follow the pattern of beef in the dining room and chicken/fish at the drive-thru; however, I know that at least half of the time I do. I've never paid any attention to whether I order chicken/fish first and then beef. I haven't read the shop manual in a while (shame on me!), but when I read it I didn't interpret it that way.

I've never (knocking on wood) had a McDonald's shop rejected. In fact, I receive phone calls regularly toward the end of the month asking me to help with the shops (at a bonus, of course).

I always make my final decision on whether to order beef or chicken first until I find out which wine McDonald's is offering with each.

In smaller towns the drivce thru order taker is right nect to the cashiers for the walk-in. If they saw you in the car...they know. It's wiser to do the inside first and sit away from the order counter out of sight if possible. Then when you hit the DT later there's some distance and you have a shot at pulling it off. I often go do another shop and come back later.

Sunday mornings I'll go do drive thru, go pick up kids and take them to Sunday School, run back and dine in and then head for church. Any space of time I can create between DI and DT works best.

Shop...do they serve that wine in a paper or Styrofoam cup? lol

I almost don't do arches shops without a bonus now. They called me today for one across the river and I can do it Saturday for $20. Then they called me about another one for lunch in a different town and I added two bonused post offices and a Tumbleweed to it. Nice little drive for bonuses no one will go after during the week because they closed one of the bridges. I'm doing Indiana on Saturdays and using alternate bridges without the commuter traffic.

I think I remember a DQ up there for about $14 tooooo........lol Not bad for going thru the drive thru. Will have a nice route put together by Saturday.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/2011 05:11AM by iblessyah.

I have done DT first the past year and then the WI as a meal. I get nuggets for kids and beef item for mine. I think WI makes more sense, and it was that way when I first started them. I just follow whatever their request is. I have never had a problem in 5 years of these shops.

Question, what is the highest amount anyone has received for said fast food place. Mine was $110 plus food cost for a stand alone one. Called last day of month for rural location 2 hrs drive all interstate from home. Total 4 hrs drive, 8 gallons gas, 30 min visit and 20 min report. I was satisfied with that.

Wow...my highest was $25 but not so far a trip. Guy tried to give me the second one at $15 today and I said I just wouldn't go to Salem so he made it $20. I didn't tell him about the Tumbleweed and the post offices. lol

Daughter needs something shipped so I have a real package to ship for once which increases the value of the shop for me.

At his point the route is up to $90 plus a nice lunch at Tumbleweed plus the McD food all cause of the call about one arches shop across that dang bridge. lol

I have 3 McDs within 12 miles that have no DT. Those are the ones I try to get, it's less work and the same 8 bucks. And since I at Wal-Mart, why not.

CourtneyH Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> vloglady Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> The reasoning being you can do the
> > walk-in, then drive thru and even if they
> > recognized you at the drive-thru, by the time
> they
> > realized it, the timings were done and the shop
> > almost over. It didn't matter if they
> recognized
> > you.
>
> This is exactly why I do WI first.

Me too. Started out doing DT first. Doesn't make any sense and so obvious. Do DT last now and feel much less conspicous.