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McDonald's to close all UK restaurants

bbc.com

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Re: McDonald's to close all UK restaurants

#21

Post by jakear »

notatoad wrote: post #20
jakear wrote: post #2

If this comes to the US my disaster preparedness plans will be seriously compromised... In theory drive through should be the best possible food mechanism in terms of risk to the workers (and patrons). If they could arrange for contactless payment (already possible, just affix a tap reader to the side of the drive through window), and some way to serve the food while keeping the window closed (a shelf extending out f…

>Sure as hell beats a bunch of people in the same supermarket breathing all over the produce and right on the cashier. going to macdonalds twice a day is definitely riskier than getting groceries at the supermarket once a week. most of the food is packaged, and the stuff that isn't can be thoroughly washed before eating it. even for the stuff that isn't packaged and can't be washed, coronavirus isn't known to last lo…

That’s true. Really, the ideal solution would be repurposing existing drive through setups for grocery purchases. Best of both worlds.

Re: McDonald's to close all UK restaurants

#22

Post by pengaru »

jakear wrote: post #16
pengaru wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone should have at least one large sack of rice and beans in dry storage. Expecting an operation like McDonalds to maintain enough spare capacity to provide everyone's emergency sack of rice and beans in the event of a disaster is completely idiotic.

I was being a bit facetious. The fact of the matter is there exist people who have not prepped, and grocery stores are a complete mess. Drive through solves both these problems, as letting those that behaved “completely idiotically” either die or come join in the crowds at grocery stores isn’t a great option.

Exposing yourself to the people handling the food at fast food restaurants for a single meal is not what I'd call a remotely wise trade-off vs. a single grocery trip bringing home literally a month of calories in rice and beans.

Consider the likelihood that whoever prepared your fast-food took public transportation and lives in cramped, shared housing, and is so desperate for income they're working at a fast-food joint. You can't even reasonably disinfect what you receive from the drive-thru before consuming it.

Re: McDonald's to close all UK restaurants

#23

Post by makomk »

notatoad wrote: post #20
jakear wrote: post #2

If this comes to the US my disaster preparedness plans will be seriously compromised... In theory drive through should be the best possible food mechanism in terms of risk to the workers (and patrons). If they could arrange for contactless payment (already possible, just affix a tap reader to the side of the drive through window), and some way to serve the food while keeping the window closed (a shelf extending out f…

>Sure as hell beats a bunch of people in the same supermarket breathing all over the produce and right on the cashier. going to macdonalds twice a day is definitely riskier than getting groceries at the supermarket once a week. most of the food is packaged, and the stuff that isn't can be thoroughly washed before eating it. even for the stuff that isn't packaged and can't be washed, coronavirus isn't known to last lo…

The trouble is that realistically, it's not possible to get by with a single weekly shop in the UK right now. A lot of supermarket shelves are empty due to everyone buying more than they usually would, and even when they're not there are purchase quantity restrictions that make it hard to get a full week's shopping in.

Re: McDonald's to close all UK restaurants

#24

Post by Jedd »

Arguably this could improve people's health prospects on two fronts simultaneously.

I note that the CEO here basically stepped up because the UK government hadn't -- it's doubtless not easy, but the best thing about this story is that he's said 'we'll match our casual worker's shift pay up until early April' (when the UK relief package for casual workers is meant to be implemented).

I fear a lot of my risk has, and will continue to, come from casual workers who simply can't afford to pay rent or eat if they don't head into work. So far I've heard the UK's the only place so far that's come out with a financial plan to mitigate this risk.

Re: McDonald's to close all UK restaurants

#25

Post by georgemcbay »

notatoad wrote: post #20
jakear wrote: post #2

If this comes to the US my disaster preparedness plans will be seriously compromised... In theory drive through should be the best possible food mechanism in terms of risk to the workers (and patrons). If they could arrange for contactless payment (already possible, just affix a tap reader to the side of the drive through window), and some way to serve the food while keeping the window closed (a shelf extending out f…

>Sure as hell beats a bunch of people in the same supermarket breathing all over the produce and right on the cashier. going to macdonalds twice a day is definitely riskier than getting groceries at the supermarket once a week. most of the food is packaged, and the stuff that isn't can be thoroughly washed before eating it. even for the stuff that isn't packaged and can't be washed, coronavirus isn't known to last lo…

"which you then immediately stick in your mouth."

Sticking the food into your mouth isn't much of a concern, there's no evidence that covid-19 can transmit "foodborne".

The actual issue is an infected food prep worker contaminating the wrapper or the food itself, you touching the wrapper or the food, then touching your eyes or nose prior to washing your hands.

Re: McDonald's to close all UK restaurants

#26

Post by jakear »

pengaru wrote: post #22
jakear wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was being a bit facetious. The fact of the matter is there exist people who have not prepped, and grocery stores are a complete mess. Drive through solves both these problems, as letting those that behaved “completely idiotically” either die or come join in the crowds at grocery stores isn’t a great option.

Exposing yourself to the people handling the food at fast food restaurants for a single meal is not what I'd call a remotely wise trade-off vs. a single grocery trip bringing home literally a month of calories in rice and beans. Consider the likelihood that whoever prepared your fast-food took public transportation and lives in cramped, shared housing, and is so desperate for income they're working at a fast-food joi…

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22660365

Re: McDonald's to close all UK restaurants

#27

Post by makomk »

jakear wrote: post #16
pengaru wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone should have at least one large sack of rice and beans in dry storage. Expecting an operation like McDonalds to maintain enough spare capacity to provide everyone's emergency sack of rice and beans in the event of a disaster is completely idiotic.

I was being a bit facetious. The fact of the matter is there exist people who have not prepped, and grocery stores are a complete mess. Drive through solves both these problems, as letting those that behaved “completely idiotically” either die or come join in the crowds at grocery stores isn’t a great option.

Also, there's a lot of people in London who don't really have the space to keep large stockpiles of food in, or necessarily much in the way of decent cooking facilities.

Re: McDonald's to close all UK restaurants

#28

Post by nimchimpsky »

jakear wrote: post #2

If this comes to the US my disaster preparedness plans will be seriously compromised... In theory drive through should be the best possible food mechanism in terms of risk to the workers (and patrons). If they could arrange for contactless payment (already possible, just affix a tap reader to the side of the drive through window), and some way to serve the food while keeping the window closed (a shelf extending out f…

if ?

Re: McDonald's to close all UK restaurants

#29

Post by jimmaswell »

makomk wrote: post #23
notatoad wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Sure as hell beats a bunch of people in the same supermarket breathing all over the produce and right on the cashier. going to macdonalds twice a day is definitely riskier than getting groceries at the supermarket once a week. most of the food is packaged, and the stuff that isn't can be thoroughly washed before eating it. even for the stuff that isn't packaged and can't be washed, coronavirus isn't known to last lo…

The trouble is that realistically, it's not possible to get by with a single weekly shop in the UK right now. A lot of supermarket shelves are empty due to everyone buying more than they usually would, and even when they're not there are purchase quantity restrictions that make it hard to get a full week's shopping in.

And Europe as a whole tends to buy groceries every other day, so I'd suspect stores aren't prepared to provide for any degree of bulk buying. Maybe it'll catch on more after this debacle - grocery stores are generally running fine in the US besides toilet paper and the odd other thing being sold out sometimes.

Re: McDonald's to close all UK restaurants

#30

Post by smallgovt »

Jedd wrote: post #24

Arguably this could improve people's health prospects on two fronts simultaneously. I note that the CEO here basically stepped up because the UK government hadn't -- it's doubtless not easy, but the best thing about this story is that he's said 'we'll match our casual worker's shift pay up until early April' (when the UK relief package for casual workers is meant to be implemented). I fear a lot of my risk has, and w…

The US is currently passing its own stimulus plan that will ship at least $500B to the bottom half of earners. It seems like the ETA for passing the bill is mid-week.
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