Is this a dumb idea?

Or one somebody already thought of and discarded?

While going through a drive-through today and watching the drive-through lady fuss over my son I thought, "why not train drive-through personnel as CPST-Lites?" They see a lot of kids in cars and could really help spread the word.

Now, I know there are a lot of issues with this half-baked idea, but I was thinking if a children's oriented chain, like McDonald's or something, got on the bandwagon it could be great. When an employee sees a child inappropriately restrained, they could put a flyer in the order bag (relatively non-confrontational) explaining carseat safety and listing check events or techs. McDonald's could also sponsor a regular check at their store (generating lots of Happy Meal sales, I'm sure.) I'm sure some of the expense of this could be written off as charitable.

I realize staff turn-over would be an issue.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

Could possibly be a good idea but I'm not sure how it would pan out....

i think its a great idea!!! i think McD's woudl be resistent to it b/c they woudl fear pissing customers off.

how many times would they hear "who the frak is McD's for telling me how to restrain my child" (insert state here and you see what i mean??). and w/ a corp. its $$$$.

im wondering though..if you could get it in something for every car yk? that way there is no judgment call.

I think you're right that employee turn over would kill it.

They can't even train the security guards at the air force base gate to do anything more than look for seat belts and/or harness straps. I know of a mom who routinely drives through the gate with nothing but her son's chest clip buckled and she's never been stopped. (They're supposed to stop people and not let them on if everyone's not buckled according to state law.)

It would be nice to see them do some "child passenger safety" Happy Meals, though. They could combine that week's Happy Meal topic with a car seat check event. I'm just not sure what the toys could be. Little crash-test dummies, maybe? Locking clips? Ooo... how about carseats the size of those Madam Alexander dolls that are modeled like real-life carseat brands? "Ooo, I got a Britax Frontier!" "I'll trade you my Radian!" "Aw, I got just got another Alpha Omega."

I worked drive-thru for a fast food joint... I was considered a long standing employee when I'd been there for four months. I left after 18 months, but the turnover rate in fast food is HIGH, particularly with people stuck working a drive thru.

That being said, I was not allowed to discuss carseat issues or anything other than food to the customers. Honestly, discussion outside of "Would you care for any sauce?" or "Thank you, have a nice day, come back and see us!" was frowned upon. Conversation drives up the drive-thru time, you see.

Every fast food restaurant everywhere times the drive thru. From the second the car pulls up to the speaker to the second they drive off with food in hand, it's recorded. Stores actually get punished by corporate, managers and employees can get fired in strict companies, if the drive thru time is too high. Even taking the time to deviate from the standard well rehearsed team assembly line can add too many seconds to a drive-thru time.

Ideal drive-thru time for a slower fast food restaurant is 90 seconds... one and one half minute from before the customer orders to the time to customer drives off with their food. Unless corporate were willing to change their policy on drive-thru times, carseat education through the drive-thru window is not going to happen.

I did risk my job one day and tell somebody their infant seat needed to be installed rear-facing, but when I say I risked my job, I mean it. Had my boss heard me, he could have canned me on the spot.

Defrost said:

It would be nice to see them do some "child passenger safety" Happy Meals, though. They could combine that week's Happy Meal topic with a car seat check event. I'm just not sure what the toys could be. Little crash-test dummies, maybe? Locking clips? Ooo... how about carseats the size of those Madam Alexander dolls that are modeled like real-life carseat brands? "Ooo, I got a Britax Frontier!" "I'll trade you my Radian!" "Aw, I got just got another Alpha Omega."

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:ROTFLMAO:

I was a manager for McD's. Definately an old timer (I had 14 years under my belt when I left for a 'real' job.)

I brought the idea up with my store manager and area manager several times - asked if we could do a check in the side lot, etc. It all boils down to LIABILITY. (And ticking customers off).

I actually ran to the restroom physically ill once because I was powerless to do anything about a REALLY bad car that came through. As in - 3 adorable little girls sitting in FILTHY OHS carseats. The shields were on the rear window ledge (so no - they weren't buckled) and there was broken glass EVERYWHERE - including IN the carseats because something had smashed out the rear window.

We couldn't even attempt to stall obviously drunk drivers

Defrost said:

"Ooo, I got a Britax Frontier!" "I'll trade you my Radian!" "Aw, I got just got another Alpha Omega."

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LOL, I love this too!

I guess it was a pretty half-baked idea, but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway. Thanks for playing with me!

I htink it is a good idea and would probalby have a lot to do with the owner of the place also. I worked 3rd shift at mc'ds once and I myself have called the cops on numorus people for having unrestrained children in the car and so had my manager. So at our store they would have probably be all for something of that sort.

I think Chic-fil-a would be a better bet. And I think a poster on the wall between the order window and the pay window would be least confrotational, least interfering with flow, and have the least liability.

It could have two properly restrained kiddos, one ff one rf. And something about RFing to the limits of the seat, tight straps, solidly installed. Have your seat checked 1-800-Safe-kid or whatever. . .

unityco said:

I guess it was a pretty half-baked idea, but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway. Thanks for playing with me!

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Oh it's a good idea, just not actually executable in the real world. Believe me, I'd happily work drive-thru at any fast food joint for the rest of my life if it meant I could dish out carseat advice too!

Synchro246 said:

I think Chic-fil-a would be a better bet. And I think a poster on the wall between the order window and the pay window would be least confrotational, least interfering with flow, and have the least liability.

It could have two properly restrained kiddos, one ff one rf. And something about RFing to the limits of the seat, tight straps, solidly installed. Have your seat checked 1-800-Safe-kid or whatever. . .

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I was thinking Chic-fil-a too.

njkj said:

I htink it is a good idea and would probalby have a lot to do with the owner of the place also. I worked 3rd shift at mc'ds once and I myself have called the cops on numorus people for having unrestrained children in the car and so had my manager. So at our store they would have probably be all for something of that sort.

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Yeah - the store(s) I worked at were all corporate owned...Very by the book.

Franchises might be more lenient.