Depends the time of day you do it. At night and early mornings there is less staff and large orders mess it up.

The easiest is if you mobile order and just come inside and pick it up. So we can make it, place it and move on without the drink having to be placed and then if you show up in drive thru we have to run and grab it from the pick up counter.

The other day we had two baristas collide and have to go to the hospital because the burns from the drinks. The less we have to wiggle passed each other the better lol

If you have a large order during a busy peak time for your location it can throw things off. But otherwise I think mobile ordering is great because you can order exactly what you want without having to worry about a new hire not hearing something right. From a partner who's store is full of green beans right now

I am also wondering about this! Former Partner here! No sure if the order ahead app is making life hell behind the counter. And also... proud of the stores going union!!

For an order that easy please keep coming through drive. When I’m being told to get window times down an easy single drink mobile through drive can buy me a lot of slack. It’s an average of each car, so the 8 seconds you spend at my window is amazing.

I agree with what CherryBombshell shared, time of day definitely adjusts the difficulty of managing the different channels. However, I wouldn't stress about ordering ahead and picking up in the drive-thru by how it impacts us. The key takeaways I have from working with the mobile ordering system at a busy store are,

1 - Order ahead is great if you monitor when the time the app shows. In general, it is pretty solid at following how quickly we are pulling tickets and processing orders. Please do not order in the parking lot and immediately come inside to stand and stress about the time it takes for your drink to queue up.

2 - Monitoring the time is important because our crafted beverages have a shelf life that starts ticking down once the lid is put on the cup (or not put on the cup if you are in Washington state). Cappuccinos, depending on how you order them, are 1/2 - 2/3 foam. Foam pops and fizzles away to "empty cups that cost $7." We want you to enjoy the drink that you spent your hard-earned money on, so we will of course remake it for you. Unfortunately, that takes time and that is a bummer for everyone.

3 - Most drive-thru stores have 2 espresso machines that need to produce enough espresso/steamed milk for the drive-thru, cafe, and mobile orders. Most stores are set up to have 1 machine only for drive-thru because it helps keep those drive times down. The other machine is for cafe and mobile orders. You might think you are the only person in line but 15 other people might have ordered before you. \*This is important more so for cafe ordering folks and those that like to order and come in to wait aggressively.

4 - Pressing your order through the mobile ordering system while you are in the drive-thru line is a horrible misuse of the system because of the organized way we have set up to produce drinks. If you order your mobile order while in line and the mobile order queue is 15 drinks but the drive-thru queue is 2, you have messed up the system. Our options (unless equipped with the new mobile order assistant iPad) are to make your drink without the sticker and hope we don't miss something or to pull stickers until we reach yours. The latter is a problem because our mobile order system monitors how fast we pull stickers and updates the mobile app showing we are making drinks faster than we actually are.

5 - Ordering food is a completely different animal and I really cannot offer advice on the best way to order food in an efficient way for both employees and customers. All drive-thru, mobile, and cafe stickers come out of one machine by the ovens. If the store is lucky, they have the new quicker ovens which help but are still limiting. If they aren't, they have the old clunkers as my store does, and 1 wrap takes 1.5 minutes to make. If we are super bogged down, it is because someone has ordered a tremendous amount of food through mobile.

Coffee is a delightful drug that is beloved for its flavor and energy-enhancing qualities. I completely understand why people are addicted and particular with their addiction but lose my understanding when they come to a coffee shop and expect quality drinks at piss quality pace. I appreciate your question OP and am sure you are not someone that comes in pushing negative energy at your baristas, so this goes out to the universe in hopes that someone might calm themselves before being a jerk. We absolutely want to celebrate the coffee bean with you and get you back onto your day as quickly as possible but do not leave your house with 30 minutes to spare before you need to be at work and expect us to perform miracles for you to meet your deadline.


\*\*Edit for Tip Information\*\*
6 - Tips are never expected but are always appreciated. I have learned through customer feedback, customers who utilize the Starbucks app to pay (drive-thru, mobile, or cafe) do not tip because they assume they cannot. If you'd like to tip, go to the upper right of your home screen where you will see a little rectangle with lines on it. That is your receipt and for up to an hour after you order, you can add up to a $5 tip (Starbucks puts a cap on tip amounts). \*If you do not have your push notifications turned off, you will receive a notification asking if you'd like to tip. If you'd like to toss a coin to your baristas for their craftsmanship, this is where you can do so :)

i’ll be honest, if the store is run super well, it won’t matter too much! i’m very fortunate to work at a well staffed store so mobile orders don’t slow us down too much. i read your order in a previous comment and as someone said, ordering it through the drivethru wouldn’t be too much of a hassle. some times i really hate doing mobile orders just bc they mess up my rhythm but if we’re well staffed i don’t mind. appreciate you thinking of us so much!