# Fast food surveys **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 16, 2020, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-surveys/923115 "2020-10-16T14:09:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-surveys/923115/1 "2020-10-16T14:09:36Z")
More and more fast food places are seeking customer feedback by offering an incentive for taking a survey. There are two basic types of incentive, something like a free side or drink the next time you come in, or a chance at a bigger incentive, usually cash – _$500 daily drawing!_ Which would you prefer, the guaranteed drink or a chance for money? Me, I take the instant gratification – well, the next trip – every time. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-surveys/923115/2 "2020-10-16T14:11:30Z")
I fill out the receipt survey from Del Taco every time, because they give you a validation number good for $1 off your next purchase of $3 or more. Since I eat breakfast there regularly, it’s worth the 2 minutes online the survey takes. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-surveys/923115/3 "2020-10-16T15:54:24Z")
I eat fast food maybe three times a year, and would never keep track of a coupon for more than a day or two. I’d pass on the survey. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-surveys/923115/4 "2020-10-16T19:14:05Z")
IMO the various chance-to-win sweepstakes are pure scam because they’re not required to disclose that just 1 in 100,000 people win the $500 prize for an expected value of 1/2 of one cent for each player. Whereas the value of an e.g. medium order of French fries may be 25 cents cost to the restaurant but is the full $1.59 or whatever the normal retail price is to you. Now whether the survey is worth your time to earn $1.59 worth of fries is an individual choice. But it doesn’t take a math major to see that $1.59 is better than 1/2 a penny. My groc store used to have a deal for a $5 off coupon usable on a future visit if you filled out a survey. I figured out how to do the survey in less than 2 minutes = $150/hr wage. Tax-free. I knew I was going to be back in the store again anyhow long before the coupon expired, so no chance of loss or extra effort required there. Sadly they discontinued this after about a 1 year run; apparently too many people had figured out what I had. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-surveys/923115/5 "2020-10-16T19:24:45Z")
Forgot which restaurant, but I tried one online survey and the first question was for my email address. So I assumed surveys were just harvesting info for ads, and have ignored them since. Dating myself, but the only item I’ve ever won in a contest was a CB radio. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-surveys/923115/6 "2020-10-16T20:57:51Z")
Not quite fast food, but **Sonny’s BBQ** on line survey is worth $5 off your next purchase of $25, which is all too easy to spend on dinner for two. None of this “enter for a drawing” baloney. I’m looking at you, Walmart. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2020, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-surveys/923115/7 "2020-10-17T01:02:44Z")
Is there good evidence that any of these effing customer surveys are useful tools for increasing retail sales? I am constantly being asked to complete these dopey things, and being nagged to do so does not give me warm feelings about a business. And yeah, I’d take a free drink over a chance to win a gazillion bucks ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2020, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-surveys/923115/8 "2020-10-17T12:22:23Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I eat fast food maybe three times a year, and would never keep track of a coupon for more than a day or two. I’d pass on the survey. Yanno, if there was a thread something like, _Do you prefer your partner be under 30 or older than 30_ and somebody chimed in, “Neither – I’m an Ace,” I wouldn’t think it rose to the level of threadshitting, but it added nothing to the conversation. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2020, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-surveys/923115/9 "2020-10-17T12:31:06Z")
Didn’t mean my answer to be a thread shit. I have seen surveys on receipts, and just meant to point out that if you don’t go there often, it’s useless to participate. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2020, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-surveys/923115/10 "2020-10-17T15:29:01Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Is there good evidence that any of these effing customer surveys are useful tools for increasing retail sales? The **Sonny’s** survey seems geared more towards streamlining the operation. Questions like _Did you dine in?_, _What time were you here?_, _How was the service?_, _Did you try such-and-such brisket?_, _How was the food?_ The only gripe (and it’s hardly worth mentioning): you can only fill out one survey every seven days. Da noive! 😄 ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2020, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-surveys/923115/11 "2020-10-17T17:06:30Z")
I fill out the surveys…and always seem to forget to claim the reward. I just like surveys! ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2020, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-surveys/923115/12 "2020-10-17T18:07:53Z")
Before we got our new Prius, we practically lived from paycheck to paycheck off the BOGO Quarter Pounder surveys from McDonald’s. . We would never fail to answer those. Since the Prius, we don’t have to spend as much money on gas or car maintenance, so we’ve let restaurant surveys slide. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2020, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-surveys/923115/13 "2020-10-17T18:55:09Z")
**Modnote** : Next time if you don’t like a post and think it might be a threadshit, please just **flag** the post with the _ **Something Else** _ option and explain what you think the problem is. Because chastising other posters for their posts is even more of a distraction to the thread. it is pretty close to Jr. Modding. _This is not a warning, won’t be recorded anywhere._ ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2020, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-surveys/923115/14 "2020-10-17T19:58:06Z")
I think an offer of a free drink or free fries would result in a more honest survey than a chance at winning money, because a lot of people will think that a response that favors the company might give them a better chance at winning. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2020, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-surveys/923115/15 "2020-10-18T02:03:22Z")
I’m not 100% sure, but many of these survey winnings are loaded gift cards because I think there’s something illegal(?) about giving cash. So, yeah, fill out the Walmart survey and you get entered in a _drawing_ for $1000 GC. Whoopee! Gimme the free dessert at the BBQ joint, any time. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2020, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fast-food-surveys/923115/16 "2020-10-18T02:40:58Z")
For me, it depends. If it’s a 2-for-1 special, I’ll pass, but a free drink? Sure, and maybe I’ll use it and maybe I won’t. If it’s a cash prize, I’m personally much more likely to participate even if the odds are lower.