{"id":4181,"date":"2013-11-25T13:35:48","date_gmt":"2013-11-25T21:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/?p=4181"},"modified":"2013-11-25T17:46:02","modified_gmt":"2013-11-26T01:46:02","slug":"getting-mcdelivery-singapore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/2013\/11\/getting-mcdelivery-singapore\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting McDelivery in Singapore"},"content":{"rendered":"

if you ever find yourself hungry at 3 AM in the food paradise of Singapore<\/a>, one option for you might be McDelivery<\/a>. yes, McDonald’s<\/a> delivery. from what i can tell, your other option is pizza, but i prefer trying local fast food any day. and, as a fast food fiend (it is, sadly, my main source of food at home), i’ve always wanted to try a delivery service.<\/p>\n

(i’m up at 3 AM because i’m working through the night while it’s business hours on the east coast of the US.)<\/p>\n

signing up<\/h3>\n

it’s a pretty painless process to sign up — just register as a new user<\/a> on the McDelivery website. while they do ask you this silly question (at least to me), you don’t have to provide a phone number in case you don’t have one as a visitor (i put in all zeroes).<\/p>\n

\"Untitled\"<\/a><\/p>\n

and no, your response to this question doesn’t seem to have any effect — the delivery guy did not speak Chinese to me (phew) and the website did not switch to Chinese (double phew).<\/p>\n

one cool thing i learned is that Singapore is so small — about 22% the size of Rhode Island — yet their postal codes have six digits (vs the US’s 5, if you don’t count ZIP+4) so the postal code of my airbnb pretty much filled in the entire address — i just had to add the apartment number.<\/p>\n

ordering<\/h3>\n

\"mcd1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

there is a S$10 minimum (i had to pad my order with extras), plus delivery charge (which is 50 cents cheaper online than if you call it in); i did not tip the delivery man since all indications are that you don’t.<\/p>\n

note<\/strong> that if you pay with cash, you will be prompted to enter a phone number that can receive a confirmation SMS. as i do not have a local phone number, i had to pay with card. BUT, the card i was going to use, a no-foreign-transaction fee Visa, started the Verified by Visa process which did not even prompt me for a password or other verification — just automatically failed. i had to use my debit Visa (= fee), but no Verified hassles.<\/p>\n

delivery<\/h3>\n

\"mcd2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

be sure to copy the order number you get after your order goes through — that was my only indication of my order. i didn’t get a confirmation email and there’s nowhere (that i found) that has an order history. not like the order status page (where you have to fill in your order number manually) tells you much though, but i got a notification on my phone via my bank’s app that they charged my card, so you should keep that order number handy just in case anything goes awry — especially since i didn’t put in a phone number. (update<\/strong>: i did get the confirmation email, just several hours after i placed my order, but it was timestamped as sent immediately. i blame gmail!)<\/p>\n

the delivery time on the order confirmation screen was quite accurate. the man had what appeared to be a large insulated backpack with hot and cold compartments. even though i paid with a card, nothing to sign (since i think it’s under the amount that triggers a signature, like when i went to the supermarket today).<\/p>\n

the food<\/h3>\n

\"photo<\/a><\/p>\n

a quick review of what i got, going clockwise from the top left. keep in mind i am, as of this writing, *smug*, the foursquare mayor of my McDonald’s at home.<\/p>\n