Josh’s Subway doesn’t take too kindly to those who bring their own cups to fill up at its freestanding soda fountain. It also isn’t to keen on those who keep cardboard Subway cups as refillable souvenirs to be used day after day.
He writes:
Here’s a sign I spotted at a Subway in Sun City Center, FL. What is
this world coming to? What do you mean I can’t bring in my own cup and
get a free drink? Sheesh!
If you’ve worked fast food, did you care if people came in to scam off your fountain? If so, what did you do to prevent the scammage?
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I’ve seen homeless guys come into a McDonald’s/Burger King/Jack in the Box and rummage through the trash until they found a cup, then use that to get a free soda. Gross…
I was even in one and someone told the person at the counter that a homeless guy was about to do that…they employees didn’t do anything, homeless guy got a drink. At the least they could be like “We’ll let you have a drink, but, here, please use a clean cup”…
The worst thing about many people is that they just default to trying to scam restaurants by stealing drinks, using outside cups, etc instead of just communicating what their wishes are.
Let me explain. First you have the people that try to steal drinks by using a water cup. Half of these people are ordering the cheapest stuff on the menu, granted. But there was often another group of people that would order everything a la carte, and then ask for a water glass to steal soda. These people, in many cases, could have had a legit soda for 10 or 20 cents more. They are just so caught up in the “steal, pillage, plunder” mindset that they refuse to see that they can often work within the bounds of the law and get what they want at a minimal additional cost.
Then you have the others that bring in outside cups. Some have a giant one gallon container stuffed under their coat, order a $1 drink, and then fill up their gallon container. Then you would have sweet, old ladies come in saying that they were on a road trip, and would ask if we could accommodate their need to fill up their gallon container. and you know what? Managers, and even the store’s general manager would usually say “go for it this once”, especially if you were ordering other food. I mean, these signs were posted, but it isn’t like we would say no if you were polite and explained what you were doing. Also, by explaining what you were doing, we could let you fill up your container instead of giving you a cardboard cup. Everyone knows that the expense is in the cardboard cup. Heck, we were probably MAKING money off people that would bring in their own containers. As long as people politely communicated what was going on, it was absolutely no big deal.
Does anyone remember when Subway had the Comeback cup? A plastic cup that you paid about $2 for, then eveytime you went back to Subway, it was only like 50 cents to refil? I remember selling those about 4 years ago when I managed 3 Subways.
I see nothing wrong with the sign. I’ve seen signs like that at fast food places around here. I’ve seen a lady and her kid eating Subway sandwiches inside a Burger King, with cola in a water cup. It didn’t look like they bought anything from BK (no wrappers, bags) and I bet the cola came from BK. Scammy…
I forget what the policy on coffee refills at Starbucks is, but it’s pretty widely known in downtown and near where I work, homeless people pick out cups from the trash and go back to Starbucks for a refill. Even though the baristas know this, they still give it to them.
It doesn’t matter how much the soda costs – it could cost the store next to nothing. It’s a matter of principle for me. If you want soda, pay for it. Otherwise, you get nothing.
Poison is in the soda.
Antidote is in the cup.
Screw ‘em all…I drink water pretty much exclusively. Except when I go to McDonald’s I have to take my own since they no longer give out water cups. Asshats.
When I first came to US to study, I was very amazed and confused the first time I see self-service soda fountain.
I’ve got absolutely no problem with the sign. If someone opened a bottle at 7-11 and drank from it, leaving the bottle behind without paying, would that be acceptable? How is that any different?
Drink “poaching” is theft, pure and simple. What sort of cretin does someone have to be to try and steal drinks in the first place? Even if soda is actually of little value, when it comes to paying it’s about the principle, not the principal.
It’s probably less about the free drink than it is the type of person who is most likely to want a free drink: the homeless.
I’ve seen more and more downtown fast food chains enacting new policies to try to keep out the homeless. Since the homeless have nowhere to go, many chains have a rule demanding that all customers leave after a maximum of thirty minutes, to prevent homeless people from squatting in the dining area all day while nursing a single cheap drink.
Having a rule specifically to keep out outside cups is probably the result of homeless people bringing their own cups to get a drink that they can’t afford. But the chains don’t want homeless people in their restaurants since they can make higher paying customers uncomfortable.
I am not suggesting that this policy is good or fair. Simply that it’s probably motivated less by the cost of a drink than you might think.
I checked this story because I was nearly sure it was going to be the Subway at my local mall. The mall is so old there was never a food court built. They are trying to fix that by putting a bunch of tables out in the center of on open area where they used to have a fountain. The Subway has I think 4 LITTLE tables inside. I mean like if you sit 4 people to a table, people have problems getting around you.
SO, as long as you are in said tiny, tiny closet free refills! Leave to go to the open eating area? No refill for you.
I know the owner of this Subway. He runs several in the Tampa area. They ALL have this sign.
He’s a big cheapskate.
On the sandwich counter there’s a sign that reads: “Forks, spoons, napkins, salt, pepper, etc, are for SUBWAY CUSTOMERS ONLY!!!”
To be 100% fair, the location in the picture is inside a WalMart, where there must be lots of moochers.
I’ve seen this many places, especially places where homeless people frequent. You’ll usually see a “30 minute maximum” sign too. It’s to keep homeless people from digging cups out of the trash and sitting there all day drinking soda from the fountain. (The McDonalds in the Parkland Hospital in Dallas, TX has several such signs – and there are plenty of homeless people hanging around that area.) And yes, I realize that it’s kind of strange to have a McDonalds in a hospital.
So to answer the posed question the mall dates their cups, at least in the summer time.
I just can’t wrap my mind around somebody thinking it’s okay to bring in a cup and score some free soda. Do they bring their own bags to the grocery store and try to walk out with free groceries? What the hell, people.
stealing is stealing. face it.
The trouble with this is you could drive off paying customers. Yes they might “steal” a drink sometimes, but they also return to buy food. I think the hostility of busting people for “stealing” drinks would also be bad for business. Customers might get the impression that the restaurant is not a safe of pleasant place to eat.
Suppose the employee is mistaken and busts someone who is entitiled to the refill and the restaurant loses that person’s business.
Also, minimum wage is $7.25 per hour or 12 cents per minute. The free drink costs 5 cents. It doesn’t seem like it’s cost effective to enforce the policy. You’d have to bust more than 2 people per minute to make this policy profitable.
I could see cracking down on the vagrant who never buys anything, because just their presence probably drives away business. In this case you are probably generating more than just the 5 cents.