Seeing there is a discussion about this, and while everyone is fighting about the RFID the reason that Disney is implementing them is due to the fact that the 19 cents extra the sticker cost (when among a sheet of 1000) are a two-sided issue. Fortunately, I've been on the inside and on the outside of these parks to the point of I know how much it costs even for a cup of soda. There was rampant abuse with guess asking for a cup of water and filling them up with soda, even at universal all this I'll such a rampant abuse with that they actually had to disable the option for water out of all the Coke freestyle machines because of guests doing this to the point that they had to replace the filters fairly quick and the filters and those machines are expensive but that's beside the point.
At Universal Orlando, it's the same exact cost for a normal soda that is a Disney $3.29 before tax. These machines use bibs (bags in the box) essentially that carry the high fructose corn syrup for all your nondiet beverages and then the nonnutritive sweetener for all your diet beverages. These bibs are around $13 each, what's the high fructose corn syrup in a 5-gallon bib we'll only make it 239 20 ounce beverages, where the nonnutritive sweetener comes in a 2.5-gallon bib and I will make 830 20 ounce beverages (I'm using this information sans pricing from the Coke Freestyle User manual; $13 price came from Reddit, I was able to find online Coke high fructose corn syrup bibs for $37). The cost for the soda syrup alone is higher, with the pricing I found (Ironically at Sam's Club) that a 2.5-gallon bib costs $48 while the 5-gallon bib costs $82.
It's costly to run these machines even if you look at it from the cost of the Bibs and water filter (since Coke touts especially in the Freestyle owner documents that "water makes up over 80% of all beverages,"). Also knowing about how the parks get their soda and usually at the cost, Coke gives them the syrup for free, but Coke also sets the cost of the soda based on since when you go to purchase a Coke at Disney you are paying for the cup/container that comes from Coke, as well as Disney’s upcharge. The RFID feature could have been Coke's hand (since the Coke Freestyles DO phone home about selling habits; I will discuss that here more depth). I know that by using the Freestyle drink dispenser, Coca-Cola is able to collect value piece of data on consumer habits especially which drinks are being consumed, and when. Since each flavor cartridge is tagged with a RFID chip, and each dispenser contains an RFID reader, the dispenser is able to collect data on what customers are drinking and how much. Eventually, this data is sent over a wireless network to Coke’s SAP data warehouse system in Atlanta, GA. From there, the data will be analyzed in order to develop reports that assess how new drinks are thriving in the marketplace, and divide up results by regional tastes, ultimately helping fast-food places decide which drinks to serve. They also use the RFID so Businesses can see a graphical view of drink consumption reports, ranking which drinks sold at specific time periods, through an e-business portal. Since most fast-food restaurants collect POS data only on the number and sizes of beverage cups sold, it allows visibility on data that has not previously been collected. Since all the cartridge information is all stored on a network, it will be easy to recall a flavor because the network will instantly disable the dispensers simultaneously across the nation.
Disney and Universal use ValidFill as the company for the RFID receivers; ValidFill even goes to the point of using photographs from both companies. The beauty of ValidFill is how blatant they are about allowing the operator to milk money out of guests. This is literally on their page about Theme Parks (added bolding for emphasis) "Theme Park operators can now create prepaid big offers like “Good All Day” and “Good All Season” to optimize up front revenue and deliver the ultimate beverage convenience for park guests. With a network of control dispensers that allows the guest to avoid POS registers and crew serve lines for their entire visit, operators can charge a premium for this high level of convenience. The successful execution of these offers drives the elimination of hundreds of thousands of transactions in your POS line queue each year and the avoidance of hundreds of thousands of consumables all while being able to charge a premium retail for this premium offer." And for the Resort side of things (again added bolding for emphasis) "Resort operators can now expand their fountain audience with 100+ drink choices, 70+ of which are low or no calorie options and offer the fastest speed of service during peak and 24 hour access to fountain refreshment to their guests. This convenience, the value of unlimited fills for the length of stay and a distinctive branded souvenir vessel for your destination is a powerful combination that resort operators are leveraging to drive large prepaid fountain profits." ValidFill does allow for real-time results and to conduct program optimization which is partial to why they are both for it, especially since VaildFill is partnered with Whirley Drink Works so they can still sell their souvenir soda cups. So at Universal, since they have a plethora of Freestyle machines, They are pulling double duty to not only help Coke but to help themselves as well. Disney, I have heard does the same now with the additions of the Freestyle machines.
Why the 5 limit refills? That's a good question, and I do believe that it is there to discourage guests to just sitting there all day mindlessly drinking soda, and would require more guest spending. (Fun anecdote: When I worked in the Orlando Parks, my co-workers were told to stop on numerous occasions mind you to the act of keeping our day old paper soda cups in the fridge because we would use them the next day to save money). So yes, its there to discourage guests to just sitting there all day mindlessly drinking soda, and would require more guest spending; even employees too. But if I were to go with the marketing of ValidFill, its to allow operators to "place dispensers in high traffic areas and give you the control to get paid for every pour." They even go on to note that "revenue improvement from these offers and the operational improvement combine to boost food service operator performance in dramatic ways." Mind you the frequently asked questions do answer that "Each location specifies the wait time required between fills. This wait time is set by each company and can vary, but typically the wait time is 5 minutes." They also time the pours at approximately 70 seconds " Once the guest starts to fill their cup, the guest has approximately 70 seconds to use the allowable ounces for that fill. After 70 seconds, the cup is charged a fill regardless of how many ounces of soda was dispensed." They can also limit the amount of soda that can be dispensed "The RFID enabled cup stores the capacity of the cup and will dispense up to that amount. Some clients elect to have the total number of ounces dispensed to be more or less than the size of the cup."
Is ValidFill or RFID invincible to abuse? No. In August of 2014, I discovered a flaw in the RFID system of ValidFill, which would permit for multiple beverages to poured. I haven't reported it nor tested it but I am fairly confident in it. I am not about to condone theft of services so I will not share anything about the exploit other than one could fill multiple beverages in the 70-second window if there isn't a limit of the total ounces allowed to dispense. The downside of the system is that it has a limited capacity, "Yes, for multi-valve dispensers the system is designed to handle up to 6 guests using the same machine at one time. "
Overall, they have these systems in place for multiple reasons. but as I have explained hopefully well enough for the average non-tech savy reader or one who doesn't understand the new systems well enough why its in place. It does have benefits for all those involved. Personally, I would rather get 5 refills from a 3.29 cup rather than one fill for 3.29.
I know I went on longer than I wanted, but I wanted to explain these systems as best as I could. Sorry if it drags anywhere.
