However McDonalds is producing those cups by the millions, so the cost is probable $0,002 per cup. Even raising that price by 1 cent would completely change the numbers in the book. Also, I'm sure the overhead is bigger in percentage at a fast food joint than at Disney.
I know it's often more fun to blame Disney than the guests around here, but the difference is the customer. With a fast food venue unlimited refills are part of the business, but sharing a soda is not acceptable. With the Disney program it's very similar, unlimited refills are acceptable and sharing is not. The difference is that with Disney people leave and return to fill again or even at a different resort. That's all part of the deal, but then people also leave and go home and return 6 months later to fill again which is not. I've never seen someone walk into a Burger King with a cup and fill it with soda before, but I remember when we used the program back in 2001 it was such common knowledge to bring it back that sites like this were suggesting it and even cast members selling the cups at the resorts would mention it to help make sales. The loss of a soda is not a big deal, just as it isn't for fast food venues either. The bigger loss was people returning for 2 or more subsequent trips without paying anything more. All of those sodas add up much quicker while also causing an increasing decrease in income overtime as reuse cups start competing with new cups. I'm sure at some people someone had to look at those numbers and realize that things were at the tipping point, and that's where paying to enforce the rules comes from.
I honestly believe that Disney does it, at least in part, as a marketing ploy, to force people of doing something exclusive... but the system does have its fault, unfortunately for us!
Problem: A small percentage of guests bringing back old refillable mugs and using them for various reasons, including "I don't want to pay $10/$12/$15/$18 for a new mug".
Solution: Lower the price on the refillable mugs to encourage more guests to buy one for each family member on each trip. Volume of mugs bought would/should make up for a lower price, not to mention repeat business, since guests would likely not be averse to purchasing a new mug on each trip because the cost would be lower/manageable.
DIS Solution: Raise prices. Spend hundreds of thousands, if not millions, instituting the RapidFill program. "That'll show'em!"
No. You don't think that flies get into your local restaurants? It happens, usually it depends on the time of year. It's not like you can spray the food to keep the flies off of them. We have regular pest control come in and have other bug preventatives but we still get flies that come in when the door opens. There is NOTHING you can do about it. How long have you worked in a food establishment?
Nobody likes a snitch, but I too would have gone all out on someone for telling me to "STFU and mind your own business" for just looking at them. As soon as that rude comment was made, you had every right to draw full attention to what he was doing.
Again, McDonalds doesn't have a permanent supply of people staying at that store that come in and repeatedly use the same cup. They do allow for refills, but, since the clientele usually just go in, eat and leave, it is not an ongoing problem. However, that said, I have noticed that McDonalds has had to resort to putting up signs telling people that they cannot bring in a cup to fill at that self serve drink locations, so it is a problem for them as well. It is only valid for beverages purchased that day.
Please, save the nobody likes a snitch for middle school, as adults we are all responsible for maintaining a semblance of civilization in our society. The nobody likes a snitch thought process is directly responsible for a lot of our current problems.
Given the circumstances described, I would have been far less likely to raise a fuss over what cup the guest was using to refill. All of that would change as soon as he started using vulgar language toward me and my family. Doesn't make it any more right what he was doing using the mug.
Stealing soda from McDonalds isn't common because most people go there to eat not just for a drink. They are also not staying long vs hotel guests staying overnight. It would be inconvenient and just plain weird to drive to a McDonalds just to steal a cup of soda. The workers would also nail you if you didn't have a McD's cup and just walked in to fill it without buying anything. At WDW getting a drink is a quick and easy stop on your way back to your room. Take CR as an example. Hop off the monorail, stop at the Contempo Cafe just below the monorail station and grab a drink on your way back to your room. And it wasn't just guests staying at the hotels helping themselves. If you live locally or are staying off property, on your way back to your car take the resort monorail loop instead of the direct and get off at CR for a drink before continuing to TTC and your car. It's hot in FL most of the time and people get thirsty. Another common occurrence was people buying 1 drink cup and then sharing it amongst multiple people. In some cases pouring the soda into a separate personal cup or container and then refilling the Disney cup again and again. It most definitely was a problem.
