Ponchos don't have a stipulation of only being used for one visit only. The mugs do.
Invalid comparison.
I agree it's an invalid comparison but not because there is no stipulation about being used only for that visit. If such a stipulation did exist, it would be absurd because it is your poncho that you purchased that you are free to where as often as you want. The poncho is used to protect you from rain that nature provides, whereas the mug is used to fill with soda that Disney provides. So, while people can argue that you are stealing from Disney by filling up that mug with soda, no one could possibly argue that you are stealing anything by reusing that poncho.
So ya, I agree...invalid comparison.
However, for those of you who are so firmly opposed to "mug abuse", let me just remind you of what I posted a few pages back about how we are probably all guilty of theft in one form or another...each and every one of us. Anytime you take a few minutes extra on a paid break period at work, you are stealing. Anytime you use office stationary and office time to write out your shopping list, or your "to bring to Disney on your upcoming trip" list, you're stealing time and paper, even if it is only one sheet. Even to use the office ink pen for personal use, you're stealing a drop or two of ink for personal use.
In my opinion, these are all valid comparisons to "stealing" soda in last year's mug. Valid because it's a much more "apples to apples" comparison. The amount of money's worth that you're "stealing" from Disney by filling up that mug is probably pretty comparable to the amount of money you are stealing by using that sheet of paper to print out a joke forward, or the amount of money that a single sheet of paper would cost when you "steal" it from the stationary pad to write out your grocery list.
In the most miniscule ways, we're all thieves, and don't anyone try to say that your'e not. But some forms of theft are so miniscule that, even though they may technically be theft, no one ever conceives of it as being such. How many of us really stop to think that we're stealing from our employer everytime we stop and talk to a coworker about personal affair while on the clock, or any of the other examples I named.
Even though I may feel convicted to follow the rules about mug use, I find it hard to conceive of "mug abuse" as being theft on the same level as stuffing a DVD under your shirt at Walmart. To me, one form of theft is much more blatant than the other. I know many may disagree with me, but to me, they are two different things. To me, mug abuse is more comparable to walking through the food court on your way to the bus stop without buying anything, and grabbing a handful of napkins to take to the park with you for your kid's runny nose. Technically, that could be "theft" too, since those napkins are for the use of paying customers of the food court for use to wipe their hands and faces on this particular meal. But we all do it...or something similar. So let's all keep that in mind before we get too self righteous about the mug issue.
