# Free refills? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 26, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376 "2009-04-26T03:03:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/21 "2009-04-26T17:52:18Z")
When my company first sent me to S. Korea we learned the hard way that coffee did not include refills. We had a nice little morning meeting at our hotel restaurant and rang up an $80 coffee bill for 5 people. Good thing we had an expense account. Free anything was not the norm for the next 8 months. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/22 "2009-04-26T17:54:16Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > I must say the lack of refills of coffee in so many countries is a surprise. I’ve never seen someone drink just one cup of coffee with a meal. Well, I’ve always heard that American coffee is the sex-in-a-canoe type = fucking close to water, so if it is much weaker both in coffeeine and in taste than European coffee, maybe that’s why you drink more. Here, we drink the coffee at the end of the meal, together with or instead of a digestive schnapps/grappa etc. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/23 "2009-04-26T18:00:46Z")
I think Americans just drink more volume than other nationalities, full stop. I don’t think I drink as much fluid in a DAY as one “large” soda in an American fast food restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/24 "2009-04-26T18:06:56Z")
My friends from Michigan were most shocked when they visited Ireland and found no free refills as standard. The only place I know that does refills here is Pizza Hut. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/25 "2009-04-26T18:08:36Z")
Free refills are relatively new in the U.S, in my experience. When I was a kid in the '80s we never got free refills anywhere, and a lot of restaurants sold pitchers of soda. In the early and mid-'90s I remember often having the exchange: Waitperson: Would you like a refill? Me (out of conditioning): No Waitperson: It’s free Me: Oh, ok. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/26 "2009-04-26T18:46:08Z")
Also, most soft drinks around here don’t come from fountains - restaurants generally sell them in bottles. Only fast food chains seem to have fountains. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/27 "2009-04-26T19:34:42Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Free refills are relatively new in the U.S, in my experience. When I was a kid in the '80s we never got free refills anywhere, and a lot of restaurants sold pitchers of soda. In the early and mid-'90s I remember often having the exchange: > > Waitperson: Would you like a refill? > Me (out of conditioning): No > Waitperson: It’s free > Me: Oh, ok. That’s still my experience. I never even heard about free coffee refills until recently. I wish the waitress would have mentioned that the refills are free! It was only about 10 years ago that someone suggested that I actually ask if the refills are free. I always presumed not, unless the menu said so. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/28 "2009-04-26T19:49:40Z")
No free refills in Japan IME. And a large cup will look like an American medium cup, medium looks like small, and small looks like kid size. It was in Japan, however, that I learned to like putting a slice of lemon in Coca Cola. Does that originate in Japan or did it come from the US or somewhere else? ---
**Author:** ![hroark2112](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6a8cbe/32.png) [@hroark2112](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hroark2112)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/29 "2009-04-26T20:01:31Z")
I only found one restaurant in Prague that had fountain cokes, everywhere else you were served a can. Fanta and “Cola Lite” was more expensive than beer, which sucks if you’re a recovering alcoholic! I also don’t like fizzy water, and the tap water sucked, especially warm. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/30 "2009-04-26T20:14:56Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > It was in Japan, however, that I learned to like putting a slice of lemon in Coca Cola. Does that originate in Japan or did it come from the US or somewhere else? At fancy catered affairs that I’ve been to in the US, where several drinks are on the table in carafes, they put a lemon wedge in the Diet Coke to distinguish it from the regular. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/31 "2009-04-26T20:15:37Z")
> [@hroark2112](#): > > . Fanta and “Cola Lite” was more expensive than beer, which sucks if you’re a recovering alcoholic! Several years ago, a law was passed in Germany that each disco (dance club) and Kneipe (pub) and similar had to offer one soft = non-alcoholic drink the same size as a normal beer cheaper than said beer, in order that teenagers and young adults wouldn’t drink beer only because it was cheaper than non-alcoholic drinks. (We have too many drunk twens driving and crashing on country lanes). ---
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/32 "2009-04-26T20:16:20Z")
A friend once told me that McDonald’s do free refills in every restaurant in the world as part of their standard offering, but that outside of the US they just don’t tell people. But if you asked for a free one they had to give it to you. I’ve never actually tested this, but I suspect it’s not true… is it? ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/33 "2009-04-26T20:19:37Z")
As for lemon slices - those are usually put into the mineral water, Cola and the Spezi (lemonade mixed with Cola) in some, not all restaurants. However studies have found that it’s not a good idea, because conventional lemons have residue of pesticides and herbicides on their skin, and the CO2 acid /other acid in the soft drinks can dissolve this into the drink. (Almost no restaurant goes to the trouble of peeling the lemons before cutting them, and with low prices I don’t expect organic lemons, either.) ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/34 "2009-04-26T20:23:30Z")
> [@Dahu](#): > > A friend once told me that McDonald’s do free refills in every restaurant in the world as part of their standard offering, but that outside of the US they just don’t tell people. But if you asked for a free one they had to give it to you. > > I’ve never actually tested this, but I suspect it’s not true… is it? I haven’t eaten at McD for several reasons in years, but I have a hard time believing that a) the hordes of teenagers going there regularly wouldn’t find this out and spread by word of mouth very quickly b) why McD would be obliged/ have to give it to you, only if you asked. For example, it’s often mentioned on the boards, TV etc., that if a customer in the US expresses dissatisfaction, the manager will give him a discount, or free extra dessert or similar, yet I have never heard this for Germany, and would never even think of expecting a free ride. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/35 "2009-04-26T20:47:43Z")
Maybe the “free refill if you ask” is intended to avoid ugly confrontations with travelling Americans, who would be really surprised not to get a free refill on a Coke at McDonalds? I remember my cousin and his friends going up to Burger King in the mid-80s and taking maximum advantage of the free refills on soda. They’d be there getting wired on Mountain Dew or “suicides” (mixture of all flavors of fountain drinks) for hours. I’m sure the folks at the restaurant loved them! ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/36 "2009-04-26T21:01:12Z")
When I was in Japan, I inquired about free refills at a McDonalds somewhat obliquely by asking “How much for a refill?” She quoted me the same price as the price for a new drink. this doesn’t establish for a certainty, though, that had I asked directly for a free refill it would have been refused. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/37 "2009-04-26T21:19:45Z")
If you even suggest the possibility of getting a refill in Europe, you will get a snooty “This isn’t America!!”. After that, you’ll quit trying. ETA: Ironically, you will get that response even if you’re not American… go figure. ---
**Author:** ![andiepandie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ba0ec/32.png) [@andiepandie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andiepandie)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/38 "2009-04-26T22:04:32Z")
> [@Flutterby](#): > > It depends on the restaurant. I’ve always gotten free refills from a restaurant with a soda fountain, even McDonald’s allows one free refill for eat-in. It’s another story if they serve canned pop though (as many mom and pop type places do.. there are a number I can think of in my area that sell only by the can/bottle even if you eat in). I live in Ontario and this has generally been my experience. In most fast food places (Burger King, Subway, Wendys, etc.), the soda fountains tend to be accessable to customers and unlimited free refills are understood, unless there is a sign specifically saying “No free refills” or something similar, and those are extremely rare. I can’t say I’ve ever seen line-ups of teenagers waiting to abuse this system 😉 In most sit-down restaurants, soda refills are also free unless you are at a smaller place that sells them by the can/bottle like **Flutterby** mentioned, and I’ve seen many exceptions to that rule as well. The only places I can think of the almost exclusively charge for soda refills are smaller bars that don’t have a large kitchen (and make most of their money from drinks as a result). This is actually the first I’ve heard of there being a one drink refill limit at McDonalds. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen any of the ones I go to enforce this - although it has been ages since I’ve sat down in a McDonalds for a meal, so things may have changed. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/39 "2009-04-26T23:04:45Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > (the profit margin on soft drinks was around 2000% at the restaurant where I worked) Nitpick: the profit margin cannot be more than 100% It is profit divided by revenue. So if the soda costs a penny and you sell it for $1, the profit margin is 99% If you sell it for $10, it is 99.9% ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376/40 "2009-04-27T00:17:41Z")
> [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](#): > > Maybe the “free refill if you ask” is intended to avoid ugly confrontations with travelling Americans, who would be really surprised not to get a free refill on a Coke at McDonalds? Good lord, you can’t be serious. I’m as liberal as they come, but this kind of stuff sheds light for me on where right-wingers get ideas for America-Hater and Blame-America-First boogeymen. We’re not monsters who travel the world harassing poor natives who won’t give us free soda. How absurd. Lol. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-refills/494376.md?page=3)