I, unlike many others it would seem, do not like any ice in my beverage, which is seldom anything else but soda/pop. I respect the opinions of others if they prefer the greater part of the cups volume to be taken up by ice rather than risk a lukewarm beverage, but this view is not the case with me. I should point out that I have no problem with requesting my Coke (or whatever else) with no ice outside of a few cases that are within the scope of this post.
Not too long ago McDonalds offered a 49 cent 42 oz. beverage. I go up to the window, place my order, and ask for one of these 42 oz Cokes as well. As soon as I say “And no ice, please,” the person taking the order then asks that since I asked for no ice, would I mind paying $1.39 for the beverage. I then caught on to their game. They were planning on doing a stuff-job with the ice, so to speak, and try to get the upper hand in this “sale” they were having. This, itself, does not really make sense, since aren’t these the same people who offer free refills on dine-in purchases? Surely I would consume much more beverage dining in than asking that there be no ice in the drink that I am buying through the drive in window. This is ignoring the fact pointed out by that post a few days ago that asked about any deals between Coca-Cola and McD’s, and which thusly confirmed that a Coke before mark-up is about 9 cents.
This is but one measly example. (I have a few other examples; posting them would be redundant, but not all of them deal with a low priced drink.) My point is, I think that this mandatory ice-stuffing is a crock. I want a plain, honest-to- goodness Coke (that I’m paying well enough for to begin with) that isn’t made absolutely frigid or diluted with excessive ice. Soft drink syrup is cheap enough; is it needful to be so miserly with it? Does anyone else have a preference for no ice, or has anyone else had a similar run-in, where they HAD to buy a drink with ice or pay extra? Are there any “corporate insiders” that could tell their “war stories” about this “fleece 'em with the ice” phenomenon? Perhaps any former or current fast-food employees could explain their companies “ice policy”, if there is one?
The ice takes up space. Water is cheaper than coke. If so much ice wasn’t used, the drink price would be put up.
So, it’s best not to complain about the standard ice trick if you prefer yours with no ice - after all, whilst the policy continues, you are getting your drinks subsidised by the rest of us.
That is one of the first things they teach you when you work in fast food.
I mean they don’t tell you why you need to fill the cup with ice but it’s pretty clear.
I mean most of the time the soda is cold out of the spout other wise some of the mixes will go bad. Like diet pepsi and diet coke you have to keep them away from heat.
But I can’t believe that they wanted to charge you more for no ice! That is crazy! I mean I could see if everybody under the sun ordered soda with no ice then they might lose a bit of money, but those that don’t order ice are few and far between.
That and most place give free refills.
The boxes of mix and the containers of carbonation aren’t very expensive, and most of the time it takes a while before you have to change them depending on the customer base.
The purpose of adding ice to a drink isn’t simply to stop it getting warm. Ice changes the taste and “texture” of a drink. Noticed the fizzing when you drop ice blocks into a drink? That’s the release of carbon dioxide. Drop a whole lot of ice in a drink and you get a less fizzy, smoother drink. Ice also makes a drink taste less sharp. So to many people, drinks with ice are easier to drink and taste better.
But, yeah, charging people more for getting ice-less drinks is ridiculous. Post-mix carbonated drink is ridiculously cheap. Going back 7 years to my fast food restaurant days, we never charged extra if a customer didn’t want ice. It just wouldn’t be worth (1) the hassle of the inevitable argument; and (2) the poor customer relations for the sake of a few cents profit.
I’m with the OP… I like my drinks with no ice. That’s why I usually frequent fast food joints that have the little soda bar accessible to the customer… not only can I make the perfect suicide, but I can get it without the ice.
And Narrad… personally, I prefer the sharper flavor.
Quick question: How much does a 42 oz. drink cost, total, to the fast food places? Including the price of the cup? Isn’t it less than, like, a quarter?
No ice. Fountain drinks are cold already, and I drink them before they get warm. I never take the drive through, and if I go into a fast food place that doesn’t have a self serve fountain, I go right back out again. I hate paying $1.49 for half a cup of soda, no refills.
I just had a thought myself…I always thought it a bit funny when, upon seeing an empty glass, the server/employee would ask, rather encouragingly, “Do you want more ice?”. The humor factor of this depends on the situation.
I’ve always wondered about this. Soda is just carbonated water with a little flavoring. Ice requires electricity/special handling to make it and store it. Wouldn’t the ice be more expensive than the soda? I’d think you are doing them a favor when you don’t get ice.
I’ve often thought the same thing, Whitetho. I suspect that if ice isn’t more expensive, it’s close. The OP’s situation sounds like the brainstorm of a particularly stupid shift manager to me: the sort of 20 year old who is drunk with his own sudden power as a shift manager and gets irritated at these customer’s stealing “his” Coke with their no-ice-getting-ways.
It’s always been my understanding that the cup and the labor are FAR and AWAY the greatest expense.
Let me play a little devil’s advocate here. The McD soda-machine are programmed to give out a specific amount of soda. If there isn’t any ice in the cup, they have to fill it twice. This will then disrupt the administration, because your have paid for one drink but technically had two.
I do agree though that I do not like ice in my soda and will ask for it. And no, I will not pay more.
The McD’s soda machines are preprogrammed, but there is a “top off” button, and if the cup isn’t full, because you’ve asked for no ice or light ice (my personal preference for beverages) they can simply press that manual “top off” button to bring the beverage up to the mandated serving line.
My argument with McDonalds (which I do not eat, as a rule) is that they will actually charge you more for their breakfast value meals if you don’t want the beverage. A few weeks ago, I was simply craving a McDonald’s breakfast, but planned to get a cappucino to go along, so instead of ordering the EVM, I ordered the two burritos and one hash brown as individual items. It was more than a dollar more than the meal which included a small coffee or tea. I reordered, got the coffee, then very deliberately and obviously went over to the drink area and poured it down the drain. Their loss – and coffee, even at the bulk amounts that McDonald’s purchases, is more expensive than a soft drink could ever be.
tlw, you can always just tell the person at the counter that you want the value meal, but do not care to take the drink. Most of the time the cashiers really dont care that much anyways…and you’d be savng them the trouble of making a cup of coffee (which is dirt cheap…probably less than a nickel a cup).
I dont remember the prices for the Coca cola, but you can get a 5 gallon bib of Pepsi for just under $40. I’d guess that 5 gallons of syrup would make well over 1000 drinks. And the cups average 5 cents-15 cents, depending on their quality and size.
Regardless of how much the actual soda costs the comapany, they still need to charge a markup to make other costs. Sure they could sell all their food at actual costs, but they also have to pay their employees, and the electricity bill, and the rent. There wouldnt be much point to a business that made no profit.
As for the no ice costing extra, maybe it was just a frustrated employee tired of everyone taking advantage of the offer?
I like ice in my drink, and when I go to the drive-thru at McD’s they don’t give me enough, I often ask for more.
As a teenager I worked at that same establishment, and I was given no instructions about keeping the soda level low by putting in ice.
They now have in the lobby there, as in most fast food places I go to nowadays, a soda fountain were you can get free refills. From my vantage point, it seems like the fast food industry is trying very hard to give soda away.
Being asked to pay more for a soda with no ice just sounds bizarre to me.
I worked at McDonald’s for a couple of summers, and at first I made a point of making drinks light on the ice. Personally I like my drinks with no ice, and I figured that I was doing a favor to the customer by giving them more drink and less ice. However, some people did complain that there wasn’t enough ice in their drink. Truckers, particularly, seem to prefer ice-heavy drinks, possibly because they’re going to be on the road longer and need their beverage to stay cold longer.
So I started just putting in a regular amount of ice and only making drinks with little or no ice when requested. I relate this story just so you know that some people out there really do like a lot of ice, and not every McDonald’s counterbot is trying to rip you off.
tlw, just tell the droid that you want your value meal without the drink. This may take a few seconds of back and forth (“But it comes with a drink!” “I know. Sell me the drink and just don’t give it to me.” “But… it comes with a drink.”) but eventually they should catch on.
I would also like to point out that at least when I worked there, the price of the drink and the price of the rest of the value meal rang up separately on the register, so in principle there’s no reason you couldn’t sort of customize a value meal that had a cappucino as the drink or whatever. In practice, this is frowned upon by management, though.
I also hate ice in my drinks. I usually don’t make a request for it at fast food places, though, because the drink you get is usually pretty big to begin with, and you’re getting it right when you get your other food.
I will always ask for no ice in restaurants, though. Especially those which don’t offer free refills. If I get a coke with ice, I’ll be done with it before the food arrives. And I’ve been to places which give you pretty small glasses… the more expensive the place, it seems, the smaller the glass. :mad:
And the whole thing really bugs me because friends know about this and will always make some sort of comment on it, and I suspect that deep down they think I’m just being cheap. But it’s the principle that’s a big deal to me. I can afford the extra coke or two, but I will not pay $1.50 for a half-cup of coke and a half-cup of ice which costs them a quarter at most. And, FWIW, I can’t recall ever getting a warm soda.
i always ask for coke with no ice at mcd’s… they seem to have no problem with it here… and they’ve never asked, suggested or implied that i should pay more for my coke with no ice…
[anecdote time]
the mcd’s here has a 1 minute service promise… if they don’t serve your order in 1 minute, you get free fries… and since by default they serve coke with ice, whenever i tell them that i had asked for my coke with no ice, it takes them a while to pour me another glass… by which time the 1 minute sand counter is up… and i get my free fries… works like a charm… eight times outta ten…
[/anecdote time]
Joe K, you’d love Europe. Apparently, we Americans are real ice junkies compared to most folks over there. You have to fight tooth and nail to get anyone to put more than one ice cube in your soda glass.
