In my case, I buy the large because I have bad knees and a bad back. Getting up HURTS, I have to use my cane or stick, and even then, there’s a chance I’ll fall down. I’d rather pay the extra half dollar for a large and not have to get up for any refills. Half a buck doesn’t make a difference to me.
Small, medium, and large are also useful for “to go” orders. If you’re gonna take your food back to your office or shop, you might want a large drink to sip on all afternoon. The price difference between large and small is almost certainly less than the price of a vending machine soda at work.
The one notable exception to this in the States seems to be Wendy’s: refills are free, but up until a couple of months ago I’d never seen a store with the soda fountain in the dining room. As it is I’ve only spotted it that one time, and Wendy’s is about my favorite fast food.
Most fast-food joints also sell their food to go, and in such a case it clearly makes sense to offer multiple sizes of drinks - those customers won’t be around to avail themselves of the free refills, and can decide how much drink they want to buy.
Given that multiple sizes are on the menu, then, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense for them to restrict dine-in customers to only purchasing the smallest size. Somebody who wanted a large, for whatever reason, would not be pleased to be told they couldn’t have one unless they were ordering their food to go. That would just be a silly move on the restaurant’s part, pissing off a customer for absolutely no reason (and turning down a larger sale in the process).
I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the different cup sizes are due to the fact that some patrons wish to purchase their comestibles for consumption off premises.
I wanted to point this out too - even if the fountain ISN’T open to the public sometimes they’ll give you a free refill if you ask. Our Wendy’s does as well. Not sure if that’s true of every Wendy’s.
I’ve never seen an establishment with customer accessible soda fountains that did not intend for refills to be free. You’re really only paying for the cup and the access, not any specific quantity of soda. If they did want to charge for refills, they’d have no chance to collect on them by putting the fountains in the dining room with no signs. I can’t swear that no establishnent anywhere has never done this, but I think it would be extremely unlikely and extremely hard to enforce.
In my experience, (except in working as a server in a Connecticut restaurant about 20 years ago, where we charged for refills on soda) tea, coffee, and soda are free refills. The raspberry lemonades and mocha lattes, however, were not free on the refills.
The only places I’ve seen in the last, I dunno, five years or more that sell soda that have the fountain publicly accessible and make you pay for refills are convenience stores. Even then, I’ve never hassled or been hassled for pouring a cup, taking a drink, then filling up what I just drank.
I usually get the small cups, because it helps control my soda intake. I like having some root beer or coke, but I don’t want to drink too much. I fill a small cup with lots ice (I love soda ice cold), add soda and rarely go up for more than a little bit more.
Using a strict interpretation unless it’s told to you refills are free, you shouldn’t take one.
Some places it’s on the cup. I knew one place awhile ago, it said on the cup. “ONE free refill, you’re on the honor system so don’t cheat.”
When I started out in life I worked at Red Roof Inn and we used to give away coffee and USA Today (when the paper first came out, so this was the early 80s). We were among the first discount chains to do this.
So people would come in and look around, they wouldn’t know if the coffee was free, so they’d ask, we’d say yes. Then they’d look around and see the paper and they didn’t know what to do. Then they’d grab one and start to the door and I’d look at them and they’d look all guilty and say “Ah these are free right?”
I felt like saying “Well you were just gonna take it anyway.” LOL
To the OP though just ask are the refills free?
I remember at Taco Bell once, there was a lady that came in and her kid had McDonalds, she orders and they sit down. And the kid finishes his soda, and goes to get more, and she say “No, you didn’t get that here, you aren’t entitled to a refill” So she dumps her soda into his empty McDonalds cup and give him her now empty Taco Bell soda cup and he gets a refill.
I must be stupid, but thing is, if I’m only going to have a small drink I won’t pay for the BIGGERTHANTHEPLATE size.
In Spain the few places that have soda fountains usable by the customers usually give free refills (I ask, if I think I may want a refill). I haven’t seen that many, but of the ones I’ve been to there has never been one which wanted you to pay for the second cup.
