with all the freebies given away by restaurants, hair salons, etc, how do these places afford it? Do they get tax break? There’s no charity involved.
Marketing, future business from new customers.
The Pappadeaux seafood restaurant chain is promoting a free appetizer for veterans today, but the offer specifically excludes Jumbo Lump Crabcakes.
Something about that just comes off as chintzy. Maybe they could have designated a separate free appetizer tier for those who served in high-risk locations, making Iraq and Afghanistan vets for example eligible for the crab cakes.
^^ I don’t like that idea, but that’s me.
A vet is a vet, and it shouldn’t be broken down into categories of who served in a more dangerous area or who had the more dangerous job.
I didn’t get anything this year, but I usually get the free Veterans Day meal at Applebee’s. It’s an entrée from a limited menu. It doesn’t include a drink, or appetizers, or desserts. I’m not complaining, but even for the freebie, I’m spending a bit on the soda. I usually see a lot of vets accompanied by family members, who are all paying full price. From my personal experience, observing my fellow diners, I’m betting all of the extra business they get pays for the free meals they give out.
A lot of Veterans Days freebies work like that. They’re more promos than donations.
To quote Foghorn Leghorn, that was a joke, son.
Twitter praise for Applebee’s today. You can’t buy this type of good publicity for any amount of money.
Sorry about that.
I actually know people who think that people who served during peacetime are not real veterans.
The thing is, veterans didn’t choose the wars. Take my uncle: He was in the Army in the 1970s, while Vietnam was in full swing… but Uncle Sam said that he was needed in Germany, so to Germany he went.
It’s just another example of a day when a restaurant or a place gives out some particular food or other item. Some restaurants give out free food for veterans on Memorial Day. Some give out food or other stuff to everyone on a particular day or other time period. There are places that give out stuff on Tax Day (April 15th). There are restaurants or other places that give out free flower seeds or comic books or free admission or free shipping or particular days or other time periods. The place gets free publicity. The veteran or whoever will usually have someone else with them, and that other person pays. The veteran surprisingly often decides that they should come back on other days. The restaurants and other places have thought this out and decided that what they lose on giving out free things is made up by what they make in the future.
I meant to write “or free shipping on particular days”.
Pre-pandemic I always spent Veterans Day evening at the bar, where all veterans were offered one beer for free. (Pennsylvania law allows a bar owner to give one free beer to a customer in a 24 hour period) People like me (non-veterans) bought a round for veterans in the house as well.
This was the first Veterans Day in a long time that I didn’t spend the night with a bunch of totally trashed vets.
I went to the groc store yesterday. As I was pushing my paid-for cart away from the checkstand I noticed signs on all the other checkstands that vets were eligible for an 11% (cute) discount on the 11th.
Oh well. Bad luck I picked the one stand lacking the sign. :smack: I’ll survive.
My brother served in the military, spending time in Germany and Turkey. Turns out the US was not involved in any hostilities during the years he served. Still, he had a friend who died during that time (jumping out of airplanes) and other friends who suffered serious injuries.
^^Oh, I believe that. I had friends who got hurt (not killed) during various training. That’s why it pisses me off when folks say you’re only a vet if you saw combat.
I remember years ago when I first tried to join the American Legion (late 80s). I wasn’t eligible even though I had served. I apparently hadn’t served during a time of conflict. So they told me I could join the Sons of the American Legion. I said no thanks. I was pissed off that I was a veteran and the American Legion wouldn’t even recognize my status.
A year or so later, the definition of conflict was changed or something, and the national legion decided to include Grenada as a conflict. So folks like me were then eligible to join the American Legion. There still might be folks out there who never served during a conflict period who are not eligible to join, but I don’t know. I quit the legion years ago.
regardless of combat or not, these are people who are VOLUNTARILY giving 3+ years of their lives to serving their country in any way, while the vast majority of country is too selfish to give anything back; there even been some people recently complaining about Veterans preference (5 points) for Federal hiring!
^^^Agreed. And yeah–I’ve seen folks and letters to the editor complaining about Veteran preferences for federal hiring. It amazes me!
I took my wife to the Lariat Tavern in Belmont CA. We looked forward to a few drinks there.
When we arrived, the neon lights outside were on but it was closed. The door was locked.
Damned covid.
There are also any number of veterans who simply treated it as a job. A job with nice bennies, good training, and a ticket out of town.
“Serving” by being in the DoD and serving by working for the IRS or the Patent Office can be for different motivations. Or they can be for the same motivations.
Certainly some DoD veterans are highly motivated by “giving back” to the society. Others are just there for the paycheck. It was ever thus.
One could make a good argument that the veterans who really deserve the bennies are the draftees. Those are the ones who were uprooted against their will to serve the needs of the larger society. Talk about paying a price for other’s benefit!
I am a vet. I did my thing for 8 years and filled all the squares expected of me. Including the opportunity to get shot at. Which opportunity was taken on occasion.
Just as being a military member was underappreciated during & immediately post Viet Nam, nowadays we’re taking an awful lot of folks who’re little more public-spirited than mailmen or DMV bureaucrats and putting them on some sort of selfless hero pedestal that’s utterly unwarranted. There are selfless heroes among the DoD members. But that’s not true of everybody and never has been.
[quote=“fedman1, post:1, topic:925374”]
… Do they get tax break? …
[/quote]Yes (indirectly) - By not charging $22 for a steak dinner, their profit for the year is $22 less than what it would have been if the steak had been purchased. If they’re in the 25% tax bracket, they save $5.50 on their taxes.