Yes, we charge for cups of ice.

[aurelemsrealm]

Most c-stores nowadays charge customers for cups regardless of whether they get a drink. I read signage which puts me ahead of most customers, but I see signs telling this fact at many store fountain stations. You'd think people would catch on to this trend. Yeah, it may seem like a minor thing, but we're not obligated to just give it to you because it's just a cup of ice.

Today, this guy threw a hissy fit because I scanned his cup even though it was just ice.

"It's just a cup of ice."

"Okay." I scan the cup.

"I said it's just ice!"

"Yeah, I heard you the first time. I still have to charge you for the cup, though."

"You mean I can't just have it?"

"Hard times are the only thing I know to be free in life."

He just looked at me dumbfounded. "I'm going to get a drink, then."

"Okay, whatever."

He was still grumbling about it as he crossed the store to fill his cup and as he left.

One of our regulars was standing off to the side just laughing about it. I looked at him as the guy was filling his cup, "I guess I should have broken out my violin and offered to play him a tune, too."

The old man just about bust a gut laughing at the ice jerk.

We seem to have a lot of that. People think that they are entitled to not being charged for just a cup or just ice. Nevermind the cost the store pays out for things like wasted product if a customer is messy, decides they don't want it before they get to the counter, or cost of upkeep to have those machines and supplies for the convenience of the customer. Some people are such entitlement whores. It's a minor point, but it's still annoying that people whine and complain about such petty things. I usually just ignore them and charge them anyway.

I had one guy last week who insisted that he wasn't paying for just ice. I told him he could get a drink, but he didn't want a drink. He'd already run his credit card and saw it on the receipt as he signed for it. I told him he already used the cup so no one else could use it. We were out that cost, and he'd never bothered to ask if he could get an ice cup. We have ice cups, but you have to ask for them. Our company has this stupid policy about not putting them out with the fountain cups, but I usually do anyway. He just assumed. I'm not refunding it now. If he'd have been nice about it, I might have been willing to give it back. But he was a jerk. He'd left a big mess on the counter as he couldn't bother to throw his straw wrapper away, pulled extra lids from the dispenser and just left them on the counter. It was the whole series of little things that help make drink counters a disgusting mess for clerks like me to be stuck cleaning later. So, I decided that I wasn't going to give him a refund just for being such an inconsiderate jerk. He left the cup behind anyway, which I told him he might as well take it since no one else could use it. He said he'd complain, but I've not heard anything about it if he bothered. Yes, it's a minor thing, but where do these people get off thinking they're entitled? Someone needs to break them of that.

[ReverendBSB]

The cost of the cups is not the main reason convenience stores charge for the cups, its for inventory purposes. Its very hard to do a proper inventory for the soda fountains so they count the number of cups sold and base their numbers around that. Subway does the same thing with the bread, which is why Subway is not allowed to sell bread plain (as mentioned in one of Mitch Hedburgs routines).

[Victor13]

ubway does the same thing with the bread, which is why Subway is not allowed to sell bread plain (as mentioned in one of Mitch Hedburgs routines).

Lol, yes! "Apparently the two halves, are not supposed to meet."

R.I.P. Mitch.

[KillerKittens]

It is definitely for inventory. We have cups that we use for milkshakes and stuff that we can give out because we don't keep track of them. I had one customer who put the cup he wanted on the counter (lipside down where it was probably collecting all sorts of nasty crap from what people put on it when they come to it.)

I told him I had to charge him for it, so he said he wasn't paying for it and said he already put his mouth on it. So I had two choices, according to him. Either give it to him for free, or throw it away.

So I picked it up and chucked it.

He got upset with me and demanded to know why I wasn't trying to keep the customer happy. I simply shrugged, finished his transaction, and wasted the cup so my computer could keep track.

Yea, I could have given him the cup. But I don't like thieves of any sort and I won't tolerate him stealing my cups as he claimed he did all the time. It's only a buck, but one buck per cup really adds up if they keep taking them.

Plus I also won't tolerate being talked down to just because I'm working at a UDF and he's a yuppy businessman or something. I expect respect as a person, not as a breathing machine that dishes out his change.

[cinema guy]

While we do allow customers to have cups of ice, we are supposed to keep track of extra cups that get used - they provide us with a form to tick at the checkout, though when it is busy, it is damn hard to see customers who take two extra popcorn boxes so they can split a big one between little Dick and little Dora.

[tendomentis]

Correct me if I'm wrong (it's been a long time since I lived in the American south-west), but don't a handful of states including Arizona and Texas REQUIRE a fast food chain to make free cups of water/ice available to anyone who asks for one?

This may have changed though, but it could go a long way to explain why one might occasionaly get a customer who assumed there would be no charge for something like that.

[Barefootgirl]

Yea, I could have given him the cup. But I don't like thieves of any sort and I won't tolerate him stealing my cups as he claimed he did all the time. It's only a buck, but one buck per cup really adds up if they keep taking them.

A DOLLAR for a paper cup? Is that right? I'm all in favour of charging a minimal sum to prevent wastage, but a dollar for a paper cup seems awfully steep.

[Dreamstalker]

Were they the heavier, "waxed" coffee cups? Those I could see being a bit more expensive than the Dixie-type paper cups.

[Boozy]

Tills can easily be set up to remove cups from inventory without a charge to the customer. $1 per cup is just a cash grab, regardless of whatever excuses corporate gives.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with the policy (I don't care enough) but the inventory excuse is a cop out.

[Emrld]

Being polite to the clerk will work in ones favor. (But we all know that)
I smashed my finger in my car door one day (yes, I do wonderfully smart things like that to myself)
Apparently a clerk was walking in and hurt me squeel in pain. . .
I went into the store and was going to get some ice to put on said finger . . .and was planning to pay for it as I know that is that locations policy.
The clerk was already ready with a cup of ice and water. He told me it would be easier to soak my finger and drive then try to keep ice on it. I asked how much . . he said because I didn't curse it was on the house.

Mentioning Texas heat . . .I have seen gas stations set people up on really hot (over 105) days on the corners with coolers and water for a dollar. That way people don't have to pull over and turn the car off and on - they just buy it at the red light. And it reminds people to be drinking water.

[Sableonblonde]

Oh boy, I get into more arguements with people over cups than with anything else. We have these little courtesy cups that we are allowed to give out, but if you want ice or water in a bigger cup then you have to pay for the cup.

That isn't the biggest issue I have, however, the biggest issue is that a good handful of people don't like the cup that the Slushies come in, and will often ask if they can get it in either a regular paper cup or else in one of the big-ass souvenier cups we have. I couldn't care less, but the rule is that the Slushie has to come in a certain cup, which I often find myself repeating to people with a glassy-eyed zombie expression on my face.

Most people stop there, but some just have to take it a step further, by getting huffy and saying, "Well, what if I just buy the slushie and buy the bigger cup and just pour it into the other cup? Huh? What will you do then?" Well...you are perfectly able to do that. If you want to spend $7.50 for what amounts to about 12 oz of frozen Kool Aid, go right ahead. Knock yourself out. I had a woman do exactly that one time, and it was comical as hell.

What gets me is how people think that I, personally, am behind all of these weird rules and regulations that my stand has. I have absolutely no control over anything, and the price of a drink or the kind of cup the drink comes in doesn't mean I have a personal vendetta against you. By telling you that you can't have Drink A in Cup B doesn't mean I'm trying to be purposefully difficult. If it was up to me, I'd pour the drink into a doggie dish if you asked. I don't care one iota if you get mad because you don't like the shape of the cup and storm off. I'd prefer that you storm off, so that I can continue to stand here and stare off into space.

[ReverendBSB]

Tills can easily be set up to remove cups from inventory without a charge to the customer. $1 per cup is just a cash grab, regardless of whatever excuses corporate gives.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with the policy (I don't care enough) but the inventory excuse is a cop out.

Yes, but then the clerks could be allowing people to fill the cup with soda, then ring it up as just ice, not charge them, and pocket the money. That is why Subway stopped selling plain bread. Employees were making subs and ringing them up as plain to pocket the difference.

[Jester]

Correct me if I'm wrong (it's been a long time since I lived in the American south-west), but don't a handful of states including Arizona and Texas REQUIRE a fast food chain to make free cups of water/ice available to anyone who asks for one?

Many stores do that, whether it is required or not, but for people who just want ice or water, they have smaller, cheaper little plastic cups that will serve such a purpose perfectly well....unless the person you're dealing with is an entitlement whore pushy PITA SC. Which, it seems, many of them are. Frankly, if I just need water (being a cyclist from Arizona, I often have), and they say "only in this cup," you know what I do? I drink the water from that cup, and am happy that they are being decent enough to let me come in, not buy anything, and still get some water. They don't have to do that (well, I guess in some places they may be required to), and I think that that is awfully nice of them. For someone to DEMAND a different cup is utterly ridiculous.

Tills can easily be set up to remove cups from inventory without a charge to the customer. $1 per cup is just a cash grab, regardless of whatever excuses corporate gives.

Perhaps it is. But has been noted, there is a lot of room for abuse of that system, by both employees and customers, and I am sure many companies just got fed up and said, "This is how it's going to be."

When I was traveling the country way back when, I had a big old console cup I used for my drinks, complete with lid and straw (and console sticking holder), and I would have a 12 pack of soda with me in the truck, warm. When I wanted a drink, I went in to the convenience store/gas station I was at, ask politely if I could get some ice IN MY OWN CUP, always be allowed, fill said cup with ice, pour soda over it, and be on my way, happy and refreshed.

If I don't have my own cup, and I am faced with either not getting water or ice, using the small cheap cup, or paying for the normal cup, I choose one of the three and don't bitch about it. Here are the rules, you choose. So I chose.

It's not tough, it's not rocket surgery, and frankly, it is annoying that so many assclowns have a problem with it.

[SuperB]

I have a guy that's been coming in who seems to think that because he has a cup and bought a cup of coffee somewhere at some point in his life, that he's entitled to a "refill" anywhere he goes.
Last week I was finally able to catch him. I'd been here all morning long and he had not been in so when he started to walk by the counter saying "it's a refill" I cornered him.

Me: "You haven't been in today"
Him: "Well, uh... no..... but I have my own cup"
Me: "That's not a refill, I'll give you a discount but you have to actually buy a cup of coffee from me before I will give you a "refill". That's how it works everywhere and you're not to try to pull this again."
Him: "ok"

Hopefully that's the end of him.

[Jester]

Hopefully that's the end of him.

Care to wager on that one?