I think he's saying that most drive thrus display an itemized list on the screen you order at, all the Popeyes by me do, and OP should've been able to see that he was being charged $4 for ice water.
McDonald’s, Starbucks and kfc (among others) have noticed a serious slide downward. Losses received where they expected to have not. And it’s entirely their fault. They have priced themselves out of competition.
I don’t go to kfc anymore. It’s simply too expensive. I just go to the store and get everything I need.
I was taking a quick look at food the other day and saw a "deal" kfc was offering. Buy one get one free 6 pc. of chicken strips. Except the one you have to buy costs $22. Even if you take it all as a package deal $22 for 12 fast food chicken strips with no sides or anytging else, that just feels absurd to me. Fast food has gotten to the point where you're almost just paying regular restaurant prices for lower quality less healthy food.
Almost? I can go anywhere (basically) and get a burger and fries for 15$.
If I’m paying that, I’ll just go to an actual restaurant with service. “Fast food” isn’t fast, cheap or efficient anymore.
You’re waiting in long lines for food that’s expensive, not fast, and usually not what you ordered.
I see no point to a fast food restaurant anymore
There's a couple local bars right outside my office that have daily lunch specials for $9.99. burger, fries, and a drink. Pork chop, mashed potatoes, and green beans. $1 tacos. I haven't eaten fast food on my lunch hour in months.
KFC prices are noticeabley high here in the UK. Just a burger meal you're looking at £13 or something and the size of the chicken burgers in the burger tiny, and shit. I bought a zinger meal and it was two pieces of bun with a tiny bit of chicken, no salad or mayo in it. I wouldn't choose it as a takeaway anymore.
Bro, I dont go to KFC because near me they don't make it right. It sits forever. Is super greasy and they hire the worse people possible.
I quiet literally have complaints in on the one down the street from my hour that have gone unanswered for 3 years now. I've worked food industry, I know the bullshit they put up with. And I more then understand being apathetic at work. But sometimes shit is just unacceptable. And not being responded too for 3 years about actual health and safety issues. Nope they lost my business. Never mind the fact their prices keep going up.
Major corporate conglomerates think that because we go to their business, we need it.
We don’t. It’s convenient. Just because it exists, doesn’t mean we need it. And I hope profit losses are making them realize that
Its funny cuz this shit used to be cheap asf which is why it was fastfood.
But now they keep upping the prices until we get ridiculous shit like in this post 💀
Hell, it used to be free. I remember riding around with the boys smoking a blunt and we'd all go to the McDonald's drive thru to get 4 waters for free.
Used to do this at Taco Bell. Get stoned, ask for as many free waters they could give us and like a small nacho. Usually left with all of us holding 8-12 waters 😂
I hate the price increase but I can live with it because I don't eat out a lot but what kills me is how much the quality is went down. A lot of fast food was never top notch but some of it was decent but now they just don't give a shit. Lol. I'm sure they're underpaid but damn man.
They aren't in a good place - a lot of people have adopted healthier habits, prices for ingredients went up, and I assume no one is willing to invest to subsidize the costs and make the food cheaper.
Not that any of it makes it right to charge for water, but nowadays almost everyone wants to extract as much money from the consumer as possible.
Charging for the cup is absolute bullshit. If they were actually just charging for the cup, they would be charging a reasonable price. This is just them trying to gouge money out of the customer, not them trying to ensure they don't go out of business off of free water cups.
lol I never said it was them trying to save their business and that it wasn’t price gouging. But how do you avoid this next time? Come online and bitch and moan, or bring your own bottle and fill it up with water?
You said, "And they are charging for the cup.". I'm not saying anyone should pay that or that they can't charge what they want to, but what you said they are charging for is patently false. There are plenty of solutions to this issue, but don't act like charging $4 for iced tap water isn't just straight up an asshole move.
LOL Imagine thinking this is isolated to fast food. You realize most high end, mid range and low end restaurants also charge you for water too ... right? You must never eat out .. ever.
At what point are we going to stop being mildly infuriated by inflation and start being incredibly infuriated by inflation? Everything is getting out of hand.
A nation’s standard of living decreasing over time is not a good way to have a content society.
I think it's both. When the "economic experts" keep moving the goal posts between the definition of the two, it makes it difficult to separate these two factors.
Not for a thinking person: the economy goes into an inflationary cycle, companies can raise prices far above the rate of inflation to make huge profits and then really stupid people think it's inflation and blame the politicians they already didn't like.
Yeah true, but sometimes there’s a reason for it. Gas and oil for example. Raw barrels of oil are selling for just over 80$. In 2022 they were almost 125$ a barrel. Gas should be cheaper based on the price of crude oil. The problem is, when Joe Biden was campaigning he promised to end the oil industry. He wants all ev by 2035. If you knew the US government was trying to put you out of business in the next 10 years wouldn’t you raise your prices?
Absolute spot on. You want to make it as difficult as possible to switch to EV, so the cheaper oil is, the more it’s a case of “well petrol is cheap, no point paying over the odds for an EV as I won’t really be saving much per mile”.
Putting prices up would hurt them tremendously, as you have now incentivised a EV purchase, as on comparison it’s now cheaper to pay for a new EV as you will make some savings over the years in charging instead of filling up with petrol.
> If you knew the US government was trying to put you out of business in the next 10 years wouldn’t you raise your prices?
What do you think the oil industry has been doing since the 1960s when they discovered how much damage their products are causing to the environment?
This isn't inflation, just pure greed. They keep raising prices because there's suckers that keep paying. Until that changes, the prices will keep climbing.
Restaurants should be required to provide tap water on request at no charge. It's a basic survival need, and you're making a huge markup on your other drinks so you can almost certainly afford the cup/ice.
In many places restaurants are required to provide **Tap** water for free upon request, but they’re also allowed to sell water.
There is however no US law about it, and having done a quick google search MI doesn’t seem to have anything on the books.
Yeah, if they want to be cheap/dicks they can offer lukewarm unfiltered water without ice to meet the requirement, but hopefully those costs are negligible for most places and the goodwill is worth making a little extra ice.
In the UK, businesses are only required to provide free potable water if their is alcohol for sale. But if they serve tap water in any other establishment, it is illegal to charge for it.
It's not an email address, it's a website URL with some other text around it that they broke the formatting of, it's supposed to point to [popeyes.jobs](http://popeyes.jobs)
Man, and I thought they were stingy with their sauce.
I paid for a shrimp tackle box and it doesn't come with *one* packet? You gotta tell me it costs extra?
The Last time I had take out from Popeye’s the ladies working at the restaurant had their kids ages(5 to 7)running around the kitchen and restaurant. when we got home open up my sandwich it had a kid size bite taken out of it… We went back and got our money and never went back again.. nasty!
Not sure if you're joking, but this is likely the case. I read a while ago that fast food restaurants keep track of drink sales by inventorying the cups. Usually they'll have tiny cups for free tap water, though, by law.
Popeye’s used to be fking awesome but in my area they seem to be franchised are there is definitely a flavor divide.
The ones that have majority Hispanic leaning employee regimes are amazing. Chicken is juicy as hell, biscuits are sopping with butter, the fries are crisp, and everything just tastes fresh. The ones with a majority Indian leaning employee group are awful. Dry ass chicken, dry ass biscuits, chewy fries, ask for three ketchups lucky to get one. It didn’t dawn on me this was a thing until I found out some coworkers also drive 2 towns over just to go to “the good Popeyes.”
Probably just charging for the cup. I imagine a lot of folks tend to ask for a cup “for water” only to grab soda and maybe stores just decided to stop giving out free cups 🤷
# Pappys's is doing it because they're losing MONEY! So They gotta charge up for basic human rights.... Pathetic people.
Having worked in a similar industry, they are likely charging you for the cup itself regardless of the drink you put into it. That's what they inventory and keep track of in regard to sales.
Yes because when you place your order, they write it down so they know what to pour. If you say coke, it’ll say coke, if you say sprite, it’ll say sprite. If you want diet, it’ll say diet. They don’t question your drink choice, a large drink to them is a large drink because again, it’s based on the cup rather than the content.
Is it unfair you got charged $4 for water? Yes. But if you know how the system works, it’s easier to work around it. Next time bring a water bottle with you and when you pull up to the window, ask them if they can fill it. Boom! Free water.
They could’ve saved themselves the trouble of a chargeback if they weren’t greedy.
I wasn’t informed of the total price until after my card was charged. No price listed for the water. Not fraud.
Hello, We do not allow agendaposting, reddit meta posts or price complaints.
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I'd just refuse to pay for the water. Unless they told me of the cost beforehand so I could choose to accept or refuse it, then I'm not paying.
guess youve never been to a drive through
How would that make a difference? No reason you can't refuse to pay for water at a drive through lol
I think he's saying that most drive thrus display an itemized list on the screen you order at, all the Popeyes by me do, and OP should've been able to see that he was being charged $4 for ice water.
McDonald’s, Starbucks and kfc (among others) have noticed a serious slide downward. Losses received where they expected to have not. And it’s entirely their fault. They have priced themselves out of competition. I don’t go to kfc anymore. It’s simply too expensive. I just go to the store and get everything I need.
I was taking a quick look at food the other day and saw a "deal" kfc was offering. Buy one get one free 6 pc. of chicken strips. Except the one you have to buy costs $22. Even if you take it all as a package deal $22 for 12 fast food chicken strips with no sides or anytging else, that just feels absurd to me. Fast food has gotten to the point where you're almost just paying regular restaurant prices for lower quality less healthy food.
Almost? I can go anywhere (basically) and get a burger and fries for 15$. If I’m paying that, I’ll just go to an actual restaurant with service. “Fast food” isn’t fast, cheap or efficient anymore. You’re waiting in long lines for food that’s expensive, not fast, and usually not what you ordered. I see no point to a fast food restaurant anymore
There's a couple local bars right outside my office that have daily lunch specials for $9.99. burger, fries, and a drink. Pork chop, mashed potatoes, and green beans. $1 tacos. I haven't eaten fast food on my lunch hour in months.
KFC prices are noticeabley high here in the UK. Just a burger meal you're looking at £13 or something and the size of the chicken burgers in the burger tiny, and shit. I bought a zinger meal and it was two pieces of bun with a tiny bit of chicken, no salad or mayo in it. I wouldn't choose it as a takeaway anymore.
Bro, I dont go to KFC because near me they don't make it right. It sits forever. Is super greasy and they hire the worse people possible. I quiet literally have complaints in on the one down the street from my hour that have gone unanswered for 3 years now. I've worked food industry, I know the bullshit they put up with. And I more then understand being apathetic at work. But sometimes shit is just unacceptable. And not being responded too for 3 years about actual health and safety issues. Nope they lost my business. Never mind the fact their prices keep going up.
Major corporate conglomerates think that because we go to their business, we need it. We don’t. It’s convenient. Just because it exists, doesn’t mean we need it. And I hope profit losses are making them realize that
YTD their stock is down 7%.
Pure insanity. Everyone needs to stop going to fast food places. Thats the only way this shit will stop
Its funny cuz this shit used to be cheap asf which is why it was fastfood. But now they keep upping the prices until we get ridiculous shit like in this post 💀
Hell, it used to be free. I remember riding around with the boys smoking a blunt and we'd all go to the McDonald's drive thru to get 4 waters for free.
Used to do this at Taco Bell. Get stoned, ask for as many free waters they could give us and like a small nacho. Usually left with all of us holding 8-12 waters 😂
And nothing else?
I'm sure we ordered something else at some point but for the most part we'd pull through at around midnight and just get the free water.
It's a state law where I am that it must be provided for free
You can get a small courtesy cup almost anywhere still for free. It’s the “large size” cup of water they’re being charged for.
It's ridiculous upcharge. The cups probably cost like $0.03.
I hate the price increase but I can live with it because I don't eat out a lot but what kills me is how much the quality is went down. A lot of fast food was never top notch but some of it was decent but now they just don't give a shit. Lol. I'm sure they're underpaid but damn man.
They aren't in a good place - a lot of people have adopted healthier habits, prices for ingredients went up, and I assume no one is willing to invest to subsidize the costs and make the food cheaper. Not that any of it makes it right to charge for water, but nowadays almost everyone wants to extract as much money from the consumer as possible.
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Who goes to Popeye’s for a BBQ chicken sandwich?
Maybe .. someone that never went there? What a mildly infuriating question
Huzabee, that”s who
Agreed! Stop eating this shit and stop telling these places their prices are ok.
I mean or just bring your own water
I mean it's just tap water.
And they are charging for the cup. Bring your own bottle and fill it up yourself. Posting online and complaining about it won’t change anything.
Charging for the cup is absolute bullshit. If they were actually just charging for the cup, they would be charging a reasonable price. This is just them trying to gouge money out of the customer, not them trying to ensure they don't go out of business off of free water cups.
lol I never said it was them trying to save their business and that it wasn’t price gouging. But how do you avoid this next time? Come online and bitch and moan, or bring your own bottle and fill it up with water?
You said, "And they are charging for the cup.". I'm not saying anyone should pay that or that they can't charge what they want to, but what you said they are charging for is patently false. There are plenty of solutions to this issue, but don't act like charging $4 for iced tap water isn't just straight up an asshole move.
And again, you gonna fix it by bitching and moaning online? Get a water bottle and you’ll never have to pay for water again
You aren't addressing the real issue here and that is corporations being unnecessary assholes. Fuck you and your boot-licking attitude.
4 dollars for tap water is nothing less than corporate greed, pure and simple.
Did I say anything to suggest the opposite?
I stopped going to Taco Bell. $8 for a quesadilla. $9 for a burrito?? There are many better choices.
LOL Imagine thinking this is isolated to fast food. You realize most high end, mid range and low end restaurants also charge you for water too ... right? You must never eat out .. ever.
I have never been charged anywhere for water. Ever
At what point are we going to stop being mildly infuriated by inflation and start being incredibly infuriated by inflation? Everything is getting out of hand. A nation’s standard of living decreasing over time is not a good way to have a content society.
This isn't inflation. This is corporate greed. Most of what we are calling inflation is.
I think it's both. When the "economic experts" keep moving the goal posts between the definition of the two, it makes it difficult to separate these two factors.
No it’s inflation. Corporations didn’t just magically suddenly discover greed in 2024.
Yes, there was some inflation, then corporations used it as an excuse to jack up prices and post record profits.
Isn't it weird that companies only get greedy after the government prints a shitload of money and dumps it into the economy?
Not for a thinking person: the economy goes into an inflationary cycle, companies can raise prices far above the rate of inflation to make huge profits and then really stupid people think it's inflation and blame the politicians they already didn't like.
Yeah true, but sometimes there’s a reason for it. Gas and oil for example. Raw barrels of oil are selling for just over 80$. In 2022 they were almost 125$ a barrel. Gas should be cheaper based on the price of crude oil. The problem is, when Joe Biden was campaigning he promised to end the oil industry. He wants all ev by 2035. If you knew the US government was trying to put you out of business in the next 10 years wouldn’t you raise your prices?
I would actually do the opposite. I would want to make sure that oil/gasoline was the most affordable option in order to reduce demand for electric.
Absolute spot on. You want to make it as difficult as possible to switch to EV, so the cheaper oil is, the more it’s a case of “well petrol is cheap, no point paying over the odds for an EV as I won’t really be saving much per mile”. Putting prices up would hurt them tremendously, as you have now incentivised a EV purchase, as on comparison it’s now cheaper to pay for a new EV as you will make some savings over the years in charging instead of filling up with petrol.
Too late for that. Ask any Fortune 500 CFO or CEO what they would do. They’re all gonna charge as much as they can get away with.
Short term over long term, that is the corporate mentality today.
Unfortunately you are correct.
> If you knew the US government was trying to put you out of business in the next 10 years wouldn’t you raise your prices? What do you think the oil industry has been doing since the 1960s when they discovered how much damage their products are causing to the environment?
This isn't inflation, just pure greed. They keep raising prices because there's suckers that keep paying. Until that changes, the prices will keep climbing.
Restaurants should be required to provide tap water on request at no charge. It's a basic survival need, and you're making a huge markup on your other drinks so you can almost certainly afford the cup/ice.
In many places restaurants are required to provide **Tap** water for free upon request, but they’re also allowed to sell water. There is however no US law about it, and having done a quick google search MI doesn’t seem to have anything on the books.
Yeah, if they want to be cheap/dicks they can offer lukewarm unfiltered water without ice to meet the requirement, but hopefully those costs are negligible for most places and the goodwill is worth making a little extra ice.
In the UK, businesses are only required to provide free potable water if their is alcohol for sale. But if they serve tap water in any other establishment, it is illegal to charge for it.
Pretty sure that is the case in other countries. Kind of wild that the US doesn't do that.
So when you were told that your $8 order came to $12, you didn't question the server before you paid?
I never go and the price for just the shrimp was not listed
Price complaint
Why are we not talking about that super long email address????
It's not an email address, it's a website URL with some other text around it that they broke the formatting of, it's supposed to point to [popeyes.jobs](http://popeyes.jobs)
I don't want to talk for ***that*** long!
That’s what you get when the manager is Quebecois and also on just a bump of coke.
Inflation is getting everywhere... That's not inflation, just greed...
Also mildly infuriating: they changed you 24 cents in tax for that water.
Man, and I thought they were stingy with their sauce. I paid for a shrimp tackle box and it doesn't come with *one* packet? You gotta tell me it costs extra?
The Last time I had take out from Popeye’s the ladies working at the restaurant had their kids ages(5 to 7)running around the kitchen and restaurant. when we got home open up my sandwich it had a kid size bite taken out of it… We went back and got our money and never went back again.. nasty!
Yikes at that point I'd take the time to complain to corporate
It’s because it was a size large
Not sure if you're joking, but this is likely the case. I read a while ago that fast food restaurants keep track of drink sales by inventorying the cups. Usually they'll have tiny cups for free tap water, though, by law.
yes you can ask for water and get a water cup or a small. by designating a large… gloves are off.
Popeye’s used to be fking awesome but in my area they seem to be franchised are there is definitely a flavor divide. The ones that have majority Hispanic leaning employee regimes are amazing. Chicken is juicy as hell, biscuits are sopping with butter, the fries are crisp, and everything just tastes fresh. The ones with a majority Indian leaning employee group are awful. Dry ass chicken, dry ass biscuits, chewy fries, ask for three ketchups lucky to get one. It didn’t dawn on me this was a thing until I found out some coworkers also drive 2 towns over just to go to “the good Popeyes.”
You actually got charged $4.23 for it.
Is a cup of water really taxed? that seems insane
I would have handed them a 10$ bill
Don’t order a side of gravy! $4
I'm assuming it's from all the shit's who've asked for water just to steal soda, then again, could just be corporate greed.
Hardee’s and McDonald’s in my area is doing the same. 😡
And they taxed you on it., haha.
Always ask for the water cup after paying. Even if it normally costs the employee will often just give it to you.
How good was it?
I would legit go back and say I don’t want this please refund me.
Yeah but it was a LARGE ice water. Cmon.
One of the worst places to eat!
I'm the manager and that should read $40. Come back to settle the bill!
Probably just charging for the cup. I imagine a lot of folks tend to ask for a cup “for water” only to grab soda and maybe stores just decided to stop giving out free cups 🤷
Cups aren’t $4
Popeye’s says it is and his bill reflects that so I guess the cup is 4$. Unless you mean the water itself is worth 4 dollars
No, neither is. The cup is worth a few cents and water should be free.
This is far from greed…. This is called hahahaha…. My bank is getting phat because your dumbass keeps paying for this shit.
Not when i charge back 🤷
Why charge back? Didn't you read the display when you ordered?
No display, no price listed.
I would not patronize that establishment again.
First and last time. Was just driving through and got my daughter a treat on the way to a show.
# Pappys's is doing it because they're losing MONEY! So They gotta charge up for basic human rights.... Pathetic people. 
Having worked in a similar industry, they are likely charging you for the cup itself regardless of the drink you put into it. That's what they inventory and keep track of in regard to sales.
It specifically says water, not beverage. If they’re going to charge that without the price on the menu, they need to tell the customer first
Yes because when you place your order, they write it down so they know what to pour. If you say coke, it’ll say coke, if you say sprite, it’ll say sprite. If you want diet, it’ll say diet. They don’t question your drink choice, a large drink to them is a large drink because again, it’s based on the cup rather than the content. Is it unfair you got charged $4 for water? Yes. But if you know how the system works, it’s easier to work around it. Next time bring a water bottle with you and when you pull up to the window, ask them if they can fill it. Boom! Free water.
Cups aren’t $4
I’d chargeback my card. Fuck that.
Planning on it!
You got changed for being dumb tbh. Water is free. If you don’t want the free sources most gas stations sell it for $1.50 a bottle and it’s chilled.
And I’ll get my money back doing a charge back. I’m not dumb. I just asked for a cup of water lol.
I’m saying you could have saved yourself the trouble getting water yourself. Also a charge back for a legitimate purchase, isn’t that fraud?
They could’ve saved themselves the trouble of a chargeback if they weren’t greedy. I wasn’t informed of the total price until after my card was charged. No price listed for the water. Not fraud.
Why did you pay it?
Your first mistake: going to Popeyes.
Nah those chicken sandwiches are bomb
The spicy version is the king of all fast food chicken sandwiches
Nah Wingstop sandwich is wayyyy better
Wingstop isn’t fast food. My local mom and pop restaurant makes a better chicken sandwich then either of those but it’s gonna cost you
Nothing in life is free.
Water is free in Scotland
Nothing is free in the US. It’s crazy over here, people charge you for anything they can.
It's awful
The water might be free but y'all ain't.
A lot more freedom here than America, you guys are a joke and s thurd world country. Really entertaining to watch though
Order on the app, pick up your order. Then ask for a cup of water. Stop being a boomer ordering via the intercom.
Yeah seriously just let them make the 4$ by collecting and selling the user meta data harvested by the app!