You might expect free basic water, what we in the UK would call "tap water". But that's not one of the options - the picture shows Dasani, which is a product that's marketed as a premium water competing with mineral water. I wouldn't expect to walk into a restaurant and get free mineral water, regardless of my housing situation.
(In reality Dasani is just filtered tap water, and is infamous in the UK for ending up less pure than the tap water it started with and having to go through a huge product recall before they even released it. But, as silly as it is, it's still a paid product.)
Hmm, that's a good point. If it literally is just tap water with Dasani branding, it's like an implicit admission that Dasani in general is nothing more than tap water.
When I worked at McDonalds in Germany about 1988 ('company store', not franchised) it was tap water from the local utility, processed by systems in the basement for compensating local differences in PH, for having a consistent
endproduct regardless of location. That was true for all stores in the region, regardless of company store or franchised. By 'the book' that was the way how it was done worldwide, then. Don't know how it is today.
You think it's unlikely that water is packaged and shipped? What do you think bottled water is? Whether you think someone is cheating with tap water at the source is beside that point. Some do, some bigger brands don't as they have more to lose by cheating. But regardless, water gets packaged and shipped all the time.
Your regular variety grocery store Coca Cola is also 90%+ tap water, bottled and shipped. They're not mixing syrup at the store.
> You think it's unlikely that water is packaged and shipped?
You're refuting a different point than the one the parent comment made. They didn't claim that no water is ever shipped. They just claimed that these types of drinks machines don't work that way.
> What do you think bottled water is?
They weren't talking about bottled water, they were talking about this type of drink machine. Of course bottled water in a proper restaurant is shipped as such. It also usually arrives at your table in the bottle, partly so you know that it's not just tap water.
> Whether you think someone is cheating with tap water at the source is beside that point.
It's not besides the point at all. Actually it's completely central to the point. The comment chain you're replying to is precisely about whether people are being denied tap water, or some (supposedly) more premium product. If it's the latter, it completely invalidates the point of the original tweet.
Plus it's interesting in its own right. If the makers of Dasani admit that it's indistinguishable from tap water, then that's very relevant to people buying it at a store to take home and drink instead of the tap water they already had access to!
> Your regular variety grocery store Coca Cola is ...
Now that actually is beside the point. If bottled Coca Cola is the same as tap water + Coca Cola syrup + fizz, then that's not really a surprise to anyone buying Coca Cola in either form.
> You're refuting a different point than the one the parent comment made. They didn't claim that no water is ever shipped. They just claimed that these types of drinks machines don't work that way.
Really? And how do they work?
It's a drink dispenser, not a Mars spaceship. How complicated do you think it is to have one that mixes in syrup and tap water, and one that just serves from a container, like a regular water dispenser THAT'S LITERALLY IN EVERY OFFICE around the world?
> It's not besides the point at all. Actually it's completely central to the point. The comment chain you're replying to is precisely about whether people are being denied tap water, or some (supposedly) more premium product. If it's the latter, it completely invalidates the point of the original tweet.
No, if it's branded as a specific type of water, it's not tap water. You're reaching here for a conspiracy theory based on how "these types of drink machines work", despite evidence to the contrary.
Also no, a business doesn't owe tap water to anyone, either. So it's absolutely irrelevant wrt these RFID chips.
> > ... the parent comment ... just claimed that these types of drinks machines don't work that way.
> Really? And how do they work?
As you can see by earlier comments in the chain, they normally work by having separate containers of syrup for each type of drink that can be served, a single CO2 canister for carbonation, and being plumbed into the water mains. The drinks are mixed from those on demand. Soft drinks dispensed in pubs/bars work the same way, with one of those magic tap things on the end [1].
I already knew this before I posted my initial comment and someone corrected me, I had just forgotten and failed to join the dots. It's fairly common knowledge.
> How complicated do you think it is to have one ... one that just serves from a container
It's not complicated, it's just very inefficient, both in terms of getting those containers to the outlet, and in terms of staff swapping the containers all the time when they run out. That's why it's not normally done, so it would be a surprise if this one were any different.
> like a regular water dispenser THAT'S LITERALLY IN EVERY OFFICE around the world
Nowadays most office water machines are also plumbed in as it's far better for the environment. But the type you used to see typically had ~20L bottles on them, which wouldn't even serve 25 large US McDonalds drinks like the one shown in the picture (blimley those drinks are huge!). Hopefully it's obvious that it's not feasible for someone to come and change the water every 25 times someone uses the machine. The turnover of an office water cooler is typically tens or even hundreds of times less than a soda machine in a busy fast food outlet.
Those classic office water dispensers are also gravity fed, which is why the bottle is on top, and obviously that's not what's happening here. But I acknowledge it would be possible, in principle, to make a pumped version.
> No, if it's branded as a specific type of water, it's not tap water. You're reaching here for a conspiracy theory ...
You're showing a charming amount of faith in the Coca-Cola corporation here :-) Believing that they would sell tap water as Dasani is definitely not at conspiracy theory level.
That said, I never said I was 100% sure that they're doing that. Only that it would be extremely unusual for a machine like this to be connected to bottled water rather than mains. I'd love to see some evidence either way. Still, it would be so surprising that the burden of proof is really on the claim that it is using a bottled source.
> Also no, a business doesn't owe tap water to anyone, either. So it's absolutely irrelevant wrt these RFID chips.
I agree businesses don't owe tap water to non-customers. But most restaurants / take away outlets allow indefinite tap water to those that actually are paying customers, and I'd be pretty offended if I was at one that didn't (even if I didn't live in a country where it's a legal requirement). It would certainly be more surprising than a business that doesn't allow you indefinite amounts of e.g. Coca-Cola.
I was pleasantly surprised that in the UK the waiters proactively ask you if you want tap water with your meal. In Germany you have to explicitly ask for it and then often have to endure the waiter's annoyed reaction.
On the other hand I was unpleasantly surprised with the taste of tap water in the UK.
Seriously, giving folks water isn't going to make a noticable dent in the water bill, considering how much water is going to be used simply washing the restaurant during the day. The drink stations already have water there, and the ice machine often enough cools the beverages (so no extra cost).
It's not simply a matter of the water bill, but also what culture it promotes around their service, what customers (or "customers" in quotes) this attracts, how this affects other actual customers and so on.
McDonald's have bought or rented the place, own the equipment, pay their staff, and pay taxes. They did all this to offer a specific service. You can take that service or leave it. They're not a public free water dispensers, or social services, or whatever role people are trying to impose on them.
I am a person living in a house, and honestly could get water somewhere if I needed it. And if someone knocked on my door and said they needed a glass of water, I'd give it to them. I'll add that not all homeless folks look like your stereotypical homeless person that people think of, and I've seen folks get off work and be dirty and stinky... and they are allowed in all sorts of places (and do, indeed, come in, especially on lunch breaks)
I've given folks water when I worked in places that had such things, and most food places I've worked at - including McDonalds - gave folks water if they asked for it.
They aren't the only ones paying taxes, by the way.
Not everyone who needs water are homeless, and a good deal of homeless folks
No one builds a RFID system because one guy really needed water that one time, can we at least be serious here?
No one is discussing some hypothetical situation where someone knocks on your home, either.
We're talking about a problem that's systematic, at volume, and persistent over time, and therefore qualitative change for McDonald's and the environment they offer to customers.
McDonald's wanted to offer finite refills to paying customers. Their current system had a loophole with unintended consequences, so they closed that loophole.
If you want to help homeless people I guess go work at McDonald's and give homeless people water when they ask, and everything will be perfect. But let's see if your ideals stay intact after 10 cups of water. 100 cups of water. 1000 cups of water. A million cups of water.
It's very easy to say "oh I gave water to a dude once". I also gave water to a dude once, doesn't matter for McDonald's and people habitually coming back to leech a resource they provide that's not intended to be free in the first place.
But it's not only about paying for utilities. If you had a restaurant, would you want homeless people come in? We need to build public water fountains instead of expecting private enterprises to do charity.
I'm smart enough to know that homeless people aren't bad folks, and that homelessness doesn't mean scaring customers away or even mean uncleanliness. Landscapers and other folks that get stinky, dirty, and sweaty are welcomed in.
And I've "let" homeless folks into places I work before and given folks water. The McDonalds I've worked at did not charge for water. I'll also mention that water fountains aren't all that useful during winter.
(In reality Dasani is just filtered tap water, and is infamous in the UK for ending up less pure than the tap water it started with and having to go through a huge product recall before they even released it. But, as silly as it is, it's still a paid product.)