Patriots charge fans $4.50 for tap water

[Wordsmyth]

Bush league policy. I expect better from this organization.

 

[Richard Camembert]

I've worked concessions there recently. Organizationally we were a charity so our wages counted as a donation by Gillette. We were always supervised by Gillette employees to whom we answered. We did get charged via the fast food model i.e. by the cup, but we also had free cups and depending on the volume of customers, we would give free tap water if we had time. This was strongly discouraged by the Gillette supervisors and also if we have 150 million people yelling for tenders and fries, I'm sorry, but we aren't taking a minute to give you free water.

In this situation, we would probably have run out of the free cups pretty quickly too. Also the time to serve each customer would have exploded since now you're filling the free cups or whatever refill cups the customers brought in. What a mess, which could have been avoided by procurement. Sounds like the hot weather was not anticipated. This is probably because they procure by history and last year at this time, as well as the past week or two, it wasn't that hot.

ETA: Tgey may not have served tap water btw; they may have served soda water without the flavor added, there is a tap for that on soda machines. Still doesn't make it right, but that's not tap water.

 

[Ring 6]

Everybody in the NE region knew it was going to be a very warm Sunday, so no excuses for this situation.

Gotta wonder how many folks had dehydration/health issues and if there will be subsequent law suits, particularly as they do not allow a fan to bring in liquids to the game.. the assumption being that hydration is readily available within the stadium.

It is, there are water fountains.

 

[Sicilian]

It has a bad look for sure, but it seems to me like they weren't charging for tap water (which is freely available from water fountains and sinks), but were charging for the concession workers time to fill the cup for you.

Now, I say this without knowing a few facts, such as:

- How many water fountains are there, and how efficiently are they distributed.
- Were there ways to get free cups to fill, or did you have to have saved a previous one from a purchase.
- Are stadium goers adequately informed of locations for free water.

Answers to these questions might change the story a bit for me. But in general, I know if concession wanted to charge me for tap water, I wouldn't get mad at them. I'd go to the bathroom and fill a cup from the sink.

 

[Two Eight]

If a person prefers to buy a cup of water for $4.50 from concessions rather than fill up an empty cup or bottle at a water fountain for free then that should be their right.

This kind of anti-Pats biased non-story could only come from the Boston Globe.

 

[Jackson 2]

If a person prefers to buy a cup of water for $4.50 from concessions rather than fill up an empty cup or bottle at a water fountain for free then that should be their right.

This kind of anti-Pats biased non-story could only come from the Boston Globe.

If you google it, the earliest report came from Fox 25 3 days ago. Good call.

 

[TinhWoodhead]

Whoever thought this was in any way, shape or form a good idea .... there are no words. Somebody is lucky they didn't get slugged.

still a lot cheaper than Best Buy's

 

[Raymond]

They pulled that on me at Subway once. I wanted to buy a sub roll. I only get three items in my sandwich, all relatively cheap and they are stingy with the tomatoes- even if you order extra. They were willing to sell me just the roll. When I asked how much it was, the girl looked at me with a completely straight face, no sense of embarrassment or apologetics and told me $5. This was the price of a foot long at the time. After I determined she was being serious I declined, went home, got on youtube and learned how to make my own. I have been making my own ever since.

Wait, You wanted to buy a single (empty) roll from Subway.....
And you later proceeded to youtube to"learn how to make your own sandwich".

The tasks of buying from a store (where required), and making my own sandwich were mastered by me at the ripe old age of seven.

Are you a millennial?

 

[Nehalem]

Please expand on this, I've never heard of such a thing. What about tap water at the fountains? Or filling a cup in the restroom sink? Those certainly were available.

That probably was the hottest day in Gillette I can remember, certainly true walking my usual 2.5 miles roundtrip to and from the stadium. First thing I did after arriving was buy a bottle of water ($4) and get my customary free Pepsi voucher at the designated driver booth. Very thankful my seats are in the shade, I couldn't have imagined baking all afternoon on the stadium's east side.

If you think about what i really funny is people complaining about paying 4.50 for tap water, but not complaining about paying $4 for bottled water. Either way its water.

 

[brdmaverick]

Hey, they didnt charge for the water, just the cup!

Lawyered........good post

 

[IllegalContact]

this was worse than the kneeling IMO

 

[mcmurtry86]

A little obsessed are you? Sorry people objecting to the oppression and murder of minorities is bothersome to you. A good psychologist may be able to fix that for you.

Interestingly, it's the anti-protest crowd that is usually the first to scream "free market capitalism!" at everything and here we have some good old American entrepreneurship. Filling demand with supply at the price the market dictates

Free tap water isn't a right. You have access to water if you're thirsty. Don't like the high prices? Don't get thirsty. Am I right?

 

[Nunchucks]

If a person prefers to buy a cup of water for $4.50 from concessions rather than fill up an empty cup or bottle at a water fountain for free then that should be their right.

This kind of anti-Pats biased non-story could only come from the Boston Globe.

Where would the person get an empty cup?

 

[dafoe2016]

Wait, You wanted to buy a single (empty) roll from Subway.....
And you later proceeded to youtube to"learn how to make your own sandwich".

The tasks of buying from a store (where required), and making my own sandwich were mastered by me at the ripe old age of seven.

Are you a millennial?

I went to youtube to learn how to make a sub roll, not a sandwich. You know, as in baking bread from scratch. Flour, water yeast, salt, sugar and heat. Work on your reading comprehension before mocking others.

 

[Jackson 2]

I went to youtube to learn how to make a sub roll, not a sandwich. As explained in my post. You know, as in baking bread from scratch. Flour, water yeast, salt, sugar and heat. Work on your reading comprehension before mocking others. You will look less like an idiot.

You'll make a great survivalist. Stock up on canned goods, ammo and Krugerrands...

 

[dafoe2016]

You'll make a great survivalist. Stock up on canned goods, ammo and Krugerrands...

That makes no sense. Because I would just rather spend time and effort eating superior food than eating **** in the name of convenience like most Americans? I cook a lot of my own food from scratch. It almost always is significantly cheaper, and more importantly, much better. If you want to pay more for worse food, go right ahead. But that doesn't make people who don't lunatics.

 

[dafoe2016]

That makes no sense. Because I would just rather spend time and effort making superior food than eating **** in the name of convenience like most Americans? I cook a lot of my own food from scratch. It almost always is significantly cheaper, and more importantly, much better. If you want to pay more for worse food, go right ahead. But that doesn't make people who don't lunatics.

 

[Jackson 2]

That makes no sense. Because I would just rather spend time and effort eating superior food than eating **** in the name of convenience like most Americans? I cook a lot of my own food from scratch. It almost always is significantly cheaper, and more importantly, much better. If you want to pay more for worse food, go right ahead. But that doesn't make people who don't lunatics.

I was kidding. There's nothing wrong with your approach to your cuisine. I guess we're all a little touchy these days...

 

[Tuck]

Everybody in the NE region knew it was going to be a very warm Sunday, so no excuses for this situation.

Gotta wonder how many folks had dehydration/health issues and if there will be subsequent law suits, particularly as they do not allow a fan to bring in liquids to the game.. the assumption being that hydration is readily available within the stadium.

Disagree. Knowing about the hot weather ahead of time would not have changed a thing. Fans are not allowed to bring water into the stadium. This is all on the Krafts.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

This is all on the Krafts.

Given the prediction of hot weather the team could have done one or more of:

• Allow fans to bring water in (though that would be a security issue, perhaps one requiring NFL approval -- there's a reason that they take the caps off water bottles in-stadium when you buy water).
• Allow fans to bring in capless plastic bottles so they could get water from the bubblers.
• Tell concessionaires that if they ran out of bottled water, give people cups of tap water for free, with NE eating the cost (or perhaps NE and the concessionaire sharing in eating the cost).