M5 Roadchef

bosseyed

Googlewhacker wrote: »

ummm thats the whole point, it is conveniant to stop there because there is no where else, you could go of the road into a town and find somewhere cheaper but as I say....its conveniant not to!

And my point was that they're not overcharging you because they've made it 'convenient' to obtain a cup of tea, as if in some way they've put themselves out to provide it and must therefore charge more - they're overcharging you because they can get away with it knowing in many cases the next services isn't for 20 miles and most people won't want to drive further or stray from the motorway purely to grab a drink.

For example burger king prices at a services are easily £2 more expensive than the usual burger king prices everywhere else - no earthly reason for this to be so other than the fact thats its at the services and your options for food are limited, so they know people will pay over the odds rather than go hungry or go elsewhere.

And I'm not sure their overheads are so high they need to charge an additional 10p per litre of fuel.

rev_henry

The thing is, Motorway Services are subject to all sorts of rules and regulations that normal places aren't. E.g. their retail space can only occupy a certain area, and they MUST provide FREE toilets (and obviously clean and service them), and there may be something about opening hours, I'm not sure. I still agree they're a rip off though.
I tend to use the satnav to locate the nearest big Supermarket to the next junction. I can go to a big ASDA, fill up at the lowest possible price, eat in the cafe very cheaply, use the toilets, buy some snacks, or pretty much whatever I want at cheap prices while I'm there. I don't see why everyone doesn't do this. Big supermarkets have everything a services has at a fraction of the price!

A few months ago we stopped at a services and quite fancied some doughnuts. I kid you not, £7.95 for 12 doughnuts! So we went on a bit and found a Sainsburys, where we bought 12 probably identical doughnuts for I think £1.30! Maybe it was 6 doughnuts actually, but my point still stands!

rev_henry

bosseyed wrote: »

And my point was that they're not overcharging you because they've made it 'convenient' to obtain a cup of tea, as if in some way they've put themselves out to provide it and must therefore charge more - they're overcharging you because they can get away with it knowing in many cases the next services isn't for 20 miles and most people won't want to drive further or stray from the motorway purely to grab a drink.

For example burger king prices at a services are easily £2 more expensive than the usual burger king prices everywhere else - no earthly reason for this to be so other than the fact thats its at the services and your options for food are limited, so they know people will pay over the odds rather than go hungry or go elsewhere.

And I'm not sure their overheads are so high they need to charge an additional 10p per litre of fuel.

Many people who buy their fuel will have company fuel cards and won't be paying the prices on the sign. The rest are just poor suckers whose tanks are desperately empty!

ariba10

rev_henry wrote: »

Many people who buy their fuel will have company fuel cards and won't be paying the prices on the sign. The rest are just poor suckers whose tanks are desperately empty!

If you have a full tank of fuel when you get on a motorway, you can go a very long way before you need to fill up.

zappomatic

John Lewis and Waitrose Partners can get 20% off eating and drinking at Welcome Break (except McDonalds) although you do need to print some vouchers from JLPnet or PartnerConnect.