MSE News: You'll soon be able to refill your water bottle for free

Former_MSE_Megan_F

You'll soon be able to fill up your water bottle for free in places such as Costa and Premier Inn as part of a new national scheme to cut the use of plastic...

Read the full story:
'You'll soon be able to refill your water bottle for free in places such as Costa'

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aj23_2

I just ask them to refill my reusable anyway. Never say no.

Cafe Nero actually have jugs of water for you to pour from too.

Pivotal

If your a paying customer & ask additionally for water - no problem.

Why should a business pay for you to drink its water & use their loo if you are not a customer?.

Why have the councils discontinued public water fountains & toilets - why has the burden been shifted to businesses?

How much water will be wasted because the person wants the water to be cold & fresh & asks you to run the tap for 5 mins?

The water companies make money from the clean water & the used water, are they going to reimburse businesses?

Of course we now have a culture where by a business has to pay for a customer to have credit & it cannot charge a fee to offset the fee the credit card companies charge, this just follows on.

Should we introduce free coffee to those that bring in their own reuseable cups - to avoid all these nasty paper covered plastic takeaway cup?

Government pushed plastic bottles to avoid the hazards of broken glass & injured people, just like they pushed diesel engines - do we shift back to glass bottles?

Why cant people wash their bottles at home, fill them & take them out, long trip - take more! or buy a glass bottle of water in the shop where your after something for nothing & then recycle it!

aj23_2

Pivotal wrote: »

If your a paying customer & ask additionally for water - no problem.

Why should a business pay for you to drink its water & use their loo if you are not a customer?.

Why have the councils discontinued public water fountains & toilets - why has the burden been shifted to businesses?

How much water will be wasted because the person wants the water to be cold & fresh & asks you to run the tap for 5 mins?

The water companies make money from the clean water & the used water, are they going to reimburse businesses?

Of course we now have a culture where by a business has to pay for a customer to have credit & it cannot charge a fee to offset the fee the credit card companies charge, this just follows on.

Should we introduce free coffee to those that bring in their own reuseable cups - to avoid all these nasty paper covered plastic takeaway cup?

Government pushed plastic bottles to avoid the hazards of broken glass & injured people, just like they pushed diesel engines - do we shift back to glass bottles?

Why cant people wash their bottles at home, fill them & take them out, long trip - take more! or buy a glass bottle of water in the shop where your after something for nothing & then recycle it!

I agree with refusing water if you're not a customer (but not if you're coughing, choking etc), but I do think toilets should be available for all regardless of being a customer or not. Do people really expect you to have an accident and refuse you a toilet. Or just use a supermarket toilet.

I'm against free coffee for those reusing, because that's just making a loss for the business. That's a silly comment.

I'm for going back to glass, and getting 10% back if you return it. That worked.

Pivotal

Yes my comment about the coffee was meant to be silly, to drive home the point about businesses having to absorb yet more costs to cover 'free' consumable items.

We rush water to people that are coughing, without asking & never refuse kids & pregnant women the use of the loo, but clearly thats a cost we choose to bear in goodwill, but when we see 30 walkers arrive, grasping there water bottles & walking straight through to the loo, only to leave without buying or so much as a please/thank you its a bit rich, like wise the delivery drivers who to a man never seem to need to purchase food or drink, yet need to use the loo daily. I didnt buy a business to spend my time cleaning toilets for people who have not paid me a penny and treat the place appalling.

Bring back public water fountains & maintain them, not shift the burden & do the same for the loo's.

aj23_2

Pivotal wrote: »

Yes my comment about the coffee was meant to be silly, to drive home the point about businesses having to absorb yet more costs to cover 'free' consumable items.

We rush water to people that are coughing, without asking & never refuse kids & pregnant women the use of the loo, but clearly thats a cost we choose to bear in goodwill, but when we see 30 walkers arrive, grasping there water bottles & walking straight through to the loo, only to leave without buying or so much as a please/thank you its a bit rich, like wise the delivery drivers who to a man never seem to need to purchase food or drink, yet need to use the loo daily. I didnt buy a business to spend my time cleaning toilets for people who have not paid me a penny and treat the place appalling.

Bring back public water fountains & maintain them, not shift the burden & do the same for the loo's.

If a whole group turns up then yeah, that's not right in Costa. But if it's just a random who really needs the toilet (because lets be honest, public toilets are few and far between and if you have no change) then that wouldn't bother me. I've been in that situation many times and when you can't find one, you panic more and more and often looked for a Costa, or Tesco etc. It's a natural function.

If we can't let someone use a toilet then I'm ashamed on behalf of the people who refuse. You might not be able to see it, but that person you refuse to go in the toilet because they haven't bought a coffee may have a sanitary or toilet medical issue which they may not wish to publicly disclose with you, but could cause serious harm and/or embarrassment to them if they don't get to one in time.

I'm for water fountains if properly maintained.

Pivotal

In a street with 20 shops, why should the indie coffee shop / cafe be the only one that people assume they have a right to use its facilities for nothing, Im not talking about the person doubled up etc, just everyday people going about their normal day.

They dont go into the Tesco's extra / Sainsburys local & ask to use the staff toilet, or the pet shop, newsagent, off licence etc - they all have toilets just the same. But see a cafe & it oh yeah we can go in there do our business & walk out, no cost, its not right that they should do that, the business has overheads, they are using the facilities, pay the price for a sit in drink & stop free loading..

Free toilet
Free water
Free WifI
Free electric
Free heating
Free seating

aj23_2

Pivotal wrote: »

In a street with 20 shops, why should the indie coffee shop / cafe be the only one that people assume they have a right to use its facilities for nothing, Im not talking about the person doubled up etc, just everyday people going about their normal day.

They dont go into the Tesco's extra / Sainsburys local & ask to use the staff toilet, or the pet shop, newsagent, off licence etc - they all have toilets just the same. But see a cafe & it oh yeah we can go in there do our business & walk out, no cost, its not right that they should do that, the business has overheads, they are using the facilities, pay the price for a sit in drink & stop free loading..

Free toilet
Free water
Free WifI
Free electric
Free heating
Free seating

I don't think it's a case of assuming it's the small independent coffee shop that people automatically go to, it's where the closest toilet is. I couldn't care less if it's a cafe, supermarket, department store, whichever is closest. I personally couldn't refuse someone going to the toilet.

A part of our bodily functions are weeing and pooing (bluntly), we can't control when our brain says we need to go. A woman for example may really need to change her sanitary product, yet you would have no idea of this and deny her using the toilet, and she will probably accept that because she doesn't want to say she's on her period and will have to wait longer to change it.

Charging for the toilet is archaic Eastern European thinking.
You don't have to give free water if you don't have a license for alcohol. That's why bars and restaurants must give free water if they serve alcohol.
You don't need to give Wi-Fi at all, but if you have internet, it costs you the same whether you enable Wi-Fi or not. BT or Virgin don't charge you to have Wi-Fi. Plus, if customers see you have Wi-Fi, they are more likely to come (I would), so you're not losing there.
If you have no light no one will come in.
If you have no heat people will walk out.
If you charge for seating then no one will buy food, or even drink. I wouldn't.

I think you're in the wrong business if you begrudge having to pay for these standard business running costs. Most are part and parcel, others are your choice as I've highlighted. You only think people go to you because that is your workplace. Ask chains or other kinds of stores and they will say the same, because that's all they see each day too.

I wouldn't call using a toilet without buying something freeloading. You're not getting anything for free or out of it. You don't sound like you like your customers very much!

Pivotal

Im not in the wrong business & I love most of my customers because they are regulars they I have spent lots of time establishing a rapport with.

Do I begrudge people choosing the lower price takeaway option & then sitting down to eat & using the facilities? yes - because they are cheapskates & dont want to pay the vat or the additional charge that is incurred providing for the 'free' facilities.

Do I begrudge hordes of people using the toilets & buying nothing? Yes. Mainly because I have had to clean up every form of human body fluid, often from !!!!!!!!!!s.

Do I still do it, yes, because the good customers are great

Wifi - yes we have to pay extra, we have to have a seperate(d) system, 1 for legal reasons. 2. for the credit card company insisting & that costs, but we have it because you cannot not have it.

You do pay for seating, you just dont realise it. Go to the local chippie that has a restaurant & check the prices for eat-in & takeaway - unless they have been abused (as most shops are) the takeaway will be cheaper, because sitting in costs the business extra, extra staff time for one & so they have to cost it accordingly.

Yes every costa/neros/starbuck have the same issues because the councils dont provide/maintain public toilets. In my street are Sainsbury's local, McColls, Boots, 2 off licences, 3 newsagent/convenience stores - all sell food & drink & not one provide a toilet & you say my small cafe has to provide the toilets to service all the customers from those shops & my own, because its both good business & a social duty to let someone who has bought a cheap can of drink over the road to sit at my outside table (removing a free table for paying customers) leave waste for me to bin in my waste while they avail themselves of my toilet as well. I will add that to the list along side 'please can I have a free cup of hot water - I have my own teabags, can you spare me some milk' & 'how much for a ham roll, can I buy the bread roll & ham over the road & you slice it & butter it for free', 'I dont need anything Im just killing time while I wait for the wife, got a paper to read?',

aj23_2

Pivotal wrote: »

Im not in the wrong business & I love most of my customers because they are regulars they I have spent lots of time establishing a rapport with.

Do I begrudge people choosing the lower price takeaway option & then sitting down to eat & using the facilities? yes - because they are cheapskates & dont want to pay the vat or the additional charge that is incurred providing for the 'free' facilities.

Do I begrudge hordes of people using the toilets & buying nothing? Yes. Mainly because I have had to clean up every form of human body fluid, often from !!!!!!!!!!s.

Do I still do it, yes, because the good customers are great

Well, if you have seats in a takeaway, then people are going to sit. The whole point of a takeaway is to take it away. Remove your chairs and tables then. It's up to you to say it costs more to eat but you're clearly not enforcing it, so there's no point moaning about it.

I doubt more non-customers than customers use your toilets, and I doubt any of them leave more or less mess than a customer can leave. Being a customer doesn't make you cleaner or tidier. Put a lock on the door and tell non-customers you're not allowed in unless you buy something then.

You're not doing it because the good customers are great, it doesn't benefit them. That's not a valid reason. I can't work out why you do it all by what you've said.

Pivotal

Why would I remove my tables & chairs from my cafe????

Do we ask - yes, do we have signs yes, do we go over & point out they paid for takeaway - yes. We do enforce where we can, but understandably staff dont want to be sworn at, spit at or thumped.

Do they make more mess? Hell yes