A Las Vegas restaurant is catching flak for charging .50 cents for water and not telling customers about it until they get their bills, according to this Delish.com story.
I’ve got no problem with restaurants charging extra for water, particularly when customers also request lemons.
Many people took to ordering water after restaurant owners got greedy and began charging more than $2 for a glass of tea, which costs maybe a quarter to make.
I eat out every single day. When I hit a restaurant, I’m there to enjoy the grub. A beverage is just something to wash down the food. I used to order tea until restaurants kept raising the prices.
Now I order water. And I look around at other tables and notice that most other people are ordering water these days, even though restaurant managers and servers definitely try to push colored drinks on patrons. Tea is a big profit margin.
If a table of five orders water and lemon instead of tea, the restaurant misses out on $10 profit. The server’s tip might be lower as well, since tips are determined in part by the size of the bill.
Restaurants cover their losses by raising drink prices even more, thereby exploiting avid tea, coffee, and coke drinkers, who end up subsidizing the freeloading water slurpers.
Increased drink prices only drive more people to order water.
It’s a vicious, vicious cycle.
Since I’m the primary voice of reason on this apocalyptic ball we call our world, let me put this debate to rest by offering a sensible solution: Lower tea prices to $1.25 like they should be, and charge .75 cents for water ($1 if you want lemon too).
There, everybody pays their fair share.
Now, what other world problems do you need me to solve?
“I’ve got not problem with restaurants charging extra for water…”
I was going to ask you to solve the problems I have with careless proofreaders, but it’s clear you cannot help me.
I corrected the sentence, so please call off the grammar hit squad that’s surely rushing to the office right now to whip me to death with their dangling participles.
I wonder how many glasses of water it would take to frack a gas well.
i have a problem with this. We pay over the odds for all our drinks in restaurant s (I do not drink alcohol but my friends do) and regardless of it being wine or a soft drink its still far too much, Why should we not be able to have ‘free’ water at the table. its not actually free as its being covered by the cost of the other drinks.
Its just a way for these selfish places to fleece us of more money!
Please keep your “charging for water” idea to yourself. Simply because people are now to cheap to pay for flavored teas and were not smart enough to complain about it as it happened, is not only not my problem, but it could have maybe snipped the prices increases in the bud with direct action of complaining to each establishment.
Also I believe that in almost every county in the USA it is a long standing requirement to provide water by local Health Depts.
At least with tea, the restaurant has to pay *something* for it. Clean, safe tap water is something we all get courtesy of municipal taxation, at a very minimal cost. I would boycott any restaurant that charged me for plain tap water (though I’d be OK with paying for the lemon and ice, since those do cost the restaurant something).
Nice write up. I’ve wondered about this a lot lately. It seems like most people in restaurants are ordering water, and I’d bet that it’s just a matter of time before these places start charging for it.
My suspicion is that they’ll adopt your plan only in part. They’ll probably start charging 50 cents or so for water yet continue to keep the price of their drinks high.
We are currently at .75 for a glass of RO filtered lake water and that charge includes a cup, ice, and lime and complimentary refills! Great article.
Nice post. I wonder how many glasses of water it would take to frack a gas well.