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The Golden Age of Cup Manufacturing
jonerik writes "The Washington Post has this article today on the disappearance of traditional 'small' (8 oz.) cups of coffee in favor of a larger concept of 'small' (12 oz.). In the case of Starbucks, for example, a truly small 8 oz. cup of coffee is still available, but it's called a 'short' and isn't listed on the menu. Why not? 'We still have it,' says Starbucks spokeswoman Lara Wyss, 'but we don't advertise it because of the size of the menu board, the physical constraints.' Yeah, sure. Disposable cup manufacturers have taken notice of the popularity/compulsory nature of larger cup sizes. The Sweetheart Cup Co. started manufacturing a successful 24-ounce hot-beverage cup about two years ago, and Kathy Deignan, the company's national vice president of marketing and account sales says 'The eight- and 10-ounce cups are pretty much gone.' Sweetheart also manufactures 7-Eleven's 44-ounce Super Big Gulp cups, and Deignan says the company is considering producing an 80-ounce cold drink cup - that's 5 pints, folks. Christ, how much do these companies think people need to drink, anyway?"
In Japan, at least, the largest drink size you can get at a fast food restraunt like McDonalds is smaller than the "courtesy cup" that they give people who order water in America. Several of my friends and myself got strange looks and comments from host families when buying 1 liter drink bottles for ourselves. I remember one guy was asked by his host family if he had a party of something when he threw away the empty bottle at home. In talking with a few of my foreign friends after I returned, I've been led to believe that America is the "Land of the Super-Sized Drinks."
Can anyone from another country or who's traveled abroad comment on this trend? Is oversized drinks just an American thing?
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
I noticed this in early 90's when I went to college. No delivery where I grew up, so the only time you saw a pizza was at Pizza Hut. And a large was ginormous. 16".
So I go away to school. They have delivery, I have no car (stupid rule if ever there was one. Talk about encouraging alcoholism) so order a pizza. Well, dumb me knows that a large is too much, so order a medium. And what arrives, but a small.
Now Pizza Hut advertises "The Big New Yorker". A full 16" pizza.
Yeah. Like the ones you used to sell, before decided that a 14" pizza was a large. BTW, thank you ever so much for not dropping the price when you dropped the sizes.
No, you sir (madam, celestial body, whatever) are not alone in your observation. As a matter of fact, my parents have an official Pizza Hut large pizza pan from the early-mid 80's. One of my father's patients has a couple dozen. For whatever reason, he gave my father a pizza pan. Guess what? It was an old large. The new large pizzas don't fill the pan.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
Every fast food restaurant from Wendy's to McDonalds has been increasing the size of there portions based on demand.
Working for a major pop company, I can tell you right now that premix pop is downright cheap (premix is the syrup that's mixed with water and CO2 to get the pop that comes from the fountain). Since the pop companies don't have to worry about mixing it, packaging it, and labeling it in the bottling plant, they don't have to charge much for it.
Believe it or not, advertisements for "80oz. Fountain Drinks for $.99!!!" actually lure customers there. And they can do it because they don't lose money. So, when the fast food / convenience stores get cheap pop, they get more customers, they don't lose money, and the customer walks away happy.
The stores don't care about sugar levels or diabetes, and most customers don't understand that what they think is a "great deal" isn't doing much good for them, while it works great for the company.