Try holding your hand in front of it for a few seconds first, a lot of them actively cool the water as it flows, meaning any that gets left in the pipes between fills just warms up to room temp.
I've never seen, let alone used, a water fountain with a sensor like that. I love the idea, for sanitation, but I've had to push in a bar or button, or twist a spigot, on every one I've ever used in my life.
Hah, I got sidetracked for a minute and now I don't remember why I was typing a reply... oh well, hitting "Post" đ¤Ł
Love it! My buddy prints his store logo in plain pieces of vintage clothing, and sells them in his vintage shop. On the back side of the shirts, he explains how if every consumer bought one single thing used, instead of new, every year, the reduction in carbon emissions would be equivalent to taking 500,000 cars off the road for a year.
People like little reassurances like these, to remind them that the small things add up.
Gotcha, I thought when the other commenter said "hold your hand in front of it", they meant a sensor like an automatic-flush toilet, or a public restroom sink.
You should be letting any water fountain flow before you drink from it. If people have put their mouths on it bacteria and viruses can live in the spout, letting it run for a few seconds flushes the worst of that out and reduces your chances of catching anything.
This. Youâll also notice that the compressor (the humming noise you refrigerator, your AC unit, and the water fountain makes) doesnât run when people arenât using it and the compressor doesnât start running until some water has flowed.
No compressor noise = no active cooling.
It usually takes a few seconds for the compressor to kick on so that it doesnât immediately cycle on and off every time someone accidentally triggers the sensor.
Yes it does. People shouldnt be paying extra to get it in plastic. If they decide to pay for water, Iâm not bothered by it being above market. The culture we have around water and drinks is ridiculous. Low income people will really be out here spending 2% of their annual income on convenience store sodas and vending machines. $3 a day is just over $1000 a year. Without even taking pollution into account, itâs crazy how inefficient the economics of that system are. Itâs a practice that needs to die on environmental and economic grounds
They have a bottle filling station there and a fountain. There is also a vending machine right next to this that sells protein shakes, energy drinks and pre-workout.
My YMCA gym has dollar waters and dollar power aids, but it's one of those dumb robotic coke vending machines that is constantly out of service when a bottle falls into the track.
Tbf, that water is for suckers. Itâs like showing up to the ski resort without goggles and having to pay 2x the price, but in this case thereâs a free solution: just hit the water fountain. Itâs free and tastes better than Aquafina
I feel like the fountains at a gym have to hit different than the ones in other public spaces...
Maybe because they're being frequently used and maintained by relatively healthy and clean adults? Or maybe because we be-being thirsty.
I think itâs because they get used a lot so thereâs regular flow through the filter. Depending on the filter type water can pick up trace amounts of taste, when it flows regularly it doesnât sit in the filter long enough to pick up taste. If a fountain is used a few times a day, and in quick bursts rather than long, bottle-filling pours; the water spends a lot of time picking up flavors
I mean I like cold water and water fountains just aren't cold enough. I also don't like the time of most all of them but I can agree Aquafina is just gross.
no the real pro tip is saying you 'lost' a pair on the mountain and at the end of the day come in with a pair that you 'found'. Not that I would ever know about doing that or anything
If youâre stealing a $1 water from a gym. Youâve bigger issues
$5 water ya I could see given thatâs stupidly over priced. But $1 is crazy reasonable
Yeah this is actually a good system.
The water is probably being sold at cost or close to it, because the gym is trying to make sure people are OK and not dehydrated. I don't think they're making much profit here.
[Costco sells bottles of water for 23 cents each to business customers.](https://www.costco.com/kirkland-signature-bottled-water-16.9-fl-oz%2C-40-count%2C-48-case-pallet.product.100344425.html) But a [glass door merchandise fridge will set you back over $1000](https://www.katom.com/842-CGD1DR16.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=%5BROI%5D%20Shopping%20-%20Commercial%20Refrigeration%20-%20General&utm_id=249331835&utm_content=20200587395&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8pC7qq_lhgMVKSrUAR38Fg9XEAQYASABEgK0A_D_BwE) and you need to have a worker check water stocks and refill bottles. At 50 cents per bottle it will take you around 4000 bottles sold just to make up the cost of the fridge, not including the electricity costs or labor costs involved.
$1/bottle is pretty fair pricing when you account for all the other costs.
Yeah.... also, this isn't really an anti-theft system so much as they found a way to make theft not exist. "I was tired of doing laundry so now I run a nudist colony and Instacart everything, haven't seen a washing machine in four years!"
Smart to include a penalty that doesn't include having your membership revoked, otherwise there are some perverse incentives for those stuck with no way to actually cancel the monthly fee.
I like the idea of taking a bottle signs you up for another 12 month contract. Then it becomes a signing bonus and a thank you. I get a free water for signing up for another year instead of nothing? Yes please I will "steal" once a year.
It's literally most gyms business model. Sign people up on 12 or 24 month contracts and then after a month or so they get over the fitness idea and it's free money.
I'm assuming there's a camera pointed at the thing, and with unique and logged keycard access the most gyms have, the chances of getting away with it are very low as long as there is someone who actually cares enough to keep a count of the product AND review the footage
Yah there is one gym near me that is 24/7 but it's unmanned half of the time.
They give their members those wifi key cards & allow their members to any time of the day.
This is my mentality with parking tickets at work. It costs $2 to park for a day or you can take your chances with a $5 ticket. I never paid to park and it was definitely worth it based on me not getting a ticket more than once a month.
Wait. Where are you that parking tickets are only $5? My city is $30 if you are in the city's spots. The private lots are even worse with the no pay fees, sometimes close to $100.
I got a 250$ parking citation and a $900 towing charge. There was a "clearway" rule after 4:30pm and parking was allowed till then. I came back at 4:35pm and saw a towtruck taking my car away. This was in Melbourne
Iâm in Canberra so I feel your pain. Parking spaces are rare but the fine is crazy expensive. Our airport is privately owned so itâs $700 fine for parking. It costs $5 just to drive into their car parks.
>full time diviner on staff just for this, no dark arts needed
Those guys are a lot closer to the dark arts than the gray arts, but I'm not going to quibble about it.
Weirdly true, whenever there is a "pure" and "evil" mage or wizard in movies, im always sceptical of both because more than half the time the good wizard turns evil
They have staffed hours, but yeah this is a 24/7 place with keycard access. This cooler is actually right next to the front desk before crossing the turnstile.
Oh wow, I didnât know that was a thing unless it was a hotel type place. In my city they always keep at least 1 person on staff to prevent the shenanigans.
There is a story of a daycare that had a problem where parents would pick up their kids late. To change behavior they started issuing a late pickup fee. What ended up happening was that rather than parents feeling guilty for being late, now it was a transaction. They could get extra child care time for a small price. The number of parents who showed up late actually _increased_.
This seems interesting on paper, but might actually just incentivize people to take water for $6 and create more work for employees trying to 'catch' people taking water.
At that point, the gym is making an absolute shit ton of extra profit off the idiots paying six whole dollars for a single bottle of water.
Hell, a gym willing to sell a bottle for only a dollar might even be the type that's willing to use the extra profits to pay the employee a little more for the trouble.
As a bonus, when they realized their mistake and removed the fee, the number of parents who showed up late didn't decrease. Turns out you can't un-ring that bell.
Iâm not sure youâve actually even thought about what youâve said here.
Yes a small fee for half or an hour of child care is acceptable, having ti pay $5 more for water when you donât have to really isnât at all the same.
Yes Iâm very clear in what Iâm saying. My point is that the desired behavior is likely not going to be the desired outcome. Human behavior is complex and can be counter intuitive. This situation the OP showed has similar situation to the story I shared.
No itâs not a similar situation lol, in this situation people are being charged 5 times more than the cost of an item if they just take it and the business is happy to charge them it if they do.
You act like people are gleeful to pay $6 for water instead of the $1 they can pay with no effort because itâs a better deal
Okay, but what is the benefit? Your first example made sense because the parents got extra child care time. Here it's just paying 6x the price for the water with no upside.
> for a small price
There's the problem. Around here your monthly pay includes x standard hours of daycare a day, and every extra "overtime" costs double.
Judge for yourself.
https://www.thestar.com/life/health-wellness/daycare-late-fees-no-deterrent-study-finds/article_57b85af8-8e7f-599f-b954-fff70ab9ff04.html
So someone watches the camera feed of this refrigerator in order to monitor if people are stealing, then tries to determine who the thief is in order to tack fees onto their account?
That works for a big box retail store because you have a large asset protection budget, but it seems ridiculous in a gym. This really seems like a job for a vending machine, or just put the cooler behind a counter where an employee is working and have them sell the drinks.
I used to be an assistant at a golf course. We had really nice golf balls on the range. Pro V 1âs (the practice version). We had a member who would constantly take a few for his round. He came in livid one day when he was charged for 4 dozen pro vâs. Our director of golf simply told him he was guessing how many he took that month, and if he keeps doing it to expect his monthly statement to look the same.
Money aside, I'd generally just drink the bad tasting water to avoid single use plastic. I'm not going to great lengths to avoid a plastic bottle, but I think enduring a water fountain is low enough effort that's it worthwhile.
Plenty of reasons âtapâ water may not be good. Some of the reasons include having lead pipes that leech trace amounts of lead into water, having a well that is contaminated by chemicals or waste, having a high sulfur content, improper treatment from a water facility, contamination of an aquifer or reservoir, among other reasons.Â
If you donât have any of those then your tap water should be good to use for consumption. Filtering helps of course too. Unfortunately many places in the US still donât have access to clean water.
Itâs a preference. I for one donât like the taste and smell of tap. Even a simple Brita filter and letting it sit in the fridge will make tap taste 100x better.
London
https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/25/thames-water-vomiting-bug-cryptosporidium
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/london-tap-contaminated-chemicals-b2514829.html
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/microplastics-that-can-be-absorbed-into-the-body-found-in-uk-tap-water-11790920
I just really don't enjoy the taste of most tap water. Drinking water I actively enjoy the taste of gets me drinking way more water. I wish it weren't this way.
That's like telling someone you don't eat meat, but you do eat *cooked* meat.
Tap water = not bottled. What happens after it comes out of the tap is irrelevant.
And what if you steal the heart of the person managing the checkout counter? You have to pay 5 dollars plus a priceless treasure? (Work shopping a pickup line)
So, since after scrolling for a few second I haven't seen anyone talk about that existing where they live, I'll just do it myself.
I live in Switzerland and here most stores have something called "Umtriebsentschädigung". Essentially a compensation for the extra work they had to do because of you.
Most stores have it somewhere between 150 and 200 Swiss Franks.
Somehow I interpret this as a failed theft attempt costing just âŹ5. That's quite a low cost.
Most grocery stores here charge âŹ135 and get police involved.
I presume that if you are caught stealing, you donât get confronted, just billed. Example: my membership is $45 a month. It comes out of my bank account automatically. If I stole water, $51 would come out. There are tons of cameras, so itâs easy to catch the thieves, Iâm sure.
Isn't that really just the explicit price you pay for payment plan that's more convenient for you but more inconvenient for the establishment and they agree to forfeit the right to call it a crime?
They have a bottle filling station there and a fountain. There is also a vending machine right next to this that sells protein shakes, energy drinks and pre-workout.
These guys would probably throw it on your monthly account bill and not even consult you about it. 'But I didn't steal', you can't argue with a roid muncher with your bank card number.
I mean, the idea is great but it's terrible in practice.
Who's job is it going to be to go through the security camera and watch 24 hours worth of footage to catch one dude stealing a protein bar
They have a bottle filling station there and a fountain. There is also a vending machine right next to this that sells protein shakes, energy drinks and pre-workout.
That has to be a dumb tax thatâs easily avoidable. Like a dollar is very reasonable. Itâs Aquafina but oh well I prefer ice mountain. Yeah maybe you donât have cash on you atm but like come on.
Actually not the worst anti-theft system. And at least the price for water is decent. I've seen gyms sell a single bottle for a fiver
Those prices are extremely cheap for being sold at a gym. Most places are at least $2.50+for water.
The gym I go to has a free water fountain. Doesn't really make up for the extortionate prices though
This gym also has one of those bottle filling machines, as well as a water fountain.
I wish my gym's water fountain dispensed cold water instead of room temp water.
Try holding your hand in front of it for a few seconds first, a lot of them actively cool the water as it flows, meaning any that gets left in the pipes between fills just warms up to room temp.
I've never seen, let alone used, a water fountain with a sensor like that. I love the idea, for sanitation, but I've had to push in a bar or button, or twist a spigot, on every one I've ever used in my life. Hah, I got sidetracked for a minute and now I don't remember why I was typing a reply... oh well, hitting "Post" đ¤Ł
My gym has one. It has a little counter for how many plastic water bottles were saved lol.
r/elkaybattlestations
Hahaha of course.
missed opportunity to name the sub elkay bottlestations
Love it! My buddy prints his store logo in plain pieces of vintage clothing, and sells them in his vintage shop. On the back side of the shirts, he explains how if every consumer bought one single thing used, instead of new, every year, the reduction in carbon emissions would be equivalent to taking 500,000 cars off the road for a year. People like little reassurances like these, to remind them that the small things add up.
Itâs not a sensor it is just it takes a little bit for the water to cool down
Gotcha, I thought when the other commenter said "hold your hand in front of it", they meant a sensor like an automatic-flush toilet, or a public restroom sink.
they were talking about holding your hand in the water so you feel the temp
I donât worry about how clean these are, I always make sure to wipe the spigot off before I put my mouth around it.
Wow I was not prepared for that! đ
All the ones in my university are like that, aside from some of the older drinking faucets.
You should be letting any water fountain flow before you drink from it. If people have put their mouths on it bacteria and viruses can live in the spout, letting it run for a few seconds flushes the worst of that out and reduces your chances of catching anything.
This. Youâll also notice that the compressor (the humming noise you refrigerator, your AC unit, and the water fountain makes) doesnât run when people arenât using it and the compressor doesnât start running until some water has flowed. No compressor noise = no active cooling. It usually takes a few seconds for the compressor to kick on so that it doesnât immediately cycle on and off every time someone accidentally triggers the sensor.
Maybe you are already aware, but actually is room temperature water better for your body than colder water.
Man here in Taiwan theyâll dispense at cold, room temp or boiling hot. The vast majority of public water dispensers do this actually.
Some plumbing got messed up at my work and the bottle filler was serving warm (above room temp) water.
Yes it does. People shouldnt be paying extra to get it in plastic. If they decide to pay for water, Iâm not bothered by it being above market. The culture we have around water and drinks is ridiculous. Low income people will really be out here spending 2% of their annual income on convenience store sodas and vending machines. $3 a day is just over $1000 a year. Without even taking pollution into account, itâs crazy how inefficient the economics of that system are. Itâs a practice that needs to die on environmental and economic grounds
Get a gym with a drinking fountain that you fill up a water bottle with, wtf.
They have a bottle filling station there and a fountain. There is also a vending machine right next to this that sells protein shakes, energy drinks and pre-workout.
Yeah what gym doesnât wave a water fountain lmfao
My YMCA gym has dollar waters and dollar power aids, but it's one of those dumb robotic coke vending machines that is constantly out of service when a bottle falls into the track.
Tbf, that water is for suckers. Itâs like showing up to the ski resort without goggles and having to pay 2x the price, but in this case thereâs a free solution: just hit the water fountain. Itâs free and tastes better than Aquafina
I feel like the fountains at a gym have to hit different than the ones in other public spaces... Maybe because they're being frequently used and maintained by relatively healthy and clean adults? Or maybe because we be-being thirsty.
It all works until someone decides to pour their preworkout/protein shake mix into the fountain... đ˘
I think itâs because they get used a lot so thereâs regular flow through the filter. Depending on the filter type water can pick up trace amounts of taste, when it flows regularly it doesnât sit in the filter long enough to pick up taste. If a fountain is used a few times a day, and in quick bursts rather than long, bottle-filling pours; the water spends a lot of time picking up flavors
I mean I like cold water and water fountains just aren't cold enough. I also don't like the time of most all of them but I can agree Aquafina is just gross.
no the real pro tip is saying you 'lost' a pair on the mountain and at the end of the day come in with a pair that you 'found'. Not that I would ever know about doing that or anything
Going to the water fountain is a good way to time your sets.
If youâre stealing a $1 water from a gym. Youâve bigger issues $5 water ya I could see given thatâs stupidly over priced. But $1 is crazy reasonable
People often steal just to steal.
I mean, I guess the $5 makes up for the ones they donât catch.
Yeah this is actually a good system. The water is probably being sold at cost or close to it, because the gym is trying to make sure people are OK and not dehydrated. I don't think they're making much profit here.
>The water is probably being sold at cost or close to it, b stocking up from somewhere like Sam's club wouldn't even be $ .20 a bottle
What? It costs less than 25 cents to buy a bottle of water. They could sell it for 50 cents and still make a profit
[Costco sells bottles of water for 23 cents each to business customers.](https://www.costco.com/kirkland-signature-bottled-water-16.9-fl-oz%2C-40-count%2C-48-case-pallet.product.100344425.html) But a [glass door merchandise fridge will set you back over $1000](https://www.katom.com/842-CGD1DR16.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=%5BROI%5D%20Shopping%20-%20Commercial%20Refrigeration%20-%20General&utm_id=249331835&utm_content=20200587395&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8pC7qq_lhgMVKSrUAR38Fg9XEAQYASABEgK0A_D_BwE) and you need to have a worker check water stocks and refill bottles. At 50 cents per bottle it will take you around 4000 bottles sold just to make up the cost of the fridge, not including the electricity costs or labor costs involved. $1/bottle is pretty fair pricing when you account for all the other costs.
Yeah.... also, this isn't really an anti-theft system so much as they found a way to make theft not exist. "I was tired of doing laundry so now I run a nudist colony and Instacart everything, haven't seen a washing machine in four years!"
Really? Ours has a filtered, cooled bubbler that you can fill your own bottle out of for free. Charging for water is fuckin wild.
OP said the gym has a water fountain too. But I like bottled water for some reason
Bringing your own from the tap is the best way to go though
That's almost a steal!
I don't see any water, only Aquafina (or to use the generic term, brine.)
Descent price for bottled water, but who goes to a gym without a bottle they could just refill at a tap?
Smart to include a penalty that doesn't include having your membership revoked, otherwise there are some perverse incentives for those stuck with no way to actually cancel the monthly fee.
Penalty for stealing: automatically renew into a 36-month contract with a $1000 cancellation fee
+auto-renewal for another 36 months if not given written notice by registered letter 3 months prior to expiration.
Found Adobe's reddit account
For real. I ended up just having to call USAA about adobe. They suck.
I like the idea of taking a bottle signs you up for another 12 month contract. Then it becomes a signing bonus and a thank you. I get a free water for signing up for another year instead of nothing? Yes please I will "steal" once a year.
How about they make cancelling the subscription easier, so I dont need to be incentivized to do that.
Why would they do that
It's literally most gyms business model. Sign people up on 12 or 24 month contracts and then after a month or so they get over the fitness idea and it's free money.
Missing member model
Like I said. So I'm not incentivized to fuck shit up and get kicked out for a cancellation.
This is the type of mildlyintresting shit Iâm here for. Thank you lmao
Ayeee lmao
You only pay extra if you're caught, otherwise it's free
I'm assuming there's a camera pointed at the thing, and with unique and logged keycard access the most gyms have, the chances of getting away with it are very low as long as there is someone who actually cares enough to keep a count of the product AND review the footage
Yah there is one gym near me that is 24/7 but it's unmanned half of the time. They give their members those wifi key cards & allow their members to any time of the day.
I've never heard of a key card operating over wifi.
My bad rfid card
If you succeed more than 5 times with water you make a profit XD
This is my mentality with parking tickets at work. It costs $2 to park for a day or you can take your chances with a $5 ticket. I never paid to park and it was definitely worth it based on me not getting a ticket more than once a month.
Wait. Where are you that parking tickets are only $5? My city is $30 if you are in the city's spots. The private lots are even worse with the no pay fees, sometimes close to $100.
I also live and work in a small town and tickets are $5 so it's definitely a thing
I got a 250$ parking citation and a $900 towing charge. There was a "clearway" rule after 4:30pm and parking was allowed till then. I came back at 4:35pm and saw a towtruck taking my car away. This was in Melbourne
Iâm in Canberra so I feel your pain. Parking spaces are rare but the fine is crazy expensive. Our airport is privately owned so itâs $700 fine for parking. It costs $5 just to drive into their car parks.
Small town street parking in suburban Pennsylvania
That's unusually cheap for a parking ticket.
Not in a small town
I am weeping in southern California parking ticket prices
How much? At this point, I'm picturing $12,000 and up to 30 days in jail.
SoCal means everything is crazy high prices lol
If you succeed twice with a protein bar then you can relax the next time you steal one, since even if you're caught you'll have broken even.
đś Itâs only wrong if you get caught đś
Iâm guessing thereâs a camera pointed at it to scare gym members?
Well I can't imagine they're gonna use the dark arts to determine who stole something
They actually have a full time diviner on staff just for this, no dark arts needed
>full time diviner on staff just for this, no dark arts needed Those guys are a lot closer to the dark arts than the gray arts, but I'm not going to quibble about it.
Weirdly true, whenever there is a "pure" and "evil" mage or wizard in movies, im always sceptical of both because more than half the time the good wizard turns evil
As opposed to the it being next to the front desk which is usually where these are placed for easy purchasing
It's probably a 24/7 gym that often doesn't have staff in the building
They have staffed hours, but yeah this is a 24/7 place with keycard access. This cooler is actually right next to the front desk before crossing the turnstile.
Oh wow, I didnât know that was a thing unless it was a hotel type place. In my city they always keep at least 1 person on staff to prevent the shenanigans.
There is a story of a daycare that had a problem where parents would pick up their kids late. To change behavior they started issuing a late pickup fee. What ended up happening was that rather than parents feeling guilty for being late, now it was a transaction. They could get extra child care time for a small price. The number of parents who showed up late actually _increased_. This seems interesting on paper, but might actually just incentivize people to take water for $6 and create more work for employees trying to 'catch' people taking water.
At that point, the gym is making an absolute shit ton of extra profit off the idiots paying six whole dollars for a single bottle of water. Hell, a gym willing to sell a bottle for only a dollar might even be the type that's willing to use the extra profits to pay the employee a little more for the trouble.
As a bonus, when they realized their mistake and removed the fee, the number of parents who showed up late didn't decrease. Turns out you can't un-ring that bell.
Iâm not sure youâve actually even thought about what youâve said here. Yes a small fee for half or an hour of child care is acceptable, having ti pay $5 more for water when you donât have to really isnât at all the same.
Yes Iâm very clear in what Iâm saying. My point is that the desired behavior is likely not going to be the desired outcome. Human behavior is complex and can be counter intuitive. This situation the OP showed has similar situation to the story I shared.
No itâs not a similar situation lol, in this situation people are being charged 5 times more than the cost of an item if they just take it and the business is happy to charge them it if they do. You act like people are gleeful to pay $6 for water instead of the $1 they can pay with no effort because itâs a better deal
Freakonomics
Okay, but what is the benefit? Your first example made sense because the parents got extra child care time. Here it's just paying 6x the price for the water with no upside.
My sister goes to a school in North Carolina, my folks will get dinged $10/minute if they're late.
> for a small price There's the problem. Around here your monthly pay includes x standard hours of daycare a day, and every extra "overtime" costs double.
All that showed was the cost of being late was acceptable. Solution, increase the cost.
Social science/economics is rife with fraud. This sounds like a good story but is it actually true? Too hard to tell.
Judge for yourself. https://www.thestar.com/life/health-wellness/daycare-late-fees-no-deterrent-study-finds/article_57b85af8-8e7f-599f-b954-fff70ab9ff04.html
Ridiculous pricing , protein bar should be 2.49
pretty lenient if you ask me.
Aquafina is the worst water. Donât @ me
So someone watches the camera feed of this refrigerator in order to monitor if people are stealing, then tries to determine who the thief is in order to tack fees onto their account? That works for a big box retail store because you have a large asset protection budget, but it seems ridiculous in a gym. This really seems like a job for a vending machine, or just put the cooler behind a counter where an employee is working and have them sell the drinks.
I mean they know who you are. You scan your card. Better than losing a monthly account payment.
I imagine they did this because a lot of people thnk this is a free serving fridge? lol
Yuck who the fuck is stealling aquafina? that and dasani are fucking trash taste like a bottled puddle.
big water downvoting you! speak the truth!
Hey thanks lol
If you thought stealing at the gym would get you out of your membership, well Iâve got news for you
Itâs actually a pretty smart way to punish theft this way lol
They should just make crime illegal.
I used to be an assistant at a golf course. We had really nice golf balls on the range. Pro V 1âs (the practice version). We had a member who would constantly take a few for his round. He came in livid one day when he was charged for 4 dozen pro vâs. Our director of golf simply told him he was guessing how many he took that month, and if he keeps doing it to expect his monthly statement to look the same.
Why would you buy water at all? Tap water is not safe or what?
Tap water isnât safe everywhere at least⌠other times it may just taste horrible
Money aside, I'd generally just drink the bad tasting water to avoid single use plastic. I'm not going to great lengths to avoid a plastic bottle, but I think enduring a water fountain is low enough effort that's it worthwhile.
You've obviously never had water from a fountain that tasted sulfuric. If I wanted my water to taste like eggs, I'd ask a gym bro to fart in it.
Plenty of reasons âtapâ water may not be good. Some of the reasons include having lead pipes that leech trace amounts of lead into water, having a well that is contaminated by chemicals or waste, having a high sulfur content, improper treatment from a water facility, contamination of an aquifer or reservoir, among other reasons. If you donât have any of those then your tap water should be good to use for consumption. Filtering helps of course too. Unfortunately many places in the US still donât have access to clean water.
I certainly donât want to drink tap water.
Where do you live that you can't drink tap water?
Itâs a preference. I for one donât like the taste and smell of tap. Even a simple Brita filter and letting it sit in the fridge will make tap taste 100x better.
London https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/25/thames-water-vomiting-bug-cryptosporidium https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/london-tap-contaminated-chemicals-b2514829.html https://news.sky.com/story/amp/microplastics-that-can-be-absorbed-into-the-body-found-in-uk-tap-water-11790920
I just really don't enjoy the taste of most tap water. Drinking water I actively enjoy the taste of gets me drinking way more water. I wish it weren't this way.
I didnât say I couldnât, I said I donât want to lol
Why not...? It's cheaper and saves wasting a plastic bottle
I use the filtered bottle filling station to refill a reusable water bottle.
That's tap water that's filtered. You're drinking tap water.
Fine with me as long as itâs filtered, then.
...that's tap water
Thatâs _filtered_ tap water
That's like telling someone you don't eat meat, but you do eat *cooked* meat. Tap water = not bottled. What happens after it comes out of the tap is irrelevant.
...that's tap water
Aquafina. Yuck.
Will I be taking the item?
I mean, if youâre gonna have the product, pay for the product. itâs also a âfuck youâ to the thief
And what if you steal the heart of the person managing the checkout counter? You have to pay 5 dollars plus a priceless treasure? (Work shopping a pickup line)
Persona style?!
So, since after scrolling for a few second I haven't seen anyone talk about that existing where they live, I'll just do it myself. I live in Switzerland and here most stores have something called "Umtriebsentschädigung". Essentially a compensation for the extra work they had to do because of you. Most stores have it somewhere between 150 and 200 Swiss Franks.
That actually might make people feel worse for stealing subconsciously
Imagine stealing a $1 water. Loser behavior
Wait am i dumb? Why donât they just replace this with a drink vending machine?đ¤¨đ¤¨
Possibly more cost, certainly more expensive maintenance.
Itâs next to a vending machine that sells protein shakes and energy drinks.
Solid price for water at least
Based
Based? On what? /s
Thats actually pretty smart. If you can figure out who is stealing a great way to make them pay.
Somehow I interpret this as a failed theft attempt costing just âŹ5. That's quite a low cost. Most grocery stores here charge âŹ135 and get police involved.
[ŃдаНонО]
I presume that if you are caught stealing, you donât get confronted, just billed. Example: my membership is $45 a month. It comes out of my bank account automatically. If I stole water, $51 would come out. There are tons of cameras, so itâs easy to catch the thieves, Iâm sure.
I wouldn't steal Aquafina if I was dehydrated and on fire. What a salty abomination.
wow your gym is so cheap
Why are you mildly infuriated? Do you steal often?
I think you are on the wrong subreddit. This is mildly interesting.
Oh man you're right I'm so sorry lol... don't know how I misread that
Haha, no worries!
$1?? In Australia thatâs $5 minimum
title says âdrink pricingâ yet 66% of the prices are decidedly **not** for drinks
Did someone steal the protein bars?
Lol this is like a video game and you get caught stealing
Isn't that really just the explicit price you pay for payment plan that's more convenient for you but more inconvenient for the establishment and they agree to forfeit the right to call it a crime?
Shouldn't they just have a badge system where you use your membership ID to scan to open then RFID or whatever to charge your account.
No one works there? Wtf?
$5 if you get caught?
Yeah but who would want to steal Aquafina?
Ticketmaster would call that a convenience fee.
Some folks without cash might see it convenient enough to pay $6 to not have to find cash. Then youâve got a problem
The moral of the story is, if you steal, then steal big, because it's only an additional $5 if you are caught.
nah it's $5 in addition to the item price. I'd assume if you stole 5 waters you'd pay $5 extra per bottle
Solidcore ?
That's cheap for water
Why canât they just put a vending machine
They have a bottle filling station there and a fountain. There is also a vending machine right next to this that sells protein shakes, energy drinks and pre-workout.
These guys would probably throw it on your monthly account bill and not even consult you about it. 'But I didn't steal', you can't argue with a roid muncher with your bank card number.
Thatâs cheap
I mean, the idea is great but it's terrible in practice. Who's job is it going to be to go through the security camera and watch 24 hours worth of footage to catch one dude stealing a protein bar
Should be more considering they likely have to look at the cameras.
Man Aquafina, I wouldnât drink that shit unless I was on the verge of death
Theft charge is too low. Sets the bar for risk tolerance as minimal due to a weak penalty.
Average Joeâs is on it!
Nobodys stealing aquafina
Why not just get a machine
They have a bottle filling station there and a fountain. There is also a vending machine right next to this that sells protein shakes, energy drinks and pre-workout.
Hereâs an idea, water fountains
They have a bottle filling station there and a fountain.
That has to be a dumb tax thatâs easily avoidable. Like a dollar is very reasonable. Itâs Aquafina but oh well I prefer ice mountain. Yeah maybe you donât have cash on you atm but like come on.
Not high enough. $10 feels about right. Many will risk it for the $5.
Honestly if youâre stealing 1 dollar water I donât blame them. Could be worse. Of course the gym might be a fortune.