Is the golden age of unlimited McDonald's refills over? McDonald's might be ditching free refills at self-serve fountains. Get the lowdown on the reasons behind this fizzy farewell and what it means for your future Mickey D runs.
McDonald's free drink refills might be going the way of the dodo. According to Yahoo, McDonald's is getting rid of the self-serve soda fountains we all love on a hot Summer day. While some locations are just saying goodbye to the machines themselves, others are taking it a step further and nixing free refills altogether. After they killed the Dollar Menu and then told us they were doing us a "favor" with the more expensive $5 menu this feels sus. Especially when we keep seeing shady reports that food inflation is down.
So why are our bevies getting bounced? First, cleaning and maintaining those fountains is apparently a bigger pain than you would think, which ups maintenance and labor costs. Second, some folks are being a little "generous" with their fountain refills, filling multiple cups when no one is looking. Lastly, McDonald's wants to push people towards the drive-thru for faster service and probably fewer so they can use fewer staffers as the minimum wage goes up in in certain states.
It might be time to say goodbye to endless refills and hello to bringing your beverages from home for lunch, which may be a healthier option in any case. We're a little perturbed here since the Golden Arches had huge profits last year but alas, such is the money grab in the home of the Big Mac.