Oh sorry... I meant the average Amtrak passenger wouldn't realize they were paying out of pocket for things that should be standard.
Oh those pastries are so full of preservatives that they last forever. They can easily be stocked from Los Angeles and make multiple runs between Chicago and LA without going bad. Also the pastries are made in San Luis Obispo so they had to have originated from the Surfliner stock since no other route offers them aboard Amtrak.
Larry on the Chief might be friendly with Emily on the Surfliner, and Emily might drop her unused pastries off with him after her run on a regular basis. While this would probably violate protocol, I think it unlikely that issued but unused food would be returned to stock, so they would otherwise be thrown away. The real tight-askers would object, but nobody is truly being defrauded and passengers are happier.
Well, hope we get a show up good SCA, okay the DC will give you free coffee? Will the cafe lounge give you free water if you mention you are in the sleeper car
True. This (dispensing unpaid items) would mess up their inventory control system. It's the same reason that snack bars and convenience stores charge for drink cups (it's how they account for product sold).
Unfortunately, you're about two years or so too late. It would be nice if they returned to the former way of operation, but I don't expect that to happen, even if budgets were increased. Having fewer items to manage and a smaller window in which to manage them makes it easier on everyone (except the passengers).
The ones that do so out of the goodness of their hearts are real gems. Then there's others that do so because they are trying to shamelessly prime the pump for better rewards (gratuities).
I'm not talking about the clear custom-printed ones from Eco-Products used systemwide on Amtrak, I was referring to other places which have fountain beverages that are normally self-serve. Since all foodservice on trains has pre-packaged beverage items (save for coffee and iced tea in the diners), that method of inventory control isn't necessary. But it's also why the cafe car just can't hand out bottles of water to sleeper pax---even if they are the very same size of Roxane water that is distributed in the sleepers.
It’s not just to control employee theft, but also a close-enough-for-government-work way of accounting for sales (as in, “Which sell better during April, medium or large drinks?”). I used to work for a regional convenience store chain (now owned by Kroger). In those days, there was just an electronic cash register with department-coded keys (I think there were separate ones for coffee and fountain drinks) for various items, but not many. Now, the same store chain (as well as behemoths like 7-Eleven and Circle K) has barcode scanners so that each size of cup can be scanned. But I’ll bet they still inventory the cups as a way of tallying merchandise shrink. [Oh, and the store I used to work in used to count hot dog buns, too.
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The pre-printed signage for the beverage station notes that coffee is provided from “6 AM-11 AM”. Some SCAs take that to heart (in other words, don’t come at 5:55 expecting just-brewed coffee, nor at 11:10); others start the pot when they get up (and even, I’ve noticed, before they are in uniform) so that it’s ready by 5:20-5:30. Some leave the pot on until coffee runs out or after lunch, whichever comes first. But in my experience, the majority hew pretty closely to the new way of doing business.
That is the kind of attendant that should be fired INSTANTLY1 If I was traveling as an undercover QC Supervisor, he/she would have been handed termination with cause right then and there and be off the train next stop. This is a serious problem Amtrak needs to be giving top priority as of yesterday-providing CONSISTENT TOP QUALITY SERVICE IN BOTH THE COACHES AND SLEEPERS.
For the places that care to keep track of such things, there's usually a "waste sheet" that's used to mark such things as spoiled drink cups (and grody hot dogs left over at the end of the day). At the company I worked for, we were trained to look in the garbage receptacles before changing the liners, particularly near the drink counter. Invariably there would be a coffee cup or two plus a cold cup when someone decided too late that they would rather have Mountain Dew instead of Dr Pepper and reusing the same cup for the former just wasn't an option. Before I started working at such a place I thought it was bizarre as well; now I would probably institute the same system if I had a store.
You've shown once again that you are the one that doesn't know what you're talking about. 10oz coffee cups are non-revenue and uncounted. 12oz cups however ARE revenue, and may have to answer if cups are missing too often, because yes, that's how we track how many cups of coffee we sold. We can use those cups for other purposes, but we have to process them through the register as comped.
YMMV on this. I'm a tea drinker, and have had surly responses in the dining car when I've gone there from the sleeper to beg a cup of hot water.
