Big Gulp banned!

[Billnew]

New York – No more super-sized Cokes. Forget about stomach-busting 64-ounce sodas at KFC. Even 20-ounce Snapples are on Mayor Bloomberg’s latest heath-conscious hit list.
New York City plans to ban the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks in an effort to combat obesity.

Read more: NYC plans to ban sales of sugary drinks over 16 ounces | Fox News

They can take my Super Big GUlp When they pry it from my cold fat fingers!

Please rise for New York's anthem:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Socialist+anthem&view=detail&mid=C6E9D2E522F617C39EE7C6E9D2E522F617C39EE7&first=41

 

[moonkitty]

I don't know about New York, but down here most fast food restaurants have the soda fountain in the lobby. You can buy a 12oz cup and refill it as many times as you like.

 

[tangled]

But there's speculation that customers will just buy two 16-ounce bottles instead of one 20-ounce drink.

Read more: NYC plans to ban sales of sugary drinks over 16 ounces | Fox News

True...

 

[Publius]

As Buck Owens so famously said, "I wouldn't live in New York City if they gave me the whole danged town".

Every day, it seems like there's some story about Bloomberg doing another thing to turn it into a large prison camp.

 

[trunks2k]

True...

I doubt it. The draw of the big gulp is that you get a lot for a little bit of money. Compared to the next size down, you can spend an extra 10 cents and get a lot more. I serious doubt people are buying big gulps based solely on the amount. They're not likely to buy two smaller sizes to make up the size difference.

Personally, I get annoyed by the super sized drinks at fast food restaurants. I usually want the larger french fries, but not the larger drink. Even when I ask for just the smaller cup, I'm still given the bigger one (I guess due to proper inventory or low wage workers who don't really understand the idea of "large meal, but please give me a small cup"). If I'm in the restaurant and it's self serve drinks, I can at least put in the smaller amount that I actually want, but then I feel bad that I'm wasting all the extra plastic in the cup. If it's not self serve, I feel bad wasting the drink that's in the cup.

 

[pgp_protector]

So can I still buy my XLarge Ice Tea? It's sugar free.

 

[citizenthom]

Another indirect tax on the poor. And truck drivers, for that matter.

Also, don't think for a moment that the fast food, movie theater, and gas station lobbies weren't 100% behind this. Now instead of a family saving money by sharing one big drink, customers will have to spend two, three, or four times as much for the same product.

 

[Drekkan85]

I doubt it. The draw of the big gulp is that you get a lot for a little bit of money. Compared to the next size down, you can spend an extra 10 cents and get a lot more. I serious doubt people are buying big gulps based solely on the amount. They're not likely to buy two smaller sizes to make up the size difference.

Personally, I get annoyed by the super sized drinks at fast food restaurants. I usually want the larger french fries, but not the larger drink. Even when I ask for just the smaller cup, I'm still given the bigger one (I guess due to proper inventory or low wage workers who don't really understand the idea of "large meal, but please give me a small cup"). If I'm in the restaurant and it's self serve drinks, I can at least put in the smaller amount that I actually want, but then I feel bad that I'm wasting all the extra plastic in the cup. If it's not self serve, I feel bad wasting the drink that's in the cup.

This is actually a valid psychological phenomenon. It's why if you give two people the exact same amount of ice cream, but fill one small bowl overflowing with the ice cream, and the other into a big bowl that looks sparse, the one with the big bowl feels cheated/like they have less ice cream. Same thing here - you feel like you have to because of primitive evolutionary reactions that urge against waste and in favour of consumption.

That's one reason for these kinds of laws.

 

[EddyMabo]

I knew Obama would do this! Be right back guys I'm going out to by some high cap rifle magazines before he takes those away too.

 

[keith99]

I came to this site because of a thread on a cycling as in bicycling board I frequent.

Club rides almost always make sure the rest stop is at a place that has free refills. Why? Because after a couple of hours cycling in the sun a big gulp may not be enough liquid.

Of course thinking about it based on other threads on that site New York City and Florida are aboutthe worst places for cycling there are.

Florida for the drivers, but New York for actions taken by the police and the city government. (Example ticketing cyclists for not riding in the bike lane when they were until they had to pass a police care parked in the bike lane).

 

[DaisyDay]

I knew Obama would do this! Be right back guys I'm going out to by some high cap rifle magazines before he takes those away too.

Obama =/= Bloomberg.

Maybe "in before Obama blamed"... you were being funny, weren't you? Sometimes it's hard to tell.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

Another indirect tax on the poor. And truck drivers, for that matter.

Also, don't think for a moment that the fast food, movie theater, and gas station lobbies weren't 100% behind this. Now instead of a family saving money by sharing one big drink, customers will have to spend two, three, or four times as much for the same product.

Then I couldn't blame them,if they weren't making money,because people are to cheap to get each of their kids a soda.

 

[citizenthom]

Then I couldn't blame them,if they weren't making money,because people are to cheap to get each of their kids a soda.

They were making money anyway: the profit margin on soda is obscene.

 

[Fenny the Fox]

I don't know about New York, but down here most fast food restaurants have the soda fountain in the lobby. You can buy a 12oz cup and refill it as many times as you like.

Yeah, but lets say you are on a ling trip and don't want to stop and buy another drink as soon. For the small difference in price between a "big gulp" and the next smaller size, one does not have to stop for quite a bit longer.

And the cost is effectively more efficient in a big gulp than another size, which is the major draw.


I also have issues with this from the perspective that, frankly, I do not believe it should be in the governments power to limit the amount of soda one can buy. It is a clear infringement on personal rights and freedoms. [Though I do support campaigns to lessen obesity, this is not the way to do it.]

 

[EddyMabo]

Obama =/= Bloomberg.

Maybe "in before Obama blamed"... you were being funny, weren't you? Sometimes it's hard to tell.

You got it.

 

[pgp_protector]

They were making money anyway: the profit margin on soda is obscene.

So, were people forced to buy soda, or was it a choice?
Last time I checked, you were NOT required to buy soda to watch a movie.

 

[wanderingone]

I don't particularly care about it, I doubt it will pass- don't care if it does pass. I have limited feelings about making things minimally more expensive when they are things you don't need and may even be harmful. I think vice taxes and the like are dumb- NY depends hugely on the taxes obtained (for example) from tobacco products but at the same time tries to get everyone to quit... if your goal is to get people off then profiting from the stuff to the point that your budget will fall apart as people quit is idiotic, but banning things entirely isn't particularly acceptable either.. especially when we choose not to go after so many other toxic products.

I know the mayor is desperate to pass some type of law like this as a statement about health concerns but I think it's starting to make him look just a little over the top obsessed about this issue. I think quality impact like school and senior meal program improvements are what he should go for. Interesting and fun nutrition education at major events etc make more sense than investing time and resources into laws like this.

 

[ulu]

If he's really concerned with people's health, maybe banning drug commercials which encourage people to take drugs with multiple side effects, for any little thing, real or imagined, would be a better idea.


Alternatively, putting a label on the big gulps saying they cause diabetes or cancer would still let people have the feeling they were living in a "free" country.

 

[pgp_protector]

If he's really concerned with people's health, maybe banning drug commercials which encourage people to take drugs with multiple side effects, for any little thing, real or imagined, would be a better idea.


Alternatively, putting a label on the big gulps saying they cause diabetes or cancer would still let people have the feeling they were living in a "free" country.

A Big gulp of Ice Tea causes Cancer or Diabetes?

 

[keith99]

First in with the claim that this is because of bribes from teh supermarkets and 7-11s of New York.

The measure would not apply to diet sodas, fruit juices, dairy-based drinks like milkshakes, or alcoholic beverages; it would not extend to beverages sold in grocery or convenience stores.

Oh and the bars!

I'm also wondering if places with self serve soda machines. Do they then need a soda cop to make sure that anyone with a large drink only serves themself diet?