Over the years I have heard of people that grabbed extra packets of ketchup, salt or what not, when they stop at the fast food restaurant. In fact there was a time that the twenty somethings and younger probably won't remember, when every fast food place had packets out where the public could grab them. No ketchup dispensers in that time. Then came story after story on various news programs of some very frugal people who never bought ketchup. Instead they just used the extra ketchup packets they had picked up from those fast food places.
This as you can guess cost the companies thousands of dollars. So one by one, they implemented those dispensers to prevent dine in customers from loading up on those packets.
In fact one McDonald's, according to Truth. Quantified, had a sign for their employees that said:
"If we can keep from giving out just 100 ketchup packets a day, McDonald's can save $1,464 a year!"
Do they really cost 4 cents per packet? Is the packaging worth more then the 8 grams of ketchup in those little things?
Anyway, back to the topic. I usually pick up a couple of extra packets on the rare occasion when I eat out. The thing is I don't go overboard like the people above did. But the question is if that act would be considered stealing. What do you think?
The way I see it, if you take the ketchup packets for any reason other than to use it on the food you just bought, it is stealing. If McDonald's can really save that much money by avoiding handing out so many condiments, you can bet that we're all enjoying increased costs due to people taking more than they need. An easy rule to determine if you're stealing: would you be uncomfortable answering your child's question, "Why are you taking those ketchup packets?"
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