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Subway sandwich scandal inches into court

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It sounds silly, but I support them. Companies routinely reduce the size of things and know most consumers won't notice. Domino's large pizza used to be 16 inches, now it's 14 inches, but the name and price are the same. Breyers ice cream has done a package shrinkage twice. Same with Tropicana. They introduced a "new container" and shaved off 10% of the content.

Subway is different since they advertise a certain size. But if there's some sleazeball at corporate thinking he's brilliant by shrinking the size and thinking no one would notice, a penalty would be appropriate.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Bloody Aussie! Beat me to it! I always suspected that I was getting cheated by Subway! I always thought to myself, hey that kind of looks short for a foot! Or not exactly 30.5 CM! Bastards! But yes I do love Subways but just wish QUIZMOS also makes it to Japan! I think they are way better, fresher, tastier than Subway! Ta mates!

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

It's bread loaves, they probably have a tolerance threshold in how big or small a subway bun is that ranges somewhere between 11 and 12.5 inches. The burden of proof is going to be on the prosecution to establish that this is a systematic sub shrinking scandal.

As a side note: Extra points for the article title, made me giggle.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Subway really put their foot in their mouths.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I like the Rocky Road candy bar example. Once upon a time it was about 1x2x5inches. As the cost went up the size went down. For a while they kept the same package size hiding the decline in size. Now it costs at least 3-4 times what it did 15 years or so ago and is about 1/2 the size.

Companies reducing size but hiding that fact is as common as rain in this greed centered economy. What we have to do is to stop buying their products when they do this. And when they outright lie about it, stop supporting their business until they set it right.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Have these people really got nothing better to do than spend their time on this? Aso's comments about the elderly should be be directed at lawyers too.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

I am breaking out my ruler and see if this phenomena is happening in the local stores in Japan

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The burden of proof is going to be on the prosecution to establish that this is a systematic sub shrinking scandal.

The plaintiffs just have to prove that it's false advertising. They don't need to prove conspiracy.

On the one hand, fresh-baked bread is a finnicky thing to make, and I say this as someone who bakes. On the other hand, what Subway serves can't really be described as fresh-baked break, and the whole raison d'etre of chains is standardization.

This is Ribena-gate all over again. Ruling to the plaintifs.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

According to the dictionary, the definition is: something that is approximately one foot in length. Note the word 'approximately'. So, they have every chance of winning this lawsuit.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Subway specifically made a bid deal in their ads over the years about their subs actually and literally measuring 12 inches/a foot so I think their going to get nailed for false advertising.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

While the end result will be stricter measures to ensure another inch of carbohydrates and the meat, veggies, sauce, and what have you will be more spread out and as such less concentrated, the fact is they advertised 12" and haven't been delivering. I hope it doesn't go too far in court and customers aren't seeking massive payouts or anything like that, as I honestly believe it's not THAT big a deal. Kudos to the people who brought it up (with pics on Facebook), and hopefully people will keep tabs, but let them fix it and be done with it. If anything, reading about Subway all the time makes me want to go get a BLT foot long.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I think it's just a certain type of envy. McDonald's Isn't pleased that Subway has surpassed them in number of locations worldwide, and growing. Love the Sub.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Sometimes if you don’t give an inch, you’ll wind up in court.

Oh I like this phrase above.

"If you don't give an inch, you'll get a pinch."

"If you don't give an inch, lawyers will take a bite."

Any more ideas?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I don´t usually sympathise with junk food vendors, but this is plain stupid.

Who said which foot to take as measure? There are all sorts of feet out there, not only Imperial English ones.

I hope this gets laughed out of court.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

“While it may not be the end of the world that consumers got an eleven-inch sandwich instead of the twelve-inch sandwich promised, the simple fact is that these consumers were promised one thing and received something less.”

Rumor has it that the two men who filed this suit have also prudently decided against calling any of their former girlfriends to the stand to help bolster the case.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

well it looks like their stock may lose some weight and it seems like just desserts for them. they lied and misled the public and I think they should get sanctioned somehow or they should at least have to being making a 12" sub. Maybe they should just have to make it 13"s for as long as it has been 11? easy compromise. More people will buy and it will int he end even out to what they had represented in the first place.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

well it looks like their stock may lose some weight and it seems like just desserts for them.

I respectfully disagree. I believe others will see that no matter how you slice this, it is really nothing more than just a half-baked scheme concocted by these two in an attempt to get some extra dough.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Superlib,

Companies routinely reduce the size of things

Yes. The size of boxes of tissues has dramatically reduced over the years in Japan and a litre of milk in Okinawa is 946 millilitres.

But what they've done to the yen, dollar and pound is unforgivable!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Oh good grief, "Footlong" is just a name, it's not a guarantee that the bread is 12 inches long.

If people don't think the sandwich is worth the money, they can go somewhere else.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Subway advertisements (and some other sandwich chains) are extremely dishonest in how they show their sandwiches. When I see one in an advertisement, the meat is overflowing, it looks 6 inches high, etc. Then you go and order one and they measure the meat out on a scale and you get maybe 3 or 4 little bits of meat.

Same with their egg salad sandwich they advertise...on TV you would think you were getting a bucket of egg salad within the sanwich, when you actually order it the use a little ice cream scoop and that's all you get.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

This footlong controversy is not new and has already been settled amicably out of court:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-1C6QlvHl8

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The burden of proof is going to be on the prosecution to establish that this is a systematic sub shrinking scandal.

It will be very easy to prove. All they need is that tray the guy is holding in the picture. If the area for the dough is anything less than 12 inches, then you have a fraud in progress. What are the odds that Doctors Associates (the owners of Subway) is currently FedEx-ing 12-inch trays out to all its franchisees in case one gets subpoenaed for their trays?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It used to be a serious crime for bakers to sell their customers short thus the term a "baker's dozen" meaning 13. Similar situation here. Subway would be better of to aim to have them 12.5 inches long incase some fall a little short.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

This reminds me of the twit who went into McD's with a scale to make sure he got the number of grams of french fries that they post on their website, and complained when his fries were a few grams short, lol.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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