A former colleague of mine worked at Time Magazine in the late 1990s, before and after the AOL Time Warner merger. He said, “when AOL got rid of our Snapple, w

A former colleague of mine worked at Time Magazine in the late 1990s, before and after the AOL Time Warner merger. He said, “when AOL got rid of our Snapple, we knew it was all over.” (And for context, the salary/job stability for someone at Time Magazine in 2000 is very different than in 2019. As in, the pay was very good and there was job stability.) Similar to the soda story — it’s not that the employees can’t afford it themselves, it’s what it represents about not just the changing culture at the company, but of the financial realities. I once worked at a place where they suddenly started to decrease the snack budget (but didn’t say anything —- we just got fewer snacks and in fewer quantities each week). In hindsight, it was an indicator of some of the financial issues happening at the company. Ironically, after some layoffs (followed by the voluntary exodus of ~20% of the company), the snacks came back full blast as an attempt to raise morale, but by then it was too late.