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In recent years they changed the menu, jacked up the prices, and can't seem to keep staff that are willing to clean tables and bathrooms in any location. It's

In recent years they changed the menu, jacked up the prices, and can't seem to keep staff that are willing to clean tables and bathrooms in any location. It's just gross, go to any Subway, literally anywhere, and the one thing they seem to have in common is that their bathrooms are worse than any truck stop. Bread is more narrow too in recent years. They've been raising prices and shrinkflating everything they can. Nice to know I wasn't the only consumer who noticed. As a consumer, I know they didn't "wrong" me, but it sort of feels like they were saying, "We're so much more clever than you, we'll raise your prices and give you less and you won't notice!" But everyone noticed. And it feels good to see their bottom line suffering. Hope this is the comeuppance they needed to get their act together. I used to love Subway, hell I ever worked at a Subway when I was in high school. Subway has been on a steady decline the last 5-7 years. Just one small story... a few months back I picked up some sandwiches for some contractors that were at my house. 3 subs, nothing fancy. And the total was $47 (without drinks, cookies, or a tip). For suburban Texas... this is absurd. The staff member told me, "Use the website or the app next time, there are better deals there..." So the next time I went to use the website, and I couldn't... their website just dies and hangs on this loading screen if you have an ad-blocker running. Junky. No way I'm disabling my ad-blocker just to order a sandwich. https://imgur.com/gab7YVo https://imgur.com/gab7YVo But... I do have to say, Thundercloud Subs are way better anyway, and most are $5 cheaper than Subway at this point. So Subway being as awful as it is... this pushed me to find something better. Ha. https://thundercloud.com/main-menu/ https://thundercloud.com/main-menu/

mikestew 2y ago
In recent years they changed the menu, jacked up the prices, and can't seem to keep staff that are willing to clean tables and bathrooms in any location. I haven’t eaten at a Subway in a good ten years, and one of the reasons was because they were often dirty-looking (or just outright dirty). So from my experience, it is not just “recent years”. As for the rest, meh, they were a serviceable option, but never all that great. Meaning that for me at least, it didn’t take much (menu change, higher prices) to start looking for alternatives.
- dbg31415 2y ago
  When I worked at Subway as a teenager in the early 90s in Seattle... our manager was the owner. He was a real stickler for bathroom cleanliness. The bathrooms were inspected and tidied up every hour, and cleaned every 4 hours. He always threatened to fire "the whole team" if he ever stopped by and found a bathroom that he would feel "embarrassed to have his mother use." (I don't think he ever fired anyone, he would just call you over and make you re-do something if it wasn't done right. Honestly he was a really good boss for a kid to have.) I think there's been a big shift away from the franchise owners being the day-to-day managers, and they just hire someone and near-minimum wage to be the manager now. Gut feeling on it anyway. Doesn't feel like anyone who works there cares or takes any personal pride in the cleanliness of the bathrooms. (Ha, is this what getting old feels like?)
  - adamomada 2y ago
    Re getting old, 90s teenager here as well. I remember being able to get two high-quality footlong sandwiches plus sub stamps (member those? ) for a bonus 10% for about an hour’s work at “crappy” minimum wages. Now? Maybe one lousy quality sandwich. You got a lot more working crappy jobs back then vs working crappy jobs now.
    - dbg31415 2y ago
      Stamps and punch cards were our apps back then. One perk of working at Subway was that my boss didn’t mind if we made sandwiches for ourselves. My go-to was roast beef and tuna. And I could trade a Subway sandwich for a burrito at the place next door, or even a video at the video rental place. Lots of little perks I remember.
  - JohnFen 2y ago
    > I think there's been a big shift away from the franchise owners being the day-to-day managers An interesting thing that I've noticed in the last several years in my area is that most of the franchise shops around here are owned by a handful of investment companies rather than actual people.

mikestew 2y ago

In recent years they changed the menu, jacked up the prices, and can't seem to keep staff that are willing to clean tables and bathrooms in any location. I haven’t eaten at a Subway in a good ten years, and one of the reasons was because they were often dirty-looking (or just outright dirty). So from my experience, it is not just “recent years”. As for the rest, meh, they were a serviceable option, but never all that great. Meaning that for me at least, it didn’t take much (menu change, higher prices) to start looking for alternatives.

dbg31415 2y ago
When I worked at Subway as a teenager in the early 90s in Seattle... our manager was the owner. He was a real stickler for bathroom cleanliness. The bathrooms were inspected and tidied up every hour, and cleaned every 4 hours. He always threatened to fire "the whole team" if he ever stopped by and found a bathroom that he would feel "embarrassed to have his mother use." (I don't think he ever fired anyone, he would just call you over and make you re-do something if it wasn't done right. Honestly he was a really good boss for a kid to have.) I think there's been a big shift away from the franchise owners being the day-to-day managers, and they just hire someone and near-minimum wage to be the manager now. Gut feeling on it anyway. Doesn't feel like anyone who works there cares or takes any personal pride in the cleanliness of the bathrooms. (Ha, is this what getting old feels like?)
- adamomada 2y ago
  Re getting old, 90s teenager here as well. I remember being able to get two high-quality footlong sandwiches plus sub stamps (member those? ) for a bonus 10% for about an hour’s work at “crappy” minimum wages. Now? Maybe one lousy quality sandwich. You got a lot more working crappy jobs back then vs working crappy jobs now.
  - dbg31415 2y ago
    Stamps and punch cards were our apps back then. One perk of working at Subway was that my boss didn’t mind if we made sandwiches for ourselves. My go-to was roast beef and tuna. And I could trade a Subway sandwich for a burrito at the place next door, or even a video at the video rental place. Lots of little perks I remember.
- JohnFen 2y ago
  > I think there's been a big shift away from the franchise owners being the day-to-day managers An interesting thing that I've noticed in the last several years in my area is that most of the franchise shops around here are owned by a handful of investment companies rather than actual people.