5 ms·

When I worked in fast food in high school, we had a standing policy that all police officers got the 50% off employee discount. Generally, having a couple cruis

by mabbo 12y ago

When I worked in fast food in high school, we had a standing policy that all police officers got the 50% off employee discount. Generally, having a couple cruisers in the parking lot deterred trouble.

seanmcdirmid 12y ago
I don't think this is legal or considered acceptable today, at least in most US states. A police discount for the purpose of affecting favorable treatment (even if that treatment is merely for continued presence) is kind of like a bribe. Many police departments just don't allow these kinds of discounts as a matter of policy.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- refurb 12y ago
  Surprised you're getting downvoted. I've seen a couple statements by police departments in the US (unfortunately I can't find them right now) that stated they will accept no discounts or freebies for the exact reasons you stated.
- UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
  A decade ago the fast food place i worked at had a 50% police discount. We never had too many police come in anyways.
  - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
    I worked fast food a couple of decades ago, and there would always be some new manager trying to give a cop a discount, and the cop having to explain why they couldn't take it. It really depends on the area, I guess.
- philwelch 12y ago
  Really? In my city, places can literally hire off-duty cops to stand guard around construction sites or direct traffic. And they show up in uniform and with all the legal powers of a police officer.
  - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
    I worked at two McDonalds, both in the Seattle area, 20+ years ago. The first one was in Mill Creek (a rich area south of Everett), the cops weren't allowed to take discounts. The second place was in downtown (3rd and Pine); we literally couldn't stay open without hiring an off duty officer. Hiring went through the SPD and was tightly regulated. Offering a cop discounted food to hang out at your restaurant means, while taxpayers are flipping the bill, somewhere else isn't being covered as well. Hiring an off duty cop for part time security work, in contrast, doesn't reduce coverage.
    - philjr 12y ago
      Yeh always wondered about that. There are a few 24 hour gas stations in Dublin, Ireland that give discounts to on duty officers so it attracts them to be there through their night shift to reduce robberies. But as you said, if they're there, they're not somewhere else. Clever for the gas station, but not so much for everyone else methinks
    - danielki 12y ago
      I'm surprised you needed just one off-duty officer at the 3rd and Pine location. I've eaten there a couple of times and it's quite the experience. Was it still known as Crackdonalds back then? I can't imagine meth was a big enough thing 20+ years ago that you'd also hear it called Methdonalds?
      - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
        It was better and worse, we had two floors back then, I worked at night (going to UW during the day), so most of the customers were homeless...no drugs that I could tell, but lots of booze. Some great people to work with, though (mostly from the Philippines). Also, it was never boring.
- techsupporter 12y ago
  Apparently it's either legal or at least accepted in Whataburger country (Texas). Stores there offer free meals to anyone in uniform--police, firefighter, EMS, security guard, military, nurse, etc--eating in the restaurant.
  - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
    If everyone got a 50% discount, there would obviously be no problem. If the criteria was unrelated to any ulterior motives (you just have to be uniform), then that seems fine. It is only when providing a discount to a government employee with the expectation of a special benefit that would not be conveyed otherwise...
- PudgePacket 12y ago
  In most states in Australia McDonalds stores give a 50% discount to police. It's at the discretion of each store though it seems to be the standard, at least from every situation I've seen.
- caw 12y ago
  Some departments explicitly don't allow discounts, but a lot of others will allow discounts only if they're offered at the time of service. They can't ask for the discounts, but if they're offered they can accept.
- akgerber 12y ago
  The NYPD is definitely prohibited from discounts: http://gothamist.com/2012/07/19/days_of_discounted_chipotle_burrito.php http://gothamist.com/2012/07/19/days_of_discounted_chipotle_...
hnriot 12y ago
this was the case in Chicago in the 20's too - except then they called the protection rackets the mob.
- yourad_io 12y ago
  The difference is that these stores volunteered. EDIT: How is the mob parallel applicable in this scenario? The stores voluntarily give them a discount hoping for more frequent police presence there (on breaks, etc). Nobody's threatening the stores to give them a discount, "or else". Did you think this was a bribe to ensure speedier "service" by the Police if the need arose? I don't get it.
  - arjie 12y ago
    > Did you think this was a bribe to ensure speedier "service" by the Police if the need arose? Not to enter the argument about whether it's a protection racket (i.e. whether it shares many characteristics with the racket of the 1920s), but I think the problem is apparent. Absent incentives, the police would be present evenly according to their estimate of which places they should be at. If incentives did not increase a policeman's desire to be at a store, then providing the incentive would be pointless (and indeed the GGGP comment implies that the purpose of the incentive is to get a couple of cruisers in the parking lot in order to deter crime). The only reasonable conclusion is that these incentives are provided in order to skew the locations at which police would be present. So the issue isn't speedier service. It looks like he's implying that they'd get more frequent visits as a consequence of providing preferential treatment.
- ssully 12y ago
  Well knowing a few Chicago police officers I can say that a lot of places still offer police discounts.
jessaustin 12y ago
I don't mind the discounts for actual police or sheriffs too much. They conceivably provide some service for the typical business, by discouraging property crime. What drives me up the wall are the freebies the local convenience stores etc. give the highway patrol. Even if one believes that they make the roads safer (I don't), that isn't actually a service of value to a business, so it just amounts to an exercise in badge worship.
- waterlesscloud 12y ago
  The advantage to the store is that there are law enforcement officers with badges and guns coming into the store at random times, making them much riskier to rob. There's two different 7-11s near me, both on a main street, maybe half a mile apart. One has cops in it all the time, for the simple reason they freely allow cops to use their restroom. The other doesn't, and there are never cops there. This being a major city, the one without cops also has panhandlers outside on a nearly constant basis. The one with cops doesn't have any, ever. Interestingly, the one without cops has taxis and limos in the lot late into the night. They never go in the store, they just hang out in the parking lot.
  - jessaustin 12y ago
    Hehehe, yeah I've lived in cities so I know what you're talking about. This is a very rural area so panhandling isn't really a thing. Also I've only seen the highway patrolmen taking advantage of this perk around mid-morning, after they've spent a couple of hours preying on people trying to get to work. It's not as if they patrol at night.
- tsotha 12y ago
  I'm not sure why highway patrol would be any different from local police and sheriffs. In CA, where I live, some people mistakenly think the highway patrol only has jurisdiction over the highways, but in fact they're state troopers with jurisdiction everywhere in the state. If police an sheriffs are good for business, then CHP will be good for business too.
  - 12y ago
spyder 12y ago
Another problem with this could be that the nearby stores that don't give discount will get less (or not any) visit from cops.

by mabbo 12y ago

seanmcdirmid 12y ago

I don't think this is legal or considered acceptable today, at least in most US states. A police discount for the purpose of affecting favorable treatment (even if that treatment is merely for continued presence) is kind of like a bribe. Many police departments just don't allow these kinds of discounts as a matter of policy.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
refurb 12y ago
Surprised you're getting downvoted. I've seen a couple statements by police departments in the US (unfortunately I can't find them right now) that stated they will accept no discounts or freebies for the exact reasons you stated.
UrMomReadsHN 12y ago
A decade ago the fast food place i worked at had a 50% police discount. We never had too many police come in anyways.
- seanmcdirmid 12y ago
  I worked fast food a couple of decades ago, and there would always be some new manager trying to give a cop a discount, and the cop having to explain why they couldn't take it. It really depends on the area, I guess.
philwelch 12y ago
Really? In my city, places can literally hire off-duty cops to stand guard around construction sites or direct traffic. And they show up in uniform and with all the legal powers of a police officer.
- seanmcdirmid 12y ago
  I worked at two McDonalds, both in the Seattle area, 20+ years ago. The first one was in Mill Creek (a rich area south of Everett), the cops weren't allowed to take discounts. The second place was in downtown (3rd and Pine); we literally couldn't stay open without hiring an off duty officer. Hiring went through the SPD and was tightly regulated. Offering a cop discounted food to hang out at your restaurant means, while taxpayers are flipping the bill, somewhere else isn't being covered as well. Hiring an off duty cop for part time security work, in contrast, doesn't reduce coverage.
  - philjr 12y ago
    Yeh always wondered about that. There are a few 24 hour gas stations in Dublin, Ireland that give discounts to on duty officers so it attracts them to be there through their night shift to reduce robberies. But as you said, if they're there, they're not somewhere else. Clever for the gas station, but not so much for everyone else methinks
  - danielki 12y ago
    I'm surprised you needed just one off-duty officer at the 3rd and Pine location. I've eaten there a couple of times and it's quite the experience. Was it still known as Crackdonalds back then? I can't imagine meth was a big enough thing 20+ years ago that you'd also hear it called Methdonalds?
    - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
      It was better and worse, we had two floors back then, I worked at night (going to UW during the day), so most of the customers were homeless...no drugs that I could tell, but lots of booze. Some great people to work with, though (mostly from the Philippines). Also, it was never boring.
techsupporter 12y ago
Apparently it's either legal or at least accepted in Whataburger country (Texas). Stores there offer free meals to anyone in uniform--police, firefighter, EMS, security guard, military, nurse, etc--eating in the restaurant.
- seanmcdirmid 12y ago
  If everyone got a 50% discount, there would obviously be no problem. If the criteria was unrelated to any ulterior motives (you just have to be uniform), then that seems fine. It is only when providing a discount to a government employee with the expectation of a special benefit that would not be conveyed otherwise...
PudgePacket 12y ago
In most states in Australia McDonalds stores give a 50% discount to police. It's at the discretion of each store though it seems to be the standard, at least from every situation I've seen.
caw 12y ago
Some departments explicitly don't allow discounts, but a lot of others will allow discounts only if they're offered at the time of service. They can't ask for the discounts, but if they're offered they can accept.
akgerber 12y ago
The NYPD is definitely prohibited from discounts: http://gothamist.com/2012/07/19/days_of_discounted_chipotle_burrito.php http://gothamist.com/2012/07/19/days_of_discounted_chipotle_...

hnriot 12y ago

this was the case in Chicago in the 20's too - except then they called the protection rackets the mob.

yourad_io 12y ago
The difference is that these stores volunteered. EDIT: How is the mob parallel applicable in this scenario? The stores voluntarily give them a discount hoping for more frequent police presence there (on breaks, etc). Nobody's threatening the stores to give them a discount, "or else". Did you think this was a bribe to ensure speedier "service" by the Police if the need arose? I don't get it.
- arjie 12y ago
  > Did you think this was a bribe to ensure speedier "service" by the Police if the need arose? Not to enter the argument about whether it's a protection racket (i.e. whether it shares many characteristics with the racket of the 1920s), but I think the problem is apparent. Absent incentives, the police would be present evenly according to their estimate of which places they should be at. If incentives did not increase a policeman's desire to be at a store, then providing the incentive would be pointless (and indeed the GGGP comment implies that the purpose of the incentive is to get a couple of cruisers in the parking lot in order to deter crime). The only reasonable conclusion is that these incentives are provided in order to skew the locations at which police would be present. So the issue isn't speedier service. It looks like he's implying that they'd get more frequent visits as a consequence of providing preferential treatment.
ssully 12y ago
Well knowing a few Chicago police officers I can say that a lot of places still offer police discounts.

jessaustin 12y ago

I don't mind the discounts for actual police or sheriffs too much. They conceivably provide some service for the typical business, by discouraging property crime. What drives me up the wall are the freebies the local convenience stores etc. give the highway patrol. Even if one believes that they make the roads safer (I don't), that isn't actually a service of value to a business, so it just amounts to an exercise in badge worship.

waterlesscloud 12y ago
The advantage to the store is that there are law enforcement officers with badges and guns coming into the store at random times, making them much riskier to rob. There's two different 7-11s near me, both on a main street, maybe half a mile apart. One has cops in it all the time, for the simple reason they freely allow cops to use their restroom. The other doesn't, and there are never cops there. This being a major city, the one without cops also has panhandlers outside on a nearly constant basis. The one with cops doesn't have any, ever. Interestingly, the one without cops has taxis and limos in the lot late into the night. They never go in the store, they just hang out in the parking lot.
- jessaustin 12y ago
  Hehehe, yeah I've lived in cities so I know what you're talking about. This is a very rural area so panhandling isn't really a thing. Also I've only seen the highway patrolmen taking advantage of this perk around mid-morning, after they've spent a couple of hours preying on people trying to get to work. It's not as if they patrol at night.
tsotha 12y ago
I'm not sure why highway patrol would be any different from local police and sheriffs. In CA, where I live, some people mistakenly think the highway patrol only has jurisdiction over the highways, but in fact they're state troopers with jurisdiction everywhere in the state. If police an sheriffs are good for business, then CHP will be good for business too.
- 12y ago

spyder 12y ago

Another problem with this could be that the nearby stores that don't give discount will get less (or not any) visit from cops.