Subway's 11-inch Footlong®

Last week, Australian teenager Matt Corby uploaded a photograph showing an 11-inch Subway sandwich. The original Facebook post has since been deleted, but Subway did respond to Corby.

"Hi, Matt. Thanks for writing. Looking at this photo, this bread is not baked to our standards," Subway wrote on Thursday in response to his post.

"We have policies in place to ensure that our fresh baked bread is consistent and has the same great taste no matter which Subway restaurant around the world you visit. We value your feedback and want to thank you again for being a fan."

If it were just one sandwich, the picture probably would not have gone viral, but apparently it touched a nerve with sub sandwich eaters. Quite a few other Facebook users posted similar pictures of a Subway footlong as 11 inches or a bit less. By the time Subway Australia responded in the comments of this Facebook post, they could no longer pretend it was an isolated incident.



So if a Subway Footlong®  is not intended to be a measurement of length, does the same logic apply to a 6-inch sandwich, which is made from cutting a Footlong® in half? And is the ® symbol a new version of "quote" marks in that when you see them, you automatically think that it doesn't mean what the words say?

I have not seen a picture of a 13 inch sandwich, at least not yet. A quick survey of New York City sandwiches found four out of seven at 11 or 11.5 inches.

Some say that the internet uproar over an inch of sandwich is silly. Others point out some of the greater implications of the controversy:

1. Will it still be silly when next year, the Footlong® is only ten inches? Or nine?
2. What if we decided the dollars we pay for the sandwiches are not intended to be a measurement of money?
3. Would it be silly to complain if a gallon of gas were to become 10% smaller?

So what do you think -is this a tempest in a teapot or a place where customers should draw the line?

Regarding the 11-inch Subway Footlong®





"A quick survey of New York City sandwiches found four out of seven at 11 or 11.5 inches."

With all the vastly superior places in NYC to buy a sandwich why would one go to a subway?
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This seems to be happening a lot. I frequent a bar that sells 14 oz pints. Many beers have gone to an 11.2 oz bottle. Sometimes that pound of bacon is only 14oz. What a world what a world.
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Look up the origin for the term "bakers dozen" and you'll see this issue was considered serious enough for the creation of weights and measure laws going back to the 13th century. The penalty for shorting your customers could be losing a hand!
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Don't people realize you are getting the same amount of sandwich whether the bread is short and wide or longer and skinny. Didn't Quiznos have a 12" sub a few years ago [torpedo?] and it was really narrow and small? Damn, we want our inches! The next sandwich place will have an 18" sub that is 1" wide.
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"And is the ® symbol a new version of "quote" marks in that when you see them, you automatically think that it doesn't mean what the words say?" Yeah, sweetie, it's true. That word is "Footlong" (one word) on PURPOSE so that you can't sue them for the fact that it doesn't mean "foot-long." I did a social science project on advertising at the age of 12, and the cynicism has stood me in good stead these last 30 years.
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lets all start complaining about bread that is baked fresh, so subway will follow the other corporations and mass produce the bread in huge warehouses and load them full of persevatives to keep them fresh enough to last until comsuption. If you know what a Tim Hortons store is, you might remember that they used to make all their goods in a kitchen in the back, now everything is mass produced and only defrosted in store.
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None of the poll options represent my opinion of "not a big deal" There are variations when you bake bread, you are not going to get any less meat cheese or other of the main ingredients of your sub because you are missing a half a bite of bread.
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In France I'm pretty sure they have to make loaves a certain size/weight legally. Also, this all natural process is pretty exact if you use exact weight measurements.

I say Neatorama needs to get in touch with Peter Reinhart to make this an interesting bit of investigative journalism.
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