Robert C.
Yelp
OK, anybody who's still awake after the political conventions knows that Subway has been offering a $5 footlong for the past two months since late June, 2020.
You can't just buy one sandwich for $5. You have to buy 2 sandwiches for $10. Not all stores offer the deal. No advertising on the walls or storefronts of the offer. You cannot get the deal in person.
You have to order and pay online in advance, to find out if your store offers the deal. There is no list of stores to tell you which store has the deal.
Even picking a location can be tricky, as the store nearest to me is on El Camino Real in Sunnyvale. There are three Subways along a three mile stretch on El Camino Real in Sunnyvale. Pick the wrong one, and it's a long walk from my house, as I found out the hard way! You have to know the exact address. How many cities have three Subways on the same street?
Went to the website, picked a location, and started to fill out an order for 2 sweet teriyaki chicken sandwiches. Picking your sandwich is tedious, as you have to go through some 15 choices: sandwich meat type, bread, cheese, toasted, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, cucumbers, pickles, green peppers, purple onions, banana peppers, pickles, jalapenos and sauce.
There is a default sandwich, but it includes sweet onion sauce and excludes banana peppers and pickles. I once went with the default, and my sandwich was drowned with sauce by an overzealous employee.
Long and convoluted ordering system on the internet, : name, e-mail, cell phone number, credit card holder, billing address, credit card number, expiration date, and CVV required. Almost as tedious as filling out a state unemployment benefits application form.
Why all these obstacles? The store owners claim to lose money on the $5 footlong, so they aren't anxious to sell to you. Just like Costco's $5 48 ounce cooked rotisserie chicken, which loses money. No $5 foot long advertising on the windows. But any deal that the store loses money is too good deal for a cheapskate like me to pass up .
This store is newer than the other two Subways on El Camino Real, with the first yelp review in 2009. Very clean, with only five tables, one bathroom, and one set of electrical outlets for charging your phone/laptop near the bathroom. During the pandemic, no dine in, and restroom locked for customers. Before the pandemic, hard to find a parking spot on the weekend, with the busy next door hair salon.
The web site says the 2 for $10 deal ends soon. Normal price for a foot long sweet onion teriyaki sandwich is $9.59 plus 9% tax in Sunnyvale, compared to $9.25 plus 4% tax in Honolulu, and $8.59 in mid town Manhattan New York City. When was last time you saw fast food more expensive in CA than Hawaii?
Yes, Marianne W of NYC, Subway is 13% more expensive here than where you live.
Val Y of Honolulu complained that they don't get the 2 for $10 deal in Hawaii. When you order two onion chicken teriyaki sandwiches in Hawaii, you get $4.50 off the second sandwich, a BOGO half off.
Sept 1 update: the 2 for $10 offer expired August 31, 2020, but I got my money's worth. Since June 26, I have more than ate for Val Y of Honolulu, or Vic E of Anchorage, with 7 orders of 2 for $10 deals, including 5 orders of 2 for $10 deals in August alone!
New deal for September: buy two footlongs, get one free. Now how many people order three footlongs!?