Mine has been properly tugged and "proofed" many times too, and damn if I can get it past 11 inches!

That's great, most of the time. But for those of us that don't want to make a sandwich 5 hours before we eat it... and then not have it ruined by a 90 minute commute on Metro North and walking through Grand Central... well, let's just say that Subway is convenient. Like any fast food, that's why you buy it.

$5 footlong is hard to compete with even when making it at home

Congrats, Ron! You've managed to take a story about frickin' sandwiches and spin it in a way that lets you make a political comment!

How is it that liberals won the election and yet they're still pissed off?

+1 for Mark. They should call it the "Looks like an Assault Weapon Ban" but that doesn't convince the ignorant into thinking "something's being done!".

$5 footlong is hard to compete with even when making it at home

Unless you are buying all organic from an expensive whole foods store ... no, it isn't that hard at all. Some of the individual items cost more than $5 to buy, but you can make many, many sandwiches out of what you do get. For $10 I can buy a whole loaf of 100% whole wheat bread, a pack of cheese, and a pound of lunch meat at the deli. That's over two weeks worth of sandwiches. Spend another $10 on fixings and you still are spending less for two weeks of food than you'd spend in 4 days at Subway.

The issue is the measurement... A basic tenet of "truth in advertising," is to deliver or provide what one advertises.

If Subway, or any other food company, advertises a "foot long" sandwich, it should measure just over 12 inches - maybe something like 12.5 inches, in order to make sure their product delivers better than what they have advertised.

This is an easy to fix problem; and, Subway can use this situation to their advantage. There can be a very positive outcome for all concerned.

There is something called a "baker's dozen". Its history goes back to 13th century England when bakers could be severely punished if they cheated their customers (hand amputation, for example). Consequently, they would add one more to their dozen bread items (a baker's dozen) to avoid any appearance of cheating their customers. Baking 13 was insurance against "short measure", which is my advice to the Subway organization. Make the sandwiches 13" long to avoid censure.

This must truly be the slowest newsday.

I guess my question is what in the world would possess someone to even bother to measure their Subway sandwich. The reality is that everything about a Subway sandwich is portion controlled except for the toppings. The bread is baked in the store from preformed and premeasured dough. The cold cuts, chicken, steak, cheese, etc. are all portioned out either by exact number of slices that are all the same size or by weight. Whether the sandwich is 11" or 12" or even 13" you are getting the same amount of food. This is a very dumb thing for someone to whine about and it sounds like this was done just to try and take a poke at Subway. And for the record, I find Subway to be a far healthier choice for a fast food meal than most of the other options out there.

The marketing department for Subway used "man inches" to measure their product, duh.....

Wow! Now THIS is a story NOT worth telling! Who cares?!

Food service people are so tight they squeak when they walk, of course this was on purpose, just like a 5 pound bag of sugar became 4 pounds for the same money, and cereal is less by weight, but the box is bigger. The word portion is not a helping, but a way to screw customers. US linear measurement standard is a foot = 12 inches, and since they state that they sell a standard product, cut the bull. I think the government should prosecute the officers and directors of Subway, then immediately remove a limb from their body, each time their product doesn't deliver as stated.

They are just using the same measuring as many other services/goods you pay for. For example;

• When your Internet service provider sells you a 10mb connection speed it rarely actually meets that speed. Usually 7-8mb is about par.
• Ever try to buy to buy that 1 gal of gas? How do you pay the 9/10ths of a cent?
• When you buy 4 dozen shiners for bait, ever count them?

My wife is always telling me It feels an inch or two shorter. Go figure.

Checkout: Subway Franchise RipOff and see what the subway corporates are doing to the Franchisees. Then checkout the measure Ruler on the Sanwich STUFFING; it measures 9 Inches; Great For The Ladies, Bad For The Sandwich.....The subway corporates and fred deluca are liable for this deceptive FRAUDULENT MERCHANDISING. Madame Guillotine......................

You know that the owner of Subway HAS to be a man. Men always lie and say it's bigger than it really is. :)

LOL! Floridanative1955! That's probably how I ended up with a couple of daughters.

Thanks for the giggle!

They have slices of Tomato that you can read the paper through and their "meat" and "cheese" is sliced also thin and you expect them to serve you a 12 inch bun that is about half the actual size they had when they started. Dream on. All business today is how are we going to screw the customer today!

People, people, people, there have been numerous articles over the past couple of years about how food suppliers are keeping their prices the same, but reducing the amount you get for that price so as to avoid the "sticker stock" of a price increase. The Nestles and Hersey companies have been doing this for decades with chocolate, where have you people been? Of course, if you now eat less food for the same price, and Americans are grossly overweight, is that a bad thing?

I guess they'll respond to a lawsuit and have to just call it the Johnny Holmes from now on.

Mr. Corby needs to get a life. Does he weight his grocery products when he gets home from the store, does he check the size of his meals at other restaurants? Or possibly does Mr. Corby have a beef with a Subway employee or was denied a job there?

thinkstraight, I wouldn't be surprised if the guy would simply prefer the extra inch from sandwich bread that WASN'T smooshed, since that's apparently what everyone else who pays the same amount enjoys. For that reason, I'm glad he made a big deal about it. That squished bread looks pretty gross to me.

i work at subway and if the bread is not proofed or pulled the right way it will be short every time the people who are getting short sandwiches from there subway the workers need to take a little more time and do it right or not at all i hate it when one or two stores give u all a bad rap

Guys, Guys,

You know it was a woman bitching about the missing inch, right? LOL You would think after a couple of Saturday night "connections" they would be used to it!!! LOL

Remember the saying - "Sex is like snow, you never know how many inches you are going to get or how long it will last"

thats how subway got the subway spokesperson Jared Fogle to loose all that weight !!! they were ripping him off of all that bread,as well as "cheap on the meat" and cheese/toppings

Hey all, look at tv advertising for: Mc D's, Burger King, Wendys, KFC,,,,,,,etc, for ever. The pictures ALL show more than I've ever gotten!!!!! When was the last time you could see tomato fom the outside of a Wopper? Gotta lift the bun to see anything more than bread. (but the photo in thier advertising sure looks good!) Add meat, lettuce, tomato, cheese,,,,, to get what they advertise. I'd rather have the inside that is advertised than complain about an inch of bread.

Sheetz does $4 footlongs and they're awesome. It's a shame they don't go any further south than North Carolina...

Capn-1- Over two weeks of sandwiches with one pound of deli meat? Personally, I like to have more than one ounce of ham on my sandwich for lunch.

is subway made up of "Politians?"

is subway made up of "Politians?"

Nah, just bragging lover types... Always saying they have more than actual evidence shows...

I measured my foot and was well below elevan inches. If someone had a thirteen inch foot, I still think the amount of salami would be the same as my eight inch foot. But I think out of the box and I always buy more salami.

I believe the problem is in the advertising. In our society we are so quick to defend those who short us simply because "everyone does it." However we have the right as this man has done to ask those responsible to explain the shortage. They do not represent there sizes in small, med, large etc. They were the ones who chose to advertise in inches. Therefore they can not short in inches unless they want to change their ads. It is simple business management that could be remedied easily. Also this is a great opportunity for subway to address the public and put a positive spin on this all while getting free advertising. As for a lawsuit that is a little extreme but the original post only asked for an explanation.

wantnot

My eyes just exploded from attempting to comprehend your comment.

Nothing at Subway is fresh. Tons of false advertising. Do they slice their meat at their stores? No.

Every Subway bakes their own bread, so it is fresh. The buns at a burger joint (BK, McD's, Five Guys, whatever) are not baked in the restaurant.

There's also a very good chance that if you've ever ordered a 6' long for a party that the bread was baked at a Subway as most bakeries and super-markets don't have the correct oven to do so.

Now, I like Subway. I also like Quiznos and Panera. Cosi and Schlotzsky's are okay. Blimpie, Miami Subs and D'Angelo are lousy. To each his own!

Fresh "Baked"

@Mark:

HEY! I like Five Guys! They've got really good fries. :3

And yeah, there's a difference between fresh "baked" and fresh "made". Fresh "baked" means they get the dough and bake it fresh every day, fresh "made" would imply grinding the wheat and...well, whatever the rest of the steps to actually MAKE bread are.

But still, Subway is nothing compared to Planet Sub.

@RJ17: So do I!

I got hooked when I worked in DC/NoVa in the mid 90s and then when they expanded up to CT... well, prayers were answered!

kaleb- is there really a big difference between getting the meat pre-sliced, as opposed to just pre-cooked and needing to be sliced?

If their procedures are still the same as when I worked there in college-

• bread arrives frozen, is proofed and baked in-store
• meats arrive pre-sliced and are assembled into portions in the prep area, or directly assembled on order
• most veggies are sliced in-store, except for lettuce and pickled items
• meatballs arrive frozen, get heated in the microwave, dumped into the sauce, and sit in the steam table all day (depending on local rules)

Blake. Don't be so ignorant please. Learn the difference between "fresh made" and "fresh baked" as there is a huge difference between them.

Kaleb...Wow, really? *Sigh*

Subway is ok but definitely not the best. Like someone earlier mentioned. You can buy the items and make a better sandwich for a lot less money.

Also, after seeing this article, decided to go buy me a sub at local Subway and measure it. Not exactly 12" but damn close or a lot closer then this guys sub.

What people don't realize is Subway can not control everything. They put a procedure in place and it's up to the workers to follow it but not every worker is going to end up with the exact same results. There are to many variables to cause varied results. Surely, America is smart enough to understand this right? But it appears not according to this article and some of the comments.

@mark: really as someone who currently works at a subway to help pay for college, we actually do get fresh stuff so what if we dont slice out meat in the back. there are some subways that can't afford to do that and dont have the space to do it. secondly, our veggies are as fresh as fresh you can get and thirdly, yes our bread is frozen, but we take the proper precautions to make sure that each and every one of our customers is happy and satisfied with their sandwhich. if the bred is not pull and proofed properly then yes it can come up short, BUT this is just about someoen who had nothing else to do then to measure their sandwhich.

@Kaleb: its not false advertisment. not all subways are big enough to cut their own meat and the prep areas are not all that big. how do i know? i currently work at one to help pay for my education!!!! our veggies are as fresh as fresh you can get. our bread may be frozen, but we do everything the proper way to make sure that our customers are happy and satisfied with their sandwhich. this is just an article about how someone had too much time on their hands and measured it just for the hell of it.

Bravo, rkaralius, Bravo!

I agree with rkaralius, no one takes "Footlong" sandwich as some acurate length measurement, because bread expands during baking, so the size of the bread is never exact. For the same amount of dough, the larger bread only means more air was produced in the dough. So the "footlong" is only meaned to give people a general idea what the sandwich will look like. One inch differience in length is reasonable.

Actually, I believe it is women that want one more inch!

You mean women. LOL!

women have been living with "really it's twelve inches" for a long time

rick & Fla- maybe Crucie knows what he is talking about.

why women cannot become surveyors? all their life they have been told by men this _____________— is 6 inches!

Now they have to deal with the 12 inch myth of Subway? LOL

Not true. Women find it uncomfortable if you bottom out.

"Long and thin goes way in and brings forth many babies;

but its short and thick that does the trick that gives pleasure to the ladies".

Larry is right. Hubby and I have to be a bit cautious in certain positions. Me yelling and jumping away kinda hampers the mood. (not painful, but certainly doesn't feel good)

Maybe if they just rub it a little?

SHRINKAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The dough comes to Subway frozen, but the employees thaw, stretch, proof, and bake it, so no, that is not the case.

Shrinkage is all over the food industry. 8 oz yogurt now 6 oz. 7 oz tuna cans (enough for 2 people) now down to 5 (1 not enough, 2 too much). I actually saw a "gallon" of milk that held only 124 fluid ounces - definitely false advertising no matter how you pour it.

I'm surprised the food industry is so opposed to going metric. Given how many fellow Americans can't count by tens, metrication would give vendors a whole new way to shortchange customers :)

but "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."

if they have policies in place then why wasn't it prepared properly? you can say it was one employee somewhere but it's obvious that that's not true since someone else posted a picture too. i've never had one that i thought was actually a full foot long. the whole thing is ridiculous but responding with "we have policies for that" when they are obviously not being followed is just plain dumb and a way of saying "we don't care". they should simply put footlong in quotes on their signs meaning it's not actually 1 foot long.

I'm sure Subway cares a great deal; but it's not always easy to get the actual employees to follow suit. You can have the best policies & procedures in the world, but you might also have employees that are too lazy or too disinterested to actually follow them.

"I'm sure Subway cares a great deal"

...about their bottom line. Customers? Not so much.

hockeymom, that was kind of my point. and if you and i know it then so do they and to say that they have policies and procedures in place to insure something when there is proof that they aren't working is basically a blow off.

just wondering!!! has anyone decided to compare and measure subs from other places that claim foot long?

you also have to consider the fact that that bread could have been thrown in the oven during a rush right out of the proofer. they do have policies to keep it in place, but its not easy to always abide by them when in the middle of a rush!!!!

Actually, if the employee you get is following the rules, there's a certain number of pieces of meat, cheese, and most toppings that are supposed to be put on each sandwich. You might end up with 10% less condiments or lettuce.

they have certain oz portions or as in meatballs, a certain number no matter if it is 11 or 12 inch bread. same with cheese. now when it comes to the toppings they have a certain amount they put on it they just stretch it out to cover the bread. in the subway in my town, they will give us extra on the veggies if we ask for it. as far as the bread..i would think it weighs the same, but of course the arguement is it doesn't reach 12". As for me i would like to know, is this an industry standard? because just about every sub place says foot long or 12" I would be interested to know if the others are doing the same. I would go research it myself but i live a long way from any other sub place.

Actually, it was a formatting error:

"Subway did not proved comment in response to emails and voice messages left by TODAY left emails and voicemails for Subway, to which the company did not provide comment in response."

Which, in itself, is not any better. Journamalism, yay!

Ben Popken is a lazy writer.

Ben Popken is NOT even a writer.

That could be true, but how did he parlay that one commercial into a whole chain of jewelry stores? Man that guy is smart!

*proofread*

Watched a special on MSG where half the room eating had MSG and the other half did not. After eating they were told that MSG was supplied to half the diners. Of course some people complained of headaches and other such concerns. Of course these were the people who did not eat the MSG. I'm not sure how healthy MSG really is except for the fact when word get's out then it's bad. Sort of like pure salt is not good for you but damn good on certain foods.