ems discounts on food and stuff

jtpaintball70 said:
All the hospitals in ABQ tended to do this. We had two private services (only one did 911 in Bernalillo county, the other was IFT there and 911 in three other counties, only one in the BC funnel system), which one of them was owned by another hospital system in ABQ.

The level 1 trauma center there also does food for EMS crews. Since they all do it I can't see the harm.
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That depends on various contract negotiations.

During Nursing and Respiratory Care Weeks, as well as all the other professionals' "week", vendors of all types including drugs and technology, would shower all the hospitals with food and gifts for the employees of that profession. That has been since considered as against business compliance rules and we no longer see as much as a bag of potato chips even during an inservice from these vendors. It just takes one complaint and there can be much harm coming from it. Considering the money involved from various contracts and patient transports, it just takes one company or an employee to cry foul and that agency will have an investigation on them in no time.
 
My station is close to a Wawa and we get free fountain drinks if we go in with our uniforms. (I only do it on-duty, haven't and probably won't try this off-duty)

The chick-fil-a gives us 50% off if we go in with our crew. There are a few other places that I just can't think of right now.
 
The McD's that sits about 100 yards from EMS Hq and gets all our business, not a dime. The McD's out in the county that we only stop by occasionally, 10% or a free drink (forget which, it's been awhile...<_<) Either way, I don't ever ask. I think if they take it off the tab, great; but I think asking for it is pushy. Just my .02
 
My local (non chain, privately owned) mechanic gives me a huge discount almost all of the time but he is great guy and I also send a lot of people to him. It doesn't hurt that we give him a lot of business as well. He knows that I am EMS because he once asked me about my radio and what our group does, he seemed really impressed so I gave him a few fridge magnets and told him not to hesitate to call us if ever needed. Luckily no injuries at the shop and he supports us which is important.

I also have Pennsylvania EMS plates not because of the whacker in me but rather because I do not run hot (for what to save 5 minutes every 10 miles?) and once almost got towed because I was apparently taking up the spot that a city bus picks up geriatric folk from the building that I was coming out of. Needless to say I was parked maybe 10 feet behind our ALS unit and had on my hazards, so why he couldn't connect the dots is beyond me so now I run with EMS plates and a placard that I display when on an actual call.

Dunkin Donuts once opened back up for me 10 or 15 minutes or so after closing so that we could get a box of joe and some donuts for our group as we were training that night. Even though I didn't get an actual discount it was very cool of him to open back up.

Finally, for kicks I once inquired from the guy who works the counter at a local convenience store who officially gets discounts, since we were rather friendly I was just making conversation as always and he said "hey, aren't you with the FD or something, I always see you with a walkie talkie and sometimes your wearing a uniform?" I told him that I run QRS for a volunteer service and most of the time he either sees me coming back from a call (when late at night) and/or going to take or teach a class at other times, he told me that's cool and coffee is free for me, whoo hooo :)

Other than the plates and my safety vest that I throw on when needed I usually don't identify myself as EMS. I did pick up a "whacker tee" not to long ago to throw on if I am running a call at 3am just to be more easily identified but that is getting off topic.
 
Holy necro thread, Batman.

That being said, it's actually a really good topic.

Around me, there are many places that give discounts. The biggest thing is that you NEVER expect it, but say thanks when you get it.
 
Jon said:
Holy necro thread, Batman.

That being said, it's actually a really good topic.

Around me, there are many places that give discounts. The biggest thing is that you NEVER expect it, but say thanks when you get it.
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I only get annoyed when they give the police discounts and not EMS. Otherwise I don't care if a particular store decides not to give them.
 
Ladies - New York and Company offers 10-20% (think it varies by area) off your entire purchase for EMTs, police, firefighters, nurses and teachers. This is continuous, seems to be nationwide and actually posted on the window of their stores. Make sure you have some kind of agency ID or cert and mention it at the register. Some cashiers seem to not know about it... just ask for a manager or direct them to the big sign on their window.
 
LucidResq said:
Ladies - New York and Company offers 10-20% (think it varies by area) off your entire purchase for EMTs, police, firefighters, nurses and teachers. This is continuous, seems to be nationwide and actually posted on the window of their stores. Make sure you have some kind of agency ID or cert and mention it at the register. Some cashiers seem to not know about it... just ask for a manager or direct them to the big sign on their window.
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Sweet! "Checks new York and company website and sees nothing I even remotely want" .............:/ still nice of them.
 
Grotto pizza in Delaware is half off for on duty. Although it was still given to me years after I left the service I was with down there. They just remembered me. Waitresses always got the tip equal to the full bill
 
Ihop gives discounts to FF and LEO's, not EMS though.

Found this out a couple days ago when a local FD was in there, they were off duty, our waitress brought them their ticket and announced out loud that she gave them their FF discount. She then brought us ours and we got nothing, keep in mind we are in uniform as well, and parked out front in our ambulance.

Me-"Do we get a discount?"
Waitress-"No, sorry, only firefighters and police get it."

I never would have asked, and dont expect it from anyone, but considering she had just given them a discount....I wont be returning to Ihop again.
 
LucidResq said:
Ladies - New York and Company offers 10-20% (think it varies by area) off your entire purchase for EMTs, police, firefighters, nurses and teachers. This is continuous, seems to be nationwide and actually posted on the window of their stores. Make sure you have some kind of agency ID or cert and mention it at the register. Some cashiers seem to not know about it... just ask for a manager or direct them to the big sign on their window.
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I'll look into this. ^_^
 
04_edge said:
Ihop gives discounts to FF and LEO's, not EMS though.

Found this out a couple days ago when a local FD was in there, they were off duty, our waitress brought them their ticket and announced out loud that she gave them their FF discount. She then brought us ours and we got nothing, keep in mind we are in uniform as well, and parked out front in our ambulance.

Me-"Do we get a discount?"
Waitress-"No, sorry, only firefighters and police get it."

I never would have asked, and dont expect it from anyone, but considering she had just given them a discount....I wont be returning to Ihop again.
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And this is exactly what annoys me. Like there is something about police or firefighters that makes them deserving of discounts (usually its just police), and us not, considering that in many areas police make a good bit more money than EMS personnel and we are far more likely to be sent on a call in the middle of eating.
 
Here in MD, all of the Panera's give 50% off to Fire/Rescue and PD. Some require uniform, others will give you the discount by flashing a Fire/Rescue ID. I have received a free extra slice of pizza at a local pizza chain numerous times.
 
jjesusfreak01 said:
I only get annoyed when they give the police discounts and not EMS. Otherwise I don't care if a particular store decides not to give them.
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I used to be an Explorer for one of the fire districts around where I live, and I remember a few firefighters mentioned (fairly often) that the Chick-Fil-A near one of our stations would give police officers free food, while firefighters and EMS didn't get a discount. Anyways, they always said that if that particular Chick-Fil-A was ever on fire, they'd just tell them to call the police station. :P
 
Most places I go to have no discount policy. Sometimes there's two slices of pizza when I ordered one or the drink doesn't show up on the bill. That's always a nice treat. But I'm not out looking for discounts, I'm looking for good food first and foremost.

JP Licks Ice Cream in metro Boston gives 50% to anyone in some sort of "public saftey uniform" and there ice cream is the best.
 
Andrew said:
I used to be an Explorer for one of the fire districts around where I live, and I remember a few firefighters mentioned (fairly often) that the Chick-Fil-A near one of our stations would give police officers free food, while firefighters and EMS didn't get a discount. Anyways, they always said that if that particular Chick-Fil-A was ever on fire, they'd just tell them to call the police station. :P
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What a horrible attitude to have.
 
For those of you in the Boston area, Randolph Cafe (on rt 28, 1/4 mile from 128) offers a pretty steep discount to on-duty (uniformed) LEOs, FFs and EMTs. It's a nice gig if posted south of the city.
 
Royal caribbean cruise line gives discounts to emts, medics, fire, police, leo
 
LucidResq said:
Wondering if anyone has hospitals do nice things for them during EMS week?

One ER even had a BBQ in their ambulance bay last year.
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Each of our hospitals chefs got together through the week and set up BBQ/food in the ambulance bays. I didn't make it this year, as we had no runs that week (rural service) and wasn't in the area to drop by.

On another note, never really asked for a discount, nor expect one. I pay what ever price they tell me at the register. One time (back in the late 70's), we were eating at Pizza Hut when we got toned out. We were running out the door and told them we'd be back in an hour or so. When we got back, the waitress had put our remaining pizza back in the oven to warm and included a small with our order. Apparently, someone was listening to a scanner and knew we had completed our call and were back in service.
 
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