Fiduciary responsibility, number has to get bigger

Maybe they are out of them because some ghoul took all of them to clean their car? One self entitled customer.

I think it's less that we're expected to sympathize, and more just that they've realized enough people will tolerate it. With OP's example, Taco Bell has clearly decided that whatever business they may lose due to people deciding to not go to Taco Bell anymore because of the lack of napkins will be less than whatever they save by not stocking napkins anymore.

And they're right.

Don't get me wrong, it's a shitty thing to do, but between people in general not realizing that this place doesn't even have napkins anymore, and people deciding they still want semi-delicious garbage tacos anyway, they're really not going to see a big dip in revenue. They've simply realized that they really can just make their presented experience a little shittier just to save some money.

Are you sure they didn't just conscript the napkins for TP? It is Taco Bell after all...

Stop your consumerism, vote with your wallet

If you've never operated or owned a restaurant before, it's because the top 3 expenses in a restaurant are: food, labor, and paper. Controlling paper usage helps control costs significantly. That's why.

It’s all disgusting out there.

My wife and I kicked all fast food 2010.

We use a crock pot for beans. Buy tortillas etc. We can beat Taco Bell burritos with zero worry about disease.

We transmuted our disgust for corporate hegemony into carefully crafted campaign designed to rise above it as much as possible.

And we’re not saints. Still using abuser Amazon because fuck. But we try and I ride right in by fast food faces feeling so good not to give them an effing dime.

Its hard to believe a fucking nobody bank like SVB collapsing could do this.

Taco Bell will just put out a "napkin tipping" jar and blame lack of tips for not providing napkins.

It's a pretty complicated economics question why inflation is happening. They're working on it by adjusting interest rates, I guess.

As for why the average American isn't doing so well, it's basically the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer. If this same inflation was happening with a 70's distribution of wealth (and IIRC it actually did) it wouldn't be fun but it wouldn't be pushing so many people to the brink, either.

Shareholders. Part of me thinks they see the writing on the walls of climate change and want to just get the most they can out of the rest of the short time we have left.