The Sandwich Chain That's Way Overpriced Now, According To Customers

The cost of food is an increasing concern for most Americans, as grocery and restaurant prices alike have risen considerably over the last five years. Even fast food, which was once cheap and convenient, is now the source of rage among customers who feel that the McDonald's hash browns are totally overpriced, and Five Guys is just too expensive. And unfortunately, Subway, formerly home of the Five Dollar Footlong (and one of the worst fast food breakfast sandwiches), is the major sub chain that gives you hardly any bang for your buck these days.

Over on Reddit, the original poster of a thread concerning just this topic told the story of how they were super hungry and had some time to kill, so they popped their head into a Subway to see what the prices were like. "I'm not paying literally [$14 to $18] for a sandwich that was probably baked in a dishwasher," they wrote (a bit of hyperbole never hurt anyone).

Still, most of the comments under that main post agreed, with a few also citing the conditions of many of the stores as another reason to avoid the chain. On another thread dedicated to questioning why Subway is so expensive these days, a Redditor posited that the chain's "price increases outpace inflation," while a separate user felt that Subway made a mistake in initially marketing itself as cheap, and predicted "a [shakeout] of a lot of [Subway] franchisees."

For a while, even as Subway raised its prices, it at least offered a decent rewards program, offering a buy-three-footlongs, get-one-free deal to customers who were signed up for the Sub Club loyalty program. The popular discount, which first appeared in a card-and-stamp form before Subway canceled it in 2005 due to stamp forgery, was brought back in December 2025. But by February 2026, the chain announced it was nixing the rewards perk as of April 1, 2026, and reverting to a system where customers earn points with purchases.

The biggest motivator in this decision actually came from the franchisees of Subway restaurants, who expressed their dislike for the program when it initially rolled out in December. Citing issues where customers could abuse the perks, stacking them on top of each other and receiving a lot of food for not a lot of money, the franchisees felt it would put them in the red before too long. In this case, at least, the squeaky wheel got the grease.

However elated the franchisees were at the announcement, it has angered Subway fans. On a Reddit thread entitled "Subway just horked [its] Sub Club rewards," the OP broke down the math. According to them, the old program gave you back 25% of what you spent; the new one, a mere 5%. "If you don't want to run a rewards program, don't cut it to slivers, just end it," one commenter fumed.