I would be happy to pay 1 Franc for a jug of tap water. Someone has to get it and clean up after me. If I was a restauranteur I would let the waiters keep the 1 Franc as a small extra paymet.

But the difference being that a glass of tap water would cost the restaurant about 0.0001chf.

Would be a heck of a lot easier than goin gto the ladies room and drink from the tap (or toilet)...
Wonder how long it will take them to do like some restaurants in canada and give away free coffee... Mmmm coffee

i see, one never stops learning. i always thought that, by law, they have to provide it for free.
i have never been paying a cent for it, must have been friendly restaurants so far.

Free tap water would be nice but I'd even be ok with a nominal charge such as 50 cents (rappen) for a glass.

You should have to pay a small amount like 1chf but only once per table. So you can drink more after that and they don't keep charging you.

Hmm, most places I go to I tend to get tap water for free especially if I am ordering wine and no other drinks. However, say if I was with a colleague and not hungry at all and not really wanting calories and not a cent to my name (has happened!) then, I'd be begging for that 50 rappen to go to the toilet instead of having tap water! ha ha.

Really, tap water should be given just as you sit down and not have to be asked for/demanded, those restaurants I love to tip well and go back often. Ah, but most of them are Italian and not in this country!

No it does not. A restaurant has a lot of fixed costs, rent, salaries... and investments as the chair you sit on. They typically have limited space and need to transfer a piece of those fixed costs on each customer.

If you have a 40 CHF steak, I guess the restaurant should be able to give you some water for free. If the core business is selling drinks on a terrace in summer, a law that enforces free tap water could really harm the business.

I don't know how "many" years ago you first came here but water used to be free until not so long ago, and still is in a majority of restaurants.

As always with "free" stuff/services, a lot depends on the attitude the customer shows... there were only a few occasions that I had to pay for the glass of water with my coffee...

... or language which you speak on arrival to the restaurant.

Still could understand money making scheme in commercial restaurants around Switzerland, but charging 0.40 CHF for glass of tap water at company's local cantina is radiculous. I never order a drink with my meal just a cup of soup, as 2-5min later I can use the soda/water or cofee/tea machine available near my desk. Just the thought of charging for it makes me stop being thirsty.

Wow - I had to count and realized that it was 27 years ago! Maybe a pitcher of water would have been free when I first came here, but no one ever dared to ask for tap water in a restaurant because it really wasn't the done thing. The Swiss are much more relaxed about these things now then they used to be.

One thing that I've noticed is that I usually get a free glass of water in the German speaking part of Switzerland when I order coffee but not in the French part.

I meant the actual cost of 50cl (or whatever) of water from the tap, not including the mark-up.

restaurants pay for tap water, so why should they give it for free (except as a gesture of good will)?

Here is a very good, very reasonably price restaurant in Thalwil that by default puts a pitcher of free tap water on the table.

http://www.tisch55.ch/restaurant/

Menus start at 13 CHF.

exactly as that, a gesture of goodwill. For me, it has a lot to do with hospitality. I'll have wine or beer with a meal, but will usually ask for a glass of tap water to go with it as well.

I don't know being back Stateside, I like the free water, but get very annoyed that they constantly hover over your table refilling it when the volume drops minimally. I find it rather irritating, so sometimes I just refuse the water so I can eat in peace (relatively, as the waiter still comes by every 5 minutes). Service is good, overservice is bad, imo.

I guessed so, but the mark-up is in many cases bigger than the actual costs of a product. How much is a barrel of beer compared to the price you pay for a glas in an average Zurich pub? I read somewhere that by far the biggest margins at McD is on the drinks: Those barrels of sirup that mix with tap water cost near to nothing compared to the price you pay for a paper cup of coke there.

Yes, in McDs the cup, lid and straw cost many times more than the marginal cost of the contents. However the "Coke machines" etc are licensed from coca cola and that costs.

They also pay for electricity, rent, etc, but I don't get a per-usage charge at a meal. Public water is a utility like the electricity.

Charge me for the dinner and drinks. I esp find it annoying when they charge me the same amount for tap water as for bottled water.