I worked at an A&W in high school...$1.15 an hour. The guy that owned the franchise was a slave driving skinflint.
The founder/owner of Marion’s Piazza (Dayton OH pizza institution and yes it’s ‘piazza’) used to visit each store to personally collect the coins from the penny gumball machines. Bartenders were instructed to leave at least an inch of foam head on a pitcher i.e. one inch less liquid.
A&W may or may not disappear stateside but here in Canada they’ve been steadily expanding for the last five years.