The idea of PAYD is great, but the way they've implemented it is absolutely terrible.
If you paid for your meal, and then where able to eat/drink as much as before then I think most of the arguments would dissappear. The problem is that the contractors have taken PAYD to mean every constituent part of the meal, ie each rasher of bacon/sausage/glass of OJ for breakfast, as a chargable item. With smaller portions being served you need to add extra items at 7 or 8p a shot to make the meal what it used to be. That seems small, but quickly builds up over time and means an increase in what we spend (if we use the mess for every meal).
If its just treated as a restaurant then the system works great, but isnt the mess meant to be home and not a hotel?