“Even though we’re pushing through pricing, the consumer is tolerating it well,” he said in October analyst call.
normal way to talk about ‘fellow’ human beings
If you have an alternative to McDonalds and you still eat McDonalds anyway, get some self-respect.
I worked for McDs in high school, around 2008. Big Mac meal used to be $6.08 with tax, $1 menu used to be $1.06 with tax. I went the other day and was shocked to see how much everything costs now plus I have to order via a screen (which I find bizarre, but maybe I’m just old now).
I also feel like working there used to be kind of fun. I’d take the order from the drive thru/take the money, kitchen would secretly prioritize drive thru orders (everything is timed), and window person would get the order together. Now it seems like they take 1 or 2 drive thru orders at a time and make the line wait until those are done.
Seems like fewer people working & prices went up - and I’m sure those poor folks working are making minimum wage. It’s just sad all around.
The cool part is I started working there just after you! I started around 2013 and worked there until about 2016 and it was STILL about maybe $7 or $8 for a meal, and the dollar menu was still $1.06
This shit happened during covid and they’re literally only doing it because they can. There have been reports that the current inflation isn’t driven by the state of the economy at all, but just corporate greed.
Don’t waste your time and money guys, you can get food cheaper at the mom and pop restaurants now, and that food is usually at least half decent. When it’s the same price to eat at McDonald’s or a “healthier” place like tropical smoothie or Chipotle, why the fuck would I want to pay for ultra processed sludge
When it’s the same price to eat at McDonald’s or a “healthier” place like tropical smoothie or Chipotle, why the fuck would I want to pay for ultra processed sludge
Yes, exactly. Maybe I just take the amazing variety of local food choices near me for granted, but it just makes no sense to me anymore.
The only fast food I still get sometimes is Taco Bell. Not if I’m in the mood for Mexican, I’ve got a half dozen better places near me for that. Taco Bell is its own genre of food separate from Mexican and Tex-Mex.
There have been reports that the current inflation isn’t driven by the state of the economy at all, but just corporate greed.
Corporate greed definitely exists, but printing $15 Trillion also has an effect.
would secretly prioritize drive thru orders
Fucking knew it! Thanks for confirming
Well metrics are collected for both dining and drivethru but dive thru was always pushed hard as the thing to maintain timing wise. That’s when we figured out the smile button. A no charge but very abusable button that would count as an order. Ring a smile and wait 10sec and clear it. Ring one every 3 orders to be sly to corporate… When your having wait time issues and you could clear them and have them count even before clearimg the order before it. Easy way to knock the occasional 5 to 10 minute order down that skewed my hours metrics.
That’s pretty funny, was ordering a smile actually a thing? What happens?
I think the idea was to add it as an additional argument on the order when when inputting an order as an ask me button or potentially just as a cheeky little Easter egg but it would ring up as no dollar charge nothing more really. But tracking was on individual orders and since you could ring a smile and summit it as a order "pay for it " $ 0.00. And then wait 10 to 20 seconds and you could dismiss the order as fulfilled. Each hand off station in the store has a set of screens that show what the order is and what’s coming next for a couple of orders. You can dissmis orders out of order buy using a keypad. So a small coffee order can be dismissed while leaving the 15 filet of fish order up as a reminder. Any time you would see a order for a smile. You would hunt that order down as soon as you saw it and dismiss it. It became a huge joke about how many smiles per hour were being done during district meetings. Can’t imagine corporate ones.
so you order on a touch screen that has been used by every nosepickin’ customer before you and then chow down on food you eat with your hands? Sounds delicious.
McDonald’s used to be viable because it was shit, but at least it was cheap. Now it’s just shit. I haven’t gone of my own will in years, only with other people who wanted it. $3 for a hash brown is absurd.
No man. McDonald’s used to be cheap, fast and decent. The original burger in 1955 was 15 cents, or about $1.75 today. Don’t forget how far things have fallen lol
It used to be cheap, fast, filling and clean. It’s none of those things anymore.
What’s their value proposition nowadays? Nostalgia?
Just think of all the hundreds of millions of people who won’t be affected by this because they refuse to eat at MacDonald’s regardless of their prices.
I can’t believe that the US Government believes that a little more than two McDonald’s hash browns are worth one hour’s work.
Fuck that. That isn’t dignity.
I’m just trying to pay for housing with my meager allotment of 80 hash browns per week
💀
There’s a burger place near me which makes a great burger - good quality ingredients, interesting toppings, great fries and they’re cheaper than McDonalds. Given McDonald’s prices on ingredients will be substantially cheaper, and their volume higher, this is just pure greed.
I don’t understand how McDonald’s does so well in Australia, since our traditional takeaways do such good burgers and better chips (fries) a home cooked version true to the fish and chip place original
Though my partner prefers the burger “plain” which omits the bacon, egg, and pineapple
My local burger places are just like that. Absolutely bonkers what people with a routine will tolerate if the change is slow.
Some people are open to trying new things, they want the excitement of trying out a new restaurant or take out, they want to try types of food they’ve never eaten before.
Then there are the other type. They behave in the same way as children do, they want what they like, and will not take a risk on something new, even on something as pedestrian as a burger.
This seems pretty black and white. Ironically.
I love trying new food. But sometimes I just want to order something where I know what I am going to get.
You’re bi.
I’ve worked with a 50 year old man that gets upset if there isn’t a nearby Chick-fil-A. He eats the same thing every day. By his other behaviors I assume it’s undiagnosed OCD or something so we don’t give him shit about it.
My former coworker got the exact same thing from chipotle every single day. Nothing wrong with him, just really liked his routine. Some people are like that.
Yeah there is a little drive through burger stand 2 blocks away from me. Amazing burger and fries combo for $11. The only downside is their service is super slow, but that’s a crapshoot at nearly every fast food chain at this point
Yeah there is a great place near me that does a really, really good double with pimento, chili, fresh onion and jalapeno for around that too. 2 people getting food, a loaded fry (that’s actually loaded), and tip is somewhere around $30. I don’t see why I would eat at any fast food chain.
It’s easy to tolerate price increases on products when you don’t buy that product. The thing that concerns me though, is that if people stop buying McDonald’s and instead buy canned beans… is my chili going to get more expensive because McDonald’s wants 3 dollar hash browns? I’m pretty sure the answer is yes.
Pro tip, if you have access to a stove and several hours of free time to spare for cooking-- dry beans are super cheap!
Getting an Instant Pot was my game changer for dry beans.
An InstantPot (or other pressure cooker) can cut that time down quite a bit. I set mine on 40 minutes, but it takes a little while to get up to temp/pressure at the start and at least 15 minutes to slow/natural release the pressure at the end.
Still, dry beans to food in about an hour is great! Also much easier to control your sodium intake, it that’s a concern.
Not sure what I would do or how I made it before I got my Instant pot. Amazing little kitchen gadget.
They won’t tho. If these people could just buy other things they would have already imo. I stopped going to McD’s when their prices got to high for me. That’s why they’re making a big stink about it, because they still want McD’s but don’t want to pay so much.
No Macdonalds is making a stink because it’s now cheaper to make foods at home for their core demographic -poor people. The article says they will drop some food prices accordingly.
the customer is tolerating it well
Sure am! It’s been over four years since I’ve had McDonalds (or any other fast food restaurant). Prices are absurd and the food is meh at best.
Unless pushing back means not shopping at McDonald’s, then it doesn’t matter
i dash. Mcdonalds was dead until they came out with free delivery and a bunch of other coupons again 🇺🇸
I haven’t had McDonald’s in over 20 years, the only thing worse than McDonald’s food that I can think of is home delivered cold soggy McDonald’s. Is free delivery really that appealing?
Depends. You live in a city or larger town and there is various options available? Definetely not.
You live in an area where it is that or the canned ravioli and you are drunk/high/sick/an idiot? Maybe.
You live in an area where it is that or the canned ravioli and you are drunk/high/sick/an idiot? Maybe.
Toaster oven makes some damn nice hash browns fast and for cheap. Buy them in bulk from the frozen section in your grocery store.
Burgers are also pretty easy, smoosh your ground beef into a patty, flip for a few min on a stove, put on bun, cheese, tomato, and a green. Maybe add a sauce like thousand island (looking at you big mac), mayo, or ketchup.
You can have both done well before your delivery driver arrives and spend a fraction of the money.
McDs is one of a handful of optuons I have so I cant really boycott; however, today I found a dastardly trick: the order kiosks suddenly switched medium and large so you will accidentally order the large size. Almost got me, but not quite
Sunday morning, fire up the air fryer and park just outside of McD’s. Selling hashbrowns at $1 a pop.
“Some customers are fed up and pushing back”
But continuing to buy things from them, yeah? Companies are not going to change until people stop buying from them.
Nobody needs McDonald’s. I’m not even sure most people actually want McDonald’s. Just stop going, seriously.
I hate McDonald’s. I eat McDonald’s. If I get into some tiny town or get off work in a tiny town at 11pm or later it’s often the only place open.
What I don’t understand is people who eat there by choice. I sometimes work with a guy who will go to McDonald’s by choice, even with better/cheaper options, three times a day.
I wonder how much of McDonald’s average franchise net income is from road warriors.
God damn. What fucked up nightmare is this if your ONLY choice is this toxic shitty unhealthy food?
You poor fucking bastard. Your health will pay for that in time.
A ton of people work poor jobs or unfortunate hours and have their health suffer for it. No need to rub it in, he clearly doesn’t think it will be healthy.
You can get $1 breakfast sandwiches and $2 mcchicken with free fries in the app. I definitely use it when I want the cheapest lunch or breakfast option
Lol who tf has the McDs app?
Inflation and wage theft are absolutely out of control in this country. I’m a barista. My store makes $1600 in a eight-hour day. Mine and all of my coworker’s wage in there probably adds up to about $50/hour on average. So the profit margin is ridiculous. And these businesses have the gall to think they can make MORE MONEY. No, fuck you. At some point the human beings doing the hard work need to get a bigger cut.
What most irritates me about this - plus layoffs to increase profits- is that the corporate numbnuts overlook the fact that every employee they stiff is a customer. Everyone is someone’s customer. A customer who has a shrinking amount of disposable income to spend on white goods, new clothes, eating out etc. They think hurrah, with AI we’ll be able to sack our creatives! Next thing they’re whining because there are so many homeless people on the streets. There’s a link! It’s exasperating.
make sure you count utilities and rent for the building and supplies etc, its still ridiculous but slightly less so
Not to mention one of those la marcozzo espresso machines cost like 40k
ngl if you think being a barista is hard work you’ve never really worked hard
Ah yes, let’s start belittling people so that the working class continues to infight. Thank you for your contributions to the rich.
I’ve literally worked in the oil field throwing pipe wrenches around, and it was usually easier than what I see some food service employees putting up with lol
It’s brutal. More draining than any other retail job I’ve worked, and I’ve been in warehouses, unloaded trucks. Especially near a airport or hospital some locations do business NONSTOP. And the customers? FIENDING for sugar and caffeine in the form of some obscure, brand new tiktok hack that uses ingredients we probably don’t have in stock and is made the total opposite of how a reasonable person would want it. It’s like any other job, a lot of people DO put in hard work and most of those get nowhere but burned out.
Fun fact: In Germany, the big US fast food companies are in a constant price war. They hand out vouchers at least once a week and offer big discounts online and in their apps. Because if they didn’t their restaurants would be utterly empty. For the price of €12 for a Big Mac menu, I can go straight to a pretty good restaurant and have a Schnitzel with French Fries, a salad and a beer.
Especially Burger King and McDonalds are doing that all day. Subway and KFC a lot less.
Then there are Turkish and German fast food restaurants. They often have prices so low they simply don’t have to lower then to beat the US chains. And to be honest, before I buy a burger for €5 I buy a Kebab or Shawarma which beat every burger in taste and amount of food. German fast food restaurants often sell grilled chicken, all sorts of fish, fried sausages and so on. And yes, we consider Pizza German Food nowadays. And the Italians agree, especially when talking about Pine-Apple Pizza or Pizza with pulled pork. They are usually cheaper than anyone else and the food is huge and easy to eat fast. German Fast Food makes all others look like slow food, you can easily stuff yourself in two minutes.
Some prices:
-The Croatian canteen in our town hall serves good Balkan cuisine from €5. A glass of tap water for €0.50. And it is a nice place, not looking like a canteen at all. Tips are included in these prices.
-I have a ton of vouchers of 50% voucher for Chicken McNuggets, Big Macs and Salads. I don’t visit McDonalds too often as they require to order from a needless complicated touch screen but when I do I sometimes take a voucher “Two Big Macs for €5”.
-a company I work for sometimes orders the “business menu” from Burger King which is something like “20 burgers of your choice and 2kg of fries” for €70. As the boss often invites his worker I am just happy with whatever I get.
-the local furniture store offers 50% vouchers for a a complete fish dish on Friday for €5 in his nice restaurant.
-they also offer Chinese and German Food often at 50% vouchers which equals to €4-€5 for a complete meal. And every day they have some cheap East European soup dishes like Borscht, Flaczki, Gulasch and so on for €2-3 and it is always a HUGE amount of food.
Seriously, if you open your eyes you would be surprised how many really cheap and great restaurants are around.
And to be honest, before I buy a burger for €5 I buy a Kebab or Shawarma which beat every burger in taste and amount of food.
Compared to a BK or McD’s burger then yeah absolutely. But compared to burgers in general? Much closer call. If you haven’t had a really good cheeseburger, then you’re really missing out.
Fast food burgers should have a different name, the difference is so stark.
I know what you mean. A couple of years ago I bought a “Sandwich”. Man, it was THE BEST Sandwich I ever ate. It was just “from Heaven”. It was totally worth €10. And no, it wasn’t from Subway or the Kind. It was tiny Bavarian Restaurant pretty unknown outside its town. To bad it made a GREAT name meanwhile and nowadays charges like twice as much for anything.
And to be honest, before I buy a burger for €5 I buy a Kebab or Shawarma which beat every burger in taste and amount of food
Man, I miss doner kababs so much. I haven’t quite found anything similar back stateside.
A buddy came over here and fell totally for Turkish and Arab food in Germany. Seriously he started to sell Kebab and Döner on the US West Coast and got ludicrous rich. His trick, he doesn’t use Turkish or Arab names for his food. He sells it as “Yummy Wraps” and other fancy names and people stood half around the block to buy it.
Y’all aren’t boycotting?
Idk about boycotting but I’ll tell you that I haven’t had McDonald’s since I went and it was like $20+ for two people for some breakfast sandwiches (meals). I’d rather buy the frozen ones or just have none. Like everyone else, we don’t have a ton of extra money and if we do go out, we want our value for our time.
I got used to thinking about money being time. If you make 15/hr then one meal is roughly one hour. Don’t think of your dollar, think of how many hours something costs.
There was an article on here the other day about the $20 big mac meal. Basically McDonald’s is trying to exploit higher grocery prices, assuming more consumers will go to them instead. But they seem to not realize that charging as much as a douchey hipster restaurant for a burger and fries while being literally on par with frozen food is a losing proposition. It’s like they forgot they’re still in competition with the entire rest of the restaurant industry and that their prices have to stay below grocery prices to be competitive with groceries in the first place.
Hilarious, not gonna lie.
and that their prices have to stay below grocery prices to be competitive with groceries in the first place.
What? You can get enough ingredients to make 4 burgers for that much at a grocery store. You just have to make it yourself. The entire concept of fast food is that you’re paying more for the convenience.
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I was being generous in their favor. Basically steel-manning their argument.
Insane how little it costs to rent a human.
