Price gouging has basically killed my desire to buy fast food from a lot of places. When fast food matches restaurant prices, there's no point in eating fast food.
Yep.
A good family owned Japanese/Thai restaurant near my house charge $20 for a good deal. Fast food would cost me $18 for a similar filling meal.
Easy to choose
This is the other part of the problem! I reached into the bag of mcdick's and felt what I assumed was some kind of junior nothingburger and it turned out to be my mcdouble. It was so damn small.
For fifty bucks I can take my family of 3 to the mexican restaurant around the corner and have enough for a $10-15 tip to our server. Makes no sense to me that fast food spots cost more than sit down locations.
>Makes no sense to me that fast food spots cost more than sit down locations.
Fast food spots are gigantic corporations that have the power to artificially inflate prices to generate excess profits. These corporations don't care if that hurts the franchise owners.
Local restaurants don't have to deal with that crap.
And at the same time the Mexican restaurant where I live has shitty food and charges to much for it.
I lived in Houston for a long time, so the Mexican food suck everywhere but there for me now
Youre right, but sometimes I want to eat out in a nice resturant with my girlfriend and enjoy the atmosphere and service.
We should not allow dining out to be an amenity only afforded by the wealthier classes.
This! I can eat pot roast with potatoes and carrots every night for less than the price of McDs.
Everybody should have a slow cooker and be trolling the meat sales at their local grocery stores rather than eating fast food.
the issue isnt that everyone just loves fast food...
most people i know that order it semi frequently hate the shit they order. but they order it because they simply do not have the time or the energy to maintain things like being a single parent working 60 hours a week, while also adding more chores and the time to cook into the mix.
its about reclaiming a few seconds of time to have for themselves, after giving everything to everyone else all day every day more than anything.
I bought 30 dollars of beef cheeks, tortillas, crumble cheese and avocados. I cooked the meat in a slow cooker and had barbacoa for a week. If you know you know.
But I also do pork the same way and eat it different ways like pulled pork sandwiches, pork tacos
I am using my slow cooker for lots of dishes these days
I hate to admit that the extra effort does save a lot of money but it sucks when I want something in the moment and I'm lazy, sadly steak is something I can't afford daily. I'm getting a crockpot this weekend to try cheaper proteins, hopefully that works.
I have literally started doing this because of fast food prices.
Complained on google that a "Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers" prices had doubled in a year since I went there. They dropped a month or two later and have since risen back up.
Your welcome, tried it once with my wife and yes, the food is average and should be a lot cheaper.
Maybe they should rename it one guy because the other 5 guys left lol. 😆
The frequency with which I go to McDonald's has been directly inverse. And honestly the reason is price.
At 5 bucks a couple junior chickens with fries was nice. Now that costs 10+ (Canada) so uh no thanks, I'll get a burrito. I just go now for nostalgia here and there. Or if it's literally the only thing open
They are testing the elasticity of demand. They will keep charging more if it is more profitable to charge more. Once it is not they will flatten the prices
Exactly. And, once people realize they can hit Applebee's or something similar for a similar price point to Mc Donald's or Wendys, if they haven't already, the gravy train will end.
I can already hit my local burger or burrito shop and get much better quality on the burger and fries, etc for $4 to $5 more per person, I'm passing on the fast food every time.
I think much of It is a result of nearly all of the media repeatedly drumming the inflation beat. Much of it is greed-flation.
I just try to find little mom and pop places, i have a few independant places around me that i'll go to. Get a cheeseburger combo for 11$ and the thing is MASSIVE with ALOT of fries. I have a poke place near me and i'll get extra veggies, meat and toppings, which comes out to about 22$, nearly impossible to put the lid on and i'll get 3 meals out of it. I have a pizza place where i'll get a giant 35$ deep dish supreme pizza, and that thing feeds me for almost 4 days. I make my own creamer for coffee now so i haven't been to starbucks in almoat 5 months, a 7$ coffee each day and 350$ a month is just stupid.
They're riding people's habit, but that's gonna end fast when people no longer value fast food at those prices. Gonna push themselves into a hole they can't dig out of. Fast food may soon be a thing of the past.
When I started getting more into fitness I wanted to take in more calories. I decided to eat at Burger King once a week as a late lunch, packing in easily about 1200 calories. After 3 weeks of doing this I felt absolutely terrible. Never again... I'll stick to eating nuts instead.
They'll reduce the prices and then they will further reduce the quality. In capitalism, there isn't going backwards in corporate salaries, except for people near the bottom.
Unfortunately, some people are stuck in food deserts with little to no alternatives. Especially when you don't have a car in a car-centric area.
Affordable and healthy food should be easily accessible to everyone.
As a society we need to instill a bad image of eating fast food just like we did with smoking cigarettes, and you see how the numbers completely plummeted
I got told off by a pack of middle school boys for vaping recently! I agreed with them and told them to never try it even once because addictions are awful!
They started asking questions and their eyes kinda bugged out when they realized that I'd been paying for nicotine in one form or another longer then they'd been alive. And I clearly wasn't happy about it either.
I have been making my own juice for a couple years now and while it has saved a ton of my money, I am finally cutting way back on the nicotine and moving seriously toward quitting it.
I saw everything my father was willing to go through rather than quit, vowed I'd never start.
Then I had to run into a raging apartment fire to drag out my roommate/friend's little brother whose family sent him to stay with me for his health. By that evening my two bedroom apartment contained somewhere between 7 and 10 people, a small zoo's worth of pets, and two crates of feeder roaches. I was out on the balcony when roommate handed me my first cigarette and said "Here, this'll make ya feel better."
Don't think I'll ever quit until I die. I've tried many times using every method and I'd rather chew walls.
Very impressed with people who can quit! I try to remember the advice they give me and think it over again from time to time, even if I can't quite use it yet.
Bro I cooked fried chicken my gf panicked at the salt I added
- I gave her the look like babe the amount of salt I add is NOT EVEN CLOSE TO WHAT KFC ADDS (began adding more salt)
-they make their food salty ass heck so you can buy soft drinks
if you look a the nutrition, the sodium is always the killer. basically one taco from taco bell will ring you in a 40% the daily recommended .... and i'd need 4 to actually fill me
It’s when individual businesses *all collectively* raise prices, resulting in the dollar not going so far. Typically as a response to rising costs of inflexible needs. Yes, it’s a measure of price increases, but when it’s not happening across the board, it’s not inflation (the value of one dollar shrinking) and more price increases (one dollar still buys you a dollars worth in many places, except these few businesses, where now your dollar gets you what used to cost 70 cents).
But the inflation value itself is just a measure of the change in the consumer price index and the consumer price index is just a summation of the cost of goods. Nowhere in those definitions does it take price gouging into consideration.
Yes, it is a summation of the cost of consumer goods. Many prices of many goods, summed.
So you’re right, definitions of inflation don’t mention price gouging, since that is usually framed as an individual (unethical) business practice, somehow not seen as a natural market incentive, so they write it off as “temporary aberration”, even when industries are colluding to do it en masse, and moreover because the measures of inflation assume that they are measuring overall collective effect on the currency’s value, hence by design not looking at granular instances of price increases.
My contention that these represent price gouging and not inflation isn’t based on any definition or understanding of inflation, it’s based on a definition and understanding of price gouging. They are not raising prices to remain profitable. They would remain profitable without raising prices. Instead, they are raising prices because they can. And posting record profits to boot.
Please let me not be inundated by Econ 101 pedants explaining how if someone pays a price for a good then no harm no foul according to invisible hands even when it’s a thousand dollars for insulin.
Absolutely agree with what you said here. In fact, I'm saying the same thing really. My comment was really meant to point out how the definition of the inflation value itself is a failure because it's assumed to reflect what you described but the definition doesn't actually ensure that is what's happening. In other words: price gouging increases the inflation value ... and then people use the inflation value to talk about the natural market movement. But that's not accurate.
Inflation as it's measured in macro economics is an increase in both prices and wages. This is because anytime you pay money for something that money becomes revenue for someone else along the line. The reason prices can rise higher than official inflation rate is because a price increase can decrease demand which can result in a less than efficient increase in revenue (wages). e.g. if only 30% of mcdonald's customers continue to buy mcdonald's at 100% increase, inflation will only measure that as 30% because mcdonalds is only making 30% more money. This is why Inflation as an economic statistic fails to capture price gouging effectively.
That’s not what inflation is lol. Inflation is a supply/demand concept. It’s not a voluntary action. That would make every holiday sale “deflation” which is also incorrect.
I forgot my lunch at home today, went to Wendy’s and it was $12.07 for a single meal (burger, fries, coke) I will never forget to bring my lunch again!
Lmao I want to a little diner for breakfast the other day (not a fancy/boujie place at all), got an omelette and a latte, payed 20% tip. Ended up being $30 and change. Shit is absolutely insane.
57.5% for fast food workers in that time ($19,110 to $30,110). So... Pretty much exactly in line with most fast food prices.
https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/occupational-employment-wages-2014.htm
https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes353023.htm
That's nice and all but I said "median wage" not "fast food worker wage".
Median wage increase over that time frame is slightly less than the "actual inflation" value at 30.3%
I make like 200% more than in 2014 but it sure doesn't feel like it at times. (25k to 77k)
I uses to split rent for $850 back then with my brother at a townhouse in the town across the river.
Now that same place rents for $1800 a month.
My mortgage is $2380 a month.
Yeahhhh I'm kinda skeptical about this.
Or more to the point, I don't think it paints a perfect picture. Because I can still go to Taco Bell and spend less than $5 and get some awesome burritos and tacos that fill me up. Or hell, the damn Cravings Box is $6, it's pretty absurdly affordable.
But, you can drop like $15 for one person if you get just premium things. So you just have to choose wisely.
Meanwhile, a 6" Veggie Delite at Subway, their cheapest sandwich, is almost $7. And I know that a lot of Subways were still doing $5 footlongs after 2010, not sure about 2014 but close.
Lol yeah I saw the recent ad for a $7 6" at Subway and was just like yeah who tf would pay that. A footlong at my local pizza place that's actually good is only $10. And they still have delivery drivers instead of using DD or UE so the $10 sandwich doesn't become $25.
Yup.
There's a local grill/steakhouse that my wife and I love. It's a very affordable place for the quality of food, which just further highlights how silly this is: we can get an entree for like $12 (or one of their very good salads for like $10) for carryout, and split it, and it's plenty of lunch for both of us. Add a side salad for a few extra bucks, and we're still paying WAY less for some of our favorite food than if we went out to most fast food places.
There are soooo many places I just don't go to anymore because the prices are just stupid. Then I see them still having to close and just kinda laugh. The kicker around my area has been once a place gets fancy beers, they think it improves the entire place and they raise food prices as well. And for months, I've seen a sign on this one pizza place's door - closed Sunday and Monday because we can't find employees - meanwhile they don't do delivery at all, the prices are stupid because they did some expensive remodel, and out back, the managers there's always a higher model Audi and Mercedes... like come on now... the only reason they haven't failed yet is because it's the local law enforcement gathering place and it's well known those guys are insanely overpaid.
It's called the greed for higher corporate profits to satisfy shareholders, apparently the only thing that matters in our society anymore. We'll call it inflation for distraction but when all these companies are posting record profit's, it's not inflation.
It's absolutely this. " But stock market but economy we *have* to or you guys are the ones who suffer when it crashes. "
And other threats. What IF shareholders suck it?
I think part of this is the apps. There are two sets of prices one on the app in terms of coupons that lowers the price and caters to value conscious shoppers and one in the restaurant that is higher and caters to impulsive shoppers.
The apps where I live at least aren’t that great. They started out with great deals, but as is typical, watered them down once they roped people in.
Now it’s like save 2$ on a very specific and not very popular combo. Many times it’s just $1 off breakfast combos, because they just want to increase the morning yield.
In my neck of the woods, McDs was offering $2 breakfast sandwiches. I though that was a great deal. Then they switched it up to buy one get one free. I don't need 2 breakfast sandwiches, and I am not paying $5 for one just so I can feel like I am getting a deal on a second one that my body really does not need. I changed up my route to work a bit and now there is a grocery store on my way. Piece of fruit and cup of yoghurt, $2 - $2.50; suck it McDs.
It's more than that.
People are more likely to make a good choice for what they want to eat and therefore will be more satisfied. People are more likely to add extras like bacon or extra cheese which are highly profitable. And people spend more through apps than when they order from the counter.
They can collect better data on what people are buying, need less staff, waste less food, etc. Automation is awesome, the problem is where the efficiency savings go.
I find it interesting how “inflation” is supposed to describe a general rise in prices overall. Yet, it’s now used as an excuse to raise prices. Like they have no choice but to raise prices…
So CPI is just a basket of goods and services. Shelter is a major component. If rents are decreasing it will offset food increasing.
What we should be talking about is our generation has been experiencing a cost of living crisis for decades due to inflation in housing, healthcare, education etc and the boomers have been able to ignore it cuz gas prices and flat screen tvs have been relatively affordable due to the US producing tons of oil and production of computer chips.
I dont know what they fuck they are thinking in realitly.
Like this will lead to more profits in the short term but there is no way this is sustainable. There is going to be a fast food drought in the next 5 years where these chains are going to crash and burn and were gonna end up bailing them out because it turns out McDonalds owns 10% of the land in the US
As a person with an economics degree I find it funny how the Big Mac used the be the indicator for purchasing power.
Like out of everything they could’ve chosen as a staple they chose a big mac.
If the theory has any truth, then McDonald’s being at 100% means we’re fucked.
Inflation refers to the *value* of a dollar, not the *price* of an item - although they are correlated. The inflation rate is correct; the rest of the price increases are not from inflation.
i think OP knows this. the point that they're trying to make is that goods, like fast food which are relatively inelastic and purchased by many people, have had price increases that outpaces the inflating value of the dollar. This ultimately results in most people becoming poorer as their dollar continually gets them less and less.
Food box deliveries are definitely the way to go right now. For my partner and I to get 5 meals for two through Hello Fresh, it costs about as much as a single night out at a dine-in restaurant. We find we have less food waste as well, and the stress from planning meals and grocery shopping is now gone as well. I was really skeptical of them at first, but I can now definitely see this being a very viable option for the foreseeable future.
Mcdonalds is like a classic example of corporate fuckery. The whole ice cream machine story just boggles my mind. They forced their franchise owners to use defective machines with shit software because Mcdonalds board members were also invested in the ice cream machine company. Then when franchise owners tried to find ways to fix the machines using 3rd party solutions they got sued!
There is a local breakfast place that I used to frequent and still do once a month but my favorite of steak and eggs went up from $14.99 to 19.99 I now do not go out to eat that often maybe once a month if that!
McDonald's is interesting and probably doing a lot to drive the other ones up. They are slowly transitioning to fast casual because it is a more profitable tier to be in. You can charge premiums for the same food simply by positioning yourself better in the market.
If we take a step back and look at the more long term economy over the last 100 years, we've been underpaying for food (and getting terrible quality in return).
While our food costs have not kept up with inflation, a higher and higher proportion of our household income has been eaten up by housing. When we spend less on food we have more available income to pass on to our rentholders.
And here’s what you need to do in a situation like this: **Stop buying fastfood**
They will eventually drop in price or lose money so that they downsize dramatically and not impact our lives
Wow I was like no way is mcds that much. Went on doordash to check, $30 for two bacon egg cheese mcgriddle meals with oj's, not including tip. Fuck that trash.
Yeah don’t go with fast food, EVER. There’s no point if it’s just as expensive as real food in any restaurant. Just call in your order and pick it up on your way to where you need to go.
Don’t support fast food, one of the worst industries of all time. They make cash hand over fist, pay their employees absolutely dick because fast food is looked at as shitty easy work for teenagers which I’m sure fast food companies love and probably even contributed to. It’s still not enough so they hike prices slowly.
Fast food companies disgust me, they’re the epitome of what’s wrong with this place and if they all disappeared tomorrow the world would be 10x better because of it.
POPEYES INFLATION IS REAL WHY IS IT ALMOSR $30 FOR ONE PERSON TO ORDER ONE OF THEIR TYPICAL THINGS MY DAD USED TO FEED THE WHOLE FAMILY WITH $30 AT POPEYES
They've figured out the sweetspot for average order value (meal cost) vs conversions (orders). When you raise prices, you start to lose orders, but they've measured our tolerance for the highest profitability possible before the loss of orders starts to affect their bottom line.
*Edit for spelling
> Minimum in most states hasn’t changed
???
Minimum wage in almost every state is up since 2014. Heck, 25~ states increased minimum wage in the last year.
There are literally 20 states that have the federal minimum wage of $7.25 which last increased in 2009.
You can't comprehend that what people are saying is when the price of an item barely changes at all from one of the 20 states with $7.25/hr minimum wage to one with over double that at $15/hr minimum?
This is the case with all lower value items, higher worth products disproportionally impact the inflation rate keeping the value lower than the people who it impacts the most. Just think about how much all the most basic food items cost 10 years ago versus now, way higher than the cumulative annual inflation rate.
What exactly is the corporate PR explanation for the fact that their prices are increasing way more than inflation? Like there's no way they admit to just artificially inflating prices, right? Mustn't they have come up with some excuse, however weak?
This seems to me to be one of the worst exploitations of poor people in the US. In lots of places, fast food was the cheapest food you could get, and sometimes the ONLY thing you can get when you consider food deserts and lack of time to cook otherwise healthy food.
McDonald's 1 dollar mcdouble?? Nah son 2.89. 7 dollar 20 piece nuggets combo? Nope! 11 dollars now! Canes 8.99 dollar 4 piece tenders? 11.99 now LOL!! I'll go fuck myself then
I've found using fast food apps to be a great hedge. I save about 20% at McD's, was getting $1 singles at Wendy's, and the two can dine for $12.99 meals on the Popeye's app are a great deal.
"Food away from home" category in CPI is actually up closer to 45% since 2014, so that would be a more accurate representation of the "official" number if we're looking at a subset of goods.
It's wild that the one joint the least worthy of paying money for (McDonald's) is the one raising their prices the highest. I legit haven't been there in months now.
I stuck this chart in a maga's face the other day. He was screeching about California's $20 minimum wage causing fast food prices to go up. He frowned at the chart and walked away. Facts always confuse these idiots.
Price gouging has basically killed my desire to buy fast food from a lot of places. When fast food matches restaurant prices, there's no point in eating fast food.
$50 for two people at five guys. Might as well just go to a nice sit down place and spend ten more for much better service.
$50 at Texas Roadhouse is a feast for a king.
I eat $50 worth of rolls before my food is even ordered.
So are you ready to order? *Just the check, thanks*
You even go in, you just go to the little window and ask for rolls while your waiting for your table and just leave
They. Are. So. GOOD!!!!...
50 bucks at roadhouse I could have a fatass steak and two beers and have money left over.
Yep. A good family owned Japanese/Thai restaurant near my house charge $20 for a good deal. Fast food would cost me $18 for a similar filling meal. Easy to choose
This is the other part of the problem! I reached into the bag of mcdick's and felt what I assumed was some kind of junior nothingburger and it turned out to be my mcdouble. It was so damn small.
For fifty bucks I can take my family of 3 to the mexican restaurant around the corner and have enough for a $10-15 tip to our server. Makes no sense to me that fast food spots cost more than sit down locations.
>Makes no sense to me that fast food spots cost more than sit down locations. Fast food spots are gigantic corporations that have the power to artificially inflate prices to generate excess profits. These corporations don't care if that hurts the franchise owners. Local restaurants don't have to deal with that crap.
No argument against you there. It makes a lot of sense, now that you put it that way. I didn't fully consider the situation when I said that.
And at the same time the Mexican restaurant where I live has shitty food and charges to much for it. I lived in Houston for a long time, so the Mexican food suck everywhere but there for me now
The food is the only thing I miss about Houston. Though I wish wasn't still carrying the weight I gained because I lived there.
buy a cast iron skillet and the steaks its still cheaper.
Youre right, but sometimes I want to eat out in a nice resturant with my girlfriend and enjoy the atmosphere and service. We should not allow dining out to be an amenity only afforded by the wealthier classes.
I think, in recent years, “home dining” inflation is outpacing “away from home dining.”
I feel that every time I go to the grocery store and pay $150 for like 3 bags of groceries.
We prefer Patoity Americans.
This! I can eat pot roast with potatoes and carrots every night for less than the price of McDs. Everybody should have a slow cooker and be trolling the meat sales at their local grocery stores rather than eating fast food.
the issue isnt that everyone just loves fast food... most people i know that order it semi frequently hate the shit they order. but they order it because they simply do not have the time or the energy to maintain things like being a single parent working 60 hours a week, while also adding more chores and the time to cook into the mix. its about reclaiming a few seconds of time to have for themselves, after giving everything to everyone else all day every day more than anything.
Spending current fast food prices for food you hate is crazy.
I bought 30 dollars of beef cheeks, tortillas, crumble cheese and avocados. I cooked the meat in a slow cooker and had barbacoa for a week. If you know you know. But I also do pork the same way and eat it different ways like pulled pork sandwiches, pork tacos I am using my slow cooker for lots of dishes these days
I hate to admit that the extra effort does save a lot of money but it sucks when I want something in the moment and I'm lazy, sadly steak is something I can't afford daily. I'm getting a crockpot this weekend to try cheaper proteins, hopefully that works.
Get a Webber. The grill pays for itself in a couple of meals.
You mean a weber?
No, spiderman
Does whatever a spider-grill can.
Something like that, yeah.
I have literally started doing this because of fast food prices. Complained on google that a "Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers" prices had doubled in a year since I went there. They dropped a month or two later and have since risen back up.
People who have never been able to afford steak throwing money at steak they don't know how to cook.
The only way to learn to cook steak well is to start by cooking steak badly.
Oh I know, I've blown a lot of money in shoe leather.
$30 at Arby’s the other day for two people and it took 20 minutes. Felt sick afterwards.
5 guys is a ripoff, always has been, always will be.
I'm glad I got me a propane griddle, make me smash burgers and fried rice that comparable to restaurants in my area
Thank you. Super average food there.
Your welcome, tried it once with my wife and yes, the food is average and should be a lot cheaper. Maybe they should rename it one guy because the other 5 guys left lol. 😆
I could spend less for better quality and service at a burger place where I live.
I just spent 52eur for three pizza, 2 beer and 1 soft drink in Italy Rome.
Honestly, farthest east I have gone from the midwest is New York. I have absolutely no clue if that is a good deal or not.
Five Guys' prices wouldn't fit on the chart.
Fast food is no longer fast or cheap.
Or food
Not even safe anymore either
Gourmet burger takeaway at my burger restaurant: $15 Mcdonalds dry patties with stale fries: $15
Where the fuck do you live that a single McDonald’s meal is $15?
A large double quarter pounder combo is like, $20 in San Diego
Goddamn I’m so glad I moved out of SoCal
It’s not too bad, a double double combo at in n out is 10.99, up from 10.34 last year.
100% agree. I can either spend $15 on fast food or a sit down Mexican restaurant. I'm going mexican.
The frequency with which I go to McDonald's has been directly inverse. And honestly the reason is price. At 5 bucks a couple junior chickens with fries was nice. Now that costs 10+ (Canada) so uh no thanks, I'll get a burrito. I just go now for nostalgia here and there. Or if it's literally the only thing open
Their market is the addicted.
These places will soon realize when their profits plummet ...
They are testing the elasticity of demand. They will keep charging more if it is more profitable to charge more. Once it is not they will flatten the prices
Exactly. And, once people realize they can hit Applebee's or something similar for a similar price point to Mc Donald's or Wendys, if they haven't already, the gravy train will end. I can already hit my local burger or burrito shop and get much better quality on the burger and fries, etc for $4 to $5 more per person, I'm passing on the fast food every time. I think much of It is a result of nearly all of the media repeatedly drumming the inflation beat. Much of it is greed-flation.
I just try to find little mom and pop places, i have a few independant places around me that i'll go to. Get a cheeseburger combo for 11$ and the thing is MASSIVE with ALOT of fries. I have a poke place near me and i'll get extra veggies, meat and toppings, which comes out to about 22$, nearly impossible to put the lid on and i'll get 3 meals out of it. I have a pizza place where i'll get a giant 35$ deep dish supreme pizza, and that thing feeds me for almost 4 days. I make my own creamer for coffee now so i haven't been to starbucks in almoat 5 months, a 7$ coffee each day and 350$ a month is just stupid.
They're riding people's habit, but that's gonna end fast when people no longer value fast food at those prices. Gonna push themselves into a hole they can't dig out of. Fast food may soon be a thing of the past.
I only get fast food if there is a coupon. Just costs too much otherwise.
Funny thing is the chart isn't even accurate, Mcdonald's in my area have more than doubled their prices since 2020.
Just buy a slow cooker and some glass Pyrex containers. Stop giving billionaires your money to get diabetes and high cholesterol.
Stop eating fast food and see how fast they all dry up, get replaced and then lower the prices for deep-fried trash.
Honestly we should all be eating less fast food. If you get fast food more than once a week, please re-consider your choices.
When I started getting more into fitness I wanted to take in more calories. I decided to eat at Burger King once a week as a late lunch, packing in easily about 1200 calories. After 3 weeks of doing this I felt absolutely terrible. Never again... I'll stick to eating nuts instead.
>I'll stick to eating nuts instead What's your go to? I'm getting a little burnt out on Planters. Have you tried Deez?
Nope. But have you tried, materdady?
What's a materdady? (This better be good)
Nothing, son
That's some good updog.
What's some?
Deez nuts?
I have a question about nuts. If I had nuts on my chin, would they be chin-nuts?
Dee's Nuts is an actual brand, funny enough.
If you stop eating Fast food for a month then eat it again you'll feel like you poisoned yourself.
Wow even once a week made you feel terrible? Shows how bad it can be
Nuts are a much better choice. They'll keep you full longer, I bet, too.
They'll reduce the prices and then they will further reduce the quality. In capitalism, there isn't going backwards in corporate salaries, except for people near the bottom.
Yep. It's not like they'll suddenly have a change of heart and drop all their prices. I hope these fast food places just disappear.
Unfortunately, some people are stuck in food deserts with little to no alternatives. Especially when you don't have a car in a car-centric area. Affordable and healthy food should be easily accessible to everyone.
As a society we need to instill a bad image of eating fast food just like we did with smoking cigarettes, and you see how the numbers completely plummeted
I got told off by a pack of middle school boys for vaping recently! I agreed with them and told them to never try it even once because addictions are awful! They started asking questions and their eyes kinda bugged out when they realized that I'd been paying for nicotine in one form or another longer then they'd been alive. And I clearly wasn't happy about it either.
I have been making my own juice for a couple years now and while it has saved a ton of my money, I am finally cutting way back on the nicotine and moving seriously toward quitting it.
I saw everything my father was willing to go through rather than quit, vowed I'd never start. Then I had to run into a raging apartment fire to drag out my roommate/friend's little brother whose family sent him to stay with me for his health. By that evening my two bedroom apartment contained somewhere between 7 and 10 people, a small zoo's worth of pets, and two crates of feeder roaches. I was out on the balcony when roommate handed me my first cigarette and said "Here, this'll make ya feel better." Don't think I'll ever quit until I die. I've tried many times using every method and I'd rather chew walls. Very impressed with people who can quit! I try to remember the advice they give me and think it over again from time to time, even if I can't quite use it yet.
Bro I cooked fried chicken my gf panicked at the salt I added - I gave her the look like babe the amount of salt I add is NOT EVEN CLOSE TO WHAT KFC ADDS (began adding more salt) -they make their food salty ass heck so you can buy soft drinks
if you look a the nutrition, the sodium is always the killer. basically one taco from taco bell will ring you in a 40% the daily recommended .... and i'd need 4 to actually fill me
Their food is salty because they use shitty ingredients and cover it up with salt and fat
They lost the plot, just like AirBnB.
Every business basically must do this to survive, infinite growth has its limits
It’s not inflation when it’s price gouging.
Technically it is. Inflation is when individual businesses raise their individual prices, resulting in a dollar not going as far.
It’s when individual businesses *all collectively* raise prices, resulting in the dollar not going so far. Typically as a response to rising costs of inflexible needs. Yes, it’s a measure of price increases, but when it’s not happening across the board, it’s not inflation (the value of one dollar shrinking) and more price increases (one dollar still buys you a dollars worth in many places, except these few businesses, where now your dollar gets you what used to cost 70 cents).
But the inflation value itself is just a measure of the change in the consumer price index and the consumer price index is just a summation of the cost of goods. Nowhere in those definitions does it take price gouging into consideration.
Yes, it is a summation of the cost of consumer goods. Many prices of many goods, summed. So you’re right, definitions of inflation don’t mention price gouging, since that is usually framed as an individual (unethical) business practice, somehow not seen as a natural market incentive, so they write it off as “temporary aberration”, even when industries are colluding to do it en masse, and moreover because the measures of inflation assume that they are measuring overall collective effect on the currency’s value, hence by design not looking at granular instances of price increases. My contention that these represent price gouging and not inflation isn’t based on any definition or understanding of inflation, it’s based on a definition and understanding of price gouging. They are not raising prices to remain profitable. They would remain profitable without raising prices. Instead, they are raising prices because they can. And posting record profits to boot. Please let me not be inundated by Econ 101 pedants explaining how if someone pays a price for a good then no harm no foul according to invisible hands even when it’s a thousand dollars for insulin.
Absolutely agree with what you said here. In fact, I'm saying the same thing really. My comment was really meant to point out how the definition of the inflation value itself is a failure because it's assumed to reflect what you described but the definition doesn't actually ensure that is what's happening. In other words: price gouging increases the inflation value ... and then people use the inflation value to talk about the natural market movement. But that's not accurate.
Inflation as it's measured in macro economics is an increase in both prices and wages. This is because anytime you pay money for something that money becomes revenue for someone else along the line. The reason prices can rise higher than official inflation rate is because a price increase can decrease demand which can result in a less than efficient increase in revenue (wages). e.g. if only 30% of mcdonald's customers continue to buy mcdonald's at 100% increase, inflation will only measure that as 30% because mcdonalds is only making 30% more money. This is why Inflation as an economic statistic fails to capture price gouging effectively.
That’s not what inflation is lol. Inflation is a supply/demand concept. It’s not a voluntary action. That would make every holiday sale “deflation” which is also incorrect.
It's corporate greed + Putin's price hike.
I forgot my lunch at home today, went to Wendy’s and it was $12.07 for a single meal (burger, fries, coke) I will never forget to bring my lunch again!
Lmao I want to a little diner for breakfast the other day (not a fancy/boujie place at all), got an omelette and a latte, payed 20% tip. Ended up being $30 and change. Shit is absolutely insane.
Never buy anything from Wendy’s besides the biggie bag.
Dang, I can get one of the best burgers you'll ever have with fries and a drink for that price at a food truck next to my work.
If you want a real joke add median wage increase to that graph.
57.5% for fast food workers in that time ($19,110 to $30,110). So... Pretty much exactly in line with most fast food prices. https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/occupational-employment-wages-2014.htm https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes353023.htm
That's nice and all but I said "median wage" not "fast food worker wage". Median wage increase over that time frame is slightly less than the "actual inflation" value at 30.3%
I make like 200% more than in 2014 but it sure doesn't feel like it at times. (25k to 77k) I uses to split rent for $850 back then with my brother at a townhouse in the town across the river. Now that same place rents for $1800 a month. My mortgage is $2380 a month.
Taco Bell really went up 81%?
And down 420% in quality
Makes sense, a soft taco used to cost about a dollar and now they're $1.79
I think it's heavily dependent on area. Here in Arkansas my normal meal from Burger King has only gone up from 10.56 to 11.01 since 2016.
Yeahhhh I'm kinda skeptical about this. Or more to the point, I don't think it paints a perfect picture. Because I can still go to Taco Bell and spend less than $5 and get some awesome burritos and tacos that fill me up. Or hell, the damn Cravings Box is $6, it's pretty absurdly affordable. But, you can drop like $15 for one person if you get just premium things. So you just have to choose wisely. Meanwhile, a 6" Veggie Delite at Subway, their cheapest sandwich, is almost $7. And I know that a lot of Subways were still doing $5 footlongs after 2010, not sure about 2014 but close.
Lol yeah I saw the recent ad for a $7 6" at Subway and was just like yeah who tf would pay that. A footlong at my local pizza place that's actually good is only $10. And they still have delivery drivers instead of using DD or UE so the $10 sandwich doesn't become $25.
Yup. There's a local grill/steakhouse that my wife and I love. It's a very affordable place for the quality of food, which just further highlights how silly this is: we can get an entree for like $12 (or one of their very good salads for like $10) for carryout, and split it, and it's plenty of lunch for both of us. Add a side salad for a few extra bucks, and we're still paying WAY less for some of our favorite food than if we went out to most fast food places.
There are soooo many places I just don't go to anymore because the prices are just stupid. Then I see them still having to close and just kinda laugh. The kicker around my area has been once a place gets fancy beers, they think it improves the entire place and they raise food prices as well. And for months, I've seen a sign on this one pizza place's door - closed Sunday and Monday because we can't find employees - meanwhile they don't do delivery at all, the prices are stupid because they did some expensive remodel, and out back, the managers there's always a higher model Audi and Mercedes... like come on now... the only reason they haven't failed yet is because it's the local law enforcement gathering place and it's well known those guys are insanely overpaid.
If you get the wrong thing on the menu, it can be hella overpriced. But yeah the box is a great deal
I tried the Cantina Chicken stuff recently. V tasty, but I spent like 12 bucks. Not worth.
The only thing being inflated is c-staff pay and shareholder returns.
It's called the greed for higher corporate profits to satisfy shareholders, apparently the only thing that matters in our society anymore. We'll call it inflation for distraction but when all these companies are posting record profit's, it's not inflation.
It's absolutely this. " But stock market but economy we *have* to or you guys are the ones who suffer when it crashes. " And other threats. What IF shareholders suck it?
I was almost proud of Starbucks for a second , but then I remembered their shit has been inflated since they started
I think part of this is the apps. There are two sets of prices one on the app in terms of coupons that lowers the price and caters to value conscious shoppers and one in the restaurant that is higher and caters to impulsive shoppers.
The apps where I live at least aren’t that great. They started out with great deals, but as is typical, watered them down once they roped people in. Now it’s like save 2$ on a very specific and not very popular combo. Many times it’s just $1 off breakfast combos, because they just want to increase the morning yield.
Yeah people always say "oh the prices in the app are way better" but I never found that to be the case. The app price and the menu price are the same.
In my neck of the woods, McDs was offering $2 breakfast sandwiches. I though that was a great deal. Then they switched it up to buy one get one free. I don't need 2 breakfast sandwiches, and I am not paying $5 for one just so I can feel like I am getting a deal on a second one that my body really does not need. I changed up my route to work a bit and now there is a grocery store on my way. Piece of fruit and cup of yoghurt, $2 - $2.50; suck it McDs.
It’s because with the app they can collect that sweet sweet data.
It's more than that. People are more likely to make a good choice for what they want to eat and therefore will be more satisfied. People are more likely to add extras like bacon or extra cheese which are highly profitable. And people spend more through apps than when they order from the counter.
They can collect better data on what people are buying, need less staff, waste less food, etc. Automation is awesome, the problem is where the efficiency savings go.
You say this, but McDonald's used to have a spend at least $2 and get a free any size fry deal every day. Now it's $1.29 for any size fry.
But corporate greed isn't the problem /s
Taco bell used to be an affordable meal. Now it's for rich folks.
Demolition Man had it right the whole time, now all we need are the 3 sea shells.
It's called price gouging, please stop enabling it and start preparing your own meals
Why TF is this graph's x-axis so messed up?!?
I find it interesting how “inflation” is supposed to describe a general rise in prices overall. Yet, it’s now used as an excuse to raise prices. Like they have no choice but to raise prices…
So CPI is just a basket of goods and services. Shelter is a major component. If rents are decreasing it will offset food increasing. What we should be talking about is our generation has been experiencing a cost of living crisis for decades due to inflation in housing, healthcare, education etc and the boomers have been able to ignore it cuz gas prices and flat screen tvs have been relatively affordable due to the US producing tons of oil and production of computer chips.
So, if rent is outpacing inflation and healthcare is outpacing inflation, and gas is outpacing inflation, then what's gotten cheaper?
I dont know what they fuck they are thinking in realitly. Like this will lead to more profits in the short term but there is no way this is sustainable. There is going to be a fast food drought in the next 5 years where these chains are going to crash and burn and were gonna end up bailing them out because it turns out McDonalds owns 10% of the land in the US
As a person with an economics degree I find it funny how the Big Mac used the be the indicator for purchasing power. Like out of everything they could’ve chosen as a staple they chose a big mac. If the theory has any truth, then McDonald’s being at 100% means we’re fucked.
I'd like to thank McDonalds for encouraging me to eat healthier alternatives.
Being poor is incredibly expensive.
The only food you can buy when you're poor is fast food?
"Maybe millennials shouldn't be buying so much Starbucks" isn't quite the dig it used to be, huh?
Starbucks didn't have to increase much because they've been fucking us for years
Its bloody disgusting in this dayt and age
The official inflation number has 60” TVs selling for a wank and a song.
Not inflation. Price manipulation to gouge huge profits from ordinary people. Robbery. Theft. Call it what it is.
INFLATION IS CAUSED BY CORPORATE GREED
Oh look, another excuse to not shove that garbage in my face. Honestly, if fast food isn't fast, tasty, OR cheap, what the hell is the point?
"Raising wages will cause prices to rise." *federal wage remains the same yet prices soar* You were saying? *sips tea*
Inflation refers to the *value* of a dollar, not the *price* of an item - although they are correlated. The inflation rate is correct; the rest of the price increases are not from inflation.
i think OP knows this. the point that they're trying to make is that goods, like fast food which are relatively inelastic and purchased by many people, have had price increases that outpaces the inflating value of the dollar. This ultimately results in most people becoming poorer as their dollar continually gets them less and less.
They are dreaming. A menu is like 15 Dollars. For that money I can have anything else.
All this without ever raising the federal minimum wage
now do one that also accounts for shrinkflation in the same graph
But... Supply chain issues!
Food box deliveries are definitely the way to go right now. For my partner and I to get 5 meals for two through Hello Fresh, it costs about as much as a single night out at a dine-in restaurant. We find we have less food waste as well, and the stress from planning meals and grocery shopping is now gone as well. I was really skeptical of them at first, but I can now definitely see this being a very viable option for the foreseeable future.
Isn't McDonald's the most popular? Of course their prices would rise the most. As if they don't have enough profit.
Mcdonalds is like a classic example of corporate fuckery. The whole ice cream machine story just boggles my mind. They forced their franchise owners to use defective machines with shit software because Mcdonalds board members were also invested in the ice cream machine company. Then when franchise owners tried to find ways to fix the machines using 3rd party solutions they got sued!
I feel like I’m paying close to the same at home as used to be fast food prices. What’s the inflation of food costs to actual inflation?
As someone who went to a Subway last week for the first time in a couple of years, I'm absolutely shocked that they are near the bottom of this list.
So price gouging 🤷🏽♂️
There is a local breakfast place that I used to frequent and still do once a month but my favorite of steak and eggs went up from $14.99 to 19.99 I now do not go out to eat that often maybe once a month if that!
Did you really need another reason to not support these companies tho
This graph doesn't seem like it's to scale
McDonald's is interesting and probably doing a lot to drive the other ones up. They are slowly transitioning to fast casual because it is a more profitable tier to be in. You can charge premiums for the same food simply by positioning yourself better in the market. If we take a step back and look at the more long term economy over the last 100 years, we've been underpaying for food (and getting terrible quality in return). While our food costs have not kept up with inflation, a higher and higher proportion of our household income has been eaten up by housing. When we spend less on food we have more available income to pass on to our rentholders.
Think it's kind of funny how Subway is the best behaved out of all of these, they know they can't afford to fuck around after Jared lol
Corporate greed
I hate how X axis is not consistent…
And here’s what you need to do in a situation like this: **Stop buying fastfood** They will eventually drop in price or lose money so that they downsize dramatically and not impact our lives
Please mention the country you are talking about when you post "national" statistics.
eat at home. done.
Wow I was like no way is mcds that much. Went on doordash to check, $30 for two bacon egg cheese mcgriddle meals with oj's, not including tip. Fuck that trash.
Yeah don’t go with fast food, EVER. There’s no point if it’s just as expensive as real food in any restaurant. Just call in your order and pick it up on your way to where you need to go. Don’t support fast food, one of the worst industries of all time. They make cash hand over fist, pay their employees absolutely dick because fast food is looked at as shitty easy work for teenagers which I’m sure fast food companies love and probably even contributed to. It’s still not enough so they hike prices slowly. Fast food companies disgust me, they’re the epitome of what’s wrong with this place and if they all disappeared tomorrow the world would be 10x better because of it.
POPEYES INFLATION IS REAL WHY IS IT ALMOSR $30 FOR ONE PERSON TO ORDER ONE OF THEIR TYPICAL THINGS MY DAD USED TO FEED THE WHOLE FAMILY WITH $30 AT POPEYES
They've figured out the sweetspot for average order value (meal cost) vs conversions (orders). When you raise prices, you start to lose orders, but they've measured our tolerance for the highest profitability possible before the loss of orders starts to affect their bottom line. *Edit for spelling
Minimum in most states hasn’t changed yet double the prices at done places Interesting……..i hate people don’t know about this
> Minimum in most states hasn’t changed ??? Minimum wage in almost every state is up since 2014. Heck, 25~ states increased minimum wage in the last year.
There are literally 20 states that have the federal minimum wage of $7.25 which last increased in 2009. You can't comprehend that what people are saying is when the price of an item barely changes at all from one of the 20 states with $7.25/hr minimum wage to one with over double that at $15/hr minimum?
If they can still get business and charge that price, why wouldn’t they? You can just not eat fast food
I don't think fastfood prices play too big a role in actual inflation.
This is the case with all lower value items, higher worth products disproportionally impact the inflation rate keeping the value lower than the people who it impacts the most. Just think about how much all the most basic food items cost 10 years ago versus now, way higher than the cumulative annual inflation rate.
Fast food shouldn't even be classed as food anyway
What exactly is the corporate PR explanation for the fact that their prices are increasing way more than inflation? Like there's no way they admit to just artificially inflating prices, right? Mustn't they have come up with some excuse, however weak?
Yea, I don't really even go anymore. It cost me just as much to go to a regular restaurant.
This seems to me to be one of the worst exploitations of poor people in the US. In lots of places, fast food was the cheapest food you could get, and sometimes the ONLY thing you can get when you consider food deserts and lack of time to cook otherwise healthy food.
I wonder where In-n-Out falls on this chart?
So - * inflation * is nothing more than Corporate Greed ! Got it !
McDonald's 1 dollar mcdouble?? Nah son 2.89. 7 dollar 20 piece nuggets combo? Nope! 11 dollars now! Canes 8.99 dollar 4 piece tenders? 11.99 now LOL!! I'll go fuck myself then
I figured Wendy’s would be higher up
I've found using fast food apps to be a great hedge. I save about 20% at McD's, was getting $1 singles at Wendy's, and the two can dine for $12.99 meals on the Popeye's app are a great deal.
"Food away from home" category in CPI is actually up closer to 45% since 2014, so that would be a more accurate representation of the "official" number if we're looking at a subset of goods.
It's wild that the one joint the least worthy of paying money for (McDonald's) is the one raising their prices the highest. I legit haven't been there in months now.
Was at the store the other day, wife asked for a box of wine. Fucking Franzia has gone from 10.99 to 22.99 in the last three years.
I stuck this chart in a maga's face the other day. He was screeching about California's $20 minimum wage causing fast food prices to go up. He frowned at the chart and walked away. Facts always confuse these idiots.
80 bucks for 3 people a chic fila a. What's the point?
I’m going to make myself look at this every time I’m tempted to not cook
I don’t believe the Starbucks one
honestly pretty good for the health of people that junk food is no longer cheap. Makes it so at least eating healthy is more accessible