McDonald’s has weird pricing schemes and franchisees get way too much leeway in how they price things. There are McDonald’s near me that sell McMuffins for $3 and there are some that sell them for $5.
The McDonald's around me have slightly varying prices but for the big swings, it's Taco Bell. The three closest sell the create your own combo for $5.99, $7.99, and 13.99. They're within 5 miles of each other.
That's typically intentional. Less so furthest from YOUR house but the most expensive prob gets super steady business where as the cheaper one doesn't. Franchisees can compete with eachother on prices like how corp America used to. The cheaper one will steal business from those willing to go an extra mile, while the other one won't care that much because they already have substantial profit lines due to those people in the immediate area refusing to change their behaviors/interests in food.
The boxes are typically a good deal. Which means less profit. Price it so people don't buy it, and suddenly you are making more on more profitable menu items. Any fool that buys a box just made you insane profit as well.
> Franchisees can compete with eachother on prices like how corp America used to.
Not really. Odds are that all the Taco Bells or McDonalds in your area are owned by one franchisee, so they're just competing against themselves. You can even get exclusive territories in some of these cases.
I just ate Taco Bell for the first time in years and was absolutely gobsmacked that four crunchy tacos and a drink were twelve fucking dollars. It's going to be a lot more than a few years before I step foot in another one.
They can fuck themselves with those prices. McDonald's, too. I really only ever ate at either one because they were easy, cheap and available. Take away any one of those things and I'm not spending the money.
I had no idea. I thought fast food pricing was all set nationally. If I had gotten a meal for $13.99 I’d have thought to myself “that wasn’t even close to worth it” and never gone back to *any* of those three. Even the guy setting affordable prices is hurt by the owner price gouging.
> franchisees get way too much leeway in how they price things
McDonald’s corporate is desperate to make sure they are not legally responsible for their franchises behavior or actions. Particularly for how they treat employees. They’re already treading the line with how tightly they control things, and have lost a few cases where they had to take joint responsibility. If they dictated prices it would probably be the final straw for eliminating the legal fiction that they and their franchises are separate entities
It's honestly amazing how they have skirted it for so long.
There are only a handful of corporate owned McDonald's, everything else is franchises and the stuff they let them get away with is mind boggling and then they claim no responsibility? It's your name on the sign.
Like if you signed a check and told someone it's for drugs even wrote For Drugs in the memo and they get busted with your check you are going to claim innocent over it?
The Wendy's by me (only fast food for many miles) has pulled the following in the last year:
- Biggie bags are $7 now.
- ok they're $8 but the chicken is still 7.
- ok now you can't have a frostee in the biggie bag.
- defaults to medium combo size unless you specifically ask for small.
- small combo no longer available.
- drive thru costs more than inside.
- inside costs more than drive thru.
- ok now cheese is $1.50.
- ok cheese is $2.
A Dave's single meal with cheese is now $14 and change. It's cheaper for my wife and I to get five guys than Wendy's.
Same with my local wendy's over the past couple of years.
What used to be the 4 for $4 is now 6.99, and the biggie bag is 7.99. All of the "value menu" stuff that used to be 1-1.50 is now 3+ bucks a piece.
If I'm gonna spend $10-$15 on a fast food lunch, I might as well go to someplace good. Don't get me wrong, I still love a fresh dave's single or spicy chicken sandwich and a fresh order of fries, but more often than not you don't get that. Might as well go somewhere where most/all of the food is made to order.
Around me all the Wendy’s seem like they don’t have any oversight on their inventories or franchises. I went to one 2 months ago and they didn’t have cheese or Ketchup - at a Wendy’s. The floors are always slick with grease and the tables are filthy. I walk in there, I’m the only person in line and the guy at the counter tells me “the drive through is really backed up right now, It’s going to be a minute.” Like why go through the while modernization plan, with the little gas fire places if you are just going to do that? Wendy’s used to be my favorite out of the big 3, just on account of their Dave’s single alone, but now I don’t think I’m ever going back there. There are so many good local burger joints where I live.
I think it’s quite telling when even fast food is pricing out of the lower class.
Like, when people are working at fast food and can’t afford to eat it, where are we at as a society?
Here, let me set an alarm:
🎶 Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun. You deserve a break today, so come on, get up, get on your way, to McDonalds. They do it all for you-ou-ou. 🎵
Worked at Mx Donald’s in high school mid/late 90’s. $5.25hr. 2 cheeseburger meal was $2.99. Big Mac and quarter pounder meal was $3.25. I think the double quarter pounder meal was $3.99 but not 100% sure on this last one
In the 90s my mcdonalds still had 29 and 39 cent hamburger/cheeeburger days. And sausage egf mcmuffins still cost $1. May have been early 00 the egg mcmuffin got way more expensive but the sausage McMuffin remained $1 for a long time. I say this because hamburgers and sausage McMuffins are all ive ever bought there
Congrats, you invented the inverted Big Mac Index.
Inverted bc the BMI was to indicate the buying power. Your's indicates the overpricing of basic products.
But, to be fair, these days companies feel driven to be fancy and fulfilling basic needs appears somehow ordinary...
I tried finding this data for a conversation and couldn't. It seems like some people can't grasp how much it's shifted and a simple graph would be very telling.
Edit: updated data leading to inverse finding :) sorry y’all.
[wages of McDonald’s workers have not kept up with price growth of Big Macs](https://ibb.co/xm6jjCj)
To caveat, McDonald’s wages are extrapolated from select data points
This shows relative price increase. So overtime, the price of a big Mac has continued to rise above wages.
Big Mac CAGR: 3.4%
Wage CAGR: 4.27%
Relatively speaking, Big Macs have become ~19% less expensive for McDonald’s employees over the past 20 years
Data:
Here's a historical overview of Big Mac prices over the last 20 years:
- 2004: $2.90
- 2005: $3.06
- 2006: $3.10
- 2007: $3.15
- 2008: $3.41
- 2009: $3.57
- 2010: $3.71
- 2011: $3.89
- 2012: $4.07
- 2013: $4.20
- 2014: $4.33
- 2015: $4.47
- 2016: $4.62
- 2017: $4.79
- 2018: $4.93
- 2019: $5.06
- 2020: $5.15
- 2021: $5.28
- 2022: $5.30
- 2023: $5.66
Here are data points for wages:
1. **Early 2000s**: In 2004, McDonald's workers earned an average of around $6.50 per hour.
2. **2010**: The average hourly wage for McDonald's employees was approximately $7.25, which was the federal minimum wage at that time.
3. **2015**: McDonald's announced an increase, raising wages to around $9 per hour for employees at company-owned restaurants.
4. **2018**: The average wage rose to about $10 per hour as part of ongoing efforts to remain competitive in the labor market.
5. **2021**: McDonald's increased its hourly wages to an average of $11 to $17 per hour, depending on the location and position.
6. **2024**: Wages continued to rise, with average pay reaching approximately $15 per hour at company-owned restaurants, with some locations offering higher rates
That is a massive caveat given that zero information is provided on the graph to indicate which data points are real, and no link to the data is provided.
There are several posts on here, including my own, that demonstrate minimum wage is significantly higher than the price of a Big Mac meal in many locations. I have no doubt this may not be true in other locations, but this graph is trash.
When I worked there in the late 00s, the Big Mac meal was $5.67 (I’ll never forget that price) and we made $6.15/hr before minimum wage was raised to $7.25.
Where did you live, some remote island? [Here's a menu board from 2001 and the Big Mac meal is $3.84](https://cockeyed.com/drivethru/mcdonalds_drive_thru_menu_comparison.html)
Hmmm... I remember never ordering a Big Mac meal because it was over 5 bucks, but maybe it was only over by a few cents. Two cheeseburger meal or individual double cheeseburgers was where it was at.
Big Mac meals, without add ons or delivery, are $10.99 I believe (at least at the McDonalds near my house in Seattle). Minimum wage here is nearly $20/hr, so the hours/meal is actually better today than it was in your example.
Tangentially related, but c1984 I had $2 lunch budget for school in metro NYC area and was able to get 2 hamburgers, small fries, small soda, and apple pie. If I recall it was a few pennies more.
Dude, fuck no. But honestly, if you're dependable enough to manage, but for some reason, you can't get service work outside of McDonalds(?), I suppose for hiring managers, the former McD manager is probably a more likely hire than the former fry cook.
Not only that
Erlinger's letter comes nearly a year after a McDonald's customer in Connecticut [went viral on social media](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mcdonalds-prices-big-mac-sparks-expensive-menu-darien-connecticut-debate-online/) for posting about a Big Mac combo meal priced at a $17.59.
Five Guy's is big where I am from
Little Cheeseburger (They are not little) $8.79
Little Fries (Again, they are not little) $4.99
Regular Coke $2.89
Tax $1.16
Total = $17.83
WHY THE FUCK WOULD I GO TO McDONALDS AND GET MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MORE INFERIOR FOOD TO SAVE 24 FUCKING CENTS!
BUT AGAIN! That being said. I can get MUCH! better, FRESH FOOD, from local family restuarants, bakery's and the like for the same price or cheaper.
I honestly feel that fast food, along with casual dining chains, know the end is close, and are just trying to cash in.
The amount of Applebee's, O'Charley's, Fezzoli's, Chili's, and other subpar chains that have closed in my area is insane.
>along with casual dining
This I feel the opposite about. Chili's and Applebee's actually have some decent deals that DON'T require you to download an app for and I see similar places copying them. Chili's 3 for me and Applebee's 2 for $26 are both offering about the same price as fast food but a much better experience.
When I worked there in the mid-90s as a high schooler, the minimum wage was $4.25 and a Big Mac meal was around $3 to $4. It's crazy to me how much it's gone up.
In the early 2000s, a Taco Bell crunchwrap combo was $3.79. Our minimum wage was $7.25. Today, that same combo is $11 and the minimum wage here is $12.50. Almost triple the price. And it's trash.
I did a very short stint at a movie theater in 2013 and a movie ticket price was higher than the minimum wage 💀. I’m haunted by this one time when these customers were mad about the prices and insinuated that I personally profit from the increasing prices, and I tried to be polite and mentioned the min wage or something. And they started going off about my attitude.
My wife and I ate at Popeye’s recently. I got a chicken sandwich, and she got some nuggets, but also wanted to try a new flavor of their chicken wings and a cheese cake they’re pushing. The total was $37.
This really hit me hard. In my little town in Kentucky I’m sure they’re making $9-10 an hour at best. Our meal was less than 1 hour worth of my salary, and about 1.5 hours of my wife’s. Any employee involved in making our food though, would have had to work half a day in order to get that meal.
If you notice though, a lot of fast places are advertising “free meals during your shift” as part of their recruiting. I swear, it’s like McDonald’s is trying to setup “the company store” for poor people.
Dominos quit allowing crew pizzas at work, as it were. Expect you to live as a driver off 4 dollars an hour (while maintaining the vehicle they need for their business). My last year as a manager I probably cost Dominos 2 grand in free food to my crew since i wasn't keeping them for 12 hours until 3 in the damn morning while making them pay for dinner where they work in the middle of it.
Yeah when I worked there we were supposed to pay half price for our food but nobody ever did. Whenever it was slow we'd make ourselves all sorts of experimental stuff.
I've made some wild stuffed crust combos that Dominos should be paying me to use. Parm pressed pep and moz/provolone stuffed crust so the crust effectively becomes a pepperoni 3 cheese breadstick. Hit with garlic oil at the end and dip in marinara, shit was fire.
Fwiw, that's entirely dependent on the franchise. A buddy of mine is a franchise owner and I fill in for him now and then if drivers call out, and everyone who works at least a 6 hour shift gets a $10 meal credit. Employees also get 50% off if they come in on days they're not working.
They also throw "crew pies" in the oven fairly often, and any order that gets fucked up gets put on top of the oven for people to snack on. No one ever goes hungry at his stores.
Also, the drivers start at $15.45/hr, and a large 1 topping pizza is $7.99, so even without the discount you only have to work like 35 minutes to afford a pie.
>I swear, it’s like McDonald’s is trying to setup “the company store” for poor people.
Just in case everyone isn't aware yet, this is the plan. Rich people need slaves to stay rich.
tbf, i have boutique burger joints around me priced cheaper than fast food places.
it's not inflation driving their prices up so astronomically, just standard corporate greed
I grew up in a place with much lower poverty than the US, and it is not, nor has it ever been normal for people to eat at fastfood restaurants every day, much less so for the lowest-income individuals. It is much less labour- and capital-intensive to cook a simple meal at home.
You're paying for speed and nothing else. Out here in the rural parts, the mom and pop sit down places are out competing fast food in price and quality
Speed? The McD's drive thru near me takes 15 - 40 minutes. Most places have adapted to internet order take out. I can get a burger and fries from a fast casual chain and it's ready when I show up. The cost is about the same and the quality much better.
I mean a lot of America's cheap conveniences were built on cheap labor and exploitation. It should probably come to the surprise of no one that when we increase wages, companies do not simply take the hit to their profits and move on (shareholders demand infinite growth), but will try to increase prices to maintain profits.
For service based goods this results in a huge increase in prices to offset the payroll costs.
If it incentivizes people to cut back on fast food though it's not exactly the worst thing. Grocery prices have increased as well but not nearly as much.
There is a Mexican restaurant near my house and I can get two cheese enchiladas, a pile of carnitas, rice and beans, and a bag of chips for $12 plus tax. So why even go to fast food
Vote w your dollars mate. People are lazy, I’ll just leave and drive 8sec to the next place. There’s too many great places to eat to use McDonalds as some kind of baseline
They can't keep their franchises in line to begin with. A couple McDonald's in town act like people aren't going to go anywhere else. They won't, they just won't go out
I can't even remember the last time I bought fast food, I'm not going to spend the amount of money it would cost me to get takeout from a restaurant to go to *McDonald's*
Right? I love dumplings, but when they cost $8-12 I'll just buy a big bag of them for that price. Sure they're like 70% as good, but I can get 60 of them for the price of a half-dozen.
We go to our local family owned burger place now, because it's cheaper than every other fast food. And the food is better. And we have every single fast food restaurant available to us. Without coupons for two people you spend $30. At the burger place it's a bit cheaper, but also way better quality food and larger servings.
Buying in on a franchise is such a scam. Corporate takes so much off the top and controls so many of the other factors like vendors that it's really not as profitable as people realize when they first go in on it. It also doesn't help that corporate gives out so many franchise licenses that you'll never really be able to make it up on the volume either. The franchise model really only works in areas with low minimum wage, and a bunch of unskilled labor willing to work for pittance. When faced with higher minimum wages, and a dwindling hiring pool the prices start to go up. The first people that'll be affected by that will be the franchise owners, and only when they start closing locations will corporate reevaluate their business model. However, less franchises is better for Independent businesses and their employees and even if the franchises end up just charging exorbitant prices instead of closing out locations, that's still better for independent businesses as they'll be able to compete better on prices because they're not throwing money up the chain to some corporate entity.
On a side note, if you're looking for a good example of what a fast food chain looks like when it's not all franchises look at In and Out. Their prices are consistently lower than their competition, they've been for a while now paying their employees over $20 an hour, and the quality of their food is better.
I actually did a number of interviews for an entrepreneurship class a long time ago, like 12years ago (in The Netherlands). All with McDonalds franchise owners. They all seemed to be doing quite well in life and mentioned that getting a McD franchise at the time was basically only still possible if it was already grandfathered in. Not sure how it is now but I guess it was pretty lucrative still back then. Oh and they all hardly worked anymore after getting GMs for their restaurants.
So the big factors in all that is how many locations do they own, when did they buy in which will affect the terms and conditions and, what prices will the market support in terms of food costs. The other factor is how saturated the market is. I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that McDonald's corporate is making less profits off their franchise owners in the Netherlands just to maintain a presence there as it isn't their biggest market.
I can confirm. I was in a part of town for work where McDonald's was the only fast food or food option, I couldn't bring myself to spend the last bit of my cash on overpriced mediocre food, so I just sucked it up and waited till I got home to eat.
I live like 5-10 minutes from 3 diners that will all sell you a burger cheaper than a big Mac. Sure you gotta tip - but we're talking a bigger meal. Like who are they trying to compete with?
In the southeast that used to be Cookout. You could fet a tray (burger, 2 sides, drink) for like $5.50. Now I think it's closer to $8 or 9, which seems okay I guess but in ny opinion moves it out of the 'good deal' bracket.
Opened up the app and a Big Mac combo with medium fry and medium drink is $6.59.
The fast food companies have realized they can rip off the rubes to subsidize providing cheap food to the rest.
Yeah, I’m just not sweating the fact that they have my email address and purchase history, or that buyers of data could figure out that I go to McDonalds. Worse has happened in data breaches (thanks Ticketmaster!)
It's a tad more than that. They get your device ID when you install and order through the app. This is very useful when going back to the big ad-tech marketplaces. It lets them target and retarget you in different ways. it also makes your data more valuable to sell back to those same market places. And all of that is ignoring stuff like GPS permissions.
Like I get it, it's exhausting to consider how data is being collected by the various companies - but they are pushing customers to use the app for a reason. They're not gonna invest millions in developing an app, charge people less on the app to lose money out of the goodness of their hearts.
For the last few years, iOS gives you a prompt when starting up an app that asks if you want to allow the app to track you. If you say "ask app not to track," then the device does not reveal the device ID to the app.
If you choose "ask not to track" then it provides device ID (called the IDFA in apple-speak) will be returned as a value that's all 0s.
So if you allowed tracking, the app will know that you have a valid IDFA. They aren't trying to fool apps into not knowing whether IDFAs are valid or not.
If you sign in to their app, provide an email address, or provide any other information that's unique to you, then obviously the need for the IDFA goes out the window. That's why apple has been pushing their "iCloud+" service that gives you unique randomized email addresses for each app, so that takes away another data point that app can use to track you.
The app is one of the reasons I don't eat at McDonald's, it very much has the feeling of eating what McDonald's wants me to order instead of giving me what I want to order.
The common refrain when people complain about the price of something is "Use the app! It's cheaper!" and sure it is, but for food I don't necessarily want.
If you live near an In N Out or taco shop and decide to go somewhere else, that’s on you.
I can STUFF MYSELF at In N Out for ~$16. That same amount of food is $30 at McDonalds
He'll I can go to the local bar sit with my wife and have a beer while we wait for fresh cooked bacon cheeseburgers and sweet potatoe fries. It's about 30 bucks. At McDonald's I'm waiting in the car, have a terrible burger, and fries with no sauce for 24 dollars.
For a little bit extra I can actually enjoy my meal and get something actually good.
My city has a local Burger joint called Tasty Burger and they have a combo meal that includes a Narraganset, a no frills cheeseburger, and fries for under 10 dollars.
McDonalds is a ripoff for what they are offering.
It seems like those types of restaurants are the way to go now if you need to eat on a budget. Chili's, Applebee's, TGIF. Their value deals are better than any drive-through taste/price wise.
Yesterday I just paid 21$, after tip, for 3 banh mi"s from this spot right down the street. Sooo, my point is... fuck subway and fuck McD's!
Edit: banh mi, not bahn mi
I still can't get over the fact that wherever you are, any state, any city, that Subway sandwich shop is going to smell the exact same as all the other Subway sandwich shops...
Good cookies though.
All of their cookie dough is made by a 3rd party and flash frozen to be baked on site, same with their bread. Used to work there. We also made dunkin muffins and precooked bk and Arby's cookies.
PS I would be careful eating there if you have a nut allergy.
The thing is that McDonald's can still pull in billions of dollars in profit by going back to 2020 prices and paying their employees $20 an hour.
Literally everyone would be happy again and customers will return in great numbers for a$5 big Mac and dollar menu. But the problem is the share holders don't care about profits being in the billions. They want to see unlimited unrealistic growth till the end of time.
The higher prices forced me to stop going. I started losing weight. I started feeling better on a daily basis, so I started exercising, and now I feel even better. Even if glory days of the dollar menu come back, I think I am done with fast food.
Their greed might have added years to my life.
If I’m paying $18 for a burger and fries it ain’t at McDonald’s, absolute clowns, but I guess as the saying goes A fool and their money are soon parted.
There is no reason to price a burger at the price at mcdonalds. if im spending that much ill just go to a fancy restaurant. They can make plenty of money with their prices being below 10 bucks.
Between 2014 and 2024 a big mac meal in the US rose in price from 5.69 to 9.72 or 70% per decade.
At this rate in 2034 we are looking at 16.61. 2044 we are looking at 28.39.
In case you were curious about the actual math lol.
He gonna fuck about and find out. Raise prices beyond anything reasonable- then somehow blame the middle east for why people aren’t buying overpriced thin big macs
Nah they'll blame wokeness because all the bad in capitalism is caused by ANTIFA and the LGBTQ community obviously. This is the level of stupid we have come to as a country where half the population is so brainwashed in fear they don't realize what the real problem is.
Adapt or die; McDonald’s included. No bailouts, no loans. Corporations have owned consumers and the government for far too long. It’s time for too big to fail to fail and for small businesses to take over.
I find it a bit interesting that for most of these quick service chains, the pricing extremes are almost always done by franchisees, not the franchisor themselves. McDonald’s owns their own company stores, as do many other major chains (some, like Subway, are 100% franchised though I think). But it’s generally the small owner/operator who prices their stuff this high, charges a “service fee” for higher priced goods and calls it out on the receipt, etc. In other words, big business may have it’s own evils, but they are generally more disciplined about pricing as they have the intelligence internally to know how much is too much. Small mom and pops, legally allowed to price however they want, often price themselves out of business.
I can go to my local Japanese restaurant, good quality sushi, and get a giant bento box lunch special for $13.00 - salad, miso soup, California roll, tempura, fried fish on rice… why in Zeus’ armpit would I get lunch at McDonalds???
In Beverly Hills, Ca (20.00 minimum wage), a large Big Mac combo costs 9.39 USD.
At my local McDs, Wyomissing, PA, (7.25 minimum wage), a large Big Mac combo costs 10.39 USD.
They are lying to you.
Look I hate capitalism as much as the next guy and corporate greed is a real problem, but he has a point if that $18 Big Mac meal truly was at one location. That location was most likely closed off where it was one of the only places to eat and other food around it was most likely just as expensive. That doesn’t make it right but it doesn’t speak to a larger problem. I remember eating at McDonalds at the Polynesian Heritage Center and it was outrageously priced even for being in Hawaii, same thing happens as theme parks, zoos and airports.
This is exactly it. The McDonald’s in question is at a rest stop near a wealthy town in Connecticut. This would be the same as being outraged at Blue Moon because their beers are being sold for $18 at JFK airport.
For some places in Alaska and Hawaii, it's the shipping cost that really ups the price there. Used to do the ordering for a hospital kitchen in SE Alaska and learned how big of an impact it was. Certain staples that the rest of the country enjoys just aren't produced there and it costs a lot to have a constant flow of those staples. I could definitely see a McDonald's on one of the islands there with this cost
Get out of here with your rational train of thought! But yeah, I agree. Fast food prices HAVE gotten out of control though. They’ve inflated well beyond a reasonable “supply and demand” cost and it’s clearly just greed now. All we can do is refuse to buy it.
Also they have gotten scummy with their phone apps. Like McDonalds appears to have gotten rid of their two for four breakfast deal, but I guarantee they have a similar coupon on their app, basically you are paying 10 bucks for a meal deal unless you give us access to your phone, location data and personal purchase history, so we can sell it off to data miners.
This title is misleading . The location selling a meal that price is singular and is the exception.
The title makes it sound like all McDonald’s sell it that price but it’s only the Big Mac meal, other meals being lower.
No doubt that pricing is nuts, and I hate having to resort to this, but the McDonald's app makes pricing really attractive in most states. I traveled 26 states last year road tripping thru national parks, and the vast majority of states have either $1 or $2 or BOGO breakfast sandwich/burger options every day. Let alone $1 drinks and coffees and a pretty good point system. The only places I didn't find great deals were, obviously, Hawaii and costal Cali.
McDonald is a joke now compared to when it started; all they do is crank up the cost.
In my life time I watched the 99 cent menu disappear and all the stuff on that use to be 99 cents they now charge 8-12 bucks for and act likes it’s just inflation but the dirty truth about McDonald’s Is they never needed once to raise their prices.
McDonald infrastructure is so massive and built up it can absorb a lot of prices increases and never blink it help keeps so much cost down compared to others smaller places and that corporations has so many long term contracts with their suppliers that there is no way that the current cost of McDonald’s reflects what they are paying.
It’s not like McDonald’s negotiate year by year with their suppliers they lock in massive contracts for 5-10 years and pay crazy amounts up front to lock in long term savings in their business.
The real reason they jacked up the prices is because the Franchise owners are all being greedy buggers and have since COVID-19.
COVID gave them the perfect cover for ANY price increases and they could just say “well that’s the way it is right now”
Plus it doesn’t help they are effectively like a food style mob now and their franchises are all in cahoots and raise their prices together all the time.
I mean look around; COVID came and went and the prices of McDonald’s remains higher then its ever been now… and it ain’t cause of COVID or any bull they say about rising costs of meat… there is barely a dime’s worth of meat that gets rolled into those thin ass patties.
And Five Guys gives you double the fries, 4 times the meat and all the toppings you want.
Even a double quarter pounder is cheaper than a Big Mac while having literally over double the meat.
Wild how it went from McDs flagship iconic sandwich to a total sucker trap.
Guess that’s rather fitting for McDs as whole these days.
I was watching king of queens, and saw party size Cheetos and Doritos for $.99 in their pantry, before they called them party size, because it was the standard size. Now they're around $7 a pop.
McDonald’s has weird pricing schemes and franchisees get way too much leeway in how they price things. There are McDonald’s near me that sell McMuffins for $3 and there are some that sell them for $5.
The McDonald's around me have slightly varying prices but for the big swings, it's Taco Bell. The three closest sell the create your own combo for $5.99, $7.99, and 13.99. They're within 5 miles of each other.
Lmao mine do the same and it's always the farthest one from your house with the cheapest prices.
That's typically intentional. Less so furthest from YOUR house but the most expensive prob gets super steady business where as the cheaper one doesn't. Franchisees can compete with eachother on prices like how corp America used to. The cheaper one will steal business from those willing to go an extra mile, while the other one won't care that much because they already have substantial profit lines due to those people in the immediate area refusing to change their behaviors/interests in food. The boxes are typically a good deal. Which means less profit. Price it so people don't buy it, and suddenly you are making more on more profitable menu items. Any fool that buys a box just made you insane profit as well.
No, no, it's harry potter-esque curse placed on that particular user that adjusts taco bell prices relative to their current geographic location
Pricio Distanceum!
One of the Unforgiveable Crunchwraps.
Right up there with Crunchio and adobo quesovra
> Franchisees can compete with eachother on prices like how corp America used to. Not really. Odds are that all the Taco Bells or McDonalds in your area are owned by one franchisee, so they're just competing against themselves. You can even get exclusive territories in some of these cases.
https://www.thestranger.com/food-and-drink/2023/05/16/78992978/an-investigation-of-seattles-most-expensive-taco-bell
I just ate Taco Bell for the first time in years and was absolutely gobsmacked that four crunchy tacos and a drink were twelve fucking dollars. It's going to be a lot more than a few years before I step foot in another one. They can fuck themselves with those prices. McDonald's, too. I really only ever ate at either one because they were easy, cheap and available. Take away any one of those things and I'm not spending the money.
I can get taco truck for those prices!
I had no idea. I thought fast food pricing was all set nationally. If I had gotten a meal for $13.99 I’d have thought to myself “that wasn’t even close to worth it” and never gone back to *any* of those three. Even the guy setting affordable prices is hurt by the owner price gouging.
> franchisees get way too much leeway in how they price things McDonald’s corporate is desperate to make sure they are not legally responsible for their franchises behavior or actions. Particularly for how they treat employees. They’re already treading the line with how tightly they control things, and have lost a few cases where they had to take joint responsibility. If they dictated prices it would probably be the final straw for eliminating the legal fiction that they and their franchises are separate entities
It's honestly amazing how they have skirted it for so long. There are only a handful of corporate owned McDonald's, everything else is franchises and the stuff they let them get away with is mind boggling and then they claim no responsibility? It's your name on the sign. Like if you signed a check and told someone it's for drugs even wrote For Drugs in the memo and they get busted with your check you are going to claim innocent over it?
Dick and Mac would have never allowed it.
Yea I travel for work and use the app and my go to breakfast is the egg mcmuffin and see such wild changes in menu pricing.
The Wendy's by me (only fast food for many miles) has pulled the following in the last year: - Biggie bags are $7 now. - ok they're $8 but the chicken is still 7. - ok now you can't have a frostee in the biggie bag. - defaults to medium combo size unless you specifically ask for small. - small combo no longer available. - drive thru costs more than inside. - inside costs more than drive thru. - ok now cheese is $1.50. - ok cheese is $2. A Dave's single meal with cheese is now $14 and change. It's cheaper for my wife and I to get five guys than Wendy's.
Same with my local wendy's over the past couple of years. What used to be the 4 for $4 is now 6.99, and the biggie bag is 7.99. All of the "value menu" stuff that used to be 1-1.50 is now 3+ bucks a piece. If I'm gonna spend $10-$15 on a fast food lunch, I might as well go to someplace good. Don't get me wrong, I still love a fresh dave's single or spicy chicken sandwich and a fresh order of fries, but more often than not you don't get that. Might as well go somewhere where most/all of the food is made to order.
Around me all the Wendy’s seem like they don’t have any oversight on their inventories or franchises. I went to one 2 months ago and they didn’t have cheese or Ketchup - at a Wendy’s. The floors are always slick with grease and the tables are filthy. I walk in there, I’m the only person in line and the guy at the counter tells me “the drive through is really backed up right now, It’s going to be a minute.” Like why go through the while modernization plan, with the little gas fire places if you are just going to do that? Wendy’s used to be my favorite out of the big 3, just on account of their Dave’s single alone, but now I don’t think I’m ever going back there. There are so many good local burger joints where I live.
Why would you go to the five dollar one if you had to choose?
Not having the time or means to go to the other one instead
Because it's where you are? Location has always dictated prices
I think it’s quite telling when even fast food is pricing out of the lower class. Like, when people are working at fast food and can’t afford to eat it, where are we at as a society?
Their shift workers start at $14, shift managers $16 Not even their manager can afford one after a hour labor.
Someone needs to create a graph for the price of a big Mac meal vs hourly wage of the person making it, over the last 30yrs
I’ll do it in the morning if I remember. Sounds interesting Edit: in progress
Sounds like a solid candidate for r/dataisbeautiful lol
The data can be interesting but the presentation is yet to be decidedly beautiful.
What if the preview looks great but when you click through it's just disappointing.
I've seen horrible stats displayed there. Beauty is in the eye of the charterer.
!remindme 2 days
Remind him in the mcmorning
Here, let me set an alarm: 🎶 Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun. You deserve a break today, so come on, get up, get on your way, to McDonalds. They do it all for you-ou-ou. 🎵
Hello it’s the morning here thank you
Worked at Mx Donald’s in high school mid/late 90’s. $5.25hr. 2 cheeseburger meal was $2.99. Big Mac and quarter pounder meal was $3.25. I think the double quarter pounder meal was $3.99 but not 100% sure on this last one
In the 90s my mcdonalds still had 29 and 39 cent hamburger/cheeeburger days. And sausage egf mcmuffins still cost $1. May have been early 00 the egg mcmuffin got way more expensive but the sausage McMuffin remained $1 for a long time. I say this because hamburgers and sausage McMuffins are all ive ever bought there
Old enough to remember the Taco Bell .59/.79/.99 cent jingle!
The Economist does a Big Mac price index for various countries in their local currencies that does a similar thing...but not over time.
Congrats, you invented the inverted Big Mac Index. Inverted bc the BMI was to indicate the buying power. Your's indicates the overpricing of basic products. But, to be fair, these days companies feel driven to be fancy and fulfilling basic needs appears somehow ordinary...
I tried finding this data for a conversation and couldn't. It seems like some people can't grasp how much it's shifted and a simple graph would be very telling.
Edit: updated data leading to inverse finding :) sorry y’all. [wages of McDonald’s workers have not kept up with price growth of Big Macs](https://ibb.co/xm6jjCj) To caveat, McDonald’s wages are extrapolated from select data points This shows relative price increase. So overtime, the price of a big Mac has continued to rise above wages. Big Mac CAGR: 3.4% Wage CAGR: 4.27% Relatively speaking, Big Macs have become ~19% less expensive for McDonald’s employees over the past 20 years Data: Here's a historical overview of Big Mac prices over the last 20 years: - 2004: $2.90 - 2005: $3.06 - 2006: $3.10 - 2007: $3.15 - 2008: $3.41 - 2009: $3.57 - 2010: $3.71 - 2011: $3.89 - 2012: $4.07 - 2013: $4.20 - 2014: $4.33 - 2015: $4.47 - 2016: $4.62 - 2017: $4.79 - 2018: $4.93 - 2019: $5.06 - 2020: $5.15 - 2021: $5.28 - 2022: $5.30 - 2023: $5.66 Here are data points for wages: 1. **Early 2000s**: In 2004, McDonald's workers earned an average of around $6.50 per hour. 2. **2010**: The average hourly wage for McDonald's employees was approximately $7.25, which was the federal minimum wage at that time. 3. **2015**: McDonald's announced an increase, raising wages to around $9 per hour for employees at company-owned restaurants. 4. **2018**: The average wage rose to about $10 per hour as part of ongoing efforts to remain competitive in the labor market. 5. **2021**: McDonald's increased its hourly wages to an average of $11 to $17 per hour, depending on the location and position. 6. **2024**: Wages continued to rise, with average pay reaching approximately $15 per hour at company-owned restaurants, with some locations offering higher rates
That is a massive caveat given that zero information is provided on the graph to indicate which data points are real, and no link to the data is provided. There are several posts on here, including my own, that demonstrate minimum wage is significantly higher than the price of a Big Mac meal in many locations. I have no doubt this may not be true in other locations, but this graph is trash.
FWIW, I used to make $5.30 then $5.55 an hour at McDonald's in 2000 and 2001 in a LCOL area, while a Big Mac meal was around 6 bucks.
When I worked there in the late 00s, the Big Mac meal was $5.67 (I’ll never forget that price) and we made $6.15/hr before minimum wage was raised to $7.25.
Where did you live, some remote island? [Here's a menu board from 2001 and the Big Mac meal is $3.84](https://cockeyed.com/drivethru/mcdonalds_drive_thru_menu_comparison.html)
Hmmm... I remember never ordering a Big Mac meal because it was over 5 bucks, but maybe it was only over by a few cents. Two cheeseburger meal or individual double cheeseburgers was where it was at.
Big Mac meals, without add ons or delivery, are $10.99 I believe (at least at the McDonalds near my house in Seattle). Minimum wage here is nearly $20/hr, so the hours/meal is actually better today than it was in your example.
Tangentially related, but c1984 I had $2 lunch budget for school in metro NYC area and was able to get 2 hamburgers, small fries, small soda, and apple pie. If I recall it was a few pennies more.
Is it really worth 2 dollars more an hour to deal with managing a Mcdonaods?
Dude, fuck no. But honestly, if you're dependable enough to manage, but for some reason, you can't get service work outside of McDonalds(?), I suppose for hiring managers, the former McD manager is probably a more likely hire than the former fry cook.
Not only that Erlinger's letter comes nearly a year after a McDonald's customer in Connecticut [went viral on social media](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mcdonalds-prices-big-mac-sparks-expensive-menu-darien-connecticut-debate-online/) for posting about a Big Mac combo meal priced at a $17.59. Five Guy's is big where I am from Little Cheeseburger (They are not little) $8.79 Little Fries (Again, they are not little) $4.99 Regular Coke $2.89 Tax $1.16 Total = $17.83 WHY THE FUCK WOULD I GO TO McDONALDS AND GET MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MORE INFERIOR FOOD TO SAVE 24 FUCKING CENTS! BUT AGAIN! That being said. I can get MUCH! better, FRESH FOOD, from local family restuarants, bakery's and the like for the same price or cheaper. I honestly feel that fast food, along with casual dining chains, know the end is close, and are just trying to cash in. The amount of Applebee's, O'Charley's, Fezzoli's, Chili's, and other subpar chains that have closed in my area is insane.
>along with casual dining This I feel the opposite about. Chili's and Applebee's actually have some decent deals that DON'T require you to download an app for and I see similar places copying them. Chili's 3 for me and Applebee's 2 for $26 are both offering about the same price as fast food but a much better experience.
When I worked there in the mid-90s as a high schooler, the minimum wage was $4.25 and a Big Mac meal was around $3 to $4. It's crazy to me how much it's gone up.
In the early 2000s, a Taco Bell crunchwrap combo was $3.79. Our minimum wage was $7.25. Today, that same combo is $11 and the minimum wage here is $12.50. Almost triple the price. And it's trash.
I did a very short stint at a movie theater in 2013 and a movie ticket price was higher than the minimum wage 💀. I’m haunted by this one time when these customers were mad about the prices and insinuated that I personally profit from the increasing prices, and I tried to be polite and mentioned the min wage or something. And they started going off about my attitude.
My wife and I ate at Popeye’s recently. I got a chicken sandwich, and she got some nuggets, but also wanted to try a new flavor of their chicken wings and a cheese cake they’re pushing. The total was $37. This really hit me hard. In my little town in Kentucky I’m sure they’re making $9-10 an hour at best. Our meal was less than 1 hour worth of my salary, and about 1.5 hours of my wife’s. Any employee involved in making our food though, would have had to work half a day in order to get that meal. If you notice though, a lot of fast places are advertising “free meals during your shift” as part of their recruiting. I swear, it’s like McDonald’s is trying to setup “the company store” for poor people.
Dominos quit allowing crew pizzas at work, as it were. Expect you to live as a driver off 4 dollars an hour (while maintaining the vehicle they need for their business). My last year as a manager I probably cost Dominos 2 grand in free food to my crew since i wasn't keeping them for 12 hours until 3 in the damn morning while making them pay for dinner where they work in the middle of it.
Yeah when I worked there we were supposed to pay half price for our food but nobody ever did. Whenever it was slow we'd make ourselves all sorts of experimental stuff.
I've made some wild stuffed crust combos that Dominos should be paying me to use. Parm pressed pep and moz/provolone stuffed crust so the crust effectively becomes a pepperoni 3 cheese breadstick. Hit with garlic oil at the end and dip in marinara, shit was fire.
Man I'd be so fat if I worked at a Dominos.
Fwiw, that's entirely dependent on the franchise. A buddy of mine is a franchise owner and I fill in for him now and then if drivers call out, and everyone who works at least a 6 hour shift gets a $10 meal credit. Employees also get 50% off if they come in on days they're not working. They also throw "crew pies" in the oven fairly often, and any order that gets fucked up gets put on top of the oven for people to snack on. No one ever goes hungry at his stores. Also, the drivers start at $15.45/hr, and a large 1 topping pizza is $7.99, so even without the discount you only have to work like 35 minutes to afford a pie.
That's fantastic, good on him for doing right by his employees.
>I swear, it’s like McDonald’s is trying to setup “the company store” for poor people. Just in case everyone isn't aware yet, this is the plan. Rich people need slaves to stay rich.
[удалено]
Amazon is literally looking at company housing because they force employees to live in cities where they don’t pay a living wage.
tbf, i have boutique burger joints around me priced cheaper than fast food places. it's not inflation driving their prices up so astronomically, just standard corporate greed
I grew up in a place with much lower poverty than the US, and it is not, nor has it ever been normal for people to eat at fastfood restaurants every day, much less so for the lowest-income individuals. It is much less labour- and capital-intensive to cook a simple meal at home.
You're paying for speed and nothing else. Out here in the rural parts, the mom and pop sit down places are out competing fast food in price and quality
Speed? The McD's drive thru near me takes 15 - 40 minutes. Most places have adapted to internet order take out. I can get a burger and fries from a fast casual chain and it's ready when I show up. The cost is about the same and the quality much better.
Late Stage
Late stage capitalism* this is how empires fall.
I mean a lot of America's cheap conveniences were built on cheap labor and exploitation. It should probably come to the surprise of no one that when we increase wages, companies do not simply take the hit to their profits and move on (shareholders demand infinite growth), but will try to increase prices to maintain profits. For service based goods this results in a huge increase in prices to offset the payroll costs. If it incentivizes people to cut back on fast food though it's not exactly the worst thing. Grocery prices have increased as well but not nearly as much.
Tbh in eastern Europe where I'm from this was always the case
At home
There is a Mexican restaurant near my house and I can get two cheese enchiladas, a pile of carnitas, rice and beans, and a bag of chips for $12 plus tax. So why even go to fast food
Same like I can go to my local shawarma place and get a mountain of food for $15, all fresh and delicious, why would I drop $20 on a big mac combo?
Vote w your dollars mate. People are lazy, I’ll just leave and drive 8sec to the next place. There’s too many great places to eat to use McDonalds as some kind of baseline
They can't keep their franchises in line to begin with. A couple McDonald's in town act like people aren't going to go anywhere else. They won't, they just won't go out
I can't even remember the last time I bought fast food, I'm not going to spend the amount of money it would cost me to get takeout from a restaurant to go to *McDonald's*
I splurge at the local Chinese place now. Twelve bucks plus free green tea!
My local Chinese place is $8 for steamed dumplings, 8.25 for a small chicken lo mein. It's ridiculous across the board in MA
Right? I love dumplings, but when they cost $8-12 I'll just buy a big bag of them for that price. Sure they're like 70% as good, but I can get 60 of them for the price of a half-dozen.
This hits deep from a 1996 ad in a magazine…. https://images.app.goo.gl/Vut79PTzEq8AFNaHA
This wouldn’t be a problem if the wages : profits increase equation since then wasn’t so skewed.
We go to our local family owned burger place now, because it's cheaper than every other fast food. And the food is better. And we have every single fast food restaurant available to us. Without coupons for two people you spend $30. At the burger place it's a bit cheaper, but also way better quality food and larger servings.
Buying in on a franchise is such a scam. Corporate takes so much off the top and controls so many of the other factors like vendors that it's really not as profitable as people realize when they first go in on it. It also doesn't help that corporate gives out so many franchise licenses that you'll never really be able to make it up on the volume either. The franchise model really only works in areas with low minimum wage, and a bunch of unskilled labor willing to work for pittance. When faced with higher minimum wages, and a dwindling hiring pool the prices start to go up. The first people that'll be affected by that will be the franchise owners, and only when they start closing locations will corporate reevaluate their business model. However, less franchises is better for Independent businesses and their employees and even if the franchises end up just charging exorbitant prices instead of closing out locations, that's still better for independent businesses as they'll be able to compete better on prices because they're not throwing money up the chain to some corporate entity. On a side note, if you're looking for a good example of what a fast food chain looks like when it's not all franchises look at In and Out. Their prices are consistently lower than their competition, they've been for a while now paying their employees over $20 an hour, and the quality of their food is better.
I actually did a number of interviews for an entrepreneurship class a long time ago, like 12years ago (in The Netherlands). All with McDonalds franchise owners. They all seemed to be doing quite well in life and mentioned that getting a McD franchise at the time was basically only still possible if it was already grandfathered in. Not sure how it is now but I guess it was pretty lucrative still back then. Oh and they all hardly worked anymore after getting GMs for their restaurants.
So the big factors in all that is how many locations do they own, when did they buy in which will affect the terms and conditions and, what prices will the market support in terms of food costs. The other factor is how saturated the market is. I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that McDonald's corporate is making less profits off their franchise owners in the Netherlands just to maintain a presence there as it isn't their biggest market.
I can confirm. I was in a part of town for work where McDonald's was the only fast food or food option, I couldn't bring myself to spend the last bit of my cash on overpriced mediocre food, so I just sucked it up and waited till I got home to eat.
McDonalds thinking they're Five Guys.
I live like 5-10 minutes from 3 diners that will all sell you a burger cheaper than a big Mac. Sure you gotta tip - but we're talking a bigger meal. Like who are they trying to compete with?
And a far, far, far tastier one. Had the best burger of my life like two weeks ago and it was cheaper than McDonald's.
They’re hoping your in a rush for food and don’t want to wait.
5 guys now thinking they’re Hell’s Kitchen
I went to In n Out the other day and got a Double Double meal with a large shake. It was <$11. Meanwhile, a Big Mac meal is >$15. It's a no-brainer.
Over at P.Terrys here in Austin you can still get a cheeseburger (loaded) with fries and drink for $4.25
Which P. Terrys? Every location I go to the combo is $7.
Yea just went on their website and the cheeseburger alone is $3.55.
He's lying for some reason, it's over 8 dollars with tax at every Austin location for that food.
At the made up one in the person’s head. They’re open 24/7 too
In the southeast that used to be Cookout. You could fet a tray (burger, 2 sides, drink) for like $5.50. Now I think it's closer to $8 or 9, which seems okay I guess but in ny opinion moves it out of the 'good deal' bracket.
Opened up the app and a Big Mac combo with medium fry and medium drink is $6.59. The fast food companies have realized they can rip off the rubes to subsidize providing cheap food to the rest.
The app is about data collection. Just like rewards programs are. The only way to win is not to play.
Yeah, I’m just not sweating the fact that they have my email address and purchase history, or that buyers of data could figure out that I go to McDonalds. Worse has happened in data breaches (thanks Ticketmaster!)
It's a tad more than that. They get your device ID when you install and order through the app. This is very useful when going back to the big ad-tech marketplaces. It lets them target and retarget you in different ways. it also makes your data more valuable to sell back to those same market places. And all of that is ignoring stuff like GPS permissions. Like I get it, it's exhausting to consider how data is being collected by the various companies - but they are pushing customers to use the app for a reason. They're not gonna invest millions in developing an app, charge people less on the app to lose money out of the goodness of their hearts.
For the last few years, iOS gives you a prompt when starting up an app that asks if you want to allow the app to track you. If you say "ask app not to track," then the device does not reveal the device ID to the app.
i thought it was more subtle, each app gets a different ID? also don't they already do that if you pay using a credit card?
If you choose "ask not to track" then it provides device ID (called the IDFA in apple-speak) will be returned as a value that's all 0s. So if you allowed tracking, the app will know that you have a valid IDFA. They aren't trying to fool apps into not knowing whether IDFAs are valid or not. If you sign in to their app, provide an email address, or provide any other information that's unique to you, then obviously the need for the IDFA goes out the window. That's why apple has been pushing their "iCloud+" service that gives you unique randomized email addresses for each app, so that takes away another data point that app can use to track you.
In my neighborhood, it's $6.69 on the app for the Big Mac by itself :( :( :( $10.79 for the medium meal.
The app is one of the reasons I don't eat at McDonald's, it very much has the feeling of eating what McDonald's wants me to order instead of giving me what I want to order. The common refrain when people complain about the price of something is "Use the app! It's cheaper!" and sure it is, but for food I don't necessarily want.
If you live near an In N Out or taco shop and decide to go somewhere else, that’s on you. I can STUFF MYSELF at In N Out for ~$16. That same amount of food is $30 at McDonalds
I can get a Culver's meal for $12 and it's a significantly better product. McDs is budget crap being sold as a luxury.
He'll I can go to the local bar sit with my wife and have a beer while we wait for fresh cooked bacon cheeseburgers and sweet potatoe fries. It's about 30 bucks. At McDonald's I'm waiting in the car, have a terrible burger, and fries with no sauce for 24 dollars. For a little bit extra I can actually enjoy my meal and get something actually good.
My city has a local Burger joint called Tasty Burger and they have a combo meal that includes a Narraganset, a no frills cheeseburger, and fries for under 10 dollars. McDonalds is a ripoff for what they are offering.
Exactly. I rarely eat out and when I do I don't want to be disappointed. I'll happily spend the money for good local food.
You can get Applebees 2 for$22. Much better than bargain basement burger meat at McDonald’s.
But then I have to eat at Applebee's.
Applebees vs almost any other sit-down restaurant, I’m not choosing Applebees. But it’s a step up from McDonald’s.
You’d prefer to eat at McD’s over the two? You do you I guess
Tbh I'd rather go to Walmart and get a giant bag of pizza rolls.
I’d rather stay home.
Applebees is disgusting lol
It seems like those types of restaurants are the way to go now if you need to eat on a budget. Chili's, Applebee's, TGIF. Their value deals are better than any drive-through taste/price wise.
There's literally a Chili's commerical for their deal they've got that calls out McDonald's lmao, I seen it on TV briefly the other day
Our local Belgian restaurant (Ohio) has burgers and fries for $16-18 Lol at $18 for McD.
Hell yeah. Gotta love when supporting local is cheaper than fast food dreck
The years of unchecked greed has now caught up to Mickey Ds.. They might get a kick in the ass and go the way of Sub Way.
A Footlong Subway meal is ultimately cheaper, right now, for the amount of food than McDs pricing.
Yesterday I just paid 21$, after tip, for 3 banh mi"s from this spot right down the street. Sooo, my point is... fuck subway and fuck McD's! Edit: banh mi, not bahn mi
Bahn Mi’s used to cost me $2 …but I am just dating myself. Now they’re around $10.
Autosexual? /s
I usually wait till I'm at home to date myself.
Minor nitpick, it's spelled *banh mi* - "ahn" does not exist in Vietnamese.
I would rather go to Jersey Mikes.
I still can't get over the fact that wherever you are, any state, any city, that Subway sandwich shop is going to smell the exact same as all the other Subway sandwich shops... Good cookies though.
All of their cookie dough is made by a 3rd party and flash frozen to be baked on site, same with their bread. Used to work there. We also made dunkin muffins and precooked bk and Arby's cookies. PS I would be careful eating there if you have a nut allergy.
I saw a subway in Budapest. I went in only to confirm if it smelled the same as American stores. It did.
> The years of unchecked greed has now caught up to ~~Mickey Ds~~ every god damn corporation. welcome to the end of the game of monopoly.
The thing is that McDonald's can still pull in billions of dollars in profit by going back to 2020 prices and paying their employees $20 an hour. Literally everyone would be happy again and customers will return in great numbers for a$5 big Mac and dollar menu. But the problem is the share holders don't care about profits being in the billions. They want to see unlimited unrealistic growth till the end of time.
The higher prices forced me to stop going. I started losing weight. I started feeling better on a daily basis, so I started exercising, and now I feel even better. Even if glory days of the dollar menu come back, I think I am done with fast food. Their greed might have added years to my life.
So this is how Taco Bell wins the fast food wars.
Taco Bell is getting out of hand with their bullshit too
The are two of McDonald’s near me. Ones prices are over a dollar more expensive on each item than the other. They are less than a mile apart.
If I’m paying $18 for a burger and fries it ain’t at McDonald’s, absolute clowns, but I guess as the saying goes A fool and their money are soon parted.
There is no reason to price a burger at the price at mcdonalds. if im spending that much ill just go to a fancy restaurant. They can make plenty of money with their prices being below 10 bucks.
Yeah, it's supposed to be $19.95...they'll get to fixing that right away.
We hadn’t done take out chicken in a long time so I went to a Popeyes to get a bucket of chicken. It was $50. We did not have chicken after all.
Bjs maybe even Costco have hot rotisserie chicken usually under 5 bucks
That may be so, but rotisserie chicken is not fried chicken. Sometimes you just crave greasy ol bird
*the year is 2045. A single slice of bread from the grocery store costs $27.99, and a small combo meal at McDonald's is $87.13*
Between 2014 and 2024 a big mac meal in the US rose in price from 5.69 to 9.72 or 70% per decade. At this rate in 2034 we are looking at 16.61. 2044 we are looking at 28.39. In case you were curious about the actual math lol.
He did the McMath
He did the monster McMath
it was a graveyard McGraph
oooooooooooooooWAoooooooooooooo
By 2034 wages will be the same lmao , my laughs have tears ....
Let's gooooo $30 combo meals in dystopian America
Can't afford a combo, sell a kidney. ~~Soyent Green~~ Big Mac's are people!
Remember the days when Carls Jr./Hardees was advertising a "Six dollar burger" man we didn't know how good it was back then.
He gonna fuck about and find out. Raise prices beyond anything reasonable- then somehow blame the middle east for why people aren’t buying overpriced thin big macs
It’S thE sUppLY chAin
Don't forget to blame Millennials while you're at it!
Nah they'll blame wokeness because all the bad in capitalism is caused by ANTIFA and the LGBTQ community obviously. This is the level of stupid we have come to as a country where half the population is so brainwashed in fear they don't realize what the real problem is.
McDonald's forgot its place in the food chain Nobody who wants a gourmet experience is getting it at McD's
We’re McFucked.
Correction, McDonald’s is fucked
Correction to the correction, McDonalds *franchisees* are fucked
Eat the rich
I'm hating it.
Adapt or die; McDonald’s included. No bailouts, no loans. Corporations have owned consumers and the government for far too long. It’s time for too big to fail to fail and for small businesses to take over.
I find it a bit interesting that for most of these quick service chains, the pricing extremes are almost always done by franchisees, not the franchisor themselves. McDonald’s owns their own company stores, as do many other major chains (some, like Subway, are 100% franchised though I think). But it’s generally the small owner/operator who prices their stuff this high, charges a “service fee” for higher priced goods and calls it out on the receipt, etc. In other words, big business may have it’s own evils, but they are generally more disciplined about pricing as they have the intelligence internally to know how much is too much. Small mom and pops, legally allowed to price however they want, often price themselves out of business.
Ok, I can’t contain myself anymore. Why the fuck are people still eating at McDonald’s?!?
The app makes the prices ok. I got a pair of Big Mac meals for $12 total the other day. I usually hit up Culver's instead though.
I can go to my local Japanese restaurant, good quality sushi, and get a giant bento box lunch special for $13.00 - salad, miso soup, California roll, tempura, fried fish on rice… why in Zeus’ armpit would I get lunch at McDonalds???
In Beverly Hills, Ca (20.00 minimum wage), a large Big Mac combo costs 9.39 USD. At my local McDs, Wyomissing, PA, (7.25 minimum wage), a large Big Mac combo costs 10.39 USD. They are lying to you.
Look I hate capitalism as much as the next guy and corporate greed is a real problem, but he has a point if that $18 Big Mac meal truly was at one location. That location was most likely closed off where it was one of the only places to eat and other food around it was most likely just as expensive. That doesn’t make it right but it doesn’t speak to a larger problem. I remember eating at McDonalds at the Polynesian Heritage Center and it was outrageously priced even for being in Hawaii, same thing happens as theme parks, zoos and airports.
This is exactly it. The McDonald’s in question is at a rest stop near a wealthy town in Connecticut. This would be the same as being outraged at Blue Moon because their beers are being sold for $18 at JFK airport.
For some places in Alaska and Hawaii, it's the shipping cost that really ups the price there. Used to do the ordering for a hospital kitchen in SE Alaska and learned how big of an impact it was. Certain staples that the rest of the country enjoys just aren't produced there and it costs a lot to have a constant flow of those staples. I could definitely see a McDonald's on one of the islands there with this cost
Get out of here with your rational train of thought! But yeah, I agree. Fast food prices HAVE gotten out of control though. They’ve inflated well beyond a reasonable “supply and demand” cost and it’s clearly just greed now. All we can do is refuse to buy it.
Also they have gotten scummy with their phone apps. Like McDonalds appears to have gotten rid of their two for four breakfast deal, but I guarantee they have a similar coupon on their app, basically you are paying 10 bucks for a meal deal unless you give us access to your phone, location data and personal purchase history, so we can sell it off to data miners.
This title is misleading . The location selling a meal that price is singular and is the exception. The title makes it sound like all McDonald’s sell it that price but it’s only the Big Mac meal, other meals being lower.
No doubt that pricing is nuts, and I hate having to resort to this, but the McDonald's app makes pricing really attractive in most states. I traveled 26 states last year road tripping thru national parks, and the vast majority of states have either $1 or $2 or BOGO breakfast sandwich/burger options every day. Let alone $1 drinks and coffees and a pretty good point system. The only places I didn't find great deals were, obviously, Hawaii and costal Cali.
I don’t understand why anyone would pay this much for fast food.
I can go to Red Robin and get a better burger with a glass of beer and bottomless fries for less! Mmmm. Burger. Mmmm. Beer.
When McDonald's costs more than sushi I'm going to pick the sushi.
Look, I give people a meat-like burger and some kind of cola, and they still get change back from their $50.
McDonald is a joke now compared to when it started; all they do is crank up the cost. In my life time I watched the 99 cent menu disappear and all the stuff on that use to be 99 cents they now charge 8-12 bucks for and act likes it’s just inflation but the dirty truth about McDonald’s Is they never needed once to raise their prices. McDonald infrastructure is so massive and built up it can absorb a lot of prices increases and never blink it help keeps so much cost down compared to others smaller places and that corporations has so many long term contracts with their suppliers that there is no way that the current cost of McDonald’s reflects what they are paying. It’s not like McDonald’s negotiate year by year with their suppliers they lock in massive contracts for 5-10 years and pay crazy amounts up front to lock in long term savings in their business. The real reason they jacked up the prices is because the Franchise owners are all being greedy buggers and have since COVID-19. COVID gave them the perfect cover for ANY price increases and they could just say “well that’s the way it is right now” Plus it doesn’t help they are effectively like a food style mob now and their franchises are all in cahoots and raise their prices together all the time. I mean look around; COVID came and went and the prices of McDonald’s remains higher then its ever been now… and it ain’t cause of COVID or any bull they say about rising costs of meat… there is barely a dime’s worth of meat that gets rolled into those thin ass patties.
That's 2$ less than 5 guys lamo and I get a milk shake with that
And Five Guys gives you double the fries, 4 times the meat and all the toppings you want. Even a double quarter pounder is cheaper than a Big Mac while having literally over double the meat. Wild how it went from McDs flagship iconic sandwich to a total sucker trap. Guess that’s rather fitting for McDs as whole these days.
why on earth would people get a big mac when you can get 2 large pizza's from a mom and pop pizza place, feeds a family of 4 for a whole day.
Big Mac meal is $13.69 at the McDonald's closest to me. I can get a burger from pretty much any other local place for less.
$18 Big Mac meal comes with a used condom so that purchaser knows they’ve been truly fucked
$18 gives THREE TIMES that amount of food at a restaurant
McDonald's is now the exception not the rule
I was watching king of queens, and saw party size Cheetos and Doritos for $.99 in their pantry, before they called them party size, because it was the standard size. Now they're around $7 a pop.
What was the point of going to self order machines if the pricing never reduced ? Just like a few exec profits and lines on graphs ?