this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2024
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Looks like McDonald's is reaping what it sowed. Shit food at shit prices and no one wants to buy?! SHOCKER.

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[–] [email protected] 169 points 3 months ago (9 children)

I went to McD’s a week ago for an Egg McMuffin meal with an extra hash brown and a large Coke for the drink: $15.00. Less than 2 years ago, this exact meal was like $5.

I hope they go down in flames at this point.

[–] [email protected] 58 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (5 children)

I don't understand getting to the drive-thru and seeing those prices and ordering the food anyhow. Why don't you just tell the person, "actually, never mind. this is too expensive?"

Go to a grocery store nearby and grab a deli sandwich and fountain drink. At least it'll be fresh food.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (4 children)

Yes, but then I'll have to get out of my car like some sort of animal. ~/s~

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (2 children)

If you are pressed for time and/or have your hungry kids in the car then a couple of dollars isn’t a big deal. But that doesn’t mean those consumers are going to come back again after getting burned by high prices.

Starbucks raised the price of my iced coffee and changed the recipe for the brew. I still ordered and drank it, but I have cut my visits from three or four times a week to only once in the last three months. This means they lost out on not only my drink revenue, but the revenue on what I would have ordered for my wife and kids as well.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (21 children)

Coke for breakfast, yuck

Edit: you can downvote all you want, I’m not wrong. If you’re drinking coke for breakfast, you’ve got issues, maybe negligent parents.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Trying not to be an ass with this info:

A large McDonalds coke is 290 calories and 77 grams of sugar (153% DV). Even a small is 150 calories and 39 grams sugar (77% DV).

I get it, I don’t like my lifestyle being attacked either and I freely admit I consciously choose some unhealthy options in my life such as having a few drinks a week and eating fatty foods or cheesecakes now and then.

But please, if you are starting your day by slamming 70 grams of sugar in your face, please reconsider lol. It’s gonna give you diabetes and ain’t no regular American can afford that.

That doesn’t even take into account what they add to the food itself 😟

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[–] [email protected] 102 points 3 months ago (12 children)

Last time I went to McDonalds it was almost as much as a decent pub burger.

Why wouldn't I just go there and get twice the quality unless I was close by and totally pressed for time?

[–] [email protected] 59 points 3 months ago (3 children)

McDonald's has long forgotten what is supposed to be. Cheap, low quality food. Now it is expensive, low quality food. Like you said...you can get a better burger at a restaurant for the same price if not lower. Longhorn Steakhouse has a burger lunch special for $9.99

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago (4 children)

The Whataburger sweet g spicy burger combo is all of like $12 and change after tax. And that's the large size.

And their food is actually pretty good.

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[–] [email protected] 91 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I guess "consumer pullback" is one way to describe what's going on with the economy…

[–] [email protected] 79 points 3 months ago (5 children)

The headline uses that term because consumer spending, across the economy as a whole, is up and a healthy amount. The "pullback" appears to be in select subsectors where price increases have drastically outstripped core inflation and/or specific companies who have done so without regard for competitors' pricing.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 3 months ago

and "consumer saying 'hey waitaminute, i don't actually need half the bullshit they're telling me i can't live without...'"

[–] [email protected] 30 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Some talking heads on NPR were discussing the economy and how this was "the first time Millenials were seeing inflation" and how the economy is just waiting for consumers to "adjust". This in the context of them also basically saying there needs to be more unemployment so wages don't get higher.

It's like victim blaming or something, corporations went on a price gouging spree during the pandemic and now we all have to learn to deal with it so Wallstreet can go back to business as usual, and they're getting all pissy that people's response is simply finding ways to spend less, instead of giving up their last nickle.

Funny how they never talk about corporations needing to tighten their belt or "adjust their expectations" to paying higher wages.

[–] [email protected] 89 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I'm not paying $16 for a 10 piece nugget, fries, and a drink. I can pay $12 for more and better food at a sit down restaurant next door.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 3 months ago (2 children)

In before shitty comments about downloading the McDonalds app so you can get discounts while selling your private info

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago (1 children)

McDonald's has a pretty shitty loyalty program anyway. They have a very limited selection of stuff you can even spend the points on and you can't both use points and a daily deal at the same time.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 months ago (2 children)

There's a pizza place near my house that does wood-fired NY pizza, two giant slices plus a soda, for $7.50.

I dunno how they're making those prices work, but that's the only junk food meal I'm buying these days. I'd pay more for less food of worse quality at any fast food place.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Because good food is cheap to make, especially when buying in bulk like restaurants. Pizza is super cheap to make from scratch, especially when you factor in restaurants buying in bulk. I make pizza from scratch pretty often, the dough is negligible cost wise (bread flour, water, salt, and yeast), the sauce is semi-expensive to make only because I use the fancy san-marzano tomatoes and make almost a gallon of amazing sauce for $18 (mainly the cost of the tomatoes) - for sauce good enough to get from a restaurant you could easily make a lot more for a lot less. The toppings vary in cost obviously, but those are easy to pass the cost on to the consumer.

Soda is also negligible cost wise, the syrup for a very large cup of soda is maybe a few cents for the restaurant, soda has one of the highest markups of any food items.

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[–] [email protected] 71 points 3 months ago (9 children)

Have you tried paying attention to what customers want and will accept rather than dictating to them?

Companies are entering a new age of FAFO

[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yeah these companies have gotten so out of control. They act like they are gods gift to earth and we should be grateful for anything they allow us to have. The same goes for employment too. They treat people like shit because they think someone else will come around and be grateful for the opportunity.

I'm not accepting that anymore

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Oh, so what I'm hearing you say is that no one wants to work anymore!

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Japanese employers are currently under a major "crisis", that crisis being that Gen Z employees won't work 20-40 extra hours in a week unpaid, won't participate in corporate family culture "bonding with your boss" bullshit, wont take 「no, I refuse your notice of quitting」 as an answer, actually report workplace (sexual) harassment, among other things. Except unlike in America, the employers in Japan are actually having to adapt to employees respecting themselves because their population is on the brink of collapse from not having enough young people lol, they don't just have other people they can hire. Obviously because of the unbearable work "culture" which doesn't allow you to have a family life, combined with the rampant sexism against women throughout Japanese society and culture keeping them from interacting with men.

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 3 months ago (2 children)

The shareholders probably care, but to the layman, expecting 6.61 billion and only earning 6.49 billion doesn't amount to much. They're not going anywhere.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago (3 children)

as a shareholder i also do not care

[–] [email protected] 30 points 3 months ago (1 children)

As a shareholder you should be concerned about high prices, poor service, and filthy stores. Not sure why anyone would want to pay a premium for their product when there are much better options for the same prices.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago

more concerned with how the large fries box seems half empty every time now 😡😡😡

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 3 months ago

While crude, there is a whole economic concept around this.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 3 months ago (4 children)

McDonald's is on the boycott list for the Palestinian genocide. I'm really curious if that had any effect.

I would think it's not that much inside the US but McDonald's has a large global presence.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 3 months ago

From the article:

“Industry traffic has declined in major markets like the U.S., Australia, Canada, and Germany. In several markets, we also continue to be negatively impacted by the war in the Middle East,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said on the company’s earnings call.

So it does seem to be working to some extent.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I boycotted McD due to this list, UK, and I really don’t miss it. It also got hella expensive and the service got worse.

I must say, boycotting things has had no Ill effect on my life and in fact I likely spend less money than before.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It's funny, because for a brief moment McDonalds had a spike in popularity when they reopened after COVID.

When they fully reopened their stores, it became clear as day that many of them had downsized in terms of staff. When your fast food is as fast as a standard burger place, it's not fast...

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago

I’ve been boycotting McGenocide, KFC, Coca Cola, etc. for 10 months now and it’s not like it’s any effort at this point. I’m healthy and wasn’t planning on eating that garbage until Palestine is free. And at this point why would I ever eat it again? Shit food, unhealthy, expensive, supporting genocide. Why would I go back to it?

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I haven't gone to McDonald's in YEARS and I'm not missing anything!

Ever since the big Mac meal went over $10, I was out. That was years ago and now it's even worse. I'm also not a sucker for using their god-damned app so I can get a $1 small fry and a free q-tip. If I'm not happy with your prices at the drive-thru, then I'm just not going there.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago

Their burgers are also filled with soy filler, won’t even fill you up anymore.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Seems like the accountants all across the drive through world have forgotten that the reason cheap food was so popular is that it was CHEAP food.

Ironically even though their main menu items and combos have gone crazy price-wise in the last couple years, McDonald’s is one of the few fast food places I still frequent for lunch because if you use the app you can still get a decently filling meal for 6-7 bucks; 2 double cheeseburgers BOGO $1, large fry (free), large drink at regular price. Not great, but 6 something bucks. The quarter pounder combo meal I used to get has nearly tripled in price in the last 5 years and the Big Mac is not only smaller but way more expensive…

Not sure what they were expecting to happen 🤷‍♂️

[–] [email protected] 40 points 3 months ago (7 children)

This chart really highlights the problem; since 2014 overall inflation is 31% but MCDONALDS inflation is at 100%!

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I wonder how much more money they'd have if they hadn't renovated all their locations into ugly grey slabs of brick and glass?

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago (1 children)

McDonalds is expensive as fuck, the food fucking sucks, it used to be I liked going there on occasion, to enjoy some cheap stuff, Cheeseburgers used to be like 1 euros. now they are like 2.50, that's the price of a frozen pizza at a supermarket that I can just throw in to the oven if I am feeling like eating junk food and I don't even have to go to the City for it, wait in line at the drive thru,etc.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago (2 children)

McDonald is not a food company, it’s a real estate company.

All the posters complaining about the food quality are missing the point. They could sell cardboard and for years their bottom line would be unaffected until franchisees started failing en masse.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago (12 children)

Two days ago my gf had a few bites left of a McDonald's cheeseburger and offered it to me. I took one bite and said "No thanks". That she not taste or feel like food. The kicker is that she then offered it to the cat, who will eat anything. I will swear to whatever god you believe in, that cat turned his head away like she was presenting a decayed corpse. She tried two more times and he literally ran away from this burger.

The fact that this shit is overpriced on top of being horrible food adds insult to injury. I don't understand how McDonald's was ever popular to begin with.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I see a lot of people dancing around 2 different points... 1. Fast food costs too much, and 2. The price to value equation sucks now. I absolutely agree with #1, at some point these corporations have to accept that their increased cost of operations (fair wage movements, ingredient costs) do not increase the value of their product. I'm sure they're doing the math... how much can we raise prices before our sales drop off enough to matter. Sounds like they may have finally hit the break point.

#2, I'd argue, has been true for a very long time. Maybe 20 years ago in the days of value menus, fast food was worth it. It was crap, but it was cheap. But food was way cheaper in general, so cooking for yourself was, and still is, a huge cost advantage. if you're careful with your shopping and plan meals, you will eat better, healthier, and cheaper than anything else.

I'm not immune to the occasional fast food stop, but I'm always disappointed. I think it is something that's time has passed and needs to die off.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago

i haven't been to mcd in years, but my parents were sick with covid and requested i pick up some mcdonalds for them-- JFC how could i have ever thought it couldn't get any worse--what a fucking shitshow

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago
[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago
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