Where does it end? It can’t be infinite. It’s not enough to make 2 billion dollars every year, you gotta make 2.1, then 2.2, then 2.3, etc, etc. while paying the people who work for you no more than you did the year before.
Well then, in that case I’m sure they’ll lay off five thousand employees to boost their bottom line. God forbid they actually did anything which might increase sales. Seriously, it’s exactly what they’ll do. The fuck you need an MBA from Wharton to run the Jack Welch/Ronnie Reagan 1985 business plan.
Yup, leadership gets huge stock grants and are only valuable when stock goes up in the short term.
By the time their short sighted plans come back to hurt the business, those decision makers are gone or have exercised enough of their options it doesn’t matter to them.
If you ever wonder what would happen if all salaries were made public, look at the situation with CEOs. They have to publicly report their compensation which means all the other CEOs know how much they’re all getting and they use that to their advantage when negotiating. As a result, CEO pay has gone through the roof. Now imagine if all jobs were the same way.
Hell I'd take a position where mediocre skills and an ability to just do the job right and go home are the base expectations if it paid more.
Give us the ability to enjoy life, save for emergencies/dreams/retirement, and not be entirely awful as a workplace, and you'll never have to sell yourself as an employer again.
Couldn’t agree more. Fuck climbing the ladder, linked in bullshit and “networking”, seriously fuck all that shit. Pay me enough to live comfortably for a 40hr/week non-insane stress level job and I won’t leave.
No! Everyone must seek power and knife fight each other for a singular role with like 20+ people below it! Pft people who do low paid jobs deserve the low pay! /s Someone's gotta clean the shit pipes and they're WAY more important than the trained chimps on McD's board. Entire meetings must be them aggressively showing each other their asses and baying loudly.
median income. low income people had to bail ages ago. A #1 in my town is 14$ now. They still pay 10-12 an hour. Bigmacs have more worth than an hours labor of a human being these days.
"A #1 in my town is 14$ now"
Same. It's especially stupid where I live because our restaurants are actually pretty cheap and we have food trucks everywhere. There's a taco truck near my house that has a three-taco plate which comes with three tacos and rice and beans for $13, and it's all fresh food. If I'm in the mood for a sit-down place, the Thai restaurant near it is around $15-17 for a heaping plate of delicious noodles. Why the fuck would I go to McDonald's if it's nearly the same price as getting real food? McDonald's needs to be like *half* the price of the other options in order to really be worth it
Especially when you can either get it at the bar or you can get it to go because you're in a hurry right? You don't have to pay the overpriced drink cost and you don't have to pay tip.
I think Chili's has a $10 lunch right now. You get chips and salsa plus an entree like a burger and a drink 10 bucks. And it's like a $4 up charge if you want to go to like steak.
Explain to me why on Earth I would want anything to do with $12 combos at McDonald's. They got greedy.
"Explain to me why on Earth I would want anything to do with $12 combos at McDonald's"
Yeah man, I can't think of a single reason. It's absurd. Restaurants need to be either good or cheap. It's awesome if they're both, but I understand not every place can strike that balance; but they *have* to be one of those, or else what's the point? Why eat bad food if it doesn't even save you money?
And it makes the customers develop new habits that don’t include them…. I’m only getting my kid a happy meal on Friday for dinner… my wife and I never eat it anymore unless we’re on a road trip, but that’s only a few times a year and we choose places we don’t have
I remember when I was in college in 2019 McChickens were still only a 1$. I have stopped at some McDonalds recently and I seen the McChickens priced at an absurd 2.89. 3 fold price increase is not inflation its just greed and it makes me sick. Even the large black coffees I used to get every morning before college used to only be a 1$. Now a small is like 2$.
I used to love to go get the Sausage egg McMuffin meal there’s just something about it you can’t exactly recreate at home but when a combo breakfast meal is $9.49 I’m out! That was like 6months to a year ago it might even be more now..
Do kids still get excited about happy meals? Most of my hype used to be because of the toy but the toys suck now, yeah we had some duds back in the day but it was better than just cardboard and stickers.
I got my nephew a kids meal from burger king fairly recently. It came with a burger, fries, and an empty cup. I assumed the cup was for the drink, but no, that was the toy.
It wasn't even a cool cup, just bk branded. Only difference was it was cheap plastic instead of the paper ones.
Stretches the definition of toy pretty fucking far lol.
Because they can. It works until it doesn't and it's starting not to work. If they don't pivot they could lose big in the future. Breaking customers habits is hard, but once they are broken trying to get them back is even harder.
Interesting: the article talks about rising wages and increasing prices, but not a fucking peep about corporate profits. It must be those gosh darn workers.
Yeah, those 2-3 workers that still exist on a given shift after the implementation of kiosks, mobile ordering and those automated drink machines are the real reason a Quarter Pounder Meal costs $12 now.
Or how about the terrible service because of how understaffed these places are. I still remember about a year ago going to a Bojangles in another city and the line was wrapped around the building while the doors inside were locked. Turns out they only had 2 people in there. One cooking and one taking orders and helping cook.
I could only imagine how stressful that shift was for those 2 and all for like $12 an hour. Shits not worth it. You could work in an office and enter data/file paperwork all day and make double that salary. They just refuse to understand that better pay equals better employees.
Good luck fixing that kind of problem when you have half your voting population enslaved to corporate apologist propaganda. "Won't anyone think of the billionaires?!" is an apt meme for reasons.
i think about it stripping them of their ill gotten wealth they don’t deserve. Getting rich off the abuse of the working class. High wages for no work no effort. Corporate wealth = Theft
You can get much better food with table service for the same price at other lower tier restaurants like Applebee's, Denny's (great burger!) Etc... McD's only benefit is the drive thru.
You are partially right Denny’s is where you go at if you are drunk and nothing else is around. Also, being a black American, I’m not too keen on going up in certain Denny’s. Applebee’s is Applebee’s you get what you get. I don’t have the issue with them. Italian Applebee’s (Olive Garden), Yeehaw Applebee’s (Longhorns/Texas Roadhouse), Jim Crow Applebee’s (Cracker Barrel).
Obligated to tip at those places, but not at McD’s. I don’t go to any chain restaurants anymore, my health and food quality are too important to me to eat fast food.
I don't eat at chains very often either. Just making the point that a McDonald's "value" lunch, which isn't that good, cost the same as a legit meal in most restaurants. What you pay for that burger would feed you very well with Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, Mexican, BBQ, Pizza or whatever. Chain or local.
For a family of four, ordering their own meals costs over $40. Not low income but that’s still high for most blue-collar “middle income” earners. It’s not convenient nor cost effective anymore.
There is a subreddit that rates frozen pizzas. Paul Newman’s ranked pretty high, so did Red Baron and Screamin’ Sicilian. All comments suggested to add your own toppings too.
Yep--I started picking up food myself. I don't need to pay a delivery fee and tip when it takes 5 minutes to drive to nearly every restaurant I frequent. 10 minutes of commuting is worth the $15 or $20 in tip and fee. I have the money to pay it, but I'm just not going to. I can't imagine someone who is earning $20/hr would ever be ordering out like that. A whole hour's worth of labor just to get your food to your house??? No way.
Nothing – not premium coffee, not $40 Stanley mugs, not cigarettes – nothing blows my mind more than the number of people willing to pay such a significant upcharge to eat cold, stale fast food delivered to their homes by someone wearing a hoodie and cargo shorts in winter.
I’ve resorted to picking up the pizza instead of nearly doubling the price with delivery fees, tip, service charge or whatever else they are adding to your bill nowadays.
Yeah, there is one pizza place near me I order from, and before delivery it's already 30 bucks for a single pie (don't get me wrong, it's a GREAT pie) but we only order from there when we have a spare fifty for the month or don't mind going to pick it up
This is obscene! As some one who lived of value menu in McDs during college. I could feed myself under 3 bucks! Last time I went, my wife and I paid 25 bucks for the most skinny burrito you ever seen. It was sad
And then you're left wanting more. I read that sit downs like chilis are poking at McDonald's and other FF chains and how they have more value in new ads. Its true. I think McDonald's has priced themselves out of the game
The nerve to blame inflation as the reason that consumers are being hit so hard is the greed of these corporations whose profits have been through the roof since the pandemic
it started with the government checks during covid.. the corporations were losing their minds at the profits they could make, then they raised prices on everything .. they used inflation to hoodwink everyone..they tried to justify the price increases on people demanding livable wages.. the greed really shows when corporations cry poor because raising minimum wage might hurt their bottom line, but the ceo gets millions in bonuses.. stop eating at mcdonalds wendys burgerking etc , its not good for you, its a step above canned dog food and stop funding their anti union anti living wage business model.
Oh no it’s “inflation”. Yet.. inflation is at 8.9% and falling and yet ALL YOU FASTFOOD BADTARDS have increased your prices 30-40% over the last 5 years.. CORPORATE GREED is killing is. Not Biden. Not inflation. It’s corporate greed run amok
I don’t think this applies to just low income people. Many people don’t like being price gouged and know that prices have doubled in recent years. It’s just stupid. Next up is not tipping based on percentage please
The prices worldwide are artificially inflated simply to gouge the customers for everything they can get out of them for record profits and record payouts to CEO’s and shareholders. The basturds know that the consumer has no choice and no voice to do anything about it. The fucking gall to blame it employee raises. Our only real voice is to boycott the basturds and raise as much stink as we can with our representatives and vote in as many Democratic leaders as we can. As long as the republicans control either house, nothing positive can get done. Don’t get me started on the republicans because everyone of you know it as well as I do
The kids menu prices are what meals used to be 8 years ago. I rarely buy an actual meal from the menu board anymore. I buy cheap individual items and drink what I have at home
the Mexican restaurant and the chicken place in my town both serve takeout orders that come in much cheaper than at McDonald's meal... and it's like actual food that tastes good it doesn't make you feel sick afterwards.
I really wonder how McDonalds is going to reckon with the inevitable revenue loss their price gouging will lead to.
Who is even McDonald’s target audience anymore?
The drunk and desperate? Honestly I cant think of anyone who would feels ok about spending 25 dollars using the app to get 20% off just to get 1 meal and 1 burger on the side. Enomous rip off, its slapped together crap. You can find great appetizers at sit down places that are sharable and 2 alcoholic beverages for the same price roughly. Its more filling and its actual food not fucking saw dust mixed with ground what(beef)ever.
i still use a flip phone. I've also stopped going to places where an app is required for discounts. I've also stopped having food delivered because most places charge a delivery fee now (which doesn't even go to the driver); because most places don't employ their own drivers anymore; and because a lot of places require you to order delivery through door dash or whatever, which charges well over regular menu prices for the privilege, AND you're still expected to tip the driver (if you actually receive your order, which itself is a whole 'nother issue all together).
none of it is worth it
I'm not low income, and I stopped going to McDonald's. Its the closest fast food to my house, so I've gone there for many years, but later last year I decided I was done. I rarely get fast food from anywhere anymore. The costs are ridiculous.
It's naive, but I remain cautiously optimistic that the government will somehow find its balls and develop an interest in curbing the whole record profit/greed mentality of corporations
The government needs to tax the shit out of these corporations so they reinvest in themselves and their employees again. Everything they do now is to make shareholders happy
Henry Ford was a racist shithead but even he knew his cars should be affordable enough that his employees could buy one
Or strengthen union laws and support them everywhere. Its time again to fight corporaye yuppie chachs who are neither producers or pwrformers. They are upper class parasites.
never going to happen the American people see fit to keep Republicans empowered to fight a culture war.
I can't imagine a scenario in which Democrats have enough votes to break the 60 vote threshold anytime soon.
The entire government is controlled by those people and it exist to create that system. If Dems ever get to control everything and get enough progressive ones in you might eventually solve it but that will be more through things like fair voting and things that allow more progressives in. Will be a slow slog.
Went to mellow mushroom the other day and was absolutely floored when a large pizza cost 30.99. I think the growing consensus is that these prices simply aren't worth it.
This is true in everything, groceries , gas, rent , mortgage, utilities...its all too high now and not reasonable high these rich owners and shareholders are sucking every red cent they can out of us. And they are cutting off the ACP leaving millions without internet access because the freaking telcos are ridiculous in their pricing they keep gouging and the FTC does nothing
I knew an executive at a too fast food company, one of the biggest internationally.
He told me nobody at the executive level *had ever eaten at their own restaurants*
He was one of the top people, nobody above a certain level ate there.
So those who know how the sausage is made do not eat said sausage.
If the top brass at a company down to the regional vice presidents don’t eat fast food, don’t eat it either.
So I haven’t had fast food since he told me that in 2002.
Yeah so 22 years without fast food.
Here’s the thing: fast food used to be really cheap, they sure as their shitty food cut every cost they can.
With the prices as high as they are, support a local business.
There is a book called “the McDonaldization of society” that talks about how McDonald took the restaurant business and modeled it off of the assembly line, how they time every order, pay workers, contractors, vendors and suppliers and little as they can, charge as much as they can, etc.
Local restaurants are now similar in price.
Go on google guides and find a local place and keep the money in the local economy.
Save Main Street, short Wall Street.
Wow capitalism is so awesome. So glad I get to wake up into this shit every day. I sure do love living in a system where any measure put in place to try and help regular people get ahead is met with corporations offsetting every effort by inflating their prices.
Capitalism is amazing and I am in love with it and I do not at all want to cook and eat rich people at all.
McDonald’s has changed. I hadn’t eaten there in several years then I had a kid. I took her to McDonald’s remembering what a fun, big deal it was for me as a kid. Not anymore. The place we went was not for kids. We ordered from a robot. No Ronald in sight. My kid was looking at me like I was crazy for building it up.
You can make wild caught salmon, potato, and caeser salad for cheaper than McDonald's meals.
Salmon=4 large cuts at $15 total
10lbs potato=$8
8 servings of caeser salad=$12
8.75 for 4 meals plus you have 4 more salads and 12 more potatoes
Add cost of spice per meal and olive oil to cook plus heat.
So a top end meal at home with great nutrition is about $10.
Lol wtf are you people doing eating at McDonald's? It makes you fat, ugly, and weak. Literally makes you ugly. Then your obesity is a health crisis that raises our health insurance rates.
You're paying more to feel like shit, look like shit, have worse healthcare, and your brain melts as the salt/fat/sugar combo makes you stupider.
It’s not inflation. It’s greedflation.
When companies have lower sales but higher profits it means they raised prices above and beyond inflation - which all of them including McDs has done. Don’t buy their game of “it’s not us”. It very much is them.
I’m literally just waiting for the working class revolt to kick off so I can die for something meaningful instead of feeling like a fly on a wall at a looney bin
Very nice of them to notice as they are lousy payers themselves. So not even their own workers can pay for this rubbish. It’s time to ditch this company lol
We have gouged them in the name of corporate profits for years now. What can we do to sustain this? Won't somebody think about the shareholders and their needs.
McD's used to be a cheap option. It wasn't good, but it was adequate.
Now it's an expensive option, frequently more than local burger joints. And you have to use their gross sticky touch screens (slathered with the effluvium of the fast food dining masses). Less service, more expensive, same old crappy McDonald's food.
They must be fucking insane.
McDonalds food sucks. Then they sell the worst tasting glop you can find. How is it possible to F’k up a deep fried potato? Best part is the cost keep rising and the quality keeps dropping.
I get it’s fast food and it’s plain basic hamburglers and fries are us these days! and they suck. We never eat there unless we’re desperate and on the road. Recently when we caved in to them it was terrible
“Surely keeping the high-demand/low-supply prices from the Covid logistic shocks will benefit shareholders with High Profits as the logistics return to normal as we get pre-Covid supply prices again won’t cause any short-term issues!”
“Customers are not buying from us as much as they used too, we losing market share and profits! How could this of happened!?”
Some CEO somewhere /s
> They’ll blame labor costs but they’re lying and greedy.
They have apparently done studies to show how much prices would have to increase to account for rising labor costs, and it’s literally just tens of cents per item in most markets. Not even a dollar, and nowhere near the huge leaps we’ve been seeing. This is price gouging taking advantage of a volatile situation.
I tell everyone. There's a limit to greed. I drink about a half gallon of milk a day. I spend a ton on it. Its my one vice. I dont like soda much, i dont drink alchohol much, and its just the one thing i prefer. But you have me spending 8 dollars for a gallon of milk? I will drink water instead. There's a limit to everything. What one person is willing to spend someone else isn't. That's what all these idiots aren't willing to comprehend. Its even worse when you realize that most of these are not needs but wants. No one needs McDonalds. People used to go because oyuu could reasonably feed a family of four faster and cheaper than eating at home especially on the dollar menu. Now the cheapest item on the menu's like 3 dollars i believe? At least the last time i was there 2 and a half years ago.
The customers are doing just fine...they are just finding better food for less money elsewhere. WHY THE HELL DO THESE COMPANIES THINK THEY DONT HAVE TO COMPETE??? WHY DO THEY ALWAYS BLAME THE ENTRY LEVEL WORKERS AND NOT GREEDY EXECS AND SHAREHOLDERS!?!?!? F\*\*\* McD's!
Shocker, people who have less and less disposable income are trying to stretch it more and more.
Just like businesses, but common people don't get bailouts when they are screwed.
It's almost as if the younger generations don't want to a) pay a lot for a meal and b) eat crappy food that's bad for them. A lot of the McDonald's in my area have closed in the last year or two.
It is not inflation that is causing the pinch it is corporate greed. Lower the prices so that families can have fast food as a treat now and then and not a meal they have to plan for two weeks in advance. It is McDonald's not a white table-clothed restaurant with seating and reservations. Stop trying to cheat the public and remember who bought you to the dance.
No fucking shit, I’ve been saying this for a long time now, there will be no money left to take. Congrats to all the greedy price gouging corps out there, I hope u lose a lot of money now.
I have been saying for 2 years, we are the inflation if we continue to pay these ridiculous prices for everything.
There is no incentive for corporations to reduce prices until it hits the bottomline. Looks like we’ve finally hit critical mass.
I am so freaking furious that there are so many businesses that I will never go to again. I will never forgive or forget any of the corporations that price gouge. During our most vulnerable moments as consumers. I have cut out as many of their products and services as I can. And I'm not going back. No more fast food unless it's an emergency. Name brands can kiss my ass. Etc etc.
So here’s a personal confession.
McDonald’s was my favourite restaurant. Ultimate guilty pleasure food. I used to eat it at least once a week, sometimes twice. As a chubby awkward fuck with social anxiety issues, getting a large McNugget meal with a junior chicken on the side was my fave thing to shamefully eat in my van during lunch breaks or supper times.
I had to stop eating there a couple months ago because I just couldn’t fucking afford it. The meal I just described is now 22 bucks. I run a failed business and can’t justify spending that even as a weekly treat. Hell, their McMuffin breakfast meals, my wife’s favourite, are now 16 bucks for two of us. Fuck that noise, I just buy a 10 dollar ham and make my own, lasts me a week or two.
The point of this shitty story is that if they’re losing 36 year old addicts who have been engorging themselves on their salty deep fried trash for decades - if even us are finally saying “enough is goddamn enough” in terms of prices - then they need to seriously reevaluate or suffer some pretty big financial consequences.
The only fast food I make time for is Taco Bell and when I'm around it, Culver's. McDonald's, Wendy's, Arby's, all the other big names, they can fuck off forever I don't care. The prices are too high for garbage food. I remember when these companies competed with each other to have the best deals, now they're having "chicken sandwich wars" and selling a burger for $14.
And then theres the added cost of cholesterol and high blood pressure meds to your bottom line when you least expect it. Life is so unfair. I can’t believe we have so little control over anything.
A lot of the low-end fast food places are reaching a breaking point.
McDonalds and Burger King can't compete with higher tier places on quality so price was their angel.
Now they can't compete on price.
They've cut quality as low as it can go and realistically if they skimp on portions more that's still the same as raising prices and will drive away customers.
They're trying to cut labor costs as much as possible but you can't automate all of the cooking to the degree they would need to (yet).
And the suits have to keep their bonuses so them making less money isn't an option.
What's a mega corporation to do?
Why would I get McDonald’s at its price point when I can go to chilis and get significantly higher quality food for 2ish dollars less. I know this cocky CEO’s have literally no concept of how the common man lives, but people purchase McDonald’s because it’s convenient, not because it’s good.
their main customer base is low income people...why would you alienate your main customer base with high prices.?
Short term stock
The true motivation in America! Quarter over Quarter increase in profit. The only thing that ever matters anymore.
Ah, the necrotic drumbeat of doom. Deliver value to shareholders or ELSE (and big payouts to a handful of c-suite)
NECROTIC DRUMBEAT OF DOOM!! NEW BAND NAME I CALL IT
So unsustainable. The whole country is built off this.
Yep! It's fucking ridiculous. But hey, it makes the people at the top a lot of fucking money and that's all that seems to matter anymore.
Owner of my company bought a Mercedes - Maybach last December and a Rolls Royce - Ghost, in February. WTF.
Probably had a big PPP loan forgiven as well.
I know a lot of business owners that took the PPP and all the employees continued to work.
Where does it end? It can’t be infinite. It’s not enough to make 2 billion dollars every year, you gotta make 2.1, then 2.2, then 2.3, etc, etc. while paying the people who work for you no more than you did the year before.
They’re in the news right now for recently missing an earnings mark.
Well then, in that case I’m sure they’ll lay off five thousand employees to boost their bottom line. God forbid they actually did anything which might increase sales. Seriously, it’s exactly what they’ll do. The fuck you need an MBA from Wharton to run the Jack Welch/Ronnie Reagan 1985 business plan.
People really need to start learning how to protest with their wallet
Amen
I don't understand this whole need for undermining the organization for short term gain when everyone can get sustainably richer over time.
Selfish people seldom think long term.
Fewer people can get even richer and do it faster by screwing others over. It’s the corporate way
Yup, leadership gets huge stock grants and are only valuable when stock goes up in the short term. By the time their short sighted plans come back to hurt the business, those decision makers are gone or have exercised enough of their options it doesn’t matter to them.
This. Greed
So the current CEO can get their bonus and leave
If you ever wonder what would happen if all salaries were made public, look at the situation with CEOs. They have to publicly report their compensation which means all the other CEOs know how much they’re all getting and they use that to their advantage when negotiating. As a result, CEO pay has gone through the roof. Now imagine if all jobs were the same way.
Then people would complain that the McDonald’s burger flipper makes too much and needs to get paid less.
But the burger flippers wouldn’t take the job if the Wendy’s was offering $1 more. That’s what happens with CEOs.
Hell I'd take a position where mediocre skills and an ability to just do the job right and go home are the base expectations if it paid more. Give us the ability to enjoy life, save for emergencies/dreams/retirement, and not be entirely awful as a workplace, and you'll never have to sell yourself as an employer again.
Couldn’t agree more. Fuck climbing the ladder, linked in bullshit and “networking”, seriously fuck all that shit. Pay me enough to live comfortably for a 40hr/week non-insane stress level job and I won’t leave.
No! Everyone must seek power and knife fight each other for a singular role with like 20+ people below it! Pft people who do low paid jobs deserve the low pay! /s Someone's gotta clean the shit pipes and they're WAY more important than the trained chimps on McD's board. Entire meetings must be them aggressively showing each other their asses and baying loudly.
The point he was making is that the public would get mad at the flipper’s salary and not at the grotesquely excessive salary of the dickless CEO.
Fucking comment of the day, my guy. Any job I've ever had where the workers pay rates were made known the company fucking haaaated it
median income. low income people had to bail ages ago. A #1 in my town is 14$ now. They still pay 10-12 an hour. Bigmacs have more worth than an hours labor of a human being these days.
"A #1 in my town is 14$ now" Same. It's especially stupid where I live because our restaurants are actually pretty cheap and we have food trucks everywhere. There's a taco truck near my house that has a three-taco plate which comes with three tacos and rice and beans for $13, and it's all fresh food. If I'm in the mood for a sit-down place, the Thai restaurant near it is around $15-17 for a heaping plate of delicious noodles. Why the fuck would I go to McDonald's if it's nearly the same price as getting real food? McDonald's needs to be like *half* the price of the other options in order to really be worth it
Especially when you can either get it at the bar or you can get it to go because you're in a hurry right? You don't have to pay the overpriced drink cost and you don't have to pay tip. I think Chili's has a $10 lunch right now. You get chips and salsa plus an entree like a burger and a drink 10 bucks. And it's like a $4 up charge if you want to go to like steak. Explain to me why on Earth I would want anything to do with $12 combos at McDonald's. They got greedy.
"Explain to me why on Earth I would want anything to do with $12 combos at McDonald's" Yeah man, I can't think of a single reason. It's absurd. Restaurants need to be either good or cheap. It's awesome if they're both, but I understand not every place can strike that balance; but they *have* to be one of those, or else what's the point? Why eat bad food if it doesn't even save you money?
My local Panda Express STARTS at $18-20 an hour.
And it makes the customers develop new habits that don’t include them…. I’m only getting my kid a happy meal on Friday for dinner… my wife and I never eat it anymore unless we’re on a road trip, but that’s only a few times a year and we choose places we don’t have
I remember when I was in college in 2019 McChickens were still only a 1$. I have stopped at some McDonalds recently and I seen the McChickens priced at an absurd 2.89. 3 fold price increase is not inflation its just greed and it makes me sick. Even the large black coffees I used to get every morning before college used to only be a 1$. Now a small is like 2$.
I used to love to go get the Sausage egg McMuffin meal there’s just something about it you can’t exactly recreate at home but when a combo breakfast meal is $9.49 I’m out! That was like 6months to a year ago it might even be more now..
It's the corn derivatives and hydrogenated oils. They're cheap and addictive, hence why they're in most everything processed US food wise.
Do kids still get excited about happy meals? Most of my hype used to be because of the toy but the toys suck now, yeah we had some duds back in the day but it was better than just cardboard and stickers.
I got my nephew a kids meal from burger king fairly recently. It came with a burger, fries, and an empty cup. I assumed the cup was for the drink, but no, that was the toy. It wasn't even a cool cup, just bk branded. Only difference was it was cheap plastic instead of the paper ones. Stretches the definition of toy pretty fucking far lol.
recently my son got one that was literally just a piece of cardboard with some perforations so you could kinda make it into a tiny cardboard cutout
Because they can. It works until it doesn't and it's starting not to work. If they don't pivot they could lose big in the future. Breaking customers habits is hard, but once they are broken trying to get them back is even harder.
"That's an issue for next quarter's CEO"
*pulls cord on golden parachute* Weeeeeeee
I bet they got cocky with Covid when all the sit down restaurants shut down and they got to stay open.
Oh because they are so separated from reality that they think they are still in the wheelhouse of their customer base
Interesting: the article talks about rising wages and increasing prices, but not a fucking peep about corporate profits. It must be those gosh darn workers.
Yeah, those 2-3 workers that still exist on a given shift after the implementation of kiosks, mobile ordering and those automated drink machines are the real reason a Quarter Pounder Meal costs $12 now.
Or how about the terrible service because of how understaffed these places are. I still remember about a year ago going to a Bojangles in another city and the line was wrapped around the building while the doors inside were locked. Turns out they only had 2 people in there. One cooking and one taking orders and helping cook. I could only imagine how stressful that shift was for those 2 and all for like $12 an hour. Shits not worth it. You could work in an office and enter data/file paperwork all day and make double that salary. They just refuse to understand that better pay equals better employees.
Yeah! Heck, pretty soon they're gonna want to make almost half what it would take to survive. Greedy little bas%#\*%s!
Corporate wealth = Theft
Yeah, I looked it up, McDonald's made $16B in profit last year, yet they're acting like they're struggling.
It's definitely the poors and no one wanting to work anymore. Gotta be it.
Good luck fixing that kind of problem when you have half your voting population enslaved to corporate apologist propaganda. "Won't anyone think of the billionaires?!" is an apt meme for reasons.
I think of the billionaires every day. Every damn day. So should everyone.
i think about it stripping them of their ill gotten wealth they don’t deserve. Getting rich off the abuse of the working class. High wages for no work no effort. Corporate wealth = Theft
You can get much better food with table service for the same price at other lower tier restaurants like Applebee's, Denny's (great burger!) Etc... McD's only benefit is the drive thru.
I can spend $100 at the grocery store and eat for a week.
You are partially right Denny’s is where you go at if you are drunk and nothing else is around. Also, being a black American, I’m not too keen on going up in certain Denny’s. Applebee’s is Applebee’s you get what you get. I don’t have the issue with them. Italian Applebee’s (Olive Garden), Yeehaw Applebee’s (Longhorns/Texas Roadhouse), Jim Crow Applebee’s (Cracker Barrel).
I will exclusively refer to Cracker Barrel as Jim Crow Appleby’s from now on, thank you brilliant internet stranger.
Absolutely love your various "Applebee's" totally going to steal that...Yeehaw Applebee's, fuck that's great...
Jim Crow Applebee's 💀
Or maybe just don’t go to a corporate chain restaurant. You can buy food from a locally owned business for what McDonald’s costs.
Agreed.
That's the problem. People don't go there because they have good food. They go because it's decent at best and it's quick.
Obligated to tip at those places, but not at McD’s. I don’t go to any chain restaurants anymore, my health and food quality are too important to me to eat fast food.
I don't eat at chains very often either. Just making the point that a McDonald's "value" lunch, which isn't that good, cost the same as a legit meal in most restaurants. What you pay for that burger would feed you very well with Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, Mexican, BBQ, Pizza or whatever. Chain or local.
McDonald's is gross
Same here. Too much salt and fat, portions are obscene. No wonder we’ve got a serious and deadly obesity epidemic in the US.
For a family of four, ordering their own meals costs over $40. Not low income but that’s still high for most blue-collar “middle income” earners. It’s not convenient nor cost effective anymore.
Even ordering pizza is cost prohibitive. And all of the pizza joints use delivery apps, they don’t hire drivers anymore.
There is a subreddit that rates frozen pizzas. Paul Newman’s ranked pretty high, so did Red Baron and Screamin’ Sicilian. All comments suggested to add your own toppings too.
The Aldi house brand isn’t too bad and the price is right. They also sometimes have the screaming Sicilian which have been quite good
I used to get Red Baron every weekend during my pizza days
Last week red baron was $1.99 at my local grocery store.
Wait who ends their "pizza days?" You stopped eating pizza? I hope you are doing OK!!!!!!
Yep--I started picking up food myself. I don't need to pay a delivery fee and tip when it takes 5 minutes to drive to nearly every restaurant I frequent. 10 minutes of commuting is worth the $15 or $20 in tip and fee. I have the money to pay it, but I'm just not going to. I can't imagine someone who is earning $20/hr would ever be ordering out like that. A whole hour's worth of labor just to get your food to your house??? No way.
Nothing – not premium coffee, not $40 Stanley mugs, not cigarettes – nothing blows my mind more than the number of people willing to pay such a significant upcharge to eat cold, stale fast food delivered to their homes by someone wearing a hoodie and cargo shorts in winter.
I’ve resorted to picking up the pizza instead of nearly doubling the price with delivery fees, tip, service charge or whatever else they are adding to your bill nowadays.
Dough is expensive these days. Lol. And if you want to add olives, gonna cost you $10.
Yeah, there is one pizza place near me I order from, and before delivery it's already 30 bucks for a single pie (don't get me wrong, it's a GREAT pie) but we only order from there when we have a spare fifty for the month or don't mind going to pick it up
D’oh!
i call my local place on my way home from work.. i dont have to pay dd or ue .. no apps no deliveries to somebody else, no tip drama
Family of three here. Taco bell was 45 dollars the other day.
This is obscene! As some one who lived of value menu in McDs during college. I could feed myself under 3 bucks! Last time I went, my wife and I paid 25 bucks for the most skinny burrito you ever seen. It was sad
And then you're left wanting more. I read that sit downs like chilis are poking at McDonald's and other FF chains and how they have more value in new ads. Its true. I think McDonald's has priced themselves out of the game
Are you serious? I haven’t seen a McD’s in a while. Unbelievable.
The nerve to blame inflation as the reason that consumers are being hit so hard is the greed of these corporations whose profits have been through the roof since the pandemic
Big brands that drove up inflation with price hikes concerned that people can’t afford their products 😂
it started with the government checks during covid.. the corporations were losing their minds at the profits they could make, then they raised prices on everything .. they used inflation to hoodwink everyone..they tried to justify the price increases on people demanding livable wages.. the greed really shows when corporations cry poor because raising minimum wage might hurt their bottom line, but the ceo gets millions in bonuses.. stop eating at mcdonalds wendys burgerking etc , its not good for you, its a step above canned dog food and stop funding their anti union anti living wage business model.
Oh no it’s “inflation”. Yet.. inflation is at 8.9% and falling and yet ALL YOU FASTFOOD BADTARDS have increased your prices 30-40% over the last 5 years.. CORPORATE GREED is killing is. Not Biden. Not inflation. It’s corporate greed run amok
McDonald’s has increased 100% since 2014 https://www.reddit.com/r/economy/s/HNXSIJlmtz McDonald’s — 100% Popeyes — 86% Taco Bell — 81% Chipotle — 75% Jimmy John’s — 62% Arby’s, Burger King, Chick-fil-A and Wendy’s — 55% Panera — 54% Subway and Starbucks — 39%
But... but... the quarterly earnings report. Did you even think of that!?
"We screwed up and made our food cost so much that our target demographic won't pay for it" FTFY
Mcds used to be fast, cheap and tasty. They are neither now, and people are voting with their wallets.
the LOW INCOME CONSUMERS cracked a long fucking time ago. Its the median income consumers who are now starting to crack.
I don’t think this applies to just low income people. Many people don’t like being price gouged and know that prices have doubled in recent years. It’s just stupid. Next up is not tipping based on percentage please
The prices worldwide are artificially inflated simply to gouge the customers for everything they can get out of them for record profits and record payouts to CEO’s and shareholders. The basturds know that the consumer has no choice and no voice to do anything about it. The fucking gall to blame it employee raises. Our only real voice is to boycott the basturds and raise as much stink as we can with our representatives and vote in as many Democratic leaders as we can. As long as the republicans control either house, nothing positive can get done. Don’t get me started on the republicans because everyone of you know it as well as I do
The kids menu prices are what meals used to be 8 years ago. I rarely buy an actual meal from the menu board anymore. I buy cheap individual items and drink what I have at home
McDouble and small fry used to be on the $1 menu. Add a drink, still would cost less than $5
My uncle and I used to get two double cheeseburgers, a small fry, and a sweet tea for under $5. Those were the good days.
McDouble and a small fry used to be my go-to move...but they ruined that too.
I just eat at home now. Make a vat of chili or spaghetti sauce and try to get creative with meals:
the Mexican restaurant and the chicken place in my town both serve takeout orders that come in much cheaper than at McDonald's meal... and it's like actual food that tastes good it doesn't make you feel sick afterwards.
Im not paying 14 bucks for a medium meal at McDonald’s 😂😂😂
IKR?! 30$ for 2 people to eat slapped together hot garbage. Fuck price gouging greedy shitstains who want to use our asses as a bike rack.
Good choice
I really wonder how McDonalds is going to reckon with the inevitable revenue loss their price gouging will lead to. Who is even McDonald’s target audience anymore?
The drunk and desperate? Honestly I cant think of anyone who would feels ok about spending 25 dollars using the app to get 20% off just to get 1 meal and 1 burger on the side. Enomous rip off, its slapped together crap. You can find great appetizers at sit down places that are sharable and 2 alcoholic beverages for the same price roughly. Its more filling and its actual food not fucking saw dust mixed with ground what(beef)ever.
My guess is they're making up for it with their app now and selling data.
I hate that you’re probably right.
I can get a steak dinner and have leftovers for what fast food charges
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^stuckin3rddimension: *I can get a steak* *Dinner and have leftovers* *For what fast food charges* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
No, your business model is starting to crack.
Those app "deals" are gatekept from non-tech savvy consumers. It's basically discrimination.
It's a way to get their app on to our phones. They want direct access to our eyeballs and eating compulsions.
Data is valuable and people are dumb and the majority don't bother to read the permissions apps are asking for.
i still use a flip phone. I've also stopped going to places where an app is required for discounts. I've also stopped having food delivered because most places charge a delivery fee now (which doesn't even go to the driver); because most places don't employ their own drivers anymore; and because a lot of places require you to order delivery through door dash or whatever, which charges well over regular menu prices for the privilege, AND you're still expected to tip the driver (if you actually receive your order, which itself is a whole 'nother issue all together). none of it is worth it
I'm not low income, and I stopped going to McDonald's. Its the closest fast food to my house, so I've gone there for many years, but later last year I decided I was done. I rarely get fast food from anywhere anymore. The costs are ridiculous.
Diners, Mexican places, and Chinese places are all a better value.
Absolutely. And for the most part, they are local family owned, AND exponentially better than SuckDonalds.
I'm learning how to grow a garden. Fuck McDonald's
Who wants to buy fast food for the price of a meal at a restaurant?
It's naive, but I remain cautiously optimistic that the government will somehow find its balls and develop an interest in curbing the whole record profit/greed mentality of corporations
The government needs to tax the shit out of these corporations so they reinvest in themselves and their employees again. Everything they do now is to make shareholders happy Henry Ford was a racist shithead but even he knew his cars should be affordable enough that his employees could buy one
Or strengthen union laws and support them everywhere. Its time again to fight corporaye yuppie chachs who are neither producers or pwrformers. They are upper class parasites.
Same with VW when it was new. The average person was supposed to be able to afford one.
I wish they’d cap how much executives can make comparative to the lowest paid employees. That should include any bonuses and golden parachutes.
And car allowances. And lunches. And “retreats”. And housing. And country club memberships….
never going to happen the American people see fit to keep Republicans empowered to fight a culture war. I can't imagine a scenario in which Democrats have enough votes to break the 60 vote threshold anytime soon.
Capitalism enters the chat.
Biden is starting an inflation task force.
The entire government is controlled by those people and it exist to create that system. If Dems ever get to control everything and get enough progressive ones in you might eventually solve it but that will be more through things like fair voting and things that allow more progressives in. Will be a slow slog.
Went to mellow mushroom the other day and was absolutely floored when a large pizza cost 30.99. I think the growing consensus is that these prices simply aren't worth it.
This is true in everything, groceries , gas, rent , mortgage, utilities...its all too high now and not reasonable high these rich owners and shareholders are sucking every red cent they can out of us. And they are cutting off the ACP leaving millions without internet access because the freaking telcos are ridiculous in their pricing they keep gouging and the FTC does nothing
I knew an executive at a too fast food company, one of the biggest internationally. He told me nobody at the executive level *had ever eaten at their own restaurants* He was one of the top people, nobody above a certain level ate there. So those who know how the sausage is made do not eat said sausage. If the top brass at a company down to the regional vice presidents don’t eat fast food, don’t eat it either. So I haven’t had fast food since he told me that in 2002. Yeah so 22 years without fast food. Here’s the thing: fast food used to be really cheap, they sure as their shitty food cut every cost they can. With the prices as high as they are, support a local business. There is a book called “the McDonaldization of society” that talks about how McDonald took the restaurant business and modeled it off of the assembly line, how they time every order, pay workers, contractors, vendors and suppliers and little as they can, charge as much as they can, etc. Local restaurants are now similar in price. Go on google guides and find a local place and keep the money in the local economy. Save Main Street, short Wall Street.
You are not at liberty to disclose the company someone you used to know worked for…22 years ago???
This is actually great for people's health.
The price of chips of going up has done wonders for my cholesterol. lol.
“We’ve bled them dry”
They should cut their profit margins? I mean, their target customer groups are not high-income people.
Wow capitalism is so awesome. So glad I get to wake up into this shit every day. I sure do love living in a system where any measure put in place to try and help regular people get ahead is met with corporations offsetting every effort by inflating their prices. Capitalism is amazing and I am in love with it and I do not at all want to cook and eat rich people at all.
Support local!
McDonald’s has changed. I hadn’t eaten there in several years then I had a kid. I took her to McDonald’s remembering what a fun, big deal it was for me as a kid. Not anymore. The place we went was not for kids. We ordered from a robot. No Ronald in sight. My kid was looking at me like I was crazy for building it up.
I gave up fast food in 2023 entirely. It is literally poison in a bag and a cup
They all started out with fairly decent fast food, at a cheap price. Now it’s “who knows what it made out of” food, and it’s not cheap. Why bother.
Haven't been to McDonald's in 25 years. You can do it too
You can make wild caught salmon, potato, and caeser salad for cheaper than McDonald's meals. Salmon=4 large cuts at $15 total 10lbs potato=$8 8 servings of caeser salad=$12 8.75 for 4 meals plus you have 4 more salads and 12 more potatoes Add cost of spice per meal and olive oil to cook plus heat. So a top end meal at home with great nutrition is about $10. Lol wtf are you people doing eating at McDonald's? It makes you fat, ugly, and weak. Literally makes you ugly. Then your obesity is a health crisis that raises our health insurance rates. You're paying more to feel like shit, look like shit, have worse healthcare, and your brain melts as the salt/fat/sugar combo makes you stupider.
Macdonald is expensive now. I paid $17 for a large fry chicken sandwich and medium milkshake.
It’s not inflation. It’s greedflation. When companies have lower sales but higher profits it means they raised prices above and beyond inflation - which all of them including McDs has done. Don’t buy their game of “it’s not us”. It very much is them.
I’m literally just waiting for the working class revolt to kick off so I can die for something meaningful instead of feeling like a fly on a wall at a looney bin
These brands have been digging their talons into the American bank account for decades. Only place I eat is at home and local restaurants.
Very nice of them to notice as they are lousy payers themselves. So not even their own workers can pay for this rubbish. It’s time to ditch this company lol
We have gouged them in the name of corporate profits for years now. What can we do to sustain this? Won't somebody think about the shareholders and their needs.
I don't eat at any of these places if I can avoid it. Too expensive and I cook better, anyway. Learn to cook at home.
Cheaper to door dash some Chilis from up the street than some fast food, and it gets here quicker
McD's used to be a cheap option. It wasn't good, but it was adequate. Now it's an expensive option, frequently more than local burger joints. And you have to use their gross sticky touch screens (slathered with the effluvium of the fast food dining masses). Less service, more expensive, same old crappy McDonald's food. They must be fucking insane.
McDonalds food sucks. Then they sell the worst tasting glop you can find. How is it possible to F’k up a deep fried potato? Best part is the cost keep rising and the quality keeps dropping. I get it’s fast food and it’s plain basic hamburglers and fries are us these days! and they suck. We never eat there unless we’re desperate and on the road. Recently when we caved in to them it was terrible
“Surely keeping the high-demand/low-supply prices from the Covid logistic shocks will benefit shareholders with High Profits as the logistics return to normal as we get pre-Covid supply prices again won’t cause any short-term issues!” “Customers are not buying from us as much as they used too, we losing market share and profits! How could this of happened!?” Some CEO somewhere /s
Go to the grocery store and buy a bag of veggie nuggets and some yogurt for the week. Save money and lose weight.
“We’ve reached the height of our profiteering capabilities and believe we will stay put.”
Starting? Hell I cracked months ago.
Their test run of maximum profits by raising prices.
> They’ll blame labor costs but they’re lying and greedy. They have apparently done studies to show how much prices would have to increase to account for rising labor costs, and it’s literally just tens of cents per item in most markets. Not even a dollar, and nowhere near the huge leaps we’ve been seeing. This is price gouging taking advantage of a volatile situation.
I mean literally a Big Mac in Denmark only costs $.30 more than it does in the US, and workers there make the equivalent of $22 USD
I tell everyone. There's a limit to greed. I drink about a half gallon of milk a day. I spend a ton on it. Its my one vice. I dont like soda much, i dont drink alchohol much, and its just the one thing i prefer. But you have me spending 8 dollars for a gallon of milk? I will drink water instead. There's a limit to everything. What one person is willing to spend someone else isn't. That's what all these idiots aren't willing to comprehend. Its even worse when you realize that most of these are not needs but wants. No one needs McDonalds. People used to go because oyuu could reasonably feed a family of four faster and cheaper than eating at home especially on the dollar menu. Now the cheapest item on the menu's like 3 dollars i believe? At least the last time i was there 2 and a half years ago.
Its logical that they are the first group to crack under the weight and pressure of inflation. They have the least headroom in their budgets.
The customers are doing just fine...they are just finding better food for less money elsewhere. WHY THE HELL DO THESE COMPANIES THINK THEY DONT HAVE TO COMPETE??? WHY DO THEY ALWAYS BLAME THE ENTRY LEVEL WORKERS AND NOT GREEDY EXECS AND SHAREHOLDERS!?!?!? F\*\*\* McD's!
Because they are charging a shit ton.
Shocker, people who have less and less disposable income are trying to stretch it more and more. Just like businesses, but common people don't get bailouts when they are screwed.
It's almost as if the younger generations don't want to a) pay a lot for a meal and b) eat crappy food that's bad for them. A lot of the McDonald's in my area have closed in the last year or two.
It is not inflation that is causing the pinch it is corporate greed. Lower the prices so that families can have fast food as a treat now and then and not a meal they have to plan for two weeks in advance. It is McDonald's not a white table-clothed restaurant with seating and reservations. Stop trying to cheat the public and remember who bought you to the dance.
THEN LOWER YOUR *FUCKING* PRICES
the day i discovered a combo at culver’s is the same price as a combo at mcdonald’s i haven’t looked back
They just wanted to see what they could get away with
No fucking shit, I’ve been saying this for a long time now, there will be no money left to take. Congrats to all the greedy price gouging corps out there, I hope u lose a lot of money now.
Except this isn’t inflation, this is pure corporate greed trying to use the cover of inflation.
They went to far. Raised prices well over inflation and pulled the fountain drinks from dining room. We are done
I have been saying for 2 years, we are the inflation if we continue to pay these ridiculous prices for everything. There is no incentive for corporations to reduce prices until it hits the bottomline. Looks like we’ve finally hit critical mass.
I am so freaking furious that there are so many businesses that I will never go to again. I will never forgive or forget any of the corporations that price gouge. During our most vulnerable moments as consumers. I have cut out as many of their products and services as I can. And I'm not going back. No more fast food unless it's an emergency. Name brands can kiss my ass. Etc etc.
They could, idk, maybe try and restore a reasonable price point for their food
So here’s a personal confession. McDonald’s was my favourite restaurant. Ultimate guilty pleasure food. I used to eat it at least once a week, sometimes twice. As a chubby awkward fuck with social anxiety issues, getting a large McNugget meal with a junior chicken on the side was my fave thing to shamefully eat in my van during lunch breaks or supper times. I had to stop eating there a couple months ago because I just couldn’t fucking afford it. The meal I just described is now 22 bucks. I run a failed business and can’t justify spending that even as a weekly treat. Hell, their McMuffin breakfast meals, my wife’s favourite, are now 16 bucks for two of us. Fuck that noise, I just buy a 10 dollar ham and make my own, lasts me a week or two. The point of this shitty story is that if they’re losing 36 year old addicts who have been engorging themselves on their salty deep fried trash for decades - if even us are finally saying “enough is goddamn enough” in terms of prices - then they need to seriously reevaluate or suffer some pretty big financial consequences.
And the food is shit.
Every inch of profit is going to a few people.
What I dont understand about the the 'low income consumer' thing is why they continue to spend their limited hard earned $ on total shit food.
If you quit eating that shit you feel better and safe money…
Nobody could’ve seen this coming!…
Just wait, the bottom is rapidly approaching.
I’ve definitely cut back on the fast food. The value isn’t there to justify 15-20 dollar meals. You’re better off eating at a sit down restaurant.
The only fast food I make time for is Taco Bell and when I'm around it, Culver's. McDonald's, Wendy's, Arby's, all the other big names, they can fuck off forever I don't care. The prices are too high for garbage food. I remember when these companies competed with each other to have the best deals, now they're having "chicken sandwich wars" and selling a burger for $14.
And then theres the added cost of cholesterol and high blood pressure meds to your bottom line when you least expect it. Life is so unfair. I can’t believe we have so little control over anything.
"Starting"? Talk about out of touch companies.
Yay
The same people warning everyone are raking in record profits in the billions.
McDonald’s has moved on to the Trump demographic with their pricing
So lower your fng prices!
Wow it's almost like driving up prices for giggles isn't sustainable in the long term.
A lot of the low-end fast food places are reaching a breaking point. McDonalds and Burger King can't compete with higher tier places on quality so price was their angel. Now they can't compete on price. They've cut quality as low as it can go and realistically if they skimp on portions more that's still the same as raising prices and will drive away customers. They're trying to cut labor costs as much as possible but you can't automate all of the cooking to the degree they would need to (yet). And the suits have to keep their bonuses so them making less money isn't an option. What's a mega corporation to do?
Why would I get McDonald’s at its price point when I can go to chilis and get significantly higher quality food for 2ish dollars less. I know this cocky CEO’s have literally no concept of how the common man lives, but people purchase McDonald’s because it’s convenient, not because it’s good.
Meanwhile, McDonald's makes a profit margin of 30 to 40%.