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And RFID chip is less than 10 cents. The rest is amortized rather quickly. When you calculate McDonald's losses, don't assume the base cost of water, or soda,

And RFID chip is less than 10 cents. The rest is amortized rather quickly. When you calculate McDonald's losses, don't assume the base cost of water, or soda, but the opportunity loss of missed sales, which are significantly larger.

londons_explore 5y ago
10 cents is a lot when the cup probably costs 3 cents, the syrup 3 cents and the water 0.1 cents... You're more than doubling the materials cost to sell a coke.
- yourenotsmart 5y ago
  A coke is one dollar. So paying 10 cents to get back a missed dollar suddenly makes a whole lot of sense, doesn't it? I know it's not 1:1, but they have the data, and apparently it's still more profitable/preferable for them to have RFID. Furthermore if McDonald's doesn't want to attract freeloaders, which bring with them all kinds of other risks and cultural issues that might repel actual paying customers, they have that right. They're not a social center. And don't forget they HAVE THE DATA. They know how much cups they sell and how much water and soda they dispense. They've done the math. Can we stop pretending we know more about their profit/cost and operations than they do?
  - londons_explore 5y ago
    But if they could solve the same problem for 1 cent, they would do that - independent of the data. Eg. A unique QR code on the underside of the cup.
    - yourenotsmart 5y ago
      > But if they could solve the same problem for 1 cent, they would do that - independent of the data. > Eg. A unique QR code on the underside of the cup. Let's have a QR scanner below the cup, where people constantly spill their drinks. Great idea. /s
- ac29 5y ago
  You're completing ignoring labor costs, capital expenses, building rent, franchise fees, equipment maintenance, etc. A single soft drink may not cost much in terms of raw materials, but running the business has lots more costs involved than just raw materials.
dathinab 5y ago
> , which are significantly larger. They are close to zero (I think). Most McDonalds (I know of) either have free refills or provide pre-filled cups. So this mainly prevents you refilling "to often" or with "to old cups". The huge majority of people will not "refill to often". But homeless people might try try to get some extra drinks by refilling using old cups or cups from other people. But they also don't really have the money to buy additional drinks. So no relevant amount of not sold drinks are missed out on. At least IMHO and with the kind of McDonald I have been in. EDIT: Cleaned up sentences.
- yourenotsmart 5y ago
  I don't know why we need to speculate and pretend to know more about McDonald's than they do, given they have made those decisions based on data, not speculation. Also soft drink/water sales are not "close to zero". I don't know what you mean.
  - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
    >"they have made those decisions based on data" I don't know why we need to speculate and pretend that we know that their decisions are well-considered and backed up by data. I don't know why we pretend like leaderships does not have same flaws the rest of humanity does, and egos to boot.
    - yourenotsmart 5y ago
      Let's see: - They have feedback from every venue, sales data, and dispenser use data, and these teams have been running the company for years, some decades. - And we have A SINGLE TWEET, and 30 seconds for a hot take during a coffee break. Clearly, we know better. FFS.
      - dathinab 5y ago
        But us not knowing better still doesn't mean that their decision is backed by data. In my experience quite a lot of business decisions are not backed by data, especially when it comes to people generally perceived as "less liked" like e.g. homeless people.

londons_explore 5y ago

10 cents is a lot when the cup probably costs 3 cents, the syrup 3 cents and the water 0.1 cents... You're more than doubling the materials cost to sell a coke.

yourenotsmart 5y ago
A coke is one dollar. So paying 10 cents to get back a missed dollar suddenly makes a whole lot of sense, doesn't it? I know it's not 1:1, but they have the data, and apparently it's still more profitable/preferable for them to have RFID. Furthermore if McDonald's doesn't want to attract freeloaders, which bring with them all kinds of other risks and cultural issues that might repel actual paying customers, they have that right. They're not a social center. And don't forget they HAVE THE DATA. They know how much cups they sell and how much water and soda they dispense. They've done the math. Can we stop pretending we know more about their profit/cost and operations than they do?
- londons_explore 5y ago
  But if they could solve the same problem for 1 cent, they would do that - independent of the data. Eg. A unique QR code on the underside of the cup.
  - yourenotsmart 5y ago
    > But if they could solve the same problem for 1 cent, they would do that - independent of the data. > Eg. A unique QR code on the underside of the cup. Let's have a QR scanner below the cup, where people constantly spill their drinks. Great idea. /s
ac29 5y ago
You're completing ignoring labor costs, capital expenses, building rent, franchise fees, equipment maintenance, etc. A single soft drink may not cost much in terms of raw materials, but running the business has lots more costs involved than just raw materials.

dathinab 5y ago

> , which are significantly larger. They are close to zero (I think). Most McDonalds (I know of) either have free refills or provide pre-filled cups. So this mainly prevents you refilling "to often" or with "to old cups". The huge majority of people will not "refill to often". But homeless people might try try to get some extra drinks by refilling using old cups or cups from other people. But they also don't really have the money to buy additional drinks. So no relevant amount of not sold drinks are missed out on. At least IMHO and with the kind of McDonald I have been in. EDIT: Cleaned up sentences.

yourenotsmart 5y ago
I don't know why we need to speculate and pretend to know more about McDonald's than they do, given they have made those decisions based on data, not speculation. Also soft drink/water sales are not "close to zero". I don't know what you mean.
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  >"they have made those decisions based on data" I don't know why we need to speculate and pretend that we know that their decisions are well-considered and backed up by data. I don't know why we pretend like leaderships does not have same flaws the rest of humanity does, and egos to boot.
  - yourenotsmart 5y ago
    Let's see: - They have feedback from every venue, sales data, and dispenser use data, and these teams have been running the company for years, some decades. - And we have A SINGLE TWEET, and 30 seconds for a hot take during a coffee break. Clearly, we know better. FFS.
    - dathinab 5y ago
      But us not knowing better still doesn't mean that their decision is backed by data. In my experience quite a lot of business decisions are not backed by data, especially when it comes to people generally perceived as "less liked" like e.g. homeless people.