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> McDonald's costs more than my local gourmet burger place, but with half the flavor. I really wonder what the economics of this is. A lot of people mention t

> McDonald's costs more than my local gourmet burger place, but with half the flavor. I really wonder what the economics of this is. A lot of people mention the app being cheaper (I don’t know, I don’t eat fast food). Are walk-ins just paying a premium for convenience? Is it actually more expensive or did they raise prices beyond the necessary point under the guise of inflation so they’d have headroom for later? Does your local place actually pay and treat workers worse? In my HCOL city, I’ve seen ads for McD workers with a $30+/hr salary. I don’t know if they’re overpaying compared to mom-and-pop stores to get workers, but it seems like a good thing to see even more incentives to eat at local restaurants instead of chains.

ants_everywhere 3y ago
> I really wonder what the economics of this is. It could be largely that they're socializing their customer base to the app because that's how customers will need to order in a few years when robots make the food and AIs run the drive-throughs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJxBySZwBAI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJxBySZwBAI Also walk-ins force the use of the human-based service model that they're presumably trying to phase out over some time period.
15457345234 3y ago
> I really wonder what the economics of this is. They _really really really_ want you to have the app. It's coming from very high up; make the phones as indispensable as possible. Really glue people to them. Absolutely rinsing people who refuse to engage in the app economy is one of the ways of achieving compliance with that goal.
- soupfordummies 3y ago
  I'm interested in more of your thoughts on this. Who is they/very high up? I've started unplugging/disconnecting more and more this year but the pressure is increasing on many levels to STAY glued to the phone. Gets really discouraging to try and get others to do the same (friends, family, etc)
  - 15457345234 3y ago
    I'm just repeating something I heard on the Alex Jones show to be honest. It's a conspiracy theory after all - insert your protagonist of choice.
neom 3y ago
I too wonder what is going on. I "don't eat fast food" (outside of a couple of times a year , if that) - I'd not had McDs in a year or so, but randomly decided to have a burger meal last week. I was honestly shocked. The last time I had McDonalds, it was unhealthy, cheap and tasted pretty good... this time it was unhealthy, expensive, and tasted like basically nothing. I was left pretty confused, so it's nice to hear this is "a thing". I don't have much of a guess except as others have suggested, they REALLY want to push people to the app. Suffice to say, I won't be visiting McDs again for a long time.

ants_everywhere 3y ago

> I really wonder what the economics of this is. It could be largely that they're socializing their customer base to the app because that's how customers will need to order in a few years when robots make the food and AIs run the drive-throughs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJxBySZwBAI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJxBySZwBAI Also walk-ins force the use of the human-based service model that they're presumably trying to phase out over some time period.

15457345234 3y ago

> I really wonder what the economics of this is. They _really really really_ want you to have the app. It's coming from very high up; make the phones as indispensable as possible. Really glue people to them. Absolutely rinsing people who refuse to engage in the app economy is one of the ways of achieving compliance with that goal.

soupfordummies 3y ago
I'm interested in more of your thoughts on this. Who is they/very high up? I've started unplugging/disconnecting more and more this year but the pressure is increasing on many levels to STAY glued to the phone. Gets really discouraging to try and get others to do the same (friends, family, etc)
- 15457345234 3y ago
  I'm just repeating something I heard on the Alex Jones show to be honest. It's a conspiracy theory after all - insert your protagonist of choice.

neom 3y ago

I too wonder what is going on. I "don't eat fast food" (outside of a couple of times a year , if that) - I'd not had McDs in a year or so, but randomly decided to have a burger meal last week. I was honestly shocked. The last time I had McDonalds, it was unhealthy, cheap and tasted pretty good... this time it was unhealthy, expensive, and tasted like basically nothing. I was left pretty confused, so it's nice to hear this is "a thing". I don't have much of a guess except as others have suggested, they REALLY want to push people to the app. Suffice to say, I won't be visiting McDs again for a long time.