4 ms·

McDonald's is a premium product now (2024)

38 points by paulpauper 6mo ago

nabbed 6mo ago
I stopped going to McDonald's (which I previously visited about once per month) mainly because they got very expensive, and the price does not match the quality of the food (and they also are not that fast anymore). If I am going to spend that much, I could spend a little more a go to a much nicer mom-and-pop place. A secondary reason is that they are American. Although I am American, I am currently a resident of another country that is targeted by American tariffs, so I am trying to buy local as much a possible.
- nerdsniper 6mo ago
  I stopped going because the McDonald's closest to me stopped serving water. The only way for employees to fill a cup with water is to use the sink, and that's not an option offered to customers. There's no way to buy or be served a water, not even a bottle of it.
  - ranger_danger 6mo ago
    [dead]
  - franktankbank 6mo ago
    That sounds illegal.
    - nerdsniper 6mo ago
      In some jurisdictions it is, but in most it is legal. It’s one of those things that just didn’t require any regulation in the past.
    - dd8601fn 6mo ago
      It’s required here. Same with access to the toilets. I always thought it was weird when traveling to have places like burger king charge you to use their bathroom. It’s uncivilized.
- bko 6mo ago
  [flagged]
  - nothinkjustai 6mo ago
    It’s really not.
  - messe 6mo ago
    Actually, it's not. Speaking from experience. I'm a sample size of one, but that's still one better than your extrapolation from zero. One of the local supermarket chains here in Denmark (Salling Group) even puts a star on the price tag for products of European origin. For larger purchases, I'm doing research on the product anyway. I still sometimes buy American at times; sometimes there's no avoiding it for certain items. But on the whole avoiding American goods isn't that hard, and doesn't require much effort.
    - danudey 6mo ago
      Given that the US is the only country in recent memory whose politics have shifted from "pretty normal for a western nation" to "unpredictable rogue state", it's not as though the list of "countries to avoid" changes that often. Countries like Russia, Iran, and China have been very consistent in their philosophies and actions; countries like France, the UK, and Japan have also been pretty consistent. The only real change lately is the US.
      - messe 6mo ago
        On a similar note: There was a period post-Brexit when I hadn't moved away from Ireland yet during which I also did my best to avoid UK produced goods too. Now that was a lot harder though due to the UK still being in the single market at the time, and on top of that just how integrated supply chains between the north and the rest of Ireland are. I'm cautiously optimistic that the UK is moving back toward sanity though.
    - tavavex 6mo ago
      > One of the local supermarket chains here in Denmark (Salling Group) even puts a star on the price tag for products of European origin. Many store chains in Canada have also started putting maple leaf icons on price tags for Canadian-made products over the last year or two, after the US did whatever they've done. But it's harder to avoid US-made products here, because so much is imported and it's the only country we share a real land border with.
- bryanlarsen 6mo ago
  In Canada they have a CAD$5 McValue meal deal, so USD$3.67 for a McDouble, small fries & small drink. Do they not have similar deals in your jurisdiction?
  - jbm 6mo ago
    For what it is worth, I live in Calgary and the McDonalds near me does not have deals like that. There is apparently a huge range in prices across McDonalds in a city, so there may be geographic limitations. I don't go either, and the price is part of the reason. (I would go for the ice cream in summer, or for their cheap drinks promos).
    - dylan604 6mo ago
      > There is apparently a huge range in prices across McDonalds in a city, so there may be geographic limitations. Aren't the vast majority of McDonalds actually franchises vs corporate own where everything would be much more consistent?
    - red-iron-pine 6mo ago
      I can't speak for Calgary proper but I've hit McDs in Cochrane and Airdrie (outer 'burbs of Calgary) and they had similar. Ditto for Edmonton.
  - HarHarVeryFunny 6mo ago
    A typical burger + fries + drink at McDonalds where I am in the US is now about $20. You can get something much better quality (& larger size) at FiveGuys for same price, and even some nice quality restaurants have lunch specials that cost the same. McD was never good, but when it was $10 it was still an OK occasional convenient lunch option. At $20 there is zero reason to go there.
    - bayesnet 6mo ago
      That’s bonkers. I’m on the east coast (not nyc) and a quarter pounder medium meal is $10.49. Meanwhile Five Guys is $20.29 for a regular meal.
- danudey 6mo ago
  There's a McDonald's near my home that I can order from if I'm craving garbage food quickly and don't feel well enough to leave the house, but they only get my order correct about 20% of the time. Another 20% of the time they make the wrong thing (e.g. the wrong kind of breakfast sandwich), and the remaining 60% of the time they forget to put half the order in (e.g. we ordered three of the Minecraft happy meal cube things a while back, plus an extra chicken sandwich, and we only got two of the cubes and no sandwich, plus we were missing two of the drinks for the meals). The tariff issue is another reason not to patronize them, but at the same time if everyone in Canada stopped eating at McDonald's then McDonald's corporation would take a hit and thousands of Canadians would be immediately unemployed and thousands of Canadian suppliers of ingredients (beef, eggs, chicken, vegetables, etc) would lose a ton of business, so while I'd rather order from A&W for dozens of reasons I'm not outright boycotting American chains the way I am with American products.
  - mbirth 6mo ago
    I’ve actually switched from Just Eat to slightly more expensive Deliveroo because the latter one makes it extremely easy (at least in the UK) to report wrong deliveries and you get your money back in a matter of minutes. Also make sure to do the McD survey via the link on the receipt - that usually improves things for a while.
- qwertyuiop_ 6mo ago
  How do you communicate your guilt based purchases to the local citizenry ?
  - nabbed 6mo ago
    Am I supposed to?
- paleotrope 6mo ago
  I seem to recall that Mcdonalds goes to pains to source locally.
  - red-iron-pine 6mo ago
    wtf is that based on? McD's is the largest purchaser of beef in the US. it all goes into the slop bin and is delivered as patties to locations. ditto for the pink goo that makes the chicken nuggets. why do you think the CEO was so hesitant to eat the burger?
- Eddy_Viscosity2 6mo ago
  It's also slow. It's not 'fast food' anymore. You order than wait for 15 or 20 minutes. I've waited 40 minutes at an airport McDs for food after ordering. The food is expensive, not very good, and slow. So yeah, I don't go to Mcdonalds anymore.
jabsters 6mo ago
Published July 31, 2024
- lux-lux-lux 6mo ago
  It’s being dated is actually quite fatal to his thesis, as not only did McDonalds significantly underperform the market over the past few years but mid 2024 was also the exact time their attempt to pivot to higher income brackets stumbled and they were forced to introduce stuff like the $5 meal deal to stop hemorrhaging customers.
  - conception 6mo ago
    But in the last 4 weeks they’ve significantly cut back on the number of deals they offer in-app and increased the price of items in their point scheme. It used to be “you can get a good deal in the app” but no longer.
  - mpyne 6mo ago
    Yeah my overall spending at McDonald's declined significantly after the 2022 bout with inflation, and it's not just that prices went up (it was inflation, they mostly all went up), but that they leaned into trying to appeal to people who would already have been spending lots of money. It would have been one thing just to make the food taste better, but they went the opposite and made it take forever to prepare and serve. But for me the whole point to McDonald's was to get in, eat something consistently decent, get out quickly. So they actually made things worse, because I already had plenty of other spots to get "nice" food if that's what I was in the mood for. I'm not going to say bring back the heat lamps per se but there was a lot of value to people like me in having a restaurant that delivered on the original promise of "fast" food...
PaulHoule 6mo ago
I was driving around the other day with my wife and I said "Hey, you should see how i can order from the McDonalds app and the food is ready when you show up" and in the end she was appalled with what a Fillet-o-Fish costs for how much food you get.
dec0dedab0de 6mo ago
Americans, particularly on social media, seem to have a love-hate relationship with food. These reviews are not uncommonly juxtaposed with fitness content and people in the comments warning of the obesity problem. So these same people praising and consuming this calorie-rich food are at the same time warning of obesity in America and trying to get in better shape. There is a sort of cognitive dissonance in both voicing concerns about obesity or food inflation, yet consuming the very food that is causing it, or watching a video that glorifies this food. It feels like a reach presenting this without evidence that it is the same people. Especially without any nuance around health-conscious people still doing unhealthy things on occasion.
- hootz 6mo ago
  Once you see the goomba, you can't unsee it...
  - Our_Benefactors 6mo ago
    …goomba? Wtf are you even talking about?
    - pocksuppet 6mo ago
      https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Goomba_fallacy https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Goomba_fallacy It has nothing to do with goombas, except the first person to illustrate the fallacy chose to draw goombas.
  - glaugh 6mo ago
    Gosh, this was exactly my thought in reading that, and I just learned about it today
damnesian 6mo ago
I wouldn't feel bad in the least if all the $60 a pop lunchfluencers disappear for being grossly irresponsible role models, having to resort to pitiously ungrammable cheap-ass meals for themselves in the end.
cube00 6mo ago
I stopped after I realised I was paying a premium price for stale cold chips and luke warm burgers. It got so bad they ran a promo that if your chips weren't hot and fresh they'd give you a new batch for free. Guess it cost them too much because they killed that promo pretty quickly.
- deleted 6mo ago
  [deleted]
- dylan604 6mo ago
  How do you get cold fries? Is the bulb out in the heat lamps? Also, it's been known for decades that you ask for fries with no salt so they have to make a new batch as they salt them immediately after cooking.
- Vrondi 6mo ago
  Order fries with no salt, and they will fry a whole new basket to fill your order. You have to wait, but you get fresh hot fries every time.
  - pimlottc 6mo ago
    But then you have to eat fries without salt
    - cube00 6mo ago
      This "life hacks" will tell you to salt it yourself with the sachets. However the reason the salt sticks nicely is it's applied straight after the fries are pulled from the fryer so they are still wet with oil. When you order no salt, they wait until the fries cool down for safety, and adding salt once the oil has dried off just causes the salt to fall to the bottom of the container.
deleted 6mo ago
[deleted]
ryandrake 6mo ago
I kind of lost the point of the article when the author veered into the entirely separate topic of McDonalds being unhealthy. It's like two totally separate articles in one. Article 1. McDonalds (along with other traditionally cheap-food places) is now very expensive and not for poor people. Article 2. McDonalds serves (and people are out there eating) unhealthy food. Article 1 is news if you haven't been in a McDonalds in the last 5 years. Article 2 is obvious and is not really a new phenomenon.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 6mo ago
  Article 1 was true under 1990s prices. But you can get two double cheeseburgers for about four bucks and there aren't many who are so poor they can't afford that.
  - happytoexplain 6mo ago
    What? Is it true or not? You just said two opposite sentences. Edit: Wait, are you trying to say their prices have decreased relative to inflation since the 90's??
    - zhdc1 6mo ago
      They’re just about dead even. Maybe slightly higher. Not unreasonably higher. Inflation is a pain in the rear.
      - happytoexplain 6mo ago
        First, the parent implies it decreased, not stayed the same. Second, are you sure? Everything I can find indicates that the Big Mac slightly increased (and further, the "Big Mac index" is a meme, which may dampen increases for image reasons), and everything else on the menu, on average, increased even more than the Big Mac. Is my data bad?
        zhdc1 6mo ago
SoftTalker 6mo ago
A few years ago my wife and I stopped at a McD drive thru and ordered two meals. The total was over $20. I was aghast and I questioned the cashier if there was some mistake. It's only gotten worse. On a local subreddit recently someone was asking where to get a decent lunch that "doesn't break the bank" and turns out that their target spend was $10. My answer was "Pack a peanut butter sandwich and an apple at home and take it to work with you." Which is my usual lunch. I am just astonished that people spend $10-15 or more, every day, on lunch. And often will pay more to have it delivered.
- copperx 6mo ago
  If you're on a GLP-1s and crave junk food (quite uncommon), almost all fast food places have a small combo that's around $5 that'll satisfy. At least Wendy's, Taco Bell, McDonald's, and others do.
- 0xbadcafebee 6mo ago
  You ordered two complete meals (a drink, a side, and an entree), you probably got it in 30 seconds, and the total was less than the cost of comparable meals at virtually any restaurant. And you were aghast? ....You are aware inflation makes things cost more over time, right? 2% per year means things cost 10% more after just 5 years
  - greycol 6mo ago
    That is precisely the problem, you look at the inflation and compare it to what you payed 5,10,20 years ago and your either getting less or paying more than that inflation. Average price inflation of a big mac in the US for the past 25 years is 4% versus average CPI inflation of 2.29%. So instead of increasing in price by 65% it increased 166%.
    - 0xbadcafebee 6mo ago
      A burger at any restaurant today costs $15. The quarter pounder at McDonald's is $5.50. You get to sit and eat in both restaurants. McDonald's is 3x cheaper... complaining that it's not 4x cheaper is first world problems
foxyv 6mo ago
This reminds me of Demolition man when he wakes up in the future and Taco Bell is fine dining.
freetime2 6mo ago
Back in the early 2000s, I would frequently order a "McDouble" (double cheeseburger) for $1 from their value menu. I can't get exact prices from their website (looks like you need the app), but they list the McDouble in their "under $3 McValue Menu" [1]. Given that inflation has nearly halved the purchasing power of a dollar since then, this doesn't seem too bad. They also list a $5 meal deal that includes a McDouble, fries, 4 chicken nuggets, and a drink. That still seems like a really good price to me. They do, however, have an asterisk that says "prices and participation may vary" - so not sure if it's widely available or not. It seems like McDonald's may now allow more pricing variation between franchise locations than they did in the past, so whether or McDonald's is still feels inexpensive may also depend on where you live. Being able to order a $1 McDouble in a high-COL city like San Francisco where nothing else cost a dollar always felt a little crazy to me, so I can see why it had to end eventually. [1] https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/full-menu/extra-value-meals-menu.html https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/full-menu/extra-value-mea...
- muwtyhg 6mo ago
  > It seems like McDonald's may now allow more pricing variation between franchise locations than they did in the past They definitely do. I order from 3 different McDonalds in my area depending on where I am when ordering, and all 3 have different prices for their items (especially the value menu). These places can literally be 10 minutes from each other, with one charging $0.50 more for a McDouble.
unselect5917 6mo ago
I don't go to McDonald's at all because not even the fries are gluten free. They used to be glorious beef tallow fried, and now they're seasoned with a wheat based flavoring. Basically the only fast food left to me is Taco Bell, which as you may know earned its place by surviving the franchise wars.
- copperx 6mo ago
  > They used to be glorious beef tallow fried They switched to vegetable oil 20+ years ago.
  - red-iron-pine 6mo ago
    yeah this was making headlines when it happened. not really a discussion topic these days. no fast food restaurant is using tallow or lard either.
jjmarr 6mo ago
Last time I went to McDonald's, someone stole my food and I didn't get a refund. I ordered a McChicken + fries at the kiosk. Waited for 15 minutes at the counter before I asked where my food was. The manager took my receipt, said the order was already picked up, and asked me what credit card I used. The manager said I told her the wrong credit card number. I asked for the receipt back so I could do a chargeback and the manager threatened to call security on me. So no, McDonald's isn't a premium experience. It was full of homeless fentanyl users last time I went. Maybe one of them stole my food, or maybe it was the employee that stole my receipt. Either way, I've never had this problem at Five Guys. I am willing to pay $25 for a combo to avoid an experience like that.
- RobRivera 6mo ago
  This message brought to you by Carls Jr
- MattRix 6mo ago
  surely you can see how this is a rare specific situation you encountered and not some actual systemic mcdonald’s problem (there are LOTS of reasons to complain about mcdonald’s but this seems like a strange one)
  - deleted 6mo ago
    [deleted]
zhdc1 6mo ago
A Big Mac meal in the states (fried and drink) cost 2.99 USD in 1990. It now costs around 8.50 USD. The inflation adjusted value of 2.99 USD in 1990 is about 7.88 USD. Did the price go up? Sure. Are you likely getting slightly more in 2026 than you were in 1990? No idea, but it seems plausible to me. Inflation is the answer.
- nicolas_ 6mo ago
  But you’re not getting the same amount of food. Buns are smaller, burgers are way thinner and the quality of the products is not the same.
0xbadcafebee 6mo ago
For those saying McDonald's is expensive, you need the app. Every day they have discounts/deals in their app, and the points you gain gets you free food. They often have discounted combo meals, like their $5 meals (a drink, fries, and entree). You can get 8 McDoubles for $20 if you just want something cheap, flavorful and fast (which is the whole point of fast food, it's not supposed to be an everyday meal replacement). I'd also love to see a comparison to all the other fast food chains, both averages and local prices. So far it seems like tunnel vision.
- conception 6mo ago
  Recently these have significantly decreased in number. Also the bonus point prices just went up.
bluebarbet 6mo ago
And yet it's still far too cheap. >In the past fifty years, as factory farming spread from poultry to beef, dairy, and pork producers, the average cost of a new house increased nearly 1,500 percent; new cars climbed more than 1,400 percent; but the price of milk is up only 350 percent, and eggs and chicken meat haven’t even doubled. Taking inflation into account, animal protein costs less today than at any time in history. (That is, unless one also takes into account the externalized costs — farm subsidies, environmental impact, human disease, and so on — which make the price historically high.) - from Eating Animals (2009) by Jonathan Safran Foer
josefritzishere 6mo ago
There is nothing premium about McDonalds. We need to stop upmarketing cheap crap and accept the fact that middle class Americans are not middle class anymore. You are poor. This is hard to swallow but, we live in a country with a declining standard of living. https://www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-life-is-a-lie https://www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-life-is-a-lie
Leonard_of_Q 6mo ago
Hm, McDonalds? Last time I made an attempt to get something there was in 1997 after Hacking in Progress in the Netherlands. I was cycling back home, bicycle cart full of computer/network stuff behind my bike, wooden shoes on, a caricature of a Dutch hacker. At HiP I got a voucher-thing for a free hamburger at McD so when I happened to cycle past one in Lelystad I got in line behind a car in the drive-through. Once it was my turn the ...person... who's supposed to take orders told me 'only cars allowed in the drive-through'. Well, I had 4 wheels, was as long as a car and wasn't bothering anyone. I've seen people on friggin' horses go through those 'drive-through' lanes and this being the Netherlands and me wearing wooden shoes and all I'd have thought I'd be welcome but no and no sale. Well, that was the last time I went to any of those places, they've been on my blacklist ever since. Now maybe I should state that I never went there before either because I'm not into fast food but hey, why waste a good story?
jerlam 6mo ago
I think it would be more interesting to talk about why all these upper-middle-class people are seemingly willing to overpay for things, instead of people eating McDonalds on social media. There are a multitude of old brands that have hopped on this bandwagon. Brands like Lego, Pokemon, and Disney that started for children are now shifting their target market towards adults with money, maybe without kids, and are willing to pay for their childhood pleasures. I guess McDonalds is one of them too. I can't remember where I read it, but someone described the ideal Lego customer as a "new software engineer in their mid 20s with a paycheck they want to spend on toys they wanted as a child", in response to Lego's newest release being a $200 branded set.
freetime2 6mo ago
This article is from 2024. It sounds like McDonald's has since realized they have a problem with their perceived value and that viral tweets about $20 Big Macs are not good for their image. Apparently they are taking steps to curb excessively high prices at certain locations (prices are set by franchisees) by conducting "value assessments" and potentially revoking the "right to renewal and transfer" for franchisees that don't comply [1]. [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/11/mcdonalds-value-franchisees.html https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/11/mcdonalds-value-franchisees....
securicat 6mo ago
Is there anywhere that food is getting cheaper? I’m not sure if this is just an American story. Folks outside the US, what’s your story?
b0rtb0rt 6mo ago
i’ve started using the app because ordering thru the drive thru for a family of 5 is a pain in the ass i have no data to back this up but it really feels like you get a different experience ordering from the app compared to drive thru. the order is always correct, the packaging is nicer (they have special drink bags with drink holders inside the bag for example), the food even seems better. i have a conspiracy they are making the normal experience worse to push people to the app
tpurves 6mo ago
I haven't been in a mcdonalds in decades because they have zero options for people with food allergies (I developed celiac midway through life).

38 points by paulpauper 6mo ago

I stopped going to McDonald's (which I previously visited about once per month) mainly because they got very expensive, and the price does not match the quality of the food (and they also are not that fast anymore). If I am going to spend that much, I could spend a little more a go to a much nicer mom-and-pop place. A secondary reason is that they are American. Although I am American, I am currently a resident of another country that is targeted by American tariffs, so I am trying to buy local as much a possible.

nerdsniper 6mo ago
I stopped going because the McDonald's closest to me stopped serving water. The only way for employees to fill a cup with water is to use the sink, and that's not an option offered to customers. There's no way to buy or be served a water, not even a bottle of it.
- ranger_danger 6mo ago
  [dead]
- franktankbank 6mo ago
  That sounds illegal.
  - nerdsniper 6mo ago
    In some jurisdictions it is, but in most it is legal. It’s one of those things that just didn’t require any regulation in the past.
  - dd8601fn 6mo ago
    It’s required here. Same with access to the toilets. I always thought it was weird when traveling to have places like burger king charge you to use their bathroom. It’s uncivilized.
bko 6mo ago
[flagged]
- nothinkjustai 6mo ago
  It’s really not.
- messe 6mo ago
  Actually, it's not. Speaking from experience. I'm a sample size of one, but that's still one better than your extrapolation from zero. One of the local supermarket chains here in Denmark (Salling Group) even puts a star on the price tag for products of European origin. For larger purchases, I'm doing research on the product anyway. I still sometimes buy American at times; sometimes there's no avoiding it for certain items. But on the whole avoiding American goods isn't that hard, and doesn't require much effort.
  - danudey 6mo ago
    Given that the US is the only country in recent memory whose politics have shifted from "pretty normal for a western nation" to "unpredictable rogue state", it's not as though the list of "countries to avoid" changes that often. Countries like Russia, Iran, and China have been very consistent in their philosophies and actions; countries like France, the UK, and Japan have also been pretty consistent. The only real change lately is the US.
    - messe 6mo ago
      On a similar note: There was a period post-Brexit when I hadn't moved away from Ireland yet during which I also did my best to avoid UK produced goods too. Now that was a lot harder though due to the UK still being in the single market at the time, and on top of that just how integrated supply chains between the north and the rest of Ireland are. I'm cautiously optimistic that the UK is moving back toward sanity though.
  - tavavex 6mo ago
    > One of the local supermarket chains here in Denmark (Salling Group) even puts a star on the price tag for products of European origin. Many store chains in Canada have also started putting maple leaf icons on price tags for Canadian-made products over the last year or two, after the US did whatever they've done. But it's harder to avoid US-made products here, because so much is imported and it's the only country we share a real land border with.
bryanlarsen 6mo ago
In Canada they have a CAD$5 McValue meal deal, so USD$3.67 for a McDouble, small fries & small drink. Do they not have similar deals in your jurisdiction?
- jbm 6mo ago
  For what it is worth, I live in Calgary and the McDonalds near me does not have deals like that. There is apparently a huge range in prices across McDonalds in a city, so there may be geographic limitations. I don't go either, and the price is part of the reason. (I would go for the ice cream in summer, or for their cheap drinks promos).
  - dylan604 6mo ago
    > There is apparently a huge range in prices across McDonalds in a city, so there may be geographic limitations. Aren't the vast majority of McDonalds actually franchises vs corporate own where everything would be much more consistent?
  - red-iron-pine 6mo ago
    I can't speak for Calgary proper but I've hit McDs in Cochrane and Airdrie (outer 'burbs of Calgary) and they had similar. Ditto for Edmonton.
- HarHarVeryFunny 6mo ago
  A typical burger + fries + drink at McDonalds where I am in the US is now about $20. You can get something much better quality (& larger size) at FiveGuys for same price, and even some nice quality restaurants have lunch specials that cost the same. McD was never good, but when it was $10 it was still an OK occasional convenient lunch option. At $20 there is zero reason to go there.
  - bayesnet 6mo ago
    That’s bonkers. I’m on the east coast (not nyc) and a quarter pounder medium meal is $10.49. Meanwhile Five Guys is $20.29 for a regular meal.
danudey 6mo ago
There's a McDonald's near my home that I can order from if I'm craving garbage food quickly and don't feel well enough to leave the house, but they only get my order correct about 20% of the time. Another 20% of the time they make the wrong thing (e.g. the wrong kind of breakfast sandwich), and the remaining 60% of the time they forget to put half the order in (e.g. we ordered three of the Minecraft happy meal cube things a while back, plus an extra chicken sandwich, and we only got two of the cubes and no sandwich, plus we were missing two of the drinks for the meals). The tariff issue is another reason not to patronize them, but at the same time if everyone in Canada stopped eating at McDonald's then McDonald's corporation would take a hit and thousands of Canadians would be immediately unemployed and thousands of Canadian suppliers of ingredients (beef, eggs, chicken, vegetables, etc) would lose a ton of business, so while I'd rather order from A&W for dozens of reasons I'm not outright boycotting American chains the way I am with American products.
- mbirth 6mo ago
  I’ve actually switched from Just Eat to slightly more expensive Deliveroo because the latter one makes it extremely easy (at least in the UK) to report wrong deliveries and you get your money back in a matter of minutes. Also make sure to do the McD survey via the link on the receipt - that usually improves things for a while.
qwertyuiop_ 6mo ago
How do you communicate your guilt based purchases to the local citizenry ?
- nabbed 6mo ago
  Am I supposed to?
paleotrope 6mo ago
I seem to recall that Mcdonalds goes to pains to source locally.
- red-iron-pine 6mo ago
  wtf is that based on? McD's is the largest purchaser of beef in the US. it all goes into the slop bin and is delivered as patties to locations. ditto for the pink goo that makes the chicken nuggets. why do you think the CEO was so hesitant to eat the burger?
Eddy_Viscosity2 6mo ago
It's also slow. It's not 'fast food' anymore. You order than wait for 15 or 20 minutes. I've waited 40 minutes at an airport McDs for food after ordering. The food is expensive, not very good, and slow. So yeah, I don't go to Mcdonalds anymore.

jabsters 6mo ago

Published July 31, 2024

lux-lux-lux 6mo ago
It’s being dated is actually quite fatal to his thesis, as not only did McDonalds significantly underperform the market over the past few years but mid 2024 was also the exact time their attempt to pivot to higher income brackets stumbled and they were forced to introduce stuff like the $5 meal deal to stop hemorrhaging customers.
- conception 6mo ago
  But in the last 4 weeks they’ve significantly cut back on the number of deals they offer in-app and increased the price of items in their point scheme. It used to be “you can get a good deal in the app” but no longer.
- mpyne 6mo ago
  Yeah my overall spending at McDonald's declined significantly after the 2022 bout with inflation, and it's not just that prices went up (it was inflation, they mostly all went up), but that they leaned into trying to appeal to people who would already have been spending lots of money. It would have been one thing just to make the food taste better, but they went the opposite and made it take forever to prepare and serve. But for me the whole point to McDonald's was to get in, eat something consistently decent, get out quickly. So they actually made things worse, because I already had plenty of other spots to get "nice" food if that's what I was in the mood for. I'm not going to say bring back the heat lamps per se but there was a lot of value to people like me in having a restaurant that delivered on the original promise of "fast" food...

PaulHoule 6mo ago

I was driving around the other day with my wife and I said "Hey, you should see how i can order from the McDonalds app and the food is ready when you show up" and in the end she was appalled with what a Fillet-o-Fish costs for how much food you get.

dec0dedab0de 6mo ago

Americans, particularly on social media, seem to have a love-hate relationship with food. These reviews are not uncommonly juxtaposed with fitness content and people in the comments warning of the obesity problem. So these same people praising and consuming this calorie-rich food are at the same time warning of obesity in America and trying to get in better shape. There is a sort of cognitive dissonance in both voicing concerns about obesity or food inflation, yet consuming the very food that is causing it, or watching a video that glorifies this food. It feels like a reach presenting this without evidence that it is the same people. Especially without any nuance around health-conscious people still doing unhealthy things on occasion.

hootz 6mo ago
Once you see the goomba, you can't unsee it...
- Our_Benefactors 6mo ago
  …goomba? Wtf are you even talking about?
  - pocksuppet 6mo ago
    https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Goomba_fallacy https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Goomba_fallacy It has nothing to do with goombas, except the first person to illustrate the fallacy chose to draw goombas.
- glaugh 6mo ago
  Gosh, this was exactly my thought in reading that, and I just learned about it today

damnesian 6mo ago

I wouldn't feel bad in the least if all the $60 a pop lunchfluencers disappear for being grossly irresponsible role models, having to resort to pitiously ungrammable cheap-ass meals for themselves in the end.

cube00 6mo ago

I stopped after I realised I was paying a premium price for stale cold chips and luke warm burgers. It got so bad they ran a promo that if your chips weren't hot and fresh they'd give you a new batch for free. Guess it cost them too much because they killed that promo pretty quickly.

deleted 6mo ago
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dylan604 6mo ago
How do you get cold fries? Is the bulb out in the heat lamps? Also, it's been known for decades that you ask for fries with no salt so they have to make a new batch as they salt them immediately after cooking.
Vrondi 6mo ago
Order fries with no salt, and they will fry a whole new basket to fill your order. You have to wait, but you get fresh hot fries every time.
- pimlottc 6mo ago
  But then you have to eat fries without salt
  - cube00 6mo ago
    This "life hacks" will tell you to salt it yourself with the sachets. However the reason the salt sticks nicely is it's applied straight after the fries are pulled from the fryer so they are still wet with oil. When you order no salt, they wait until the fries cool down for safety, and adding salt once the oil has dried off just causes the salt to fall to the bottom of the container.

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ryandrake 6mo ago

I kind of lost the point of the article when the author veered into the entirely separate topic of McDonalds being unhealthy. It's like two totally separate articles in one. Article 1. McDonalds (along with other traditionally cheap-food places) is now very expensive and not for poor people. Article 2. McDonalds serves (and people are out there eating) unhealthy food. Article 1 is news if you haven't been in a McDonalds in the last 5 years. Article 2 is obvious and is not really a new phenomenon.

asdfasgasdgasdg 6mo ago
Article 1 was true under 1990s prices. But you can get two double cheeseburgers for about four bucks and there aren't many who are so poor they can't afford that.
- happytoexplain 6mo ago
  What? Is it true or not? You just said two opposite sentences. Edit: Wait, are you trying to say their prices have decreased relative to inflation since the 90's??
  - zhdc1 6mo ago
    They’re just about dead even. Maybe slightly higher. Not unreasonably higher. Inflation is a pain in the rear.
    - happytoexplain 6mo ago
      First, the parent implies it decreased, not stayed the same. Second, are you sure? Everything I can find indicates that the Big Mac slightly increased (and further, the "Big Mac index" is a meme, which may dampen increases for image reasons), and everything else on the menu, on average, increased even more than the Big Mac. Is my data bad?
      - zhdc1 6mo ago

SoftTalker 6mo ago

A few years ago my wife and I stopped at a McD drive thru and ordered two meals. The total was over $20. I was aghast and I questioned the cashier if there was some mistake. It's only gotten worse. On a local subreddit recently someone was asking where to get a decent lunch that "doesn't break the bank" and turns out that their target spend was $10. My answer was "Pack a peanut butter sandwich and an apple at home and take it to work with you." Which is my usual lunch. I am just astonished that people spend $10-15 or more, every day, on lunch. And often will pay more to have it delivered.

copperx 6mo ago
If you're on a GLP-1s and crave junk food (quite uncommon), almost all fast food places have a small combo that's around $5 that'll satisfy. At least Wendy's, Taco Bell, McDonald's, and others do.
0xbadcafebee 6mo ago
You ordered two complete meals (a drink, a side, and an entree), you probably got it in 30 seconds, and the total was less than the cost of comparable meals at virtually any restaurant. And you were aghast? ....You are aware inflation makes things cost more over time, right? 2% per year means things cost 10% more after just 5 years
- greycol 6mo ago
  That is precisely the problem, you look at the inflation and compare it to what you payed 5,10,20 years ago and your either getting less or paying more than that inflation. Average price inflation of a big mac in the US for the past 25 years is 4% versus average CPI inflation of 2.29%. So instead of increasing in price by 65% it increased 166%.
  - 0xbadcafebee 6mo ago
    A burger at any restaurant today costs $15. The quarter pounder at McDonald's is $5.50. You get to sit and eat in both restaurants. McDonald's is 3x cheaper... complaining that it's not 4x cheaper is first world problems

foxyv 6mo ago

This reminds me of Demolition man when he wakes up in the future and Taco Bell is fine dining.

freetime2 6mo ago

Back in the early 2000s, I would frequently order a "McDouble" (double cheeseburger) for $1 from their value menu. I can't get exact prices from their website (looks like you need the app), but they list the McDouble in their "under $3 McValue Menu" [1]. Given that inflation has nearly halved the purchasing power of a dollar since then, this doesn't seem too bad. They also list a $5 meal deal that includes a McDouble, fries, 4 chicken nuggets, and a drink. That still seems like a really good price to me. They do, however, have an asterisk that says "prices and participation may vary" - so not sure if it's widely available or not. It seems like McDonald's may now allow more pricing variation between franchise locations than they did in the past, so whether or McDonald's is still feels inexpensive may also depend on where you live. Being able to order a $1 McDouble in a high-COL city like San Francisco where nothing else cost a dollar always felt a little crazy to me, so I can see why it had to end eventually. [1] https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/full-menu/extra-value-meals-menu.html https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/full-menu/extra-value-mea...

muwtyhg 6mo ago
> It seems like McDonald's may now allow more pricing variation between franchise locations than they did in the past They definitely do. I order from 3 different McDonalds in my area depending on where I am when ordering, and all 3 have different prices for their items (especially the value menu). These places can literally be 10 minutes from each other, with one charging $0.50 more for a McDouble.

unselect5917 6mo ago

I don't go to McDonald's at all because not even the fries are gluten free. They used to be glorious beef tallow fried, and now they're seasoned with a wheat based flavoring. Basically the only fast food left to me is Taco Bell, which as you may know earned its place by surviving the franchise wars.

copperx 6mo ago
> They used to be glorious beef tallow fried They switched to vegetable oil 20+ years ago.
- red-iron-pine 6mo ago
  yeah this was making headlines when it happened. not really a discussion topic these days. no fast food restaurant is using tallow or lard either.

jjmarr 6mo ago

Last time I went to McDonald's, someone stole my food and I didn't get a refund. I ordered a McChicken + fries at the kiosk. Waited for 15 minutes at the counter before I asked where my food was. The manager took my receipt, said the order was already picked up, and asked me what credit card I used. The manager said I told her the wrong credit card number. I asked for the receipt back so I could do a chargeback and the manager threatened to call security on me. So no, McDonald's isn't a premium experience. It was full of homeless fentanyl users last time I went. Maybe one of them stole my food, or maybe it was the employee that stole my receipt. Either way, I've never had this problem at Five Guys. I am willing to pay $25 for a combo to avoid an experience like that.

RobRivera 6mo ago
This message brought to you by Carls Jr
MattRix 6mo ago
surely you can see how this is a rare specific situation you encountered and not some actual systemic mcdonald’s problem (there are LOTS of reasons to complain about mcdonald’s but this seems like a strange one)
- deleted 6mo ago
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zhdc1 6mo ago

A Big Mac meal in the states (fried and drink) cost 2.99 USD in 1990. It now costs around 8.50 USD. The inflation adjusted value of 2.99 USD in 1990 is about 7.88 USD. Did the price go up? Sure. Are you likely getting slightly more in 2026 than you were in 1990? No idea, but it seems plausible to me. Inflation is the answer.

nicolas_ 6mo ago
But you’re not getting the same amount of food. Buns are smaller, burgers are way thinner and the quality of the products is not the same.

0xbadcafebee 6mo ago

For those saying McDonald's is expensive, you need the app. Every day they have discounts/deals in their app, and the points you gain gets you free food. They often have discounted combo meals, like their $5 meals (a drink, fries, and entree). You can get 8 McDoubles for $20 if you just want something cheap, flavorful and fast (which is the whole point of fast food, it's not supposed to be an everyday meal replacement). I'd also love to see a comparison to all the other fast food chains, both averages and local prices. So far it seems like tunnel vision.

conception 6mo ago
Recently these have significantly decreased in number. Also the bonus point prices just went up.

bluebarbet 6mo ago

And yet it's still far too cheap. >In the past fifty years, as factory farming spread from poultry to beef, dairy, and pork producers, the average cost of a new house increased nearly 1,500 percent; new cars climbed more than 1,400 percent; but the price of milk is up only 350 percent, and eggs and chicken meat haven’t even doubled. Taking inflation into account, animal protein costs less today than at any time in history. (That is, unless one also takes into account the externalized costs — farm subsidies, environmental impact, human disease, and so on — which make the price historically high.) - from Eating Animals (2009) by Jonathan Safran Foer

josefritzishere 6mo ago

There is nothing premium about McDonalds. We need to stop upmarketing cheap crap and accept the fact that middle class Americans are not middle class anymore. You are poor. This is hard to swallow but, we live in a country with a declining standard of living. https://www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-life-is-a-lie https://www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-life-is-a-lie

Leonard_of_Q 6mo ago

Hm, McDonalds? Last time I made an attempt to get something there was in 1997 after Hacking in Progress in the Netherlands. I was cycling back home, bicycle cart full of computer/network stuff behind my bike, wooden shoes on, a caricature of a Dutch hacker. At HiP I got a voucher-thing for a free hamburger at McD so when I happened to cycle past one in Lelystad I got in line behind a car in the drive-through. Once it was my turn the ...person... who's supposed to take orders told me 'only cars allowed in the drive-through'. Well, I had 4 wheels, was as long as a car and wasn't bothering anyone. I've seen people on friggin' horses go through those 'drive-through' lanes and this being the Netherlands and me wearing wooden shoes and all I'd have thought I'd be welcome but no and no sale. Well, that was the last time I went to any of those places, they've been on my blacklist ever since. Now maybe I should state that I never went there before either because I'm not into fast food but hey, why waste a good story?

jerlam 6mo ago

I think it would be more interesting to talk about why all these upper-middle-class people are seemingly willing to overpay for things, instead of people eating McDonalds on social media. There are a multitude of old brands that have hopped on this bandwagon. Brands like Lego, Pokemon, and Disney that started for children are now shifting their target market towards adults with money, maybe without kids, and are willing to pay for their childhood pleasures. I guess McDonalds is one of them too. I can't remember where I read it, but someone described the ideal Lego customer as a "new software engineer in their mid 20s with a paycheck they want to spend on toys they wanted as a child", in response to Lego's newest release being a $200 branded set.

freetime2 6mo ago

This article is from 2024. It sounds like McDonald's has since realized they have a problem with their perceived value and that viral tweets about $20 Big Macs are not good for their image. Apparently they are taking steps to curb excessively high prices at certain locations (prices are set by franchisees) by conducting "value assessments" and potentially revoking the "right to renewal and transfer" for franchisees that don't comply [1]. [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/11/mcdonalds-value-franchisees.html https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/11/mcdonalds-value-franchisees....

securicat 6mo ago

Is there anywhere that food is getting cheaper? I’m not sure if this is just an American story. Folks outside the US, what’s your story?

b0rtb0rt 6mo ago

i’ve started using the app because ordering thru the drive thru for a family of 5 is a pain in the ass i have no data to back this up but it really feels like you get a different experience ordering from the app compared to drive thru. the order is always correct, the packaging is nicer (they have special drink bags with drink holders inside the bag for example), the food even seems better. i have a conspiracy they are making the normal experience worse to push people to the app

tpurves 6mo ago

I haven't been in a mcdonalds in decades because they have zero options for people with food allergies (I developed celiac midway through life).