McDonald’s used to be viable because it was shit, but at least it was cheap. Now it’s just shit. I haven’t gone of my own will in years, only with other people who wanted it. $3 for a hash brown is absurd.
No man. McDonald’s used to be cheap, fast and decent. The original burger in 1955 was 15 cents, or about $1.75 today. Don’t forget how far things have fallen lol
For the longest time I knew fast food junk was not good for you so I ate less of it.
During the pandemic I completely avoided fast food.
It’s been three years now and I haven’t gone to any fast food at all.
Now I can’t rationalize eating it any more.
It isn’t healthy, it isn’t food, it has no nutrition, it has too much of the things that degrade your health. It’s also prepared by people being paid as little as possible to maximize the profit to the people who do the least in the transaction.
From a health point of view is like investing in degrading your body … it’s like investing in rust for your car or pouring tiny amounts of water or sugar in your gas tank … it’s paying a premium for an unhealthy body in the future.
And now it costs more … it costs more to ruin your health. So you spend a lot of money now to ruin your health and then spend a lot more money to fix your unhealthy self when you get older.
When you look at it over a lifetime, it’s far cheaper to just not eat fast food
But if you’re basing your views on south park I’ve got bad news for you.
I can’t keep up with all the spins on Christianity that the US comes up with. And the Mormonism episode didn’t drive me to do external research the way the Scientology episode did! Haha
Just think of all the hundreds of millions of people who won’t be affected by this because they refuse to eat at MacDonald’s regardless of their prices.
McDs is one of a handful of optuons I have so I cant really boycott; however, today I found a dastardly trick: the order kiosks suddenly switched medium and large so you will accidentally order the large size. Almost got me, but not quite
It’s easy to tolerate price increases on products when you don’t buy that product. The thing that concerns me though, is that if people stop buying McDonald’s and instead buy canned beans… is my chili going to get more expensive because McDonald’s wants 3 dollar hash browns? I’m pretty sure the answer is yes.
Extra pro tip: put them in a bowl or pan of boiling water the night before to make them cook quicker the next day. Extra extra pro tip put bicarbonate of soda in the water to make them cook quicker.
An InstantPot (or other pressure cooker) can cut that time down quite a bit. I set mine on 40 minutes, but it takes a little while to get up to temp/pressure at the start and at least 15 minutes to slow/natural release the pressure at the end.
Still, dry beans to food in about an hour is great! Also much easier to control your sodium intake, it that’s a concern.
They won’t tho. If these people could just buy other things they would have already imo. I stopped going to McD’s when their prices got to high for me. That’s why they’re making a big stink about it, because they still want McD’s but don’t want to pay so much.
No Macdonalds is making a stink because it’s now cheaper to make foods at home for their core demographic -poor people. The article says they will drop some food prices accordingly.
I used to take my kids out to McDonald’s for a quick bite - it was easy, food-allergy safe, and cheap – but now it’s the same price as the local burger place so fuck mcd
Inflation and wage theft are absolutely out of control in this country. I’m a barista. My store makes $1600 in a eight-hour day. Mine and all of my coworker’s wage in there probably adds up to about $50/hour on average. So the profit margin is ridiculous. And these businesses have the gall to think they can make MORE MONEY. No, fuck you. At some point the human beings doing the hard work need to get a bigger cut.
Yeah of course there are operating expenses, but you have these same companies buying the lowest quality equipment and products they can get away with as well. It’s inexcusable.
It’s brutal. More draining than any other retail job I’ve worked, and I’ve been in warehouses, unloaded trucks. Especially near a airport or hospital some locations do business NONSTOP. And the customers? FIENDING for sugar and caffeine in the form of some obscure, brand new tiktok hack that uses ingredients we probably don’t have in stock and is made the total opposite of how a reasonable person would want it. It’s like any other job, a lot of people DO put in hard work and most of those get nowhere but burned out.
Thank you for what you do. On top of that there’s cultivating the place’s atmosphere, which isn’t easy. I used to do homework and study at coffee shops all the time in college
Right back atcha - atmosphere is SO important to the higher-ups, and it really is a big challenge to maintain given the low pay, early mornings, demanding customers and scammy, if all-too-normalized business practices.
It’s one of the few times I’ll agree with a higher-up’s priorities. There’s a very significant difference between a fast, bustling coffee shop atmosphere and a laid back one. The former makes me think of an airport or mall kiosk – or most Starbucks, honestly. You go in, you get your drink, you get out.
The laid back, homey atmosphere is definitely my favorite though. That’s where you can actually catch up with friends or play a board game, read a book, or get homework/work/studying done.
And a big part of that is you guys. It’s a nice surprise when a barista at the place I usually go to recognizes me and knows what I want to order. Or they’ll strike up a conversation or tell me that technically, the butterbeer latte can be ordered year round.
You guys are some of my favorite people :). Don’t let haters talk you down.
I’ve literally worked in the oil field throwing pipe wrenches around, and it was usually easier than what I see some food service employees putting up with lol
I’ve worked a lot of jobs. I much preferred moving furniture and pulling carpet to my work as a barista. It’s still a physical job where you are on your feet all day but with the added stress of dealing with entitled customers.
Now that I’ve moved on dealing with other humans is still the worst part of my job. Leave me alone and let me fix shit and I’m happy.
What most irritates me about this - plus layoffs to increase profits- is that the corporate numbnuts overlook the fact that every employee they stiff is a customer. Everyone is someone’s customer. A customer who has a shrinking amount of disposable income to spend on white goods, new clothes, eating out etc. They think hurrah, with AI we’ll be able to sack our creatives! Next thing they’re whining because there are so many homeless people on the streets. There’s a link! It’s exasperating.
I worked for McDs in high school, around 2008. Big Mac meal used to be $6.08 with tax, $1 menu used to be $1.06 with tax. I went the other day and was shocked to see how much everything costs now plus I have to order via a screen (which I find bizarre, but maybe I’m just old now).
I also feel like working there used to be kind of fun. I’d take the order from the drive thru/take the money, kitchen would secretly prioritize drive thru orders (everything is timed), and window person would get the order together. Now it seems like they take 1 or 2 drive thru orders at a time and make the line wait until those are done.
Seems like fewer people working & prices went up - and I’m sure those poor folks working are making minimum wage. It’s just sad all around.
so you order on a touch screen that has been used by every nosepickin’ customer before you and then chow down on food you eat with your hands? Sounds delicious.
In high school (~1995) I used to work in light construction/carpentry, and I was ravenous on a normal day, so work days I would eat huge amounts - on payday I would go to McDonald’s and order a Big Mac meal and a happy meal – both for me. (It probably would’ve been more cost effective to buy two adult meals, but the first time I did it the cute girl at the register said something about how I seemed like a nice dad … I should’ve just asked her out, rather than keeping up a bizarre charade for no reason – I was tan and fit from working outside all the time, I should’ve had more confidence, but I was also undiagnosed autistic too, so, well, that kind of explains that.)
Anyway, the Big Mac meal was $2.99 united states dollerydoos, and I was making $7/hr. The price doubled in the 10 years between us… but wages stayed about the same.
Well metrics are collected for both dining and drivethru but dive thru was always pushed hard as the thing to maintain timing wise. That’s when we figured out the smile button. A no charge but very abusable button that would count as an order. Ring a smile and wait 10sec and clear it. Ring one every 3 orders to be sly to corporate… When your having wait time issues and you could clear them and have them count even before clearimg the order before it. Easy way to knock the occasional 5 to 10 minute order down that skewed my hours metrics.
I think the idea was to add it as an additional argument on the order when when inputting an order as an ask me button or potentially just as a cheeky little Easter egg but it would ring up as no dollar charge nothing more really. But tracking was on individual orders and since you could ring a smile and summit it as a order "pay for it " $ 0.00. And then wait 10 to 20 seconds and you could dismiss the order as fulfilled. Each hand off station in the store has a set of screens that show what the order is and what’s coming next for a couple of orders. You can dissmis orders out of order buy using a keypad. So a small coffee order can be dismissed while leaving the 15 filet of fish order up as a reminder. Any time you would see a order for a smile. You would hunt that order down as soon as you saw it and dismiss it. It became a huge joke about how many smiles per hour were being done during district meetings. Can’t imagine corporate ones.
The cool part is I started working there just after you! I started around 2013 and worked there until about 2016 and it was STILL about maybe $7 or $8 for a meal, and the dollar menu was still $1.06
This shit happened during covid and they’re literally only doing it because they can. There have been reports that the current inflation isn’t driven by the state of the economy at all, but just corporate greed.
Don’t waste your time and money guys, you can get food cheaper at the mom and pop restaurants now, and that food is usually at least half decent. When it’s the same price to eat at McDonald’s or a “healthier” place like tropical smoothie or Chipotle, why the fuck would I want to pay for ultra processed sludge
I hear people talk like this, but I don’t think it is actually true. Sure, fast food use to be half of a smaller joint, but now you are only paying 20-30% less at the fast food places. That ignores the fact that a lot of the cheap food is on the apps now. My Mcdonalds has had buy one get one Big Macs for about 2 years now. Even if I get that and a fry, I am looking at a $8 bill as opposed to a local joint that is going to charge $9 for their basic burger, no fries.
This doesn’t even take into account the speed of the fast food places, which is much slower than it use to be, but still the fastest places in town. So yes, the days of a late night snack run to Taco Bell are over, but the restaurants still have a purpose. The purpose is for when you need some food right now, and not for a huge price.
I’m no financial analyst and im no good at all of the legal jargon, but aren’t the notes below this chart explaining they changed how they calculate this right around may 2020?
Like I said, I’m illiterate when it comes to the technical side of this stuff, so I just googled and from what I’m gathering from this article below, the fed changed the rules for what defines a savings account so they’re almost the same as checking, and that caused them both to get reported in M1 and that’s the majority of that surge of cash.
Feel free to correct me with better evidence, like I said again, I’m just trying to understand the legal wording here:
When it’s the same price to eat at McDonald’s or a “healthier” place like tropical smoothie or Chipotle, why the fuck would I want to pay for ultra processed sludge
Yes, exactly. Maybe I just take the amazing variety of local food choices near me for granted, but it just makes no sense to me anymore.
The only fast food I still get sometimes is Taco Bell. Not if I’m in the mood for Mexican, I’ve got a half dozen better places near me for that. Taco Bell is its own genre of food separate from Mexican and Tex-Mex.
Fun fact: In Germany, the big US fast food companies are in a constant price war. They hand out vouchers at least once a week and offer big discounts online and in their apps. Because if they didn’t their restaurants would be utterly empty. For the price of €12 for a Big Mac menu, I can go straight to a pretty good restaurant and have a Schnitzel with French Fries, a salad and a beer.
Especially Burger King and McDonalds are doing that all day. Subway and KFC a lot less.
Then there are Turkish and German fast food restaurants. They often have prices so low they simply don’t have to lower then to beat the US chains. And to be honest, before I buy a burger for €5 I buy a Kebab or Shawarma which beat every burger in taste and amount of food. German fast food restaurants often sell grilled chicken, all sorts of fish, fried sausages and so on. And yes, we consider Pizza German Food nowadays. And the Italians agree, especially when talking about Pine-Apple Pizza or Pizza with pulled pork. They are usually cheaper than anyone else and the food is huge and easy to eat fast. German Fast Food makes all others look like slow food, you can easily stuff yourself in two minutes.
Some prices:
-The Croatian canteen in our town hall serves good Balkan cuisine from €5. A glass of tap water for €0.50. And it is a nice place, not looking like a canteen at all. Tips are included in these prices.
-I have a ton of vouchers of 50% voucher for Chicken McNuggets, Big Macs and Salads. I don’t visit McDonalds too often as they require to order from a needless complicated touch screen but when I do I sometimes take a voucher “Two Big Macs for €5”.
-a company I work for sometimes orders the “business menu” from Burger King which is something like “20 burgers of your choice and 2kg of fries” for €70. As the boss often invites his worker I am just happy with whatever I get.
-the local furniture store offers 50% vouchers for a a complete fish dish on Friday for €5 in his nice restaurant.
-they also offer Chinese and German Food often at 50% vouchers which equals to €4-€5 for a complete meal. And every day they have some cheap East European soup dishes like Borscht, Flaczki, Gulasch and so on for €2-3 and it is always a HUGE amount of food.
Seriously, if you open your eyes you would be surprised how many really cheap and great restaurants are around.
It’s kind of the same here price wise. But people in the US tend not to care and love the convenience of fast food or are just stuck to a brand. Some of the lines I see at places here are nuts.
And to be honest, before I buy a burger for €5 I buy a Kebab or Shawarma which beat every burger in taste and amount of food.
Compared to a BK or McD’s burger then yeah absolutely. But compared to burgers in general? Much closer call. If you haven’t had a really good cheeseburger, then you’re really missing out.
Fast food burgers should have a different name, the difference is so stark.
I know what you mean. A couple of years ago I bought a “Sandwich”. Man, it was THE BEST Sandwich I ever ate. It was just “from Heaven”. It was totally worth €10. And no, it wasn’t from Subway or the Kind. It was tiny Bavarian Restaurant pretty unknown outside its town. To bad it made a GREAT name meanwhile and nowadays charges like twice as much for anything.
A buddy came over here and fell totally for Turkish and Arab food in Germany. Seriously he started to sell Kebab and Döner on the US West Coast and got ludicrous rich. His trick, he doesn’t use Turkish or Arab names for his food. He sells it as “Yummy Wraps” and other fancy names and people stood half around the block to buy it.
I’m overweight, not especially healthy, and even back in the day when I was dirt poor and on heroin (I’m good now, for 17 years, thanks) I never ate that shit. It just made me miserable every time and my stomach was never full. Even simple sugar cubes were a better short term solution back then, used to put 12 in my coffee.
Add comment