- cross-posted to:
- cookathome@lemmy.cafe
- cross-posted to:
- cookathome@lemmy.cafe
“Even though we’re pushing through pricing, the consumer is tolerating it well,” he said in October analyst call.
normal way to talk about ‘fellow’ human beings
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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.
The level is lower than that. McDonald’s used to serve the customer, the customer now serves the corporation.
The customer always served the corporation, they just used to hide it better.
It used to be cheap, fast, filling and clean. It’s none of those things anymore.
What’s their value proposition nowadays? Nostalgia?
I think some of them still have working ice cream machines.
Last I knew, four. Maybe a couple more.
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
There’s a burger place near me which makes a great burger - good quality ingredients, interesting toppings, great fries and they’re cheaper than McDonalds. Given McDonald’s prices on ingredients will be substantially cheaper, and their volume higher, this is just pure greed.
My local burger places are just like that. Absolutely bonkers what people with a routine will tolerate if the change is slow.
Some people are open to trying new things, they want the excitement of trying out a new restaurant or take out, they want to try types of food they’ve never eaten before.
Then there are the other type. They behave in the same way as children do, they want what they like, and will not take a risk on something new, even on something as pedestrian as a burger.
I’ve worked with a 50 year old man that gets upset if there isn’t a nearby Chick-fil-A. He eats the same thing every day. By his other behaviors I assume it’s undiagnosed OCD or something so we don’t give him shit about it.
My former coworker got the exact same thing from chipotle every single day. Nothing wrong with him, just really liked his routine. Some people are like that.
This seems pretty black and white. Ironically.
I love trying new food. But sometimes I just want to order something where I know what I am going to get.
You’re bi.
Yeah there is a little drive through burger stand 2 blocks away from me. Amazing burger and fries combo for $11. The only downside is their service is super slow, but that’s a crapshoot at nearly every fast food chain at this point
Yeah there is a great place near me that does a really, really good double with pimento, chili, fresh onion and jalapeno for around that too. 2 people getting food, a loaded fry (that’s actually loaded), and tip is somewhere around $30. I don’t see why I would eat at any fast food chain.
I don’t understand how McDonald’s does so well in Australia, since our traditional takeaways do such good burgers and better chips (fries) a home cooked version true to the fish and chip place original
Though my partner prefers the burger “plain” which omits the bacon, egg, and pineapple
“Some customers are fed up and pushing back”
But continuing to buy things from them, yeah? Companies are not going to change until people stop buying from them.
Nobody needs McDonald’s. I’m not even sure most people actually want McDonald’s. Just stop going, seriously.
I hate McDonald’s. I eat McDonald’s. If I get into some tiny town or get off work in a tiny town at 11pm or later it’s often the only place open.
What I don’t understand is people who eat there by choice. I sometimes work with a guy who will go to McDonald’s by choice, even with better/cheaper options, three times a day.
I wonder how much of McDonald’s average franchise net income is from road warriors.
God damn. What fucked up nightmare is this if your ONLY choice is this toxic shitty unhealthy food?
You poor fucking bastard. Your health will pay for that in time.
A ton of people work poor jobs or unfortunate hours and have their health suffer for it. No need to rub it in, he clearly doesn’t think it will be healthy.
You can get $1 breakfast sandwiches and $2 mcchicken with free fries in the app. I definitely use it when I want the cheapest lunch or breakfast option
It’s a good thing we haven’t raised the Minimum Wage! Otherwise they may have Raised their prices!
The legal minimum wage hasn’t risen, but the real minimum wage has. Around here, in a poor little redneck town, you’re getting $10-$12 to start at McDonalds.
That’s actually even more depressing. The legal minimum wage is so low that it’s not even lifting up the wages of the most modest jobs in the lowest COL areas. It functionally doesn’t exist.
I mean, I think part of the recruitment policy for each workplace is to state “We’re above minimum wage by a decent margin!” But if minimum wage were bumped up to $10, that would no longer be the case, and McDonalds would be doing little to differentiate themselves - at least until they offer $15-$18.
I can’t believe that the US Government believes that a little more than two McDonald’s hash browns are worth one hour’s work.
Fuck that. That isn’t dignity.
I’m just trying to pay for housing with my meager allotment of 80 hash browns per week
💀
Maybe those lazy millennials would be able to buy a house if they stopped eating McDonald’s hash browns
the customer is tolerating it well
Sure am! It’s been over four years since I’ve had McDonalds (or any other fast food restaurant). Prices are absurd and the food is meh at best.
I do get a craving for McDonalds fries that I give into probably once or twice per year. Usually I’ll get a Big Mac combo, or a couple McMenu sandwiches. The other surprising factor aside from the absurd price is how mediocre the flavour has gotten. While it was never culinary art, it somehow tastes even less like food than I remember just years ago.
I’m disappointed every time.
Maybe it’s not that McDonalds tastes less like food but you just go used to eating proper food instead and your palate changed?
It probably hasn’t changed a whole lot over the years, it’s just that the cravings make it sound so much better until you have it again. I’m the same with KFC, I get massive cravings and remember how good it was last time, then when I get it I end up regretting it and being disappointed, then the cycle happens again
Tho that’s my personal experience yours could differ
We lose taste buds over time, so probably nothing tastes as good as it used to. 😉
A relative lost most of his taste during Corona. Good thing though, he can eat food so spicy that everyone else falls into pain coma.
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.
would secretly prioritize drive thru orders
Fucking knew it! Thanks for confirming
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.
That’s pretty funny, was ordering a smile actually a thing? What happens?
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
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.
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.
There have been reports that the current inflation isn’t driven by the state of the economy at all, but just corporate greed.
Corporate greed definitely exists, but printing $15 Trillion also has an effect.
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:
https://collabfund.com/blog/the-fed-isnt-printing-as-much-money-as-you-think/
True. If we stick to the older definition of M1 then it increases only by 125%. From 4 to 9bn
If we look at M2 which includes M1 then we still see the massive recent increase in the money supply.
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.
It’s truly scary how minimum wage hasn’t changed
Well yeah, how else will they post profits every quarter until the end of time?
Just uh… don’t eat there?
Not many places open when 2nd shift closes.
And yes, there’s food at home or in the lunchbox, but sometimes home is 40 minutes away and you already ate lunch 5 hours prior.
This is my life. Home is 45 minutes away. I pull into McDonald’s praying, “Please let it be fresh, oh lord. Please. I haven’t eaten since 8:00 AM, it’s 10:30 PM now. I don’t want to gag it down. Please Buddha, Krishna, Allah, Jesus of Nazareth! Please!”
I open the wrapper, it’s dry and cold, or it’s fresh but the dude cooking it decided I wanted a whole brick of salt on it, or they decided, “Hey, these onions are better than those! Fuck consistency! They want it like I want it! With different onions and 40 pickles!”
I’m about to try to find tv dinners that taste good or something. I legit starve sometimes because I literally can’t eat it.
It’s the only restaurant that’s open on my way home.
“Please let it be fresh, oh lord. Please. I haven’t eaten since …"
Wow, I really felt that lament.
Soups in a soup thermos (get the steel good ohes, dont cheap out), shit stays warm for 8+ hours. I lived on that shit working security.
knowing you live somewhere with limited options, rather than yoke your health and well being to a single fast food restaurant, consider that this is the time to learn how to cook, store, and prepare your own food. Even a humble peanut butter and jelly sandwich can come in clutch in this situation, and all you have to do is make it ahead of time. You eat 2-3 meals a day every day. It’s okay to eat simple things, not every meal has to be special.
Yeah but when you are working 12 hour days, not counting the commute, sometimes you don’t want to be constructive at home. You want to enjoy your freedom.
when you are working 12 hour days
You want to enjoy your freedom.
Man, there’s no freedom in working 12 hour days. Hats off to you I guess but that’s not any kind of freedom at all.
I was referring to the time I wasn’t clocked in.
I’m glad you have other options. Not everyone does. My friend who currently works at Ford does so because he took custody of his nephew when his worthless brother went to jail.
He has no choice but to work and provide.
People are a kaleidoscope. There are a multitude of reasons one would take a job, and to so whimsically brush that notion aside is intellectually irresponsible
People are a kaleidoscope.
Yea! This discussion always dives into “oh well you can live off oats and beans!” There’s so many assumptions about space to cook, storage options, time… I quit my full time and my food budget has gone down quite a bit, because I have time to make these things. If you work multiple jobs and live in a tiny space, rice and beans aren’t always that practical.
Hi!! If you live in an area that has trader Joe’s they have some fantastic TV dinners! I’ve enjoyed any pasta I’ve tried and they have various frozen chicken like Kung pow and orange chicken, with sauce on the side so you could also just use it for the protein and mix up seasoning and dishes!
We have a Walmart, that’s it.
Rural hell.
Fuck dude yeah I’m sorry. There are always a few frozen things that can be doable… having an air fryer can make a big difference with some of the frozen type stuff like taquitos, fries, frozen burritos, anything you would be too lazy to put in an oven even though you know it would taste better.
But really the lesson is this shit is fucked up and there shouldn’t some people who have to come up with creative ideas just to feed themselves
You got McD’s but no TB?
Well, I’m sure McDonald’s will give me tuberculosis eventually, but other than that I don’t even know what TB is. I live in Appalachia. We have nothing.
TB is Taco Bell
I’m an idiot haha.
:(
Ever asked for it fresh / cooked to order? Easier in the restaurant, but in the drive through you can mention you don’t mind parking and waiting. If unsuccessful, you can politely get more elaborate with the request: “I know I’ll have to park since dropping the fries and cooking the burger to order will take some time, but I don’t mind at all. Just as long as it’s fresh, please!”
Fries w/o salt would let you control that variable on your own as well.
Your mileage will certainly vary but cold McD is really barely worth paying for. Scalding hot McD is harder to knock: e.g. they bully suppliers into giving them quality long Russets for their fries.
Order the meat without salt too. They all season on the flattop so it’ll force them to make fresh.
Yes! Make life harder for service workers!!
When I had that commute I would buy boxes of clifbars and power bars that permanently populated my glovebox. Trail mix in Adams peanut butter jars. Flavored oatmeal with raisins in old jam jars, just grab a cup of boiling water on your way out and pour it in. See also, instant mash potatoes, stuffing, ramen (adding boiling water to ramen and just waiting for it to be ready is the only way I like it now). That was the best idea I ever had before a multi day road trip, please use it.
If anyone has ideas to add to that, I’m all ears. Or any other food-from-home non-shopping ideas (like eating potato salad with Tims salt and vinegar chips, bombdotcom)
I’m not referring to my current situation. I’m adding context to their question.
I’m fully aware that someone can put stuff like that in their car.
However, when I was working in a factory til 11 pm, I don’t want cliff bars and peanut butter.
I understand what you’re saying. Not everyone has those options, whether you want to believe it or not.
People are a kaleidoscope. There is no single way to live or fix your problems. This is information I hope you too can use.
From what I’ve seen, clif bars are more expensive than I’d like to frequently pay, and they’re not a very satisfying meal - probably not even so nutritious.
What happens if you go 6-hours without food?
I see what you’re trying to do.
Attempt this with physically demanding labor.
Splitting hairs doesn’t Invalide my original point. Being contrarian by default doesn’t make you clever.
Yeah, I get low blood sugar and can’t think or use my limbs properly. Although I always carry food with me for this reason.
It’s the most convenient restaurant around the corner from my home but I stopped going there.
Sunday morning, fire up the air fryer and park just outside of McD’s. Selling hashbrowns at $1 a pop.
And get fined by the city for not having a food vending license. And the audited by the IRS.
The first point makes sense, that’s why he needs to sell 10¢ trinkets for a dollar with a “bonus gift” of a hash brown lmfao
I don’t see why he’d get audited by the IRS, first he’d need to make more than 600 off it and even if he did, as long as he reports it the IRS DGAF as long as they get their cut lmao
Just get a license and do the food safety course. It’s not that hard.
A food handlers license, sure that’s not that hard. A food VENDERS license? I’ve done that. I’ve opened restaurants from nothing, to where I was climbing thru the walls cutting out the path for the new hood.
There’s an exponential fuckton of differences between the two.
And about $500,000-$2M eaaaaasy
Food safety license =/= food vending license
In the corporate world, that’s known as “the cost of doing business”. As long as the profit exceeds the fine, we’re good. If the profits exceed the threshold, it would get claimed come tax time as “additional income”. There’d be no audit because local PD doesn’t report to the IRS.
If the profit IS good enough, I’d totally pay the fee to register as an LLC so I can do the “fancy accounting” and afford myself all the tax and corporate bonuses that come along with it.
Had I thought of it 5 years ago, I could have used the LLC to apply and get me one of those fancy COVID loans (that didn’t need to be paid back). Though, I’ll admit the money would have been invested in dividend bearing stocks and actually paid back at the end of the term; minus the profit I made off the money of course.
It is so sickening how capitalism normalizes stripping people of their humanity
People are just wallets that cry sometimes
Poke poke C’mon… Quit crying! I want some money!
I think it’s even more disturbing how people can continue funneling support into capitalism then turn around and think they’ve got a leg to stand on by complaining about it.
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Breathing doesn’t strip me of the right to complain about the bad air.
So I assume you mean you don’t complain about capitalism at all? Think its an amazing system?
It’s one hash brown Michael, what could it cost?
Here’s some money. Go see a Star War.
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.
make sure you count utilities and rent for the building and supplies etc, its still ridiculous but slightly less so
And franchise fees. They take a percentage of gross. I really don’t know why anybody gets involved with that stuff.
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.
Not to mention one of those la marcozzo espresso machines cost like 40k
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.
ngl if you think being a barista is hard work you’ve never really worked hard
Ah yes, let’s start belittling people so that the working class continues to infight. Thank you for your contributions to the rich.
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
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 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.
LOL McDonald’s hasn’t seen my shadow in 10 years at least
I’m more surprised that they thought they could double prices, but yet somehow still very noticeably drop in quality. McDonald’s quality drop isn’t quite as bad as say, Taco Bell and others but wow, seems like hubris is in the air lately with these corporations’ executive boards.
Three bucks for a hash brown? You know Simplot sells packs of ten for four dollars, right? And you can cook them on a stovetop with a tablespoon of vegetable oil, right? Hell, if you’re desperate, you could even throw a pair into the toaster, although they won’t taste nearly as good that way.
And it’s not like McDonald’s gets a different hash brown. Simplot has supplied McDonald’s for decades: http://visitsoutheastidaho.com/2017/01/j-r-simplots-french-fry-pact-with-mcdonalds-was-key-for-company-idaho/
My local burger chain has cheeseburgers for $3.50 and fries for $2.00. They are bigger and taste way better than McDonald’s, and it’s real food that doesn’t destroy my stomach. They also have breakfast burgers and a big serving of breakfast potatoes for $2 each. Why would I ever go to McDonalds
Not everyone has a good local place like that. There’s a ton of bad local places. If you’re in an unfamiliar place, sometimes it’s easier to just go with a mediocre place.
You are 100% correct. I’m fortunate to live in Central Texas, where we have a ton of regional chains that do a great job of outcompeting national chains.
What is a breakfast burger? Is that just like a burger with an egg on it?
Egg, sausage, and cheese on a bun!
That sounds amazing!
P. Terry’s, check it out if you’re ever in Austin or San Antonio!
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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.
Pro tip, if you have access to a stove and several hours of free time to spare for cooking-- dry beans are super cheap!
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.
You can also soak them in the fridge for 24 hours to rehydrate them if you want a more passive way to prep them.
It’s truuuuee. I actually cooked my first pot of dry beans in a crock pot over the course of like 8 hours the other week, and it was very satisfying.
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.
Not sure what I would do or how I made it before I got my Instant pot. Amazing little kitchen gadget.
Getting an Instant Pot was my game changer for dry beans.
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.
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
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.
