McDonald’s is fighting back against viral tweets and media reports that it says have exaggerated its price increases.
In a post on the company’s website Wednesday, McDonald’s U.S. President Joe Erlinger said reports suggesting the price of the average Big Mac has doubled since 2019 were false. McDonald’s said the average U.S. Big Mac was $4.39 in 2019 and now costs $5.29, a 20.5% increase.
Erlinger acknowledged that he and many franchisees were frustrated by a post on X last summer about a Big Mac meal in Connecticut that cost $18, calling the price “an exception.”
McDonald’s saw a marked slowdown in store traffic in the first three months of this year as inflation-weary customers in the U.S. and other big markets ate out less often.
“It’s clear that we — together with our franchisees — must remain laser-focused on value and affordability,” Erlinger said.
Motherfucker acting like the price increases are modest while charging 3.29 for a fucking Hash Brown. I get it, your customers eat McDonald’s so it’s easy to assume they’re stupid, but you can be pretty fucking stupid and still realize that the total price of your meal is ridiculous.
They also ditched the $1 any size drink pricing.
When they dropped the $1 iced tea, I knew shit got real.
You can’t get dirty water for $1 anymore? What a ripoff.
Meanwhile McDonald’s CEO was paid $19.2mm last year, which was 8% higher than the year before that.
This is less than half the amount of Big Mac-flation, so it’s actually a bargain!
They’re passing the savings onto the consumers, right?
McDonald’s said the average price of all menu items has risen 40% over the last five years, to account for a average increase in the cost of labor, paper and food. That is higher than overall consumer prices, which have increased 21% since December 2019
Hey it’s all good, not actually doubled! The 2% cost of living adjustments should cover it. /s
You got money? I just got a pizza party.
With food costs changing as they have, you likely got more value from the pizza party. That slice of pepperoni is worth at least $8.
… account for a 40% average increase in the cost of labor, […]
Do burger flippers at McD’s really earn 40% more compared to a few years ago?
I never go to McDonalds without using a code from the app. $2 breakfast sandwich? Cool. 20% off entire order? Cool. It’s gotten to the point that using the app is necessary to get reasonably priced food. Without it, you’re overpaying.
A situation specifically engineered to get people downloading their app and forking over tracking data.
And waiving their rights to join a class action lawsuit against McDonald’s, don’t forget that :D
Exactly. I guess at this point, I’m ok with some certain datapoints being collected. Mostly what they’ll get from me is that I occasionally like a Sausage Egg McMuffin on my way to work. lol
The app wants location data too, so they probably know where you are at all times and other things you like based on where you go.
You can limit when an app is allowed to access your location in Android. But I’m guessing it’s used for finding the nearest restaurant to do mobile orders.
And that’s exactly why I don’t go there anymore.
Having to let McDonald’s into my phone via an app so that I can get less terribly priced food is a goddamn scam.
That’s basically the situation with almost every fast food restaurant these days, some casual dinning places and even grocery stores.
Yeah no way am I paying $4.50 for a single double cheeseburger but with a 2 for 1 deal it’s worth it.
Same with taco bell. There is a build your own box combo for $6 on the app that has two main items, a side item, and a drink. The same combo purchased in store is $12.
I’d like to thank McD for improving my diet. It used to be cheap and quick. Now it’s neither and they support all kinds of shit.
I was at a Pro-Palestine protest a few weeks ago and one of the companies to boycott was McD. I deleted the app then and there and won’t go back.
I have quite a nice list of companies I avoid these days for all sorts of reasons and my life isn’t any worse. I suppose the most inconvenient is Amazon but you can’t put a price on morals.
That’s the issue with Wendy’s for me right now. They’re closest to my house of any food, and they have the 5 dollar biggie bag, which has gotta be the best deal in fast food right now.
They’re trading out low-value customers for high-value customers. It’s Business 101. I’ve done it with my old PC repair gig.
For the same revenue, do you want a bunch of people paying low prices or a few people paying high prices?
In any case, I’m all for higher fast-food prices. Maybe this will drive a culture shift towards healthier, less fattening food.
The problem with that logic is that McDonalds has not upped the value of their product. I didn’t take Business 101, but I’m pretty sure it’d be considered bad business to try and sell the same piece of shit you’ve always sold for a higher price than you typically sell for.
Business 101, the real goal is to try and sell a cheaper to produce piece of shit you’ve always sold, while simultaneously raising the prices. Now that’s building value 😎
Nono no.
You see, that’s covered in the “Ethical Business 101”.
It’s a safe assumption to make that the customers bearing the high prices are largely only doing so because they go to mcdonalds out of habit. Eventually they’ll shake out of that habit and mcdonalds will be left with dropping revenues, which is what we’re starting to see now. If mcdonalds wants high-value customers, then they’d have to offer high-value products and services, but they do neither.
Business 101 would be identifying an under-served customer base and appealing to them. What mcdonalds is doing is just squeezing their existing customers outside of the base that mcdonalds is known for (wanting cheap and convenient food). It works until the customers stop coming, then mcdonalds has to work twice as hard to get them back because those customers have moved onto other restaurants which they’ve found out offer better products and services and/or better prices.
Nonetheless it’s gotten quite expensive. It made a nice post-bar snack, however there are now many better options at the price point.
the price of the burger reletive to other chains isnt as egrigious. the price increase is mostly in the cost of the fries and drink which have inflated.
i learned about it when i had to compare burger and burger combos from various joints in my area.
Just because everyone is screwing you doesn’t mean it’s not egregious
I wouldn’t eat that gmo trash anyways.
