I was wondering the other day how McDonald's is able to keep prices so insanely low. I mean, come on, 1.49 for a burger? At first I thought it could be the mass of min. wage school workers, and of course, there's obviously an economy of scale. If McDonald's buys enough cow meat to sink Manhattan with its collective bovine weight, I'm sure they get a good discount.
Then, I thought they make a tonne of cash off of Fries and stuff... and just manage their loss leaders well... but why were the prices never this low? It's almost like giving the burgers away.
It came to me while I was watching an Arby's commercial. There's something a lot different about the McDonald's of today. Surcharges.
If you remember the early 90s or the 80s, you'll remember that if you wanted an extra packet of ketchup or one more slice of tomato or something else... they usually just did it... but in the last 10-15 years, a noticable change has happened, you want something extra, you will pay... and you will pay a lot. I don't know about you, but getting dinged 0.49$ for a slice of bacon when a whole pack costs a couple of bucks seems like extortion to me. Or how about how they try to upsell the Big Xtra (with Bacon, sir?) suggesting that it's included, but they just want to make sure that you wanted it. Most people don't notice the "Xtra" charge on their receipt.
This isn't just at McDonalds, it seems that prices just couldn't get lower without cutting these extra services. Some would argue that it's a good thing for consumers... gives them what they pay for and penalizes the ones that try to abuse it by ordering 10 extra pickles, but I would say that it gets us used to surcharges. Now, when I get surcharges on my mobile phone bill, or some random bank charge (they never USED to charge as much as they do now) I barely flinch.
And I don't know about you... but I blame McDonald's for it all.
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4 comments:
your my hero!!! I was at McDonold's the other day, and after careful consideration of my bill noticed that I was charged for the no onions and extra pickles on my oldschool hamburger.. which oddly enough was the 1.49 special of the day!!!
There are a few bastions of good service left. Wendy's is hit n' miss on free sour cream... and for the record... bacon,cheese, and sourcream mashed together tastes amazing at Wendy's.
Maca donaldo sucks dude... let's boycott it. For more boycotts, visit:
www.djspecs.com
Shocking stuff! Esso is charging for air? Naan des kaa?!
I have to agree, McD's sucks. I used to be a McD's eater and enjoyed it, all until I saw supersize me. Now I regard it as pure evil. (Besides I only eat chicken and fish, cant eat beef) Maybe its so cheap because theres alot of filler! =P *shudder*
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