There is a McDonald's drive in next to my gym. It gives me the motivation I need not to become overweight.
Expensive, shitty, loud I will never understand why they are so loved.
The Year of McDonald's
91–100 of 108 posts
Re: The Year of McDonald's
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
McDonalds is financially quite healthy. They've never been the cheapest nor the best quality. McDonalds excels in having food at the right place at the right time and a minimal effort to transact. If you are traveling at any random place in the US, and you are in a hurry and want something you are familiar with, McDonalds is the most likely thing you will come across first. There is a huge cognitive anchoring this ha…
Perhaps, but a lot of these arguments have been used for Starbucks, where it seems like their relentless streamlining and price increases have been catching up with them. McD's has been on a similar path, and have reintroduced $5 meal deals in an attempt to bring customers that have been priced out back.
In my country just a hamburger is 5 euro.
Poor people cook their own food- it's the supermarket that operates at a 2-3% margin.
Re: The Year of McDonald's
#93> As a walker, I use them for the same reason everyone else does—they are welcoming, social, inexpensive, and have Wi-Fi, good food, great coffee, and clean bathrooms.
Great article, but McD's has mediocre coffee. I am no coffee classist; Starbucks also has bad coffee. Who has the best coffee? Dunkin Donuts.
Re: The Year of McDonald's
#94> These communities are the flowers growing between the cracks of the cement parking lot: a reminder that life survives, and often thrives, in the harshest environments, such as the modern world Lovely writing here. I am fascinated by the idea that the porousness of any system is its lifeline or even possibly its great enabler. There's a legend that during the Chinese revolution, extremely rural and difficult to trav…
I believe we live in hyper-optimized times. We are at the stage of capitalism where every single crumb is accounted for, every single blueberry on a muffin is tallied, and it's taking the joy out of life and of society. Even McDonald's is affected. It seemed a lot more joyful when I was younger and it was certainly more staffed. People are managing to create community out of a spaces that are getting more and more st…
> We are at the stage of capitalism where every single crumb is accounted for, every single blueberry on a muffin is tallied, and it's taking the joy out of life and of society.
I ask in earnest: when was it any different?
Re: The Year of McDonald's
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're rapidly burning part of their core value proposition for finances. They are increasing transaction friction, via much higher store prices and requirement to use their app, forcing use of touchscreen ordering, etc. Boeing appeared quite financially healthy in summer 2018 as well.
At all the McDonald's I've been to recently, you can still walk in with cash, give your order to a human, and walk out with a bag of food. You don't have to use the app. You don't have to use the touchscreens.
But you often have to wait 10 minutes for someone to show up at the cash register or to let you beg for a refill
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/12/business/mcdonalds-self-serve...
Re: The Year of McDonald's
#96The author is so out of touch its maddening. The article is full of out dated and offensive generalizations.
"I find most convincing is that Mangione could be suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. I’ve met a lot of people like this in McDonald’s, because the franchise is often one of—if not the only—place in the “real world” where they can go, grab a cup out of the garbage can, sit at their corner table, and fit in, at least for an hour or two, without encountering too many dangers. It becomes, for many deeply troubled people, their only lifeline to normal society."
This is so offensive to anyone who is living with mental health challenges, and to anyone living in this late-stage capitalist society. Oh your questioning the status quo and killed a man responsible for one of the biggest death for profit schemes ever? You must be a crazy person who eats out of the garbage bn.
Re: The Year of McDonald's
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe we live in hyper-optimized times. We are at the stage of capitalism where every single crumb is accounted for, every single blueberry on a muffin is tallied, and it's taking the joy out of life and of society. Even McDonald's is affected. It seemed a lot more joyful when I was younger and it was certainly more staffed. People are managing to create community out of a spaces that are getting more and more st…
> We are at the stage of capitalism where every single crumb is accounted for, every single blueberry on a muffin is tallied, and it's taking the joy out of life and of society. I ask in earnest: when was it any different?
It was much more difficult before computers and before computers were inside of everything.
Re: The Year of McDonald's
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's indeed crazy how expensive McDo meals had become. When I was a student I used to eat 2/3 hamburgers 1€ each, and something the 2€ local thing too. Now those doubled or tripled. A maxi best of is at least 12€ . Sorry but at this price I'll eat anywhere else. The only thing I'm eating these days is the 5€ menu with 4 items in it, the happy meal at 4€ when there's Pokémon cards as toy and the Mac First when it is a…
The meals are pricey, no doubt, but the app is where the real value is. In NYC, I’ve scored insanely cheap deals—last week I got 10 chicken nuggets for $1. Right now, I’ve got a 50¢ double cheeseburger offer staring me down. I’d redeem it daily if it weren’t for health reasons (it says once a week, but for me, it’s somehow available every day). And don’t sleep on the $6 meal deal: a McDouble, 4-piece chicken nuggets,…
Given that the app exists and will save you money it's hard to discourage its use but it seems pretty clear their goal is to obsolete in-store menus to obscure the real costs of their meals. Customers get deals in the short term to encourage conversion but in the long term it will be used for price gouging.
Re: The Year of McDonald's
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
The meals are pricey, no doubt, but the app is where the real value is. In NYC, I’ve scored insanely cheap deals—last week I got 10 chicken nuggets for $1. Right now, I’ve got a 50¢ double cheeseburger offer staring me down. I’d redeem it daily if it weren’t for health reasons (it says once a week, but for me, it’s somehow available every day). And don’t sleep on the $6 meal deal: a McDouble, 4-piece chicken nuggets,…
Given that the app exists and will save you money it's hard to discourage its use but it seems pretty clear their goal is to obsolete in-store menus to obscure the real costs of their meals. Customers get deals in the short term to encourage conversion but in the long term it will be used for price gouging.
Though long pre-app I remember McDonald coupons in at least school newspapers and the like.
I remember one pretty silly case where a coupon gave you cheeseburgers for less than hamburgers. The local McDonalds wouldn't let you order a hamburger at the cheeseburger price so you ordered a cheeseburger "hold the cheese."
Re: The Year of McDonald's
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
I basically never eat at McDonald's personally but I expect a lot of people just default to it as the predictable option that isn't too bad for their tastes and doesn't cost too much.
We end up there maybe 6 times a year now that we have kids. It's the correct option when we're on a road trip. Like another commenter said, it's consistency is a huge selling point and kids will never say no to a Happy Meal.
You don't have a lot of options at interstate service plazas. Yeah, I'll grab some fries at a McDonalds or a Burger King maybe a few times a year if I'm driving and hungry. Depending upon where I am I may go to a more local place I know but it takes more time.