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McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
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Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#42I can only speak for the UK but for quite a while now, McD's has become an uninviting experience, with miserable staff, menu screens that visibly tell you to hurry the f*k up and choose the product. Not to mention customers vying with delivery drivers for orders. I think the problem applies to all-income customers.
Also, £4.20 for a Double Bacon & Egg McMuffin is just ... no. Why?
I could swear it wasn't that long ago it was under £3.
For a fiver I can get a better 'real' Bacon & Egg bap from an independent.
Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
How about executive compensation?
That would make everything maybe 1 cent cheaper, so it's not really significant.
Yea whenever the idea of a company's profit is under a microscope, people often reflex to exec "greed" but it's typically because it's easier to blame a fictional disney villain, than it is to dig into the root of the problem.
Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#44These articles deliberately skew reality to fit an anti-worker narrative. All the focus is on costs of labor and materials, with not one single sentence devoted to McDonald’s own financials - like the growth of their margins, the share buybacks performed, the executive compensation, or the franchising model itself.
When I was rallying for a higher minimum wage and was challenged on it driving up costs, I made it abundantly clear that would only be the outcome if the corporate leadership refused to budge on their compensation and shareholder reward schemes - which, surprising nobody, is exactly what they did, and this was the entirely expected outcome.
We’ve tried being nice about this and attempting to reach a compromise in long, gradual, sustainable changes to the economy so everyone can benefit from its improvements in efficiency and scale, but the grim reality is that said compromises are no longer on the table, and harms are inevitable. With no more room to squeeze workers, it should be of no surprise that a growing plurality are demanding immediate and substantial change instead of piecemeal reform - and Capital has every right to be terrified of an angry labor class.
Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#45I’m trying to be illustrative through glibness here, but… If consumers can’t afford the prices required to pay a restaurant’s labor living wages, then perhaps they’re not viable customers of that restaurant. Minimum wages above the market-set rate are a form of price control. The distorting effects of price controls—in this case, contributing to shortages of low-margin restaurant meals—are economically inevitable.
I don’t think this is very related to what’s actually going on here.
It used to be that fast food was always cheap. But now, fast food is a broad market that’s aimed at a wide variety of demographics.
McDonald’s just so happens to be closer to the “premium” side of the market. They have a strong brand and don’t have to be the cheapest fast food restaurant on the block. People don’t buy McDonald’s because it’s cheap.
There are plenty of fast food restaurant chains that still mainly serve lower income demographics.
Rally’s/Checkers, Church’s Chicken, Popeyes, Sonic, and maybe you could even count Arby’s, or Taco Bell depending on what you’re ordering.
Some of the bigger brands like McDonald’s do have some deals to be found but you’ll need to be on their apps hunting for them.
Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't forget company leaderships and stock owners taking more and more profit out of companies than ever.
Take 100% of their salaries and profits and it would make a negligible, likely unnoticeable difference in this issue.
Amazon made $311B in 2024, they employ 1.5 million people.
That's $200k an employee, on top of what their regular salary is.
McDonalds made $15B and employ 150k people, that's $100k per employee.
So no, not negligible in the slightest.
Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#47It's very odd there are few comments in the realm of, "Maybe McDonald's has grown to be bad at 'fast-fooding.'"
Yes. You can still get over 2000 calories at Taco Bell for $8 (this would be five of the Cheesy Bean and Rice burrito, my personal favorite). Even a Cheesy Double Beef burrito for the meat lovers can get you over 2000 calories for just over $11 for four. And their box meals will throw in a drink for a decent price. You can spend a lot more, but you don't have to.
This isn't meant as a Taco Bell commercial, just a comparison to todays McDonald's.
Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#48Perhaps this is a good thing? Are people eating healthier home-made foods now?
I do not think this is exactly true. People may stop eating junk outside. But having a healthy balanced diet is more expensive than buying junk and eating at home; and not only in money, but more importantly (maybe) in time. Cooking takes time and effort, which families with both working parents may struggle with. Please do not forget often those people have more exhausting and abusive jobs.
I know from first hand, how difficult can it be in that environment with limited money, time, and energy to go to the grocery store often, buy fresh things, and cook. It is much more convenient to buy things that go in the freezer, when they are in offer, and throw them into the oven when arriving home.
Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
How about executive compensation?
That would make everything maybe 1 cent cheaper, so it's not really significant.
It would however have second-order effects; having less wealthy people would drive down rents/etc. If the wealthy just keep getting wealthier you'll end up in a situation where the wealthy just trade between each other out because of higher margins and the working class has nowhere to buy things.
Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
#50I’m trying to be illustrative through glibness here, but… If consumers can’t afford the prices required to pay a restaurant’s labor living wages, then perhaps they’re not viable customers of that restaurant. Minimum wages above the market-set rate are a form of price control. The distorting effects of price controls—in this case, contributing to shortages of low-margin restaurant meals—are economically inevitable.
Can you afford McDonald’s food if you work at McDonald’s?
You usually get a free meal per shift if you have any sort of half decent owner at basically any fast food restaurant.