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McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

latimes.com

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Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#71

Post by jswelker »

dyauspitr wrote: post #37
jswelker wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally... No they are not. My middle school daughter says many of her friends just eat ramen packets every night.

So even crappier food. The people have to be blamed for this at some point. Lower income Indian and East Asian families cook fresh food every night that probably costs less than $0.50 a plate. Beans, lentils, rice, eggs, pork and chicken can take you very far.

I'm not saying the people aren't to blame, but no one is blameless in the cultural decay. If US natives learned to live like immigrants, many ills would be solved, dietary and otherwise.

Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#72

Post by f1shy »

FerretFred wrote: post #21

I 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.

My experience is that quality in McD is rapidly declining. We may agree was never a Michelin star restaurant. But I remember being more or leas enjoying the food. Now I just can’t. Maybe I’m getting older. But I would swear the quality is much worse now than say 5 or 10 years ago.

Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#73

Post by anonymouskimmer »

dyauspitr wrote: post #37
jswelker wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally... No they are not. My middle school daughter says many of her friends just eat ramen packets every night.

So even crappier food. The people have to be blamed for this at some point. Lower income Indian and East Asian families cook fresh food every night that probably costs less than $0.50 a plate. Beans, lentils, rice, eggs, pork and chicken can take you very far.

Some people aren't taught how to cook (though I suppose they could jump on YouTube these days). And for those who are, at the very lowest incomes, they may not have a working range or oven. While a cheap microwave can be had for under $100, the cheaper plug-in stove tops don't last if used daily.

Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#74

Post by throwway120385 »

dyauspitr wrote: post #37
jswelker wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally... No they are not. My middle school daughter says many of her friends just eat ramen packets every night.

So even crappier food. The people have to be blamed for this at some point. Lower income Indian and East Asian families cook fresh food every night that probably costs less than $0.50 a plate. Beans, lentils, rice, eggs, pork and chicken can take you very far.

Anecdotally, a pressure-cooked pot of beans can take over 40 minutes to knock together. So it is not that simple.

Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#75

Post by SunshineTheCat »

zepolen wrote: post #46
SunshineTheCat wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Are you under the impression the only expense a company has is payroll?

Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#76

Post by rixed »

dangus wrote: post #50
xeonmc wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

So, that's a "no" since that meal costs less that it would if bough over the counter?

Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#77

Post by trentnix »

anonymouskimmer wrote: post #47
jrm4 wrote: post #17

It'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 com…

Taco Bell's prices are absolutely through the roof, too. I'm not seeing the "decent price" at my local TB that you're seeing.

Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#78

Post by jihadjihad »

somenameforme wrote: post #7

I feel like this whole article is seeking to 'maximize engagement', which I'm using as a lofty euphemism for trolling its readers. ------ Mariam Gergis, a registered nurse at UCLA who also works a second job as a home caregiver, said she’s better off than many others, and still she struggles. “I can barely afford McDonald’s,” she said. “But it’s a cheaper option.” On Monday morning she sat in a booth at a McDonald’s…

> The three beverages they ordered, two coffees and a soda, amounted to nearly $20

I don't live in CA, but this just seems insane? Even in "captive" locations like airports etc. where prices for stuff are higher than a typical brick-and-mortar location, I don't even understand how two coffees and a soda could approach $20. If they'd DoorDashed it, sure. But those numbers don't make sense.

Re: McDonald's is losing its low-income customers

#79

Post by lysace »

notepad0x90 wrote: post #12
lysace wrote: post #3

The cost increases are real: beef, wheat, labor. Some of it is from inflation during the covid period, some it is from the Russia-Ukraine invasion causing havoc in fuel and grain supplies globally. There is currently a beef shortage in Europe (of sorts). The reason is that buying cow feed has gotten too expensive/unpredictable. I think people generally underestimate the global impact of shutting down production in Eu…

We should consume a lot less beef. Wages haven't caught up with inflation in a long while, I'd hope McDonalds paying more would trigger a nationwide increase in wages (I know, too optimistic).

Meat-based proteine is important in so many different ways.

Yes, it is possible avoid meat and still have a child develop well. It was also possible to install Linux on your PC in 1991/1992. Most people couldn't, but the really smart (or special) ones could.

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