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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

#541

Post by anon291 »

1718627440 wrote: post #532
anon291 wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Early on , it was clear the rate of covid complications did not merit the lockdowns. I was an early supporter of lockdowns and an even earlier supporter of ending them. It was a cold... Can we say that now? A relatively moderate flu like cold for the vast majority of people. It did not merit shutting down or slowing global trade

Early on, there wasn't any lockdown, so instead we could see whole villages and regions being in emergency state, with the military handling the logistics of moving coffins around, because there were so many. The lockdowns after 2 years were avoidable, but the first one absolutely wasn't. I'm quite content with my governments actions in the beginning and I'm not alone, the governmental approval during the first lockd…

The lockdown spanned two years. A few months in, it was obvious it was overkill.

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

#542

Post by venturecruelty »

twoodfin wrote: post #34
partiallypro wrote: post #9

In 2005 McDonald's net profit margin was ~12%, today it's ~30+%. Obviously that doesn't account for the entire price increase and wouldn't make that much of a difference...but worth noting.

Yes, they have progressively become a higher-margin business, which necessitates moving up market to consumers who will pay those margins.

Why do you _have_ to extract more money out of people just because you can? Is it truly not enough for the McDonald's executives?

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

#543

Post by venturecruelty »

dole wrote: post #122

You eat at McD's or most fast food places these days, you need the app to get reasonable prices, usually at a 15-20% discount. The app really does enhance the experience, order exactly what you want without human error, roll up to the drive-thru, give them the code, and they begin making the order at that point. They've been pushing $5 value meals recently because the dollar menu's just not fiscally feasible anymore…

>The app really does enhance the experience...

Sure, like paying your local mob boss enhances the experience of not having your legs broken.

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

#544

Post by venturecruelty »

akhosravian wrote: post #419
cwillu wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the mcdonalds app installed once, and then my phone pinged with a notification when I was driving near a mcdonalds. Never again.

Why would you allow notifications from most apps? What could the McDonald’s app possibly offer to warrant allowing it to dictate your attention for even a fraction of a second?

This is, uh, kind of missing the point, isn't it?

"Hey, this megacorporation made me download an app to buy food from them, and now it's being creepy."

"Have you considered that it's actually all your fault?"

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

#545

Post by venturecruelty »

stego-tech wrote: post #287
prewett wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Or you could not jump to completely inaccurate conclusions about someone’s viewpoints, movement participation, and policy positions based solely on one comment on a single post. You could ask questions for clarity, or challenge specific assertions, instead of leaping directly to bad faith arguments (“why don’t YOU take a pay cut?” maybe because I’m not a CEO with a compensation package in the millions of dollars a ye…

I mean this nicely: I would really not expect much better from HN. This is ground zero for Capital's public social media discourse; I'm actually quite surprised your top-level comment hasn't been downvoted to oblivion or even flagged, since you dared to utter the unutterable: that workers deserve more and Capital deserves less. I'm with you, friend, but be careful here.

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

#547

Post by venturecruelty »

purplezooey wrote: post #134

Awkward writing in this article. "McDonald’s executives say the higher costs of restaurant essentials, such as beef and salaries, have pushed food prices up..." Beef and... salaries? I think I found the name of my new fast food place.

Crazy how nobody ever talks about bonuses or executive pay or stock buybacks. Oh, I guess those are just the cost of doing business, eh?

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

#548

Post by venturecruelty »

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…

Beef and wheat are expensive because there is a small handful of companies who produce these for the United States, and they all sit around the same table announcing how much they're going to increase their prices every quarter. It's not collusion, you see, just a fun little coincidence. Because curiously, these particular prices have gone up way faster than inflation, despite having leveled off a year or so ago. Of course, maybe it's the arbitrary taxes the unitary executive has been adding to imports. Oh well. Becoming great again has sacrifices, I suppose, like Big Macs.

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

#549

Post by rolph »

toast0 wrote: post #320
johnisgood wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are such restaurants around here in Europe but they are super expensive, so you are better off doing it on your own at home. Cooking a stew of lentils or any other legumes is very easy and does not consume that much time either, and you can cook for 3 days easily. Why are people not doing this?

Most people aren't interested in a stew that you have to cook for 3 days easily. Even BBQ people expect low and slow to finish on the same day it starts. :p

that sounds like preparing bear meat.

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

#550

Post by venturecruelty »

epolanski wrote: post #358

I never understood how can eating at McDonald's be cheaper than cooking your own meals. I'm not from US, but checking US grocery shops, you can eat meals made of chicken breast, bread and vegetables well below 5$ per person, well below 20$ in total for a family of 4. Yet every time I see those discussions, fast food is always presented as a cheaper option?

Well, you see, the entire wink-wink, nudge-nudge premise of America was this: everything is cheap, but you don't have the best safety net in the world. This sort of worked, for a while, especially because we actually DID have an okay social safety net here and there for people: Medicare/Medicaid, SNAP, Social Security, ACA, etc. Now, though, these programs are being gutted, AND ALSO the Big Macs are expensive. So now, the people who run this country (like the people who own McDonald's) are giving us neither our bread nor our circuses, and that makes the F150 class very angry...

But sure, I guess there's no cost of living crisis, actually, because you have the perfect shopping list. I'll inform the nation.

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