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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

#571

Post by abracadaniel »

johnisgood wrote: post #378
abracadaniel wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My grandmother cooked daily and taught her kids to cook. My mother cooked weekly and taught us to use the microwave. Sure anyone can learn to cook, just like anyone can learn to play the piano, but it requires time, money, dedication, and the push to get started. It’s much easier if you were taught some of the basics as a kid, or had an example in your life.

It still baffles me that people compare cooking to playing an instrument. It really is not that difficult to cook, depending on what it is. Do people know how to make schnitzel (breadcrumbed meat)? Make fries? Make rice? Make boiled potatoes? Or are those things difficult as well? Making a stew out of legumes is not that difficult either. Boil your legumes, then mix eggs, flour, and paprika together, put it in oil, h…

For someone raised around music, starting a new instrument might not sound very challenging. You could get good at twinkle twinkle little star on the recorder in under an hour. Take carpentry as another example. It’s not hard. It’s not expensive to get into. But, if you never had someone in your life who was into it, then it just never occurs to you to try it.

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

#572

Post by nlawalker »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #347
lotsofpulp wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is unusual to see young people make the choices to not turn into patients. It costs very little to eat mostly lentils/legumes/nuts/yogurt/vegetables, and drink mostly water without carbs dissolved in it, but no business is going to survive selling those things.

> It costs very little to eat mostly lentils/legumes/nuts/yogurt/vegetables, and drink mostly water without carbs dissolved in it, but no business is going to survive selling those things This is like every new fast casual business in Manhattan in the last decade.

Yeah, and they're not doing so hot: https://www.businessinsider.com/chipotle-cava-sweetgreen-gen...

> Chipotle, Cava, and Sweetgreen reported earnings in the last two weeks, and all three reported the same problem: Diners age 25 to 35 are visiting their stores less frequently as they pinch pennies.

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

#573

Post by rufus_foreman »

1718627440 wrote: post #535
rufus_foreman wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I worked in fast food, they gave you a meal allowance, but it didn't really matter because I would grab a hamburger patty right off the grill and chow down. God damn, now I'm getting hungry. Supposedly you would get fired for doing it, but when the managers accused me of doing it I would just deny it with my mouth closed while still chewing, and the managers would do it too. They probably have cameras now or som…

You are eating in the same place were the cooking happens, without going outside replacing your gloves, putting of your hairnet, apron and mask, and without washing your hands? That sounds like a fast way to get your store closed by the food regulation authority for insterile handling and contamination of food.

>> You are eating in the same place were the cooking happens, without going outside replacing your gloves, putting of your hairnet, apron and mask, and without washing your hands?

I'm not now, that was decades ago. We didn't wear gloves, hairnets, or masks. The guy working the grill would wear an apron.

I mean there was a bucket of dish rags under the sink there once that had maggots in it. I worked in two restaurants and as far as I know the "food regulation authority" never showed up at either of them.

I don't have any illusions that things are different now. Sometimes it's just better not to know.

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

#574

Post by twoodfin »

venturecruelty wrote: post #542
twoodfin wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

No, it’s extracting more money out of different people. Because they’re a more profitable target for investment than the former people.

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

#576

Post by dangus »

venturecruelty wrote: post #557
dangus wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m just going to sidestep this and point out the stupidity of this comparison. Does it magically prove I’m making a bad salary if I can’t afford my employer’s product? Is a five star general making a bad salary because he can’t afford a nuclear submarine?

>Does it magically prove I’m making a bad salary if I can’t afford my employer’s product? Yes, if the entire premise of your employer is "here's the cheapest hot food imaginable". >Is a five star general making a bad salary because he can’t afford a nuclear submarine? No, because the entire premise of the military is not "here's the cheapest nuclear submarine imaginable". What a ridiculous strawman you set up, althou…

> if the entire premise of your employer is "here's the cheapest hot food imaginable”

My argument elsewhere in this thread is that this description is not what McDonald’s is nor claims to be. It might have been that at some time in the past but it’s now a relatively well-regarded and reputable option. Low end cheap would be a restaurant like Rally’s or Church’s Chicken.

Regarding your last paragraph, I think you’re completely misunderstanding what point I am making. I am not defending employers paying low wages or putting employees on food stamps. Our society shouldn’t work that way.

I’m just pointing out that whether an employee can afford a good their employer makes is essentially an irrelevant detail in isolation.

Even comparing McDonald’s to Walmart for this purpose is pointless because Walmart isn’t a franchise. McDonald’s restaurant wages are determined by local franchise owners and vary a lot.

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

#577

Post by nielsbot »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #220
delichon wrote: post #209

> Her brother, who works as a cashier, can’t afford meals out at all, she said. The cost of his diabetes medication has increased greatly, to about $200 a month, which she helps him cover. This is an often unacknowledged part of the cost of fast food. It turns susceptible people into diabetics. As a diabetic there is little I can eat there, since I manage it with food not drugs. When I do I get a burger and throw out…

It is unusual to see young people make the choices to not turn into patients. It costs very little to eat mostly lentils/legumes/nuts/yogurt/vegetables, and drink mostly water without carbs dissolved in it, but no business is going to survive selling those things.

Curious if you do that... Eat mostly lentils/legumes/nuts/yogurt/vegetables. Do you avoid drinking soda?

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

#579

Post by nielsbot »

venturecruelty wrote: post #542
twoodfin wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Their function is to maximize profit. I doubt they think about their company's position in society often if at all.

But there are many factors. Allowing stock buybacks is definitely one of those.

If I'm reading this chart right they're spending about $500M/quarter on buybacks? https://www.financecharts.com/stocks/MCD/cash-flow/repurchas...

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

#580

Post by shostack »

theGnuMe wrote: post #114
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…

Those are close to Starbucks prices so I imagine McCafes. You can get a mediocre McD coffee for $1.

You can easily reduce the cost of coffee and drink much better coffee. A relatively inexpensive home setup can easily get you to $.75-.50/cup and that's using good beans.
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