Fast food is so expensive it is no different than just going to a sit down place. I got Taco Bell quesadilla, a burrito, and a drink for $15. For that I may as well do to the nice Pho place down the road as pay $2 more for way tastier and better food.
Its become so dumb that a local restaurant (that has their own delivery driver, no uberfood/doordash nonsense) can sell me a burger that has fries included for twice the price of a big mac - the problem is, its more than twice the size of the bigmac, and its actually quite tasty and filling. Mcdonalds does have an app that gives you some random discounts, but the rules for the discounts and the app's reliabiltiy are abysmal. (For example, last discount I got there was a 20 piece nugget box for around half their usual price, but that is still a bit too expensive for those tiny buggers)
@@xEllieRose I completely agree. Fortunately where I work there are a lot of local restaurants. Though where I live (Commute 25mi 1way) there is nothing but chains and fast food. So if I had a long day of work and don't feel like cooking it is an immediate $15.
It's not even fast anymore either. Place an order through the app, it says "come on inside, it's ready for pickup", stand around for 10 minutes until it's finally actually ready. At that timeframe, I might as well go to the local place with better food for the same or only slightly higher price and the same or only slightly higher wait time. And it's usually more food for the money too. I'll get a giant burger that I can only eat half of, so I put the other half in the microwave later for another quick meal. At McDonalds, the food is a single serving and even if I did somehow have leftovers, it would be so disgusting as to not be worth reheating later.
McDonalds forgot its place. The deal was always that the food isn't great but the price justifies it. Now the price doesn't justify it because I can get much better food for the same price. Its that simple.
They got a boom in sales from covid as they were one of the few places that was still open and you could go to meet people. They mistakenly thought that was now a permanent arrangement and people would continue to go irrespective of the price. Food can be shitty but cheap and people will still buy it, but when it's shitty and expensive there is a problem and nobody wants it anymore. Not to mention their drive thru is also painfully slow, if there are more than 3 cars it feels like it takes 20 minutes. These guys clearly don't understand their business at all anymore, should probably go back and watch the film the founder.
@@cinifiend that's not the case in my state. during covid, fast food restaurants were only open for drive-thru service. In my eyes, fast food had a boom during Covid because drive thru service was one of the only ways people could eat out, and that was something people wanted more of during lockdown. I believe fast food culture has its hold on a lot of people to the point that they order what they want and don't care how much it costs
I almost always get the same thing from fast food places so I’ve been very aware of these price changes and I still remember how pre pandemic I could get my meal from the McDonald’s down the street for under $6 and my meal from the Culver’s across town for $12, the McDonald’s was lower quality but cheaper and in a more convenient location while the Culver’s was higher quality and errands rarely took me to that side of town. Now my McDonald’s meal is $12 and my Culver’s is $13, so when I want fast food I’ll drive across town to Culver’s because I will absolutely pay the $1 difference in price for the better quality.
true. i order doordash almost every week for a treat (no car) it used to be mcdonalds mostly, i like the frappes and food is meh. now i spend like $5 more ordering from a local diner, get way better food, and thier coffee isnt a frappe, but its good.
It's The end state of every company. Create a product people like for a price they can afford. Then once the consumer bases high enough, jack up prices. That's basically my impression of all the streaming services right now who cost basically double what they were a decade ago.
I think I speak for all of us when I say that if fast food ads allowed comment sections , they would be cyber bullied so hard they would never pull half the stupid stunts they do again.
each of my mcdonalds in my area have at least 9-10 people on shift untill 10pm. the mcdouble was last a dollar in 2006. . The value from $1.00 then to today is $1.56 the double is 3.56. its 2 dollars more than what it should be.. however wages then were 5.25 in texas... wages now are 15+. When you account for the value of labor. thats a 300% increase. it used to take 5 mcdoubles to pay a salary for 1 hour. Now its 5 mcdouble or 7 in california... Wait a second.....
It used to be the case that you had a choice between say McDonalds burger that's cheap and "craft" burger that's good, but the price gap between the two is now basically nonexistent.
This is why I'm on the homemade smashburger train these days. Get yourself an electric griddle and some of those burger weights, and those suckers pay for themselves in no time.
Maybe not that much, but supporting the app around the clock for millions of consumers is not cheap. We had to do that last year for a big German furniture company, and the costs were around 16 Million Euro for a 3-year service. That includes app development, hosting, platform prices (Android, iOS) and 24/7 support.
First, having a system that serves millions of people without crashing purely due to the volume of requests is not cheap. Second, the app does not just manage orders and points, it also has very complex data collecting and processing algorithms (as said, they spy on you a lot), and that's not cheap either.
@@MxMe-su1ch AWS is just hosting and we already use that. The main issue is the development team + support. You have to comply with a lot of laws too, everything needs to be planned out.
Love hearing Subway have an emergency meeting because they are failing. I think the $5 footlong was one of the most iconic pieces of marketing ever and now its $6 for just half of that. I don't think they ever even had quality ingredients (it was just convenient and a good portion), and they still don't but are charging double for it now.
I gave up on subway when their apps wouldnt load for me for almost a year and when it finally did, it turned out they updated their rewards to expire and everything I had earned previously expired. It wasnt a lot but it pissed me off and then high prices just made it not worth starting over. There are local sandwhich shops that I can support that are cheaper for same quality.
You can get that to _around_ USD$6 each if you use a coupon code. Subway is one of the few places you can use a code and feel like you're saving money. The thing which sucks about Subway's recent changes is their _Series_ menu; they moved some long-standing classics in there, and created this sports-themed upper tier which has exclusions from these coupons. And, all that menu really does is boil things down to a number. It's like, we have tandem menus which serve wildly different purposes, where the convenience-driven option of finding something you like and remembering it as a numbered item is significantly more expensive. The fact _some_ items in that menu are barred from savings is quite the_racket._ Jokes aside, if using the coupons, you're literally better off sticking with the classics and saving the money _if_ you really want it. But you may be better served at your local Wal-Mart (of all places!) which may have more filling sandwiches for cheaper. And with Subway releasing their sauces into mass retail, it's theoretically possible to get the Subway experience _but better._
@@gogomiguelito The fact they're serving such ingredients as individual deli portions is hilarious. _Yes!_ Subway wants to see itself as a delicatessen now. It's pretty dumb.
I bought a foot long sub and drink and two cookies in Canada a week ago. It was $20.32!!! My brother and I while the food was getting made were both in awe that subway is even still a thing. I only went because it’s right next to his house and it was late. I always liked subway but their pricing has been vile for many years.
Isn't it great how they said 10 years ago that they couldn't pay 15 minimum without increasing prices and then they didn't raise wages but did raise prices anyway?
They didn't have to raise wages they could've just cut into the $14.5bil profit and made $14.3bil instead but thats apparently too much to ask even though the price hikes have added a 10% increase in revenue
@@bigjohnsbreakfastlog5819 The shareholders, the ones who OWN STAKE in the company? I didn't know they were the ones buying the product, oh wait, they aren't!
@@bigjohnsbreakfastlog5819 One can only hope the infinite growth of the shareholders takes an infinite fall that they can't even profit from selling off after their desire for "inifinite growth" in profits screwed things.
The CEO says paying workers more is going to raise prices and someone is going to pay for it. But the high salaries of the executives has no effect on the prices I guess lol😂
@@ab-hv8qs Do not call CEO part of the workers. They are entirely different classes of individuals and the CEO's make that apparent every time they screw over the workers for their own personal benefit
@@zapermunz Running a buisness is not about being nice. It's about making tough decisions. It's about making cold calculated decisions, especially when things are out of your control. Many business can suffer even if you make all the right decisions. Even though you've made all the right decisions, even though all the workers did their job, there can be times when tough decisions has to be made. And it's CEO's job to make that decision. Also CEO's answer to board. If they didn't like his decisions, he would lose his job just like any other employees. Tim Cook was recently in China for 8th apple store opening in China, giving his best to suck up to Chinese government and Chinese people like your average salesperson. It's easy to demonize others, but they are doing samething you or I will do in their shoes. They are just doing their jobs. Like average factory workers are given bolt, then they screw it in, CEO's receives sales data and makes cold calculated decisions for the business. And you say personal benefit, but that's also part of the business. Using Apple for example again. Random factory worker is dime a dozen and easily replaceable. Tim Cook is not. Someone will eventually replace him, but finding a person that is as capable as him to do the job is not easy to find. Which is why the company pays Tim Cook and possible replacements high salaries to make sure they keep the irreplaceable human resources, and fire easily replacable human resources to make that happen. Don't like it? Then become an irreplaceable employee of your company. Then when the tough time hits, you will see all your co-workers getting laid off, except for you. Often you will get a bonus instead, so the company can make you feel safe and make sure you won't get the wrong idea.
It's crazy when places like Texas Roadhouse and Chilis are now the same price or cheaper than McDonald's while also have way better tasting food and better quality.
@@dwillingham i feel like its more of a meritocracy based on social ability. being able to rub shoulders with important people is, in my opinion, the most important skill to climb the corporate ladder. being related to someone in the role of ceo or another high-level position simply creates more opportunities to meet the right people, it does not guarantee success in having the family line actually stay at the top.
@@ProtoForteif that was actually true you wouldn't have the phrase nepo baby running rampant with the corporate world. I mean there is a reason the show succession exists
@@patio_daddio_69 the term exists for the same reason that fat people blame being fat on genetics (specifically the group of fat people that actually CAN do something about their situation): it's easier to blame your own failure on outside influences which you can't control. i don't want to say that if you work hard, you are guaranteed success, but it is certainly a worthwhile endeavor to try. and yes, different people start at different levels of ease when it comes to becoming successful, but as long as we live in a country where personal freedom and capitalism is being valued, it should be possible for everyone to reach a state where they could live comfortably, considering they make the right choices in life. without trying to sound pretentious, personally i find byung-chul han's philosophy of the kind of achievement society we live in fascinating. a lot of what he talks about rings true to how i view the world as well, though everyone has different opinions of course and it's all worth hearing.
Me @ 30 years old making more than they ever did, with a higher credit score than they had when they bought their first house and had kids, and more college education than them combined and here I am in an apartment paying higher rent than their mortgage EVER was
That's so strange that you can go to Chili's and have someone wait on you for less money than you pay at Mackers for crappier food and stoner-level service.
@A1phaz0ne To get that price point you have to pay 0 dollars in tip and only order water as a drink. Not ethical to your servers, regardless of how much they might think they deserve.
Another big thing i've noticed is how shitty coupons have gotten. You used to be able to get a meal for half the price or an item for free, but now its "get $2 off of a burger" or "$1 dessert with the purchase of a meal"
Yeah, so true I mean I don’t even bother going to fast food anymore. It’s just a joke at this point. These companies need to pay a price and they need to pay hard.
Taco Bell is super cheap. Their bean burritos with the onions and red sauce are my jam. I get black beans instead of refried and add fried potatoes and rice on road trips and it's cheap and good. 3 of them is big meal and costs like $8.
TB is the one that didnt think it was Arbys and ballooned the prices. I can get a giant ass quesarito and a big drink with a side taco and some chips for like $9
Folks are replying that Taco Bell is still cheap, and it’s definitely one of the absolute cheapest, but they’ve taken a hit, too. The menu has been slowly transitioning like McDonald’s to fewer cheap items available and more expensive ones. You used to be able to get a beef burrito that was just beef, sauce, onions, and cheese in a tortilla, and it was like $1.25 or something. Now you’ve got to get something like a beefy nacho loaded griller or equivalent for about $5.25, and there are a bunch of things like that. The key is with Taco Bell, the more expensive items are actually significantly bigger and more filling, and there are more baseline cheap items like an ordinary taco that are critical to their menu they hopefully can’t ever get rid of than McDonald’s has. So it’s been way less hit with greed than, say, Chipotle, but it’s not immune. I miss those lil beef burritos, man. You get in just the right mood and they really hit the spot.
I'm so used to having to skip 4 minutes of the video because every content creator fluffs the intro of their video with advertisements and a needless intro, this was straight to the point and the intro was concise clear and straight to the point. Truly this was a breath of fresh air and I appreciate knocking down The narrative that raising minimum wage will hurt the economy.
Really, you have 193 thumbs up and 1 comment, does that seem like "fresh air"? The rate of inflation is not as stated, that is a massaged figure with no relation to reality which is why things are unaffordable in reality.
Fast food pricing going up has been one of the best things to happen for me. I now save like 300-400 dollars a month and Ive learned to cook and am healthier than ever
For $36 you could get at least a pound and a half of meat, buns, 1/2 lb of cheese, a couple tomatoes, head of lettuce, bottle of ketchup & mustard & mayo, a bag of fries & a 2L of soda
My mom used to work at McDonald’s when she was in high school in the 70s. She used to tell me you could get a meal for $1 and get change back. Now I won’t even go, I refuse to pay $15 for one meal for bad quality food.
The double quarter pounder is worth it to me as far as fast food. It’s the only meal I get if I do get fast food meals. Edit: it’s also only $11 where I live
My husband and I can have a thick-cut porterhouse steak w/ caramelized onions, bacon-seared pepper asparagus, roasted brussel sprouts and a giant milkshake at home for less than the cost of one skimpy, tasteless, nasty, unhealthy takeout meal. Sooo.... why are any of you out there still buying fast food???
I've stopped going to McDonald's period because the quality of the food at every one I've tried recently has gone to hell. If I'm spending $13 for a Quarter Pounder meal it better be good. Not dried out beef that's been sitting in the tray for 40 minutes and cold fries. Did go to Chili's recently for lunch and got a burger and an appetizer for $10 with their combo and it was hot and cooked well. Good call on using Chili's in this video as an example of a company doing it right.
most fast food that ive tried in the us in general is really bad. where im from in romania, places like kfc, taco bell, mcdonalds taste great and have a good reputation. the first time i tried kfc in the us i was completely shocked by how bad it was lol
And that food only sits longer and gets more stale the lower the turn over is, and that turn over is only gonna worse as the price increases vs. the quality decreasing. Classic death spiral.
@@mcbaws21 KFC in the states is very dependent on location. I've had really solid KFC at one location near work, but the one closer to my house is always a soggy mess like the oil wasn't hot enough. I usually go to Popeyes instead as it's usually far more consistent.
In my country we're all b0yc0tt!ng McDonald's because of its support to the "you know who". Believe it or not, McDonald's prices had never been cheaper. Like seriously you can get three meals for the price of one, it's ridiculous! But people still refuse to go. It was really interesting to watch this unfold, going to McDonald's used to be a fun weekly thing for me (and most people my age). They even opened a new McDonald's (before what happened) near me and I was so excited. But that all suddenly changed, now going there is like a very shameful thing to do. I don't think we'll ever go back honestly no matter how cheaper they make it. This video was interesting for me because in my country it's the total opposite, McDonald's had never been cheaper and yet still no one goes there. My country were big consumers, we love McDonald's here, so the fact that literally NO ONE goes there anymore can't be ignored. It must have caused huge losses and in turn makes your McDonalds' even more expensive.
@@Mercenary-1914this is the issue, americans have gotten greedy, and require new foods for every meal. Where if you cook a shit ton of rice and chicken and veggies, you can eat for like 4.50 a day and be stuffed. It just doesnt have much variety. But only catering to your tastes is fucking EXPENSIVEEEE
@@certifiedcommenter. I dont eat fast food regularly. I am saying....when I do treat myself to fastfood...I dont go by price. I just say...."I am feeling a burger and I go get a burger" That's what I am talking about. 95% of the time....I cook from home and eat a balanced diet.
Same deal here. I realized in the last few years that I can go somewhere like Culver's or Zaxby's and get a much better quality AND larger meal (with way fucking better service) for the same money. Sometimes even a bit less.
It's not just the rising prices that annoys me, it's the quality of the food declining and the size of the portions shrinking at the same time. It's the worst case scenario for fast food.
I remember when a Mc Chicken patty actually filled the bun, now there's a good quarter inch between it and edge of the bun all around. And it's dried out half the time.
The quality has increased, not decreased. PORTION sizes may be a different beast, but I think part of the problem has been the INCREASE in quality over the years due to the rise of Fast Casual restaurants. People wanted better buns, better chicken, fresh never frozen beef.... They wanted fresh vegetables like lettuce and tomato.... And they got it. Not great but better.... And we all paid for it. Fast food needs to go back to its roots. The shit that's in our freezers at home is what they should make. McChicken instead of the giant filet. Give me that frozen beef when I want a fast, cheap burger.... Not fresh if it's gonna cost me the same if I went out to a bar to get a burger.
@@dabluflcn Its been a slow crawl, but they've absolutely had to up their quality as other fast food restaurants have, and as newer, better quality ones opened up (like Chick-fil-a). ANd I get it. I remember when chicken nuggets were dark meat (which I actually preferred, but most prefer the all white meat they use now). I remember before they offered fresh, never-frozen quarter pounders, and when they released the new one, I def noticed an improvement. They've had to offer more premium chicken sandwich choices since the Chicken Sandwich wars began a few years ago. And most recently, they were forced to change up their cooking method for their normal frozen patties too - methods like cooking fewer patties on a grill at the same time certainly don't help them with efficiency. Not saying they're OMG AMAZING QUALITY, not even saying their prices aren't still insane, even just compared to other fast food spots. BUT the quality has definitely increased over the years, and I think that's part of the problem. If we want it to be cheap, it kinda HAS to be "crappy" - i'd rather a reduction in quality that I won't even notice as a consumer, but have back my better prices w/ larger portions. Its a kick in the gut to spend $20 at McD on just one's self....
I'm still amazed people can put that food into their mouths and be happy about it. I mean if it isn't going to cause cancer, at the very least there are huge obesity risks with eating all that crap they serve in these fastfood chains. It probably shouldn't even be called food to be honest.
What I think is dystopian and insane is that us Millennials and maybe some Gen Z remember when McDonald's was a place for kids. We were familiarized with the taste of the food in a social, fun, colorful environment. Now, they straight up want to use those memories to make you addicted. Coupons only valid for one person, and it tastes like nostalgia? They got us addicted as kids and now want us eating it in our cars alone for a hit of comfort like addicts.
I remember being disappointed as a kid when they started removing the play places from these places, but no, a fast food restaurant being a playground is a terrible thing that shouldn’t be allowed
In 2012 when I was competing, McDonalds was the only way to affordably fill me with calories. My order was: 2 McChickens plain, 2 McDoubles (1 regular, 1 plain), a large fries, a 20 piece nuggets, 3 cookies, 2 apple pies, a dipped ice cream cone, and a large diet coke. The total? Just $15. The same order now would be $35+, some locations even $40+. RIP any teenage athletes with a single parent
Here because of that one tweet about how reaction vids kill engagement and siphon off of original content creators. Keep up the amazing work dude, glad to watch this video and support you.
Something to mention about the food apps too, is that beyond taking your data, it also gives them access to sending you notifications/emails and make you think of them every time you see the app on your phone. I've gotten rid of almost all the fast food apps on my phone so it's less tempting
It's definitely a good idea to delete as many apps as possible. And then restrict the heck out of the permissions for remaining apps. I can use a web browser to order 5 Guys online so that app gets deleted. McDonald's doesn't let you use a website so I'll begrudgingly keep that app, BUT: 1) the app icon is not getting space on my home screen, it will stay in the app drawer where I rarely see it 2) notification permissions for anything not related to an order I have placed are denied 3) location permission is only allowed when I'm using the app (so it can tell the restaurant I'm on my way and start making my food) 4) permissions to use the camera, music and audio, and photos and videos are denied 100% of the time, McDonalds does not need and cannot have any of that 5) as soon as I've picked up my food, the app gets closed Not even just food apps. That's good advice for smartphone use in general. Delete as many apps as you can, because you can probably use the web browser instead. For apps you keep, manage those permissions. Especially notifications, take a moment and think about how much you actually need your phone to interrupt you about throughout the day. Are you going to watch a RU-vid video the moment you get a notification about it? I'm not, I'm just going to wait until I can watch on one of my larger screens. So I don't let RU-vid notify me about anything (sorry RU-vidrs, I'm never clicking that bell, my Subscriptions feed works just fine)
Yeah, people look at me like I'm an idiot because I don't have the tim hortons app or whatever because they can get deals randomly on shit and I'm just like bro I'm not putting up with all the random headache notifications involved with this shit, giving away my privacy blah blah just so I can get a deal that they used to send me in the mail for free. I'm just not going there anymore lol
The biggest crime is that Dunkin hashbrowns went from $0.80 to $3.25 in the last 6 years and I can't get over it. The portions got slightly larger but I miss buying multiple at once and felt like I was getting a deal
They forgot what they were. Didn't know their market. Maccies was the safe, cheap, and reliable restaurant. In a new city and don't know what's round? Maccies is edible and you know what you like. You know the kids will eat it etc. You won't get ill. Want a treat that won't break the bank? Maccies. But if I'm spending £10 on a burger and meal from maccies, I'll spend £12 to get one better from burger king... or just get a decent pizza, sides, drink, snacks etc from the shop and cook it in the oven at that point. Because that takes half an hour and is so much more. And if I'm out and about, a proper restaurant here comes in at about £15 to £18... so just do that. They need to take the costco model of cutting the bullshit and making it cheap. Who needs advertising for maccies anyway, we all know of it.
Also fast - and fun. Now they're slow and expensive. And boring. Like you go to McDonald's for something really quick and cheap. You want it in your hand immidiatly. If not, then it's not McDonald's your going to go to. I really can't justify McDonald's at all these days. Pay more for a Big Mac menu than a Chinese buffet? No thanks.
Unfortunately, our simple human brains fall for that crap all the time, especially young people and folks who just haven't punched their common sense card enough times
@@kahlilbt Never bought a product just because it had some "celebrity" name on it.. and i never will. Matter of fact i don't view anybody as a "celebrity" i treat them all the same, they make good music, cool thanks. I ain't gonna fanboy over some rando bcz he makes music or was in a show. lmao People who basically dedicate some parts of their lives to someone they probably never even met is the saddest thing ever.
We don’t even have a McDonald’s on my campus, but for just 10 bucks, you can get a good quality burger, fries, and a beer at the Tasty Burger. I was in Boston the other day, and a Big Mac meal was 14 bucks McDonald’s is cooked
This place near me is called P.T.s grill. $15 gets an 8 ounce burger with free toppings, fresh fries, and a drink with free refills. If I want a burger that’s where I go.
So at 3:45 that guy said "Someone is going to pay for it" and what he actually meant to say was "The billionaire who controls the company isnt going to pay for it." Thank me later guys
@@dansmith1661 That mentality is what got us to where we are now. You’re right I could be like him and never pay my taxes, sounds like an outstanding plan!
These big corporate chains don't price their products or services to benefit their customers, they price things that benefit the share holders, unlike local restaurants/shops, which NEED to keep core customers happy in order to survive. Always remember that.
The biggest crime was when McDonald's advertised the McDouble as if we were getting a whole new burger to be happy about. Meanwhile they were really just robbing us of a piece of cheese and now it cost 3 times as much.
I think *everyone* is already aware that minimum wages have next to nothing to do with pricing. It might be a corporate scapegoat, but we’ve always known the mechanisms at play: exploitation and greed. That’s always been the business model
Anytime someone says "Its due to minimum wage increases", just remember. If a company cant afford to pay its employees a livable wage, that's not a successful company. Therefore, no CEO should be getting any bonuses for the success of the company. Edit: Ive had a number of people reply about how Minimum Wage increases are a bad thing, obviously this is a view of how money if more important than people. So, from that standpoint Ill say this. If McDonalds is willing to take 40 hours from someone, and not pay them a living wage, that person may not be able to get a second job. That person will need to receive government assistance. Meaning you, as a taxpayer, are covering the wage McDonalds doesn't want to pay their employees. Those people can only provide those 40 hours to McDonalds, because you're tax dollars are covering what McDonalds does not deem those people are worth.
Ceos sabotage their own company on their way out all the time just to catch a bonus before quitting, leaving the problems with the next ceo. It should be held accountable. Looking at you AMC, not to mention all the others.
Conservatives claim there is no such thing as Free, yet we're supposed to believe there's no cost to paying people Poverty Wages so low they're FORCED to get Food Stamps while being Full Time Employees?!
Agreed, but let's be real. If you or I had a chance to grab $20 million, would we turn it down because it might raise prices for strangers by 50¢? If I had a shot at that much money (and even if you're rich, you still want it), and I heard that taking it would result in people actually being made unalive, I would probably think, "those people are probably gonna go anyway, so I might as well get the money." Don't forget the Universal Excuse: "If I don't do, somebody else will". I'm sick of the whole situation, but I'm also sick of sanctimonious people online acting as if they'd be above taking large amounts of money however they could get it, because NO ONE IS.
I live in a rural area, and the unfortunate reality is the local places have looked at what fast food places are doing to their prices and followed suit. Local taco truck charges 15 bucks for a burrito Local casual sit down place cost 50 for me and a second person to eat.
Just cook at home. They did the same thing here; now they are closed & the new places in fact have specials & reasonable prices. I get for 15 Bucks here at lunch time a Pizza (handmade), a soft drink and a Soup or Salat.
I used to steal fries from McDonalds using their app! Back in the day they bribed you to get their app by giving you free fries when you signed up, so I would sign up with a throwaway email address and order a single large fries every time I was near a McDonalds. Many stores came to know me and would greet me warmly as "Ronald McFreeFries", the name I used to sign up. Prolly got like $1000+ in fries, not because I like fries that much but you know, felt like it was the right thing to do to steal as much as I possibly could on the grounds of "Fuck McDonalds"
If you live in Germany, don't go to McDonalds. It is not worth it. You can go to a real restaurant for the McDonalds price. And if you want something cheaper, just get a Döner (an Arab wrap). Germany has had and continues to have a lot of migration from the MENA region. And from Turkey. German culture and Arab/Turkish culture have mixed and created some of the most awesome food there is.
Yeah, and many of those companies are raising prices faster than inflation and making record profits as a result. If you're not getting value for your purchase, think twice about patronizing them
@@Strideo1 You thought I was talking just fast food. I'm talking life in general brother. Wherever you go, and it's not because stuff is more expensive. We are just poorer.
It’s crazy that I could go to a local Chinese buffet or chain restaurant and spend the same amount of money going to get fast food. I can get more food and a better meal!
The main reason is that "fast food" companies aren't in the business of making food, nor making it fast. They're in the profit business, like everyone, so anticompetitiveness is the name of the game. Someone should start a fast food company if they can, and sell fast, cheap food. They'd crush McD and BK and Wendys. I don't know what barriers to entry there are, but I imagine the biggest are that food is impossible to make quickly (though it can be served quickly) and that food is expensive, and people don't demand enough food in sufficient enough density to make profitably serving that demand possible. Whereas people clearly demand convenient, aromatic, sugary, salty garbage they can stuff in their face-holes in sufficient density to let these companies serve that demand profitably.
It seems that the concept of stack them high sell them cheap has been forgetton by executives. I guess when you earn so much you forget what is a normal price.
This video made me realize just how much money I'm wasting on mcdonalds. I've gotten a lot of 'value' out of the bonus points and now I'm realizing I've been spending literally hundreds of dollars a month on this crap because it was 'easy.' Today marks the last day I pay them for jack shit until their prices are reasonable again. Can't bring back the money I've wasted but can save my money.
The amount of video essays on completely different topics that span basically our whole life that boil down to corporate greed and negligent decisions from CEO trickling down to the consumer (who is who gets blamed) is so depressing.
The labor of the worker has gone up. Payroll taxes for those employees goes up. Fuel to deliver the food is up. Energy to operate the store has gone up Energy to process the food at the plant is up Labor at that plant is also up. Their payroll tax is also up.
@@I.C.Weiner - Profits and advertising budgets have both exploded. It's not the fuel, or the workers, or energy costs. That money is going towards shareholders and celebrities.
In my small town, several years ago, when the population was about 2300 (now it's past 9000), there was an intersection just off the highway that had four restaurants: a Burger King, a 24/7 diner that was basically a family owned waffle house, a Chinese food place, and a tiny bar and grill. The diner was sold after the owner died, and it was demolished and replaced by a Wendy's. Then, the bar and grill was demolished and replaced by a McDonalds. And the Chinese place was sold after the owners went into retirement and has gone through several owners, but is currently a fancy texmex place that is on the brink of bankruptcy and is apparently going to be replaced with a Taco Bell. We don't have any local eateries unless you want to drive 15 minutes east or more than half an hour south.
"Hey, we've made the ingredients better to justify the higher prices" or "Hey, we've lowered our prices" would make for pretty good ads. I'd prefer the latter option, but a company like Subway might thrive by picking the former. I think most Subway customers care about quality in a way that most McDonalds customers don't.
@@Aircalibur I agree. I think that Subway has been so poor on quality that they can't really last long on the value strategy... Like, their sandwiches would need to go back to $5 footlong levels of pricing before they're enticing.
"What’s REALLY Driving Up Fast Food Prices?" Corporate greed, price gouging and manufactured inflation, you know, basic things people would understand if they truly understand the workings of the capitalism they preach. Thank you for coming my TED Talk.
Regarding all of the advertising stuff, I truly do wonder how much of it actually does lead to any kind of return. I know wendy's exists. I know McDonald's exists. I know Taco Bell exists. Their signs literally tower over highways announcing their presence. At what point are these companies just in our culture enough that they'll accept that another celebrity saying, "Hey, have you heard of McDonald's?" really doesn't impact whether or not I want to eat there?
Advertising for brands like McDonald's isn't about getting new customers, it's about keeping old ones. It's about keeping McDonald's in your mind so that when you're hungry at an airport or while traveling, you subconsciously look for the familiarity of McDonald's.
Flip it the other way around, why do mcdonalds need publicity on CNN. What is stopping CNN/BBC/FOX from making a show food that is slowly killing you. Well that constant flow of money that fast food provides. So they both stay in business. Don't cut the hand that feeds you. 😊
@@kaijuultimax9407 But we don't need reminders of them, we know the option is there wherever we go and even ads and commercials can't overcome whether we're in the mood for it or not.
The most important part is people's willingness to pay those high prices. Continuing to buy at those prices tells the companies that people are okay with the prices being that high, especially when it's for something that is completely optional like fast food.
Don't believe any study that tells you when a company's largest cost goes up, that it won't increase prices. Almost every company's largest cost is labor.
Not really. If a company can raise prices without losing volume, they will independently of the cost structure. Raising wages raise prices when they hit across the board, like force competitors to raise prices aswell
A big mac in 2001 was $2.29. Today where I live, it's around $5.29. That said, $2.29 in 2001 has the same buying power of $4.12 today. You can't even get a bigmac for $4.12, so the cost is outpacing inflation. Fast food industries need to take a page out of chinese restaurants, and just exist and rake in money. These established brands, do not need to advertise to get people in the door, as they are such a part of pop culture, most people know about them.
@@garlicsaucespill9482 Depends on which Era. They came out big time thanks to Advertising with I'm A Mac vs PC. Though these days they don't need to spend so much on Advertising. They also make more by up charging simple Apple Brand Products like Monitor Stands. Plus, people are now locked into their Ecosystem, so rarely are people willing to change once they commit.
The REAL crazy part is McDonald's is a Real Estate Company. That's where most of the profits come in. So they were not hit heavily by Pandemic. Yet they jacked up prices anyways. Same as when the increased prices MONTHS ahead of Minimum Wage Increases.
I stopped going to fast food restaurants now because of the ridiculous pricing. Its clear that they are doing it because they want to see the limit of what they can charge people and still make a profit.
Corporate Greed - that’s it. Net Profit in 2004 was $2.278bn, in 2014 it was $4.758bn and in 2023 as that’s the last full financial year we have, it was $8.469bn. Corporate Greed, that’s it. They want to make more and more money, they claim inflation is massively increasing operating costs but if that was the case, their Net Profit wouldn’t be going up consistently year on year, it would be going down or breaking even. But it’s not, it’s going up, significantly.
Gotta love our infinite growth economy. It's not enough just to be consistently profitable. Those profits are expected to grow forever. It's ridiculous people still buy the excuses from corporations about why they raise prices. As long as we see profits rise, corporate greed is obviously the driving factor for pricing increases. Adjusting prices to brake even will never be enough. They have to outpace inflation to increase profits year over year, which then further increases inflation. What a loop.
@@TheWrigle and I’m not saying profit is wrong or anything, don’t get me wrong! But in the 90’s they were making $1bn in Net Profit, 2000’s it was $2bn, 2010’s it was $4bn and now in the 2020’s it $8bn … it’s DOUBLING every 10 years, that is not sustainable at all! In the 2030’s they’ll be wanting $16bn profit. $2bn-$4bn profit consistently should be enough, and would allow prices to go back down to a more acceptable level, but those at the top and the shareholders don’t give a flying fuck, they don’t use those products - you’ll find the major shareholders, CEO’s, Directors etc of those companies don’t actually use their own products! You find that the companies in which the CEO uses the product, they keep the prices reasonable, like Arizona Ice Tea being 99c, or Costco’s hot dogs, because they don’t need to double their profits every year and screw customers
Yeah, that's the bad thing. The board and investors can't tolerate steady profits and collecting a dividend. It has to be exponential growth or crash and burn in the process.
This is more directly tied to Wall Street greed, you don't increase your profits every year? Don't meet projected sales? Take a tiny loss? Your stock price plummets, and more people start selling off causing your company to lose its "value", causing management and boards to be fired and new ones brough tin who will increase profits NO MATTER WHAT!
I walked into an A&W in Toronto, a meal deal was 17.50, and all 'international students. I walked out. Its not cheap, and they don't hire local. I vote with my dollars, the only real power people have now.
My grey beard hair still remembers getting a Taco Bell taco for 35 cents. For some reason I've decided to actually cook more. I'm not sure that it's cheaper, but it's better.
The thing for me now, especially with kids, is they don't offer the customer anything worthy while anymore. There were toys and collector items back in the day that brought in a lot of customers. The halloween buckets, the beanie baby craze, themed plates, themed glassware.....now its a stuffed keychain, some cardboard thing, or a piece of of plastic.
When I see "celebrities" advertising fast food or alcohol, it only makes me question their ethics. Like, if they do this, then it's safe to assume they would have no problem advertising war, or labor camps. If it's all about money for them, they're untrustworthy.
Since no one has mentioned it yet, that segue into an ad IN the video by saying, "Let me introduce you to advertising." was absolute genius, you keep outdoing yourself Zack.
also just wanted to say that the best deals are always not shown. I usually go to mcdonalds and use a "free large fry with $1 purchase" deal, and then get two mcchickens and its "buy one get one for $1", which does stack on the fries, so its $3.49 for two mcchickens and a large fry. thats my personal order that saves me the most lol.
Weird how there is another account just like yours that posted this exact same comment and both have the same number of likes. Are you just running bots? or do you have multiple accounts ?
The more Starbucks raised their prices, the more I cut back. So, I was spending $150-$200 a month there but the price hikes pissed me off, so instead of going every day, I started going every other day. Then another price hike, so it became three times a week. Then another price hike, became ‘just on weekends.’ Now I spend $20 per month there if that. They weened me off their product with their bullshit. Great job 💯💫
ngl, up to $200 a month is crazy to me. I briefly had a £25 (~$35) habit and thought that was pretty excessive lol. I was always worried what my parents would say if they found out 😅 What did you use to order? Mine was basically lots of Matcha frappes (with doubled Matcha... so it was actually pretty cost effective versus buying and making at home).
I live in Australia and just naturally assumed prices for McDonalds in the US would be cheaper than here because of our expensive labour costs, but I just priced your example order (2 large big mac meals and 6 nuggets) in the app and it came out to $36.15 AUD which is $24.18 USD so it's actually cheaper here! Also, I agree with the fact that staffing costs are not driving the increase especially since the digital kiosks have rolled out globally and have proven to increase sales and reduce costs. Back in the day the front counter had 5-10 staff taking orders, now there's maybe one or two staff and they are usually dealing with delivery riders rather than taking orders.
You want cheap. I had an amazing McGlitch fairly recently. I had 2 coupons and they both registered in the machine but only counted the price for one of them, so for a grand total of $7.09 Canadian I got 2 Medium coffees, 2 small fries and 2 egg McMuffins, and the lady at the cash noticed it and let me have it for that amazing price🥳
@@bubblegumplastic The regular price for all of those items in Canada when bundled in a breakfast meal for 2 totals to roughly $17 Canadian🫥 If each of those items were all bought individually, it would be even more🥶 Fast food prices are ludicrous which is why I stopped being a regular customer years ago!!
Another thing to mention is that the US (300 million people) has significantly more people in it who make more money on average than Australia (27 Million), so from a business perspective it makes sense to fuck us Americans harder than any other country.
My best guess under the hood here is that businesses are starting to comoditize time more highly. Cooking in a kitchen takes time. Going to a sit down takes time. Going to McDonalds takes 3 minutes. As people are getting their days squeezed for more and more hours, the fastfood chains are starting to move into the niche of "we're who's gonna feed ya on that overtime shift, and we wanna make you feel like it's the most hip thing ever." The celebrity faces make it an identity thing, and let people connect with their idols at a time where they really can't anymore. Manipulative as hell, but effective. The sitdowns are starting to compete by lowering prices in part because they can't compete on the time convenience scale. They need people to feel its worth while commiting 30 minutes to an hour to eating there.. It's starting to feel reeeeaaaal distopian up in here.
@@Knowbody42 Which then creates about 3000 more jobs that pay higher to repair them, maintain them, service them, plus the initial cost of developing and installing said hardware costing way way way more then just paying their employees 3-5 bucks more an hour, so they will go eventually go out of business or as fast food and grocery stores are slowly doing price themselves outside of their markets. But sure blame the living wage people, not the CEO's, CFO's, or bloated middle management. And no one is having trouble finding a retail job.
here in norway, I remember when a basic "Cheeseburger" at MCdonalds was 10kr. then it was 12kr. then it was 16. and now its 30kr. it litterally TRIPPLED!!! but on top of that, the burgers SHRUNK too! a Big-Mac is almost laughably tiny now.
I'm going to say: I don't buy from fast food places, I've watched your videos before and am disabled but 12:50 tied your video together in a great way. We live in a neoliberal hellscape already and yes this type of scrutiny is great. Keep up the good work ^^b
Every time you buy something, you are telling a company you are content with their price. Your dollar is your ballot, there's no one to blame more than the consumer.
Fantastic video. It makes me feel good to know that at least somebody is out here giving representation to those who feel like they're getting scammed. These prices are not and should not be normal.
Everybody wants to simplify complex issues into one or two repeatable soundbites but I think this video does a good job at looking at as many factors as possible. Good job!
Value menus were always a loss leader made to make people form habits. Now that the habit is formed they raise prices to squeeze customers until they can't take it anymore and kick the habit. The cycle will just repeat itself.
I always find it funny how people who can literally play video games for a living decide to react to other people’s hard work since they’re too lazy to press buttons on a controller
Honestly, most local sit-down restaurants have online ordering for take out. If you order before you head there and pick up, you'll pay about the same for a meal from a fast food place that tastes better and is less likely to make you feel like garbage.
TBF, my last job was in a very small town. They had a Sonic, Subway and McDonalds and a KFC. For one person, for lunch, the McD's $5 meal from their app was the best deal I could get. I'd have paid more than twice that going anywhere else. It sucked, I brought my lunch most of the time, but when I went out, McD's was the cheapest. The moment they stopped being that, I deleted the app and haven't bothered with fast food since. Gotta new job with a few local options around, and they all offer something affordable at lunch.
Its not neccesary once we abolish the federal reserve* inflation exists because if it didnt, America would go bankrupt every year after spending more money than it has on policy.
Best solution: go to real restaurants instead. Prices increased there as well, but not at the same rate and the food is usually better. Even better solution: cook your own food. You can take it with you as well.
Real talk. And I'm being dead serious. People who were neglected growing up, or were in the foster system, or homeless didn't get the foundation they need to cook their own meals. Additionally, many of these people are low-income as adults, and tend to work rough jobs as well. Tiring jobs. Couple all that generational trauma with reproducing earlier (or at all). What about when they get off their work at the factory, picked up their youngest from day care (which is $200 a week, btw), and they realize they don't have it in them to cook anything (not that they have a repertoire of healthful, convenient, or cheap recipes from which to mentally draw). The fast food places' food is terrible, inconsistent, and now expensive. It's the working class and those falling between the cracks that I worry about in the US. We don't really have a "food stand" culture where workers can head out and grab a pastie, or an empanada, or a rice ball from a random streetside vendor for $3 and be satisfied until the next meal. Meal prep is definitely the best answer, I agree, don't get me wrong. But what could be a solution to helping these people step away from what has been a knee-jerk solution to easy food in the US, when it no longer seems to be a viable part of their system? I'm not as bad off as those people, and I CAN meal prep, and I CAN hit up a restaurant sometimes. But I worry. Fast food has become one of the only options for sustenance for some people, sad as it sounds. I'd love to hear everyone's take, from 1% to those who deal with food insecurity.
@@LindseyLouWhoI was neglected as a child and ate a lot of fast food before Covid. It helped me when they offered the stimulus money and extra food stamps but they’ve since ended all of those extra programs. I feel like the best ways to help are education about nutrition and programs to help people have access to healthier food options. I feel like people with food insecurity have to focus on one meal or one day at a time and meal prepping could overwhelm them. It helped me to start by making healthier choices at the fast food restaurants. Also ordering kids meals can be a way to save money and eat less unhealthy food.
A dominos pizza here in Norway can cost upwards of 350kr which is 35$. That is the same exact prize we would expect to pay at a high tier restaurant or a family owned restaurant with a traditional stone/brick oven, it might even be cheaper and 100% better tasting.
After seeing this title, I checked Taco Bell, and yes, it has increased. 2 months ago, a full meal cost $5 and now it is has increased by 40%. It costs $7. Those bastards.
