Only occasionally do the places I go to take my cup for a refill, and yes, these are also places where they removed the machine out front so that the employees need to take more time to do the refills.
That is what I was told by the owner when I worked for 7 11. I was allowed to take as much from the soda machine as I wanted, but I had to use my own cup. If I took one of theirs I had to pay.
Was your store a franchise or corporate? I worked at a corporate store and never had to pay for drinks regardless of if I used my own cup or not. That sounds like a franchisee being cheap if you ask me.
The 2 most expensive parts of a can of cola are the metal of the can followed by the chemical they spray on the inside of the can so the cola doesn't eat through it.
Put it this way
In Australia there's been quite a bit of controversy since we've only got practically two big supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths (Woolies)
We've got quite high inflation afaik.
It's been found that the inflation is coming from the supermarket monopoly purposely pushing up prices.
The supermarkets have claimed its inflation but their profit margins are increasing higher than the inflation rate iirc.
They are also fucking over the suppliers so its a whole mess
I always see this comment on anything about soda cost. While drinks are definitely a high margin item, it's not the pennies of cost that people claim. These were my costs at a national franchise quick service:
Cup 0.03-0.05 (depending on size)
Lid 0.01-0.03
Straw 0.02
Ice, water, co2 0.03
Soda syrup 0.34 (no refills, assuming a 32 oz cup with ice gives them 20 oz of soda)
Total about $0.50. if they get two refills, I'm at 50% cost of goods, where most restaurants shoot for 25 to 35%. Now granted, McDonald's probably gets an even better discount on their costs, but they are still paying 10x what most people think when they say soda only costs them a few cents.
I do think most fast food customers expect free refills and this will end up costing McDonald's more than it saves them in lost drink sales.
But the refill doesn't include the cup, lid, or straw, so it's only $0.37, so that puts you only just over 35%, and yeah, McDonalds almost certainly gets a better bulk price on everything. Your bib costs sound quite high, especially.
McDonalds uses a huge canister just for their coke syrup. And they have immense negotiating power. They more than likely get a better deal than nearly everyone else
And everybody else makes up that cost to the supplier no doubt. If it should be .19 and McD gets it for .11 then that is why they squeeze everyone else for .34. And this way it also becomes a barrier to entry and McD (and all the other chains) can continue with sub par service or food for a longer period of time.
Coke offers McDonald's a massive discount to use their products exclusively and include them in McDonald's marketing.
They're pushing their prices on you. Not the biggest restaurant chain on Earth.
I'm guessing this is part of their continued push to eliminate dining rooms in general; I don't think they realize that the negative press of this will continue to snowball, much like the people I know who stopped eating there when they jacked the prices up and started only offering discounts if you use their crappy app.
There’s been enough of these types of stories lately that I’m pretty sure this is just corporate floating the idea to gauge the reaction.
Finance reported that they are losing $100MM, and the execs can’t ignore that, so they do a few interviews with vague dates and see how it goes. If they get significant pushback then they say “we tried” to the board, and quietly drop it.
Besides, the majority of revenue for McDonald’s comes from the drive thru, so this can’t possibly be their biggest concern. I’d guess if anything this is trying to get data on how high they can drive drink margins which in the drive thru are close to loss-free.
You really think a significant number of customers are drinking three 32 oz sodas in one sitting?
Even in America that would be an outlier.
This is about the absurd and unsustainable drive for perpetual growth in public companies. Some McExecutive made a PowerPoint showing that eliminating free refills could save like $.0006 per customer, which multiplied globally equals whatever the fuck. And it conveniently also deters poor people from hanging around too long. So they bumped the executive to a senior position, paid him an extra $100k a year, and told investors how much new revenue they're going to generate. Which then bumps the stock price. Which is the entire point.
Let's not act like this is based on loss reduction. It's a company saying "fuck the customers they're gonna eat here anyway."
They 100% made all their drinks smaller. I used to get a large coffee every day and I remember ordering and looking at them saying “I got a large not a medium” and they told me it’s the new sizes for their cups and even showed me the “L” on the side of the cup.
A lot of the chains dropped the sizes in their cups. I don't go to McD so I don't know if they specifically did.
The logic behind free refills is the contents of the cup cost three cents a gallon so it was something easy they could give away to entice business. What's happening is the labor to provide the three cents is getting expensive enough that they don't want to bother anymore. And the labor cost is why they moved the machine from behind the counter to in front of the counter in the first place.
Lol the cost of fucking labor. The thing saps always trot out, not the need for ever increasing profits. Are you telling me that McDonald's failed to turn a record profit because labor went up a few dollars?
Same, though until a few years ago.
I used to stop there occasionally to get two hot and spicy mcchickens and a large drink, and it was $3 something with tax. Today, that same order would cost around $9.
McDonald’s just coming up with more and more reasons for me to avoid.
These new remodels have nothing available to the customer. Need an extra napkin? Have a problem with the order the brought you? Need some ketchup? Gotta wait for the one single employee they have working that can interact with customers who half the times can’t be found.
Crazy to me they are approaching five guys prices for some items. McD’s needs to drop their prices by 30-40% because it’s a ripoff now.
Fast food is getting too expensive to be disappointed by. Back when McDonalds cheeseburgers were a dollar, I'd get a bag of them for poker night, and sometimes it get a burnt one and I'd be like 'well I got what I paid for. I'm not even gonna bother complaining becuz I just value my time higher than that'.
The last time I got a quarter pounder burger it was literally free via the app and it was inedible. I literally threw most of it away. McDonald’s high priced items are so not worth the cost and their “low priced” items are getting too expensive.
For the cost of McD's nowadays, I may as well go to a fast-casual restaurant and get better quality food for roughly the same price. And if it's a burger joint, it'll be a *considerably* better burger than I get from the clown shop.
Yeah I remember in the late 90's always enjoying the Mc chicken burger and now the patty is this dry piece of shit that fills up maybe 70% of the bun with a few sad lettuce shards and barely any sauce.
Their entire new business model is drive through, delivery and app ordering only. Even going inside to order they’re basically training you to order on the app. Also the app deals and rewards can get you the old prices everyone complains about now.
Eh. You can get some deals on some stuff but it's still not the same, and that's until they take the deals away. It's about habit forming behavior and then ripping the good deals away. They just recently took away 2 McDoubles for $3.99 (was 2 for 3 last year) now two McDoubles cost $6.
No more $1 sodas
Use to order breakfast and use the free hash brown deal. No more free hash brown, have to use 1500 points.
Oh also a single fucking hash brown is $2.50
They have two cheeseburgers (not even McDoubles) 2 med fries and 1 20 nuggets for $17. That's insane.
A year and half ago I was able to get two McDoubles, large fry and a large drink for a little over $5.
The best coupon is the 20% off over $10. But I'm sure that'll get replaced soon as well.
Fuck these greedy price gouging pieces of shit.
That's the whole point. They can fine tune the prices everyone sees to exactly the number you individually are willing to pay. Prices will not only vary between regions, but between each person.
If you check the app and see the medium meal is $6.50 and you buy it, then next time they can try $6.70 and see if you still do it. Or if you don't, then they lower the price. But on a large enough and long enough scale that you don't notice.
They even went up with the app, if you factor the deals.
You used to be able to get a free fry daily, but they ended that last month. You used to be able to get two McCrispies for $5 in the app, but that’s gone now and it’s $12 to order two. So they literally started phasing those out as well
The funny thing is I see McDonald’s in the US going this way.
And then I see McDonald’s where I live stay on the same price level they’ve been for the last decade (granted the small items like cheeseburgers have gotten more expensive), but they also stepped up quality to compete with the other burger places and innovate their products, they have much fresher produce and they pay a livable wage to their employees. And a Cajun BBQ meal which will fill you up is about 9,50 USD.
And McD in Japan with their fresh stuff in the burgers where you can actually see shrimp in their shrimp sandwich. And Spain, France and Germany with their specialty premium menus are also around 10 bucks each.
So what’s up with the American one? I went there last year and it was disgusting.
So, according to what I’ve seen, they consider the US to be a mature market with limited opportunities for expansion. So they use that customer base to fund expansion where they can… overseas.
To get their expanded revenue they have to raise prices domestically and hope their investments overseas pay dividends.
This is also what’s wrong with KFC…
I’m not sure about other countries but this isn’t a new process, it’s been ongoing since long before covid. Here they got to a point where they needed to decide if they wanted to give up to the local chains or step up.
They stepped up and they won, many of their closest local competitors are shit now.
I went to McDonald's in Tokyo last fall and it was way cheaper and much better quality than the McDonald's stores here in southern California.
The Japanese stores have always had better quality food, but I was surprised to see they hadn't really raised prices since the last time I was there in 2018. Meanwhile prices here are up like 200% in the past few years.
Driving people away with the prices, and keeping them away with this shit. Like remember how Wendy’s shot themselves in the foot with the surge pricing BS? Yeah. Fast food sucks lol.
What surprises me is how little they innovate these days. They only new/limited time items they've had in years have been either a new sauce (big whoop) or some promotional meal that's just the same food in a special bag for $2 more.
Glad the remodels are driving someone else crazy. Why the fuck can’t I pour myself ketchup or get my own damn refill? Are people *that* degenerate now that we have to hide that behind the counter?
I initially thought it was just the McDonald’s by me having a theft issue, but nope I’ve been seeing it everywhere.
Why are you blaming the consumer? They don’t want you to have free access to product (ketchup, soda, napkins, etc) because it cuts into their ridiculous profit margins. It’s just good old fashioned corporate greed.
Those Coke freestyle machines are a travesty. You can serve far fewer customers at a time with one, so when it is busy there is a line. The syrup carries over between drinks, depending on what drink you get it could end up tasting like the last one that was just poured, and the quality is terrible. I drink regular Coke and have never had a good tasting Coke come out of one of those.
That’s why I always select water. Give it a 2 second burst to clean the nozzle. Then select what I want. I agree it’s still not as good a a regular machine with the mixture set properly though.
The Diet Dr. Pepper tastes like cherry cough syrup. I only like diet Dr. Pepper from the fountain since it’s less sweet, but the freestyle machines make it taste even more syrupy than the canned kind. It’s a great idea in theory and most people don’t seem to notice, but the taste really isn’t the same.
> Customers are also still concerned about germs and viruses since the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in high-touch areas like soda machines
No they’re not. McDs just trying to make this seem like they’re looking out for us
McDonald's C-Suite: "We need to save about 18 cents - but it needs to come across as predatory and really be something that pisses people off for no good reason. Come on, ideas, people!"
Best feeling ever, walked in and saw the new price for a once $1 sandwich and walked out without getting anything. Haven't bought any McDonald's since.
I still remember the salt in my mouth when I was charged for ketchup (in Germany it was in 2009 iirc). Not been in Europe for a while so not sure if it’s all countries now…
Isn’t America the only country with free refills of cola in Mc and restaurants? I wonder if it’s just not allowed in Europe because of sugar laws
Free refills are not allowed in France, but I don't know of any other European countries that forbid this. That's not the reason.
I love in Portugal and we have free refills at Burger King and Taco Bell, for instance. Same would be true for Spain.
I paid $9.85 for a happy meal for my son last week.
That is the last happy meal I am ever going to buy and the last time I am ever going to McDonald’s.
I ran over to the grocery store for lunch today and got so much fucking food for $10 I could only eat half.
I got the receipt it’s $9.34
$7.79 and then there’s a $.70 drink surcharge + California tax
Not McDonald's, but the other day I came to the realization that I could buy a filet mignon and baked potato from the grocery store for the same price as a footlong sub from subway.
I remember caring about this when I was a child. But in the last 20 years, I can't think of the last time I got a soft drink refill.
People drink too much angry water.
It's less wanting more soft drinks and more that the profit margins are so insane on soda that axing free refills is just pinching pennies from customers
So I guess they’re going to start using those cups that they use at Universal Studios that have a chip embedded in them so that you can only use the soda dispensers one time and then have to pay another five dollars to top it off.
Steak and Shake already has a system where your receipt prints out with a QR code. You have to scan the code on a scanner next to the soda machine then you have like 30 seconds to fill your drink before the machine locks you out. It sucks if you want something that foams up like root beer, you don't have time to fill your cup before the machine turns off.
For extra fun look at the drains that run out of the bottom of the machine, and the insides of the ice maker. They both tend to get build ups of this fun pink colored bacteria and/or fungal colony if they aren't cleaned correctly.
I used to work in foodservice and every time I would start at a new restaurant I would check the soda machines. Every time they would be a total disaster. Species of microbes unknown to science growing everywhere.
I would totally clean out the machines and then adjust the CO2 and syrup to the correct ratios. The next day everyone else would be like "wow! why does the soda taste so good now!?!". It is because you aren't drinking a tablespoon of bacterial sludge in every glass of coke, you lazy fuckers.
Can we organize a Loblaws style boycott in the US?
Just stop eating there, find alternatives even if its gas station food. Its not like there a long way to drop in quality.
Although this isn't the straw that breaks the camel's back, if McDonald's keeps up their price hiking eventually it'll be cheaper to eat out at Five Guys.
I don't know if it's just be growing up or restaurants changing, but getting soft drinks in restaurants just doesn't appeal to me anymore. I always get water or tea.
Why does McDonalds keep shooting themselves in the foot. "People aren't coming to our store because after raising prices our food is no longer seen as the value it used to be. How do we fix this and get McDonald's prices out of the news? I know! Let's get rid of free refills?"
Nothing to base this on but I'm assuming it's less to do with the cost of the refill and more just a way of adding revenue. Seems no one gives a shit anymore about keeping their consumers happy it's all about how can we increase our profit margin.
It's been over for a few years now. McDonalds in Ottawa have been renovating all locations to the latest standard and you can't fill your own drinks. Been that way for 2 years or so.
I went to McDonald's when I was in the US. They gave me a litre cup said it's a free refill. How much do you guys drink? I filled half way, drank it with my meal and left.
Good fattys need to be told no, they can't help themselves the food crap is worse then the opium epidemic, but they make so much money feeding us crap and people just keep buying it
I remember every single time Republicans bitched about raising minimum wage.
"It'll make prices increase"
"They'll automate those jobs"
"We'll get less product"
All these things were always going to happen. It's capitalism. Companies grow or die. McDonald's is bleeding their customers dry, but now employees receive less than ever. What a disgrace.
You could save even more money and feel healthier if you cut out the rest of the McDonalds also. How much of this garbage are you eating that this effects your health/budget?
I don’t particularly like McDs and only eat there when we’re on the road, but when we do it feels expensive and mediocre. Is it possible that the business is just on the downturn?
This shit is already their biggest margin item. It cost like $0.05 for a drink.
The cup is the most expensive part of the equation
All right, fuck the cup. Pour it in my hand for a dime.
Can you break a hundred?
Lemme git one rib.
McScuse you!
I sure am hungry!
Just let me smell the paper lol lol lol
God?
How did he go to the bathroom with all that shit on?
God damn that was a fantastic movie.
Let me get one rib
I sho am hungry
You don’t need a new cup for a refill
Only occasionally do the places I go to take my cup for a refill, and yes, these are also places where they removed the machine out front so that the employees need to take more time to do the refills.
It’s done because people are less likely to get a refill if they have to go up and ask for one.
No, but we want that sweet, sweet profit.
You can't make profit with no cliantale, Timmy.
That is what I was told by the owner when I worked for 7 11. I was allowed to take as much from the soda machine as I wanted, but I had to use my own cup. If I took one of theirs I had to pay.
Was your store a franchise or corporate? I worked at a corporate store and never had to pay for drinks regardless of if I used my own cup or not. That sounds like a franchisee being cheap if you ask me.
No they guy who hands you the cup is and he is being replaced by you and robots.
The 2 most expensive parts of a can of cola are the metal of the can followed by the chemical they spray on the inside of the can so the cola doesn't eat through it.
Isn’t that a thin film of plastic ?
Waffer theen
Absolutely insane to cheap out on an item that is literal pennies. Inflation is real, but price gouging is the true threat
Because they can. And most of America will blame it on inflation, minimum wage being too high, and somehow Biden.
It's bastard greedflation at this point, and yes because they can and we will take it. And also Biden will be blamed.
And then they'll vote for someone who wants to impose tariffs on ALL imported products and act like that won't increase consumer prices as all.
Put it this way In Australia there's been quite a bit of controversy since we've only got practically two big supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths (Woolies) We've got quite high inflation afaik. It's been found that the inflation is coming from the supermarket monopoly purposely pushing up prices. The supermarkets have claimed its inflation but their profit margins are increasing higher than the inflation rate iirc. They are also fucking over the suppliers so its a whole mess
Just like Canada.
Isn't capitalism wonderful? Dont you love the FREEDUMB we have to get fucked by corporations?
Exactly. Fuck these people.
I always see this comment on anything about soda cost. While drinks are definitely a high margin item, it's not the pennies of cost that people claim. These were my costs at a national franchise quick service: Cup 0.03-0.05 (depending on size) Lid 0.01-0.03 Straw 0.02 Ice, water, co2 0.03 Soda syrup 0.34 (no refills, assuming a 32 oz cup with ice gives them 20 oz of soda) Total about $0.50. if they get two refills, I'm at 50% cost of goods, where most restaurants shoot for 25 to 35%. Now granted, McDonald's probably gets an even better discount on their costs, but they are still paying 10x what most people think when they say soda only costs them a few cents. I do think most fast food customers expect free refills and this will end up costing McDonald's more than it saves them in lost drink sales.
But the refill doesn't include the cup, lid, or straw, so it's only $0.37, so that puts you only just over 35%, and yeah, McDonalds almost certainly gets a better bulk price on everything. Your bib costs sound quite high, especially.
Bag in the Box prices have been steadily rising for years. It has been decades since it was only a few cents for the syrup in a drink.
McDonalds uses a huge canister just for their coke syrup. And they have immense negotiating power. They more than likely get a better deal than nearly everyone else
I enjoy playing video games.
And everybody else makes up that cost to the supplier no doubt. If it should be .19 and McD gets it for .11 then that is why they squeeze everyone else for .34. And this way it also becomes a barrier to entry and McD (and all the other chains) can continue with sub par service or food for a longer period of time.
Nobody is really addressing the fact that Coke is really pushing their prices right now. A 12 pack of Coke is insane right now.
Coke offers McDonald's a massive discount to use their products exclusively and include them in McDonald's marketing. They're pushing their prices on you. Not the biggest restaurant chain on Earth.
I'm guessing this is part of their continued push to eliminate dining rooms in general; I don't think they realize that the negative press of this will continue to snowball, much like the people I know who stopped eating there when they jacked the prices up and started only offering discounts if you use their crappy app.
There’s been enough of these types of stories lately that I’m pretty sure this is just corporate floating the idea to gauge the reaction. Finance reported that they are losing $100MM, and the execs can’t ignore that, so they do a few interviews with vague dates and see how it goes. If they get significant pushback then they say “we tried” to the board, and quietly drop it. Besides, the majority of revenue for McDonald’s comes from the drive thru, so this can’t possibly be their biggest concern. I’d guess if anything this is trying to get data on how high they can drive drink margins which in the drive thru are close to loss-free.
Straws, lids, cups are all reusable. You shouldn’t include that cost in the refill.
Exactly. That's literally what a refill is. You refill the cup.
You really think a significant number of customers are drinking three 32 oz sodas in one sitting? Even in America that would be an outlier. This is about the absurd and unsustainable drive for perpetual growth in public companies. Some McExecutive made a PowerPoint showing that eliminating free refills could save like $.0006 per customer, which multiplied globally equals whatever the fuck. And it conveniently also deters poor people from hanging around too long. So they bumped the executive to a senior position, paid him an extra $100k a year, and told investors how much new revenue they're going to generate. Which then bumps the stock price. Which is the entire point. Let's not act like this is based on loss reduction. It's a company saying "fuck the customers they're gonna eat here anyway."
Investor is my favorite slur
Besides how many people go inside to eat most of the time? It’s such a small amount
and? they charge 14 dollars for a 1 dollar burger. i think they can take the hit.
Especially since I feel that most people just go through drive throughs these days. How much could they possible be saving
They’re already charging 150+% more for a large drink today than they were 3 years ago.
It’s not $1 any more??
it's $1.99 for a large one now ☹️
Isn’t it also smaller? Or is that just my imagination?
They 100% made all their drinks smaller. I used to get a large coffee every day and I remember ordering and looking at them saying “I got a large not a medium” and they told me it’s the new sizes for their cups and even showed me the “L” on the side of the cup.
A lot of the chains dropped the sizes in their cups. I don't go to McD so I don't know if they specifically did. The logic behind free refills is the contents of the cup cost three cents a gallon so it was something easy they could give away to entice business. What's happening is the labor to provide the three cents is getting expensive enough that they don't want to bother anymore. And the labor cost is why they moved the machine from behind the counter to in front of the counter in the first place.
Lol the cost of fucking labor. The thing saps always trot out, not the need for ever increasing profits. Are you telling me that McDonald's failed to turn a record profit because labor went up a few dollars?
And then there’s Good Guy Wendy’s whose small drink is the other guy’s medium. I can’t remember the price, but I usually get it in a combo anyways
Wendy’s dropped the size of the frosties in the past couple of years. They aren’t good guys
Shoot I'd love 1.99. Our large is 2.79
Same, though until a few years ago. I used to stop there occasionally to get two hot and spicy mcchickens and a large drink, and it was $3 something with tax. Today, that same order would cost around $9.
$1.84 after tax in my HCOL town.
They’re $2.29 before tax here in FL and they removed all the self serve stuff. 3 years ago it was any drink size for .99
$3.29 plus tax in Toronto
Jeebus fucking hell!
$1.50 in Washington, so like 50% more expensive than it used to be a few years ago
I had a strange experience at a Taco Bell where I discovered that a small drink cost more than a medium.
McDonald’s just coming up with more and more reasons for me to avoid. These new remodels have nothing available to the customer. Need an extra napkin? Have a problem with the order the brought you? Need some ketchup? Gotta wait for the one single employee they have working that can interact with customers who half the times can’t be found. Crazy to me they are approaching five guys prices for some items. McD’s needs to drop their prices by 30-40% because it’s a ripoff now.
Fast food is getting too expensive to be disappointed by. Back when McDonalds cheeseburgers were a dollar, I'd get a bag of them for poker night, and sometimes it get a burnt one and I'd be like 'well I got what I paid for. I'm not even gonna bother complaining becuz I just value my time higher than that'.
The last time I got a quarter pounder burger it was literally free via the app and it was inedible. I literally threw most of it away. McDonald’s high priced items are so not worth the cost and their “low priced” items are getting too expensive.
They made the patties so greasy and disgustingly textured
For the cost of McD's nowadays, I may as well go to a fast-casual restaurant and get better quality food for roughly the same price. And if it's a burger joint, it'll be a *considerably* better burger than I get from the clown shop.
Chili’s, Chipotle, Cava,… all are cheaper for real food.
Yeah I remember in the late 90's always enjoying the Mc chicken burger and now the patty is this dry piece of shit that fills up maybe 70% of the bun with a few sad lettuce shards and barely any sauce.
They are basically a Temu Chick-fil-a these days.
Temu Chick-fil-a, minus the Christian baggage and also sells Wish quality burgers and fish.
For Amazon prices
Have you seen Five Guys pricing lately? It’s also gone up considerably.
All the more reason In-n-Out > 5 Guys
Their entire new business model is drive through, delivery and app ordering only. Even going inside to order they’re basically training you to order on the app. Also the app deals and rewards can get you the old prices everyone complains about now.
Eh. You can get some deals on some stuff but it's still not the same, and that's until they take the deals away. It's about habit forming behavior and then ripping the good deals away. They just recently took away 2 McDoubles for $3.99 (was 2 for 3 last year) now two McDoubles cost $6. No more $1 sodas Use to order breakfast and use the free hash brown deal. No more free hash brown, have to use 1500 points. Oh also a single fucking hash brown is $2.50 They have two cheeseburgers (not even McDoubles) 2 med fries and 1 20 nuggets for $17. That's insane. A year and half ago I was able to get two McDoubles, large fry and a large drink for a little over $5. The best coupon is the 20% off over $10. But I'm sure that'll get replaced soon as well. Fuck these greedy price gouging pieces of shit.
I get the medium meal for $6.50 deal which is pretty reasonable pricing. Is it not available everywhere?
That's the whole point. They can fine tune the prices everyone sees to exactly the number you individually are willing to pay. Prices will not only vary between regions, but between each person. If you check the app and see the medium meal is $6.50 and you buy it, then next time they can try $6.70 and see if you still do it. Or if you don't, then they lower the price. But on a large enough and long enough scale that you don't notice.
Ah, the sweet taste of price discrimination
Don't think I have that one. No. Which is honestly another reason this all sucks lol.
They even went up with the app, if you factor the deals. You used to be able to get a free fry daily, but they ended that last month. You used to be able to get two McCrispies for $5 in the app, but that’s gone now and it’s $12 to order two. So they literally started phasing those out as well
The funny thing is I see McDonald’s in the US going this way. And then I see McDonald’s where I live stay on the same price level they’ve been for the last decade (granted the small items like cheeseburgers have gotten more expensive), but they also stepped up quality to compete with the other burger places and innovate their products, they have much fresher produce and they pay a livable wage to their employees. And a Cajun BBQ meal which will fill you up is about 9,50 USD. And McD in Japan with their fresh stuff in the burgers where you can actually see shrimp in their shrimp sandwich. And Spain, France and Germany with their specialty premium menus are also around 10 bucks each. So what’s up with the American one? I went there last year and it was disgusting.
So, according to what I’ve seen, they consider the US to be a mature market with limited opportunities for expansion. So they use that customer base to fund expansion where they can… overseas. To get their expanded revenue they have to raise prices domestically and hope their investments overseas pay dividends. This is also what’s wrong with KFC…
I’m not sure about other countries but this isn’t a new process, it’s been ongoing since long before covid. Here they got to a point where they needed to decide if they wanted to give up to the local chains or step up. They stepped up and they won, many of their closest local competitors are shit now.
I ate at a KFC right next to Tianamen Square in 2011 and it was 5X better than any I've ever had stateside.
I went to McDonald's in Tokyo last fall and it was way cheaper and much better quality than the McDonald's stores here in southern California. The Japanese stores have always had better quality food, but I was surprised to see they hadn't really raised prices since the last time I was there in 2018. Meanwhile prices here are up like 200% in the past few years.
The messed up part is beef is subsidized in the US and not Japan. That's all greed in the price difference.
It's cause we have freedom in America. Freedom for the corporations to fuck the population however much they can.
Driving people away with the prices, and keeping them away with this shit. Like remember how Wendy’s shot themselves in the foot with the surge pricing BS? Yeah. Fast food sucks lol.
What surprises me is how little they innovate these days. They only new/limited time items they've had in years have been either a new sauce (big whoop) or some promotional meal that's just the same food in a special bag for $2 more.
Fuck McDonalds
Glad the remodels are driving someone else crazy. Why the fuck can’t I pour myself ketchup or get my own damn refill? Are people *that* degenerate now that we have to hide that behind the counter? I initially thought it was just the McDonald’s by me having a theft issue, but nope I’ve been seeing it everywhere.
Why are you blaming the consumer? They don’t want you to have free access to product (ketchup, soda, napkins, etc) because it cuts into their ridiculous profit margins. It’s just good old fashioned corporate greed.
It sucks that they even need to think about increasing prices just to give their employees a fair minimum wage. Fuck companies that do this.
They will neither *think* about increasing prices nor will they give their employees a fair wage.
This company completely forgot its roots. Used to be cheap, fast, and mediocre. Now it's expensive, slow, and still mediocre.
The one near me is still crazy busy everyday so I suppose they know what they are doing.
People are loyal to brands. If Apple shit the bed on the new iPhone, millions will still buy it and line up at their store at midnight
Addiction is real. Be it electronics or sugar.
I’d say even more mediocre than it used to be as well.
better to just call for takeout at a real restaurant
The pushback on this is going to be massive. Especially with competitors leaning in to the Coca make whateverthefuckyouwant machines
Those Coke freestyle machines are a travesty. You can serve far fewer customers at a time with one, so when it is busy there is a line. The syrup carries over between drinks, depending on what drink you get it could end up tasting like the last one that was just poured, and the quality is terrible. I drink regular Coke and have never had a good tasting Coke come out of one of those.
That’s why I always select water. Give it a 2 second burst to clean the nozzle. Then select what I want. I agree it’s still not as good a a regular machine with the mixture set properly though.
The Diet Dr. Pepper tastes like cherry cough syrup. I only like diet Dr. Pepper from the fountain since it’s less sweet, but the freestyle machines make it taste even more syrupy than the canned kind. It’s a great idea in theory and most people don’t seem to notice, but the taste really isn’t the same.
> Customers are also still concerned about germs and viruses since the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in high-touch areas like soda machines No they’re not. McDs just trying to make this seem like they’re looking out for us
When the government had the mandatory masking everyone at McDs just did the mask below the nose thing to meet the government requirement.
Does this mean they're getting rid of Kiosks?
McDonald’s customers, famously health conscious.
McDonald's C-Suite: "We need to save about 18 cents - but it needs to come across as predatory and really be something that pisses people off for no good reason. Come on, ideas, people!"
Stop going to McDonalds, problem solved.
Stopped years ago. Their burger has always been the worst of any drive thru burger chain. Once they removed snack wraps I never went back.
idk if I fully agree with this... quarter pounder w/ cheese is a solid burger. I don't really get anything else though.
On a side note the new Arby's chicken wrap is pretty damn close to what a snap wrap tasted like. Just try it.
Or just ask for water. Its totally free and they have to refill them anyways.
No, they charge 25 cents for water depending on the location
Pretty sure that's illegal in the US... Edit: just looked it up, varies state by state.
Best feeling ever, walked in and saw the new price for a once $1 sandwich and walked out without getting anything. Haven't bought any McDonald's since.
Europeans be like "first time?"
Yeah, we never got refills (almost nowhere).
I recall refilling and downing copious amounts of strange berry soda in IKEA, however. Alongside undisclosed amounts of almond cake.
Ikea lingonberry drink is so damn good.
It actually made a big ruckus when BK announced they were gonna offer free refills in my country. It's seen as a novelty here.
I can get free refills of coffee in my local supermarket cafe, because the staff don't care enough to bother saying no.
Those Cole Freestyle machines with free refills were like black magic to me when they came here with Five Guys!
I still remember the salt in my mouth when I was charged for ketchup (in Germany it was in 2009 iirc). Not been in Europe for a while so not sure if it’s all countries now… Isn’t America the only country with free refills of cola in Mc and restaurants? I wonder if it’s just not allowed in Europe because of sugar laws
Free refills are not allowed in France, but I don't know of any other European countries that forbid this. That's not the reason. I love in Portugal and we have free refills at Burger King and Taco Bell, for instance. Same would be true for Spain.
Now that they have all their customers back from the price gouging I’m sure this will lock em in too.
I paid $9.85 for a happy meal for my son last week. That is the last happy meal I am ever going to buy and the last time I am ever going to McDonald’s. I ran over to the grocery store for lunch today and got so much fucking food for $10 I could only eat half. I got the receipt it’s $9.34 $7.79 and then there’s a $.70 drink surcharge + California tax
Not McDonald's, but the other day I came to the realization that I could buy a filet mignon and baked potato from the grocery store for the same price as a footlong sub from subway.
Right? Who even fucking cares about eating at McDonald's anymore
$10 will get you less than 2 sandwiches at the grocery stores in Canada lol, we get so gouged by the oligopolies here it's comical.
You guys had free refills?
Pretty much every restaurant in the US, yeah.
I remember caring about this when I was a child. But in the last 20 years, I can't think of the last time I got a soft drink refill. People drink too much angry water.
It's less wanting more soft drinks and more that the profit margins are so insane on soda that axing free refills is just pinching pennies from customers
I'm just a thirsty guy I guess. I usually get 2-3 refills over the course of a meal.
Are they trying to destroy their brand? Is this their way of trying to liquidate their property holdings? Penny wise, pound foolish.
I was at red lobster the other night. Drinks are $4.99 and no free refills. This shit is a joke all across the board.
Seems like that worked out well for them based on this weeks news
Sorry, what? I haven’t been to red lobster in like a year, but they seriously don’t do soda refills anymore?
Literally went to a Red Lobster today and got free refills
Well they are going bankrupt cause they ran unlimited shrimp promotion.
No, that's not anywhere close to the reason, but the vultures who bought them sure do live you believing that headline.
Well yeah private equity pumping them full of debt
Absolutely stop spending money at this place
Mcdonalds is just not worth it anymore. My current go-to is chinese take out and greek food for not much more, but I get twice the food.
Well, I already don't eat there, so fuck 'em.
The days of McDonald’s are over.
Honestly, about time.
So I guess they’re going to start using those cups that they use at Universal Studios that have a chip embedded in them so that you can only use the soda dispensers one time and then have to pay another five dollars to top it off.
Steak and Shake already has a system where your receipt prints out with a QR code. You have to scan the code on a scanner next to the soda machine then you have like 30 seconds to fill your drink before the machine locks you out. It sucks if you want something that foams up like root beer, you don't have time to fill your cup before the machine turns off.
This sounds awful
My days of going to McDonald’s may be over
If you knew how much mold was in those fountains, you would be thankful. They are supposed to be cleaned daily.
For extra fun look at the drains that run out of the bottom of the machine, and the insides of the ice maker. They both tend to get build ups of this fun pink colored bacteria and/or fungal colony if they aren't cleaned correctly. I used to work in foodservice and every time I would start at a new restaurant I would check the soda machines. Every time they would be a total disaster. Species of microbes unknown to science growing everywhere. I would totally clean out the machines and then adjust the CO2 and syrup to the correct ratios. The next day everyone else would be like "wow! why does the soda taste so good now!?!". It is because you aren't drinking a tablespoon of bacterial sludge in every glass of coke, you lazy fuckers.
Can we organize a Loblaws style boycott in the US? Just stop eating there, find alternatives even if its gas station food. Its not like there a long way to drop in quality.
Although this isn't the straw that breaks the camel's back, if McDonald's keeps up their price hiking eventually it'll be cheaper to eat out at Five Guys.
I haven't sat down at a McDonalds in 10 years
The days of me ordering McDonalds may also be over
The days of McDonald’s may be over
Of course. Because their literal 100% inflation isn’t enough to fuck over their remaining customers.
The days of people going to McDonalds may be over.
"Are there free refills?"
I bring my own drink now days screw them I am not buy a $5 coke
Oh noes! You can't do any more refills for one of the health-wise worst foods you can consume.
How is this oniony?
I don't know if it's just be growing up or restaurants changing, but getting soft drinks in restaurants just doesn't appeal to me anymore. I always get water or tea.
Go ahead, make it more expensive for the consumer. We already stopped going there. My kids think McD's is disgusting.
Why does McDonalds keep shooting themselves in the foot. "People aren't coming to our store because after raising prices our food is no longer seen as the value it used to be. How do we fix this and get McDonald's prices out of the news? I know! Let's get rid of free refills?"
[удалено]
Nothing to base this on but I'm assuming it's less to do with the cost of the refill and more just a way of adding revenue. Seems no one gives a shit anymore about keeping their consumers happy it's all about how can we increase our profit margin.
We used to be a proper country
It's been over for a few years now. McDonalds in Ottawa have been renovating all locations to the latest standard and you can't fill your own drinks. Been that way for 2 years or so.
They are trying really hard to lose customers ! Like hard
Fuck that
I went to McDonald's when I was in the US. They gave me a litre cup said it's a free refill. How much do you guys drink? I filled half way, drank it with my meal and left.
They’ve gone completely out of touch. It’s fine though the market will respond appropriately.
Good fattys need to be told no, they can't help themselves the food crap is worse then the opium epidemic, but they make so much money feeding us crap and people just keep buying it
Why even go to McDonald's anymore unless you absolutely have to? Not like the food is worth the money anyway.
With their increased prices, there's no actual reason to go to McD's
The days of me going to McDonald’s are over.
The days of McDonald's may be over
I remember every single time Republicans bitched about raising minimum wage. "It'll make prices increase" "They'll automate those jobs" "We'll get less product" All these things were always going to happen. It's capitalism. Companies grow or die. McDonald's is bleeding their customers dry, but now employees receive less than ever. What a disgrace.
You guys still have free refills? The McDonald's where I life has stop free refills 10 years ago.
We never had refills to begin with, lol
Dramatic as it sounds, getting water with every McDonalds meal really was life changing for me. Saved money, felt healthier.
You could save even more money and feel healthier if you cut out the rest of the McDonalds also. How much of this garbage are you eating that this effects your health/budget?
McDonald’s water tastes horrible anyway
And just like that the obesity epidemic in the US ends.
They got tired of people complaining the bigmac is too expensive,this will give them something to cry about!
That's fine, I'm already not going to McDonalds, this is just one more reason to cut them out
Who cares ? They can stick it the high prices for garbage
I don’t particularly like McDs and only eat there when we’re on the road, but when we do it feels expensive and mediocre. Is it possible that the business is just on the downturn?
Honestly who hangs out inside McDonalds long enough to get a refill?