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.
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.
@@randot6675 "I'm 14 and this is deep." Seriously though, no. People eventually learn, adapt, the consumer base drops, and they drop prices again. So the system works perfectly. Putting power into the market to adapt fluidly to the people's purchases is a significantly smarter system than willingly giving power to people in the hopes they do something for your best interests, consistently, forever. "Oh no! I can't fast food cheap! Now I'm forced to cook my own food or go to nicer restaurants which cost just as much as fast food now." The system would work a lot better if it didn't have midwits like you trying to 'fix' the system through socialism which takes a small bit of profit away from larger corporations in exchange for them having much more power in the market than we do.
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 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.
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.
These reasons are minuscule. The real reason is corporate greed and the profits over everything mentality. Everything is rising because the incessant want to give investors record breaking returns. This mentality is the reason for The hiring of out of company CEOs. They have no respect for the customer. They have no respect for the brand they represent because they shuffle shuffle around from Company to Company, promising the same old stuff, which is record-breaking profits. Like in this video the McDonald’s new CEO is from two different previous companies. So each company that he goes to he brings the same ideas which is raise prices to give investors record breaking profits. Every single major corporation has his mindset from the games to farms. They used Covid as an excuse to raise the prices. And now they continue to do it as they almost normalized it. Our government encourages this behavior. Also, that’s the reason as well that the services of most things is also bad as at any point companies will try and save money to protect their profits. Everything in our lives has went down in quality. I believe also that behind-the-scenes there’s a group of people encouraging this type of behavior from our government. Hiring corporate leaders from within the company I feel would change the culture as they would most likely care about there own legacy within the brand unlike the serial CEOS only care for there own paycheck
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.
It’s wild that going to a sit down restaurant, where you’re seated and waited on by staff, then have your meal served on a plate that needs to be washed by staff, costs less than getting fast food that you order off a touch screen and is pumped out of an assembly line designed to function with the least amount of staff possible.
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.
@@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.
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.
I think companies in part make a big fuss about minimum wage raises so when they raise prices later they can do it under cover of the wage rise regardless of the actual reason. Everyone then blames the minimum wage rather than the company's own actions, giving the company a free pass. The pandemic gave the same cover--people knew prices were going to go up, they talked about it a lot, so companies raised prices above and beyond what was necessary under the cover of that expectation. I'm Canadian so I have one particular food company in mind.
Raising the minimum wage generally hurts the small mom and pop shops. Not large corporations. So if you're cool with them going out of business then sure
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.
my local mcdonalds remodeled AGAIN last year. they removed the soundproof kids play area (which was downsized already from the previous remodel) they removed the TV, they installed walls that look like concrete, removed the beverage fountain from the eating area so whenever I want a refill i have to stand at the counter for up to 5 minutes trying to get the attention of employees in the back. the eating area is unwelcoming, its as if it now says, eat your Damn food and get out!
Local Burger King has banned "loitering" and has stated that you may only take 20 minutes maximum to eat your food and GTFO. I don't know why they seem to hate having customers so much
Because that's exactly what they want you to do. They don't want to outright say "no free refills" or "people letting their kids play in the playroom don't buy more food while they wait." Instead, they'll make it as inconvenient as possible so you'll just leave and they can get a new customer. It's finally starting to bite them in the ass which needs to happen even more.
Eat your damn food and get out is the entire point behind the McDonald’s color scheme. The colors we perceive actually have effects on our bodies, and reds and yellows often have the influences of making us feel hungry and energetic. They literally want you hungry, then in and out as fast as possible
This is a seperate phenomena - But I agree: In the 80s/90s, McDonald's buissness idea was that of "raising the customer of tomorrow". Hence catering to kids both in decoration, as well as in service (McDonald's birthday parties f.ex). However, nowadays, they changed that. Seeing how college students/young adults are the ones with the actual money. Giving it a more "quicker, detached, loft" look. They aren't alone with that btw. Disney, very infamously, changed similiarly. Old Disneyworld/lands were very family orientated. Think free busses, edutaiment etc. Nowadays it's all about those few who spend THOUSANDS to get to Disney once. Only to ride a rollercoaster that re-tells a Disney story you already know. Removing any original IPs, catering only to capitalism & nostaliga of those who grew up with these Disney movies aka "nostaligalism"
My workday is almost 12 hours with commute time factored in. I barely have time to sleep. Not everyone has the luxury of cooking three meals a day for themself. And no one should be overcharging this much for any kind of food.
@@lucienfortner841 Well, that's capitalism for you. Even if you ignore the economics, if restaurants and fastfoods are too expensive then their demand would tank and they would have no choice but to cut price, but so far reality beckons the opposite. If you think that there should be price cap on foods then vote for socialists.
@@czinn327 That sounds about right. But even though I value my time, I still think that home cook meals it's a worthwhile investment not only for my finances but for my health as well. If I had diverted half of the money that I wasted on eating out during my mid 20s into an index based ETF, I would have been ~130% wealthier than I am today at 33.
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.
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....
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.
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.
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.
Nowadays, if you want cheap, good value fast food, your only option is the supermarket. For around $6 you can get a 2 litre bottle of soda, a pizza, chicken nuggets and some ice cream. The quality is as good as any fast food restaurant and it doesn't take very long to prepare it yourself. If enough people did this and just scrapped fast food chains all together, it might force them to lower their prices.
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
Keep in mind that minimum wage was about $3.50 then and my mom bought her house in the 70s for about $12,000. So adjusting for inflation it would be reasonable to expect the fast food meal to cost about $4.50 to $5.50. Charging $12 means that they have gone up faster than the rate of inflation.
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
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.
The root of all these cost cutting scandals in big brands is a bunch of c-level upper management chasing a bonus, promotion or resume glowup to jump ship to a higher paying job after temporarily increasing profits. Period. By the time consumers get fed up and sales drop, c-level management responsible for changes jump ship to the next business to ruin. The only thing that will fix it is these individuals being put on a blacklist and becoming unhireable for the same position, but that's not going to happen. It's not just the prices people are upset about either, but the unnecessary shrinkflation and recipe cost cutting that comes with it.
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
That diet is RIP to an athlete. Even if you keep mass, your insides will be rotting before you turn 30 with that much processed junk. You can eat healthy and cheap, with a little effort. Eating fast food costs you twice. Once now, and again when the eventual health issues begin.
@@ethancohen12it sucks that a single parent wouldn’t necessarily have as much time to cook the same things for less. It’s the endless loop of spending for convenience but having to work even more to offset these price increases. It’s sad.
A few months ago I was in Tokyo, one of the most expensive cities in the world, and I ate a breakfast meal at McDonald's. The total came out to be 560 yen ($3.64) and the quality was 100 times better than anything I've had at an American McDonald's. Here in the U.S. that same meal would've probably been around $11 and served on buns hard as a hockey puck.
@@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.
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
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.
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.
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!
@@Ethnogoblin True. The C-suite are mostly paid with stocks these days, they are indeed shareholders, and their main interest is in increasing the short term gains. Everything is going to hell because they don't plan long term, only short term.
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
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 UA-cam 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 UA-cam notify me about anything (sorry UA-camrs, 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
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!
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 live in a city, thankfully only some places I used to frequent have done that but most haven't. I stopped going to the ones that raised the prices more than a couple dollars.
I'm in the city....that exactly what I'm trying to warn ppl. The pho, the Korean food place, the Hispanic mom and pops they have adjusted their menus, higher prices on menus for weekends or just all the time, lessened the meat. Or they have simply raised their prices. Yes it was a better value for a while but now it could be 60 darn dollars to take someone to lunch on a Saturday. Better value mom and pop was so 2 months ago.
If they were smart businesses they would wisen up on that, because if people also stop going to them for food they'll burn out and bankrupt a lot quicker than mcdonalds will. Simply stop going to them, or physically give them feedback saying that they're simply charging too much and you won't be back.
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
@@mibswashere I'm not disputing OP's point. Of course cooking the food yourself saves you money vs paying someone else do it for you, but the entire video is very misleading based on a false premise, claiming fast food prices have been outpacing general inflation, not realizing the food prices itself have been outpacing general inflation by a lot.
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.
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.
The fast food industry is used to having an audience that just does whatever the tv tells them to do. But nobody watches tv anymore except old people, they dont know who any of these "celebrities" are and besides, they cant eat fast food anyway because it makes them sick.
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.
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.
the fast food apps are also notoriously laggy and buggy in my experience. i dont know how you invest tens of millions into an app that is hardly functional. ive played mobile games with solo developers that were more competently made.
It’s because it’s not the primary task of the app. For whatever permissions you allow it, that data is being sold to advertisers namely GPS being the most common. It also of course counts how long you use the app each time, when you use it and how frequently, so advertisers can cater to that person the cheapest way by sending ads prior to a typical time the user may or may not buy the product. Permissions aren’t the end of Opsec as far as information goes, in this case. If they can get you to download an app for a “free meal”, and you get ads that you may or may not be aware of in a typical time frame you would make that decision beforehand, they end up with more profit.
Came here after stumbling across your tweet regarding UA-cam creators reacting to this video and thus taking potential viewers away from your video. I hope that others will feel the same way as me, because (unlike so-called "reaction UA-camrs") you obviously put a lot of work and heart and soul into your videos. Don't let it get you down, you've already found a new viewer in me!
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.
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.
Replacement option grab a premade sloppy Joe container from grocery store on your next shopping trip tastes better makes more than one meal and prep is basically non existent plus you don't have to leave the house.
WTF is this chart @2:13, where prices start at 0% in 2014, next mark is 2019 (+5 years), then the next two marks are +3y. Non-linear axis are a new level of WTF-cary
@@VideoArchiveGuy Yes, it does. McDonalds decides how to charge for its food. Its executives have a big hand in that, especially the ones that like to give themselves multi-million dollar yearly bonuses.
@@Toactwithoutthinking huge corporations run this country, people always say "your vote counts" but that's not true. Voting is PAY TO PLAY no matter who you vote for. It's the corporations with all the money backing politicians to keep the law in their favor.
@@iotatq3728 Well, you're not exactly wrong, but you're also not exactly right. Voting is absolutely free. It's the corporate lobbyists that are causing the problem you describe. Politicians getting money from supporting particular corporations.
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.
blaming wage increase is such a corporate move since wages haven't increased by nearly as much as inflation since ever! If anything had wages and goods all increased at the same rate(inflation rate) then prices should rise at inflation rate would it not? I mean if the ingredients of the 5$ product go up by 20% then the new price will be 6$ not 10$ and the 5$ probably already has the profit margin so by making it 6$ it is maintained and grows at the same rate as everything else. Make it make sense please.
I think corporate greed is definitely a thing. They need to lower the percentages/royalties so the local franchises can actually breathe. I’ve heard a lot of franchise margins are razor thin. And those margins can be even worse in the big cities. I don’t blame the restaurants themselves. I blame the royalties. What was the numbers? 4% for royalties and 4.5% for advertising?!?!. That’s insane!!! Imagine selling $10,000 a day, $5,000 goes to product, $2,000 goes to workers, $1,000 goes to corporate, and a couple more thousand goes to miscellaneous. You’re starting to run out of money.
"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.
@@Aircalibur I'd like to see the equivalent of the PlayStation "$299" clip for fast food. Just show a meal, have some executive walk on screen, say "$2.99" with terrible sound quality and then walk off. It'll cost almost nothing to produce, be short so it costs less to run, and it gets the point across
@@keithstevens8739 Everyone would have 2001 prices still if McDonalds didn't need to spend millions upkeeping their shitty app networks and all the data traffic it generates. It is literally easier on everyone else to simply go and buy for the same price.
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.
@@TheMrDewil Their ethics is really not something indicated through their willingness to promote something. They worked their entire life as a career to build up their own image as something valuable, so if someone is willing to pay to use that asset that's been proven to be of tangible value, I wouldn't stop anyone from doing so.
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.
The funniest part of this was when you said let me introduce you to commercials: “commercials interrupt to show McDonalds” like I made this YT algorithm brick by BRICK 💀
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.
Putting research into your local restaurants is so worth it. There is a diner near me that's been open for over 30 years, 24/7. No where else can I get chicken fried steak and a slice of homemade pie at 3am. My favorite meal there is a hot sandwich and fries (to which I always add a free side of gravy), it's $6.95 and I struggle to finish it. People should start sharing plates more too. The portions at many causal sit down restaurants are made for you to take home leftovers, but I've found that instead a friend and I can pay less than $10 a person and feel full splitting a plate.
@@FoxWJK Very true. In order to get full from a McDonalds meal I have to spend 18$. There is a mom and pop Burger place near me that's been there for 25 years. The burgers are really big, they give you a ton of fries and the entire meal is 12$ and the ingredients are so much better. They actually use potatoes to make fries and the meat and veggies on the burger are always high quality and fresh. The more you overpay for corporate fast food, the more you encourage them to keep jacking up the price and lowering the size and quality of the food. Speak with your dollars. Stop overpaying just because it's familiar.
@@Heathcoatman I used to go to mcdonalds up until these last couple years unless im really just in a pinch. 4 mcchickens was less than 8 bucks. now 6 of them costs you $20. takes 2-4 of those things to fill me up.
I just enjoyed fish and chips of spectacular quality served to me from a young sylvester stallone doppleganger. Coolerama! I keep wanting to ask if I can put him online to see if its just me or is he the sputting image of Rocky?
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.
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.
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.
The thing about the app points is that they expire if you don't use them, forcing you to spend the points before you earn enough for the more expensive items. That's like having an expiration date on gift cards. Remember when that was a thing?
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.
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
@@andrewvalenski921 Wages are a big expense for most businesses including the food industry. This video is really stupid, because he didn't even bother to check the actual inflation rate for food prices.
@@SPL-6 sounds like you’ve been spoonfed talking points. First, minimum wages =/= wages and to conflate the two is either lazy or misleading; secondly, using the phrase “inflation rate for food” is such an obvious dog whistle that broadcasts how small the world is for you. Do you realize the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the “food industry” or have any appreciation for supply-chain capitalism? Finally, perhaps you’d benefit from some traveling - some food for thought
@@andrewvalenski921 That was one of the absolute most unintelligent and incredibly pretentious replies I've ever read in all the years I've been on youtube, and I've been here probably before you were in diaper. How did you manage to make a reply even dumber than your original claim? You're trying so hard to sound smart, but you're not fooling anyone, but yourself.
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.
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"
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.
I worked at a Wendys in the early 2000s. The funniest times were between midnight and 1am. That's when all the bars would close and the drunks had the munchies. They'd pull in right before we closed, order $30 worth of food, it was all off the dollar menu and they paid in change.
You mean stoners? Yea I work at McDonald's and the same thing happens here I don't mind it because they don't cause problems, old people are the ones who cause problems.
@@I-See-In-The-Dark Alcohol actually has an interesting effect to your brain. It makes you think that you are starving, even if you had a decent meal prior to drinking. And since alcohol dissolves fat efficiently, you are more likely to crave for greasy foods and wouldn't you know it, those are the places that are open when bars close.
@@ShadowofPinceThe last time I went in McDonald it was to get my children ‘toy food’. They were still in Primary. Adults who eat this stuff are experiencing difficulties developing. Truth is, they’re not the least interested in food. They think they are , but you could put a turd in it and if it tasted good they’d eat it.
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.
well a average McDonald worker earns maybe ~35.000 $ a year and the CEOs salary is about ~19.250.000 $ meaning they earn about x550 times the money of a single employee. that's indeed a lot of cash the CEOs get.
For running a multinational corporation? Yes, yes they do. However, look up the difference between McDonald's corporation and your local franchisee that owns and operates your local McDonald's. The two have zero financial connection except the corporation makes money on every sale even if your local restaurant is losing money hand over fist.
I grew up on McDonald's. I haven't eaten there or any fastfood place for over 6 months. At a certain point I realized it's almost just easier to cook for myself. I'm a better cook than any McDonald's staffer, it's cheaper, I don't mess my order up, and I don't have to deal with people. I'm loving it
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).
Proud of you....for real. If you want to try hard core you'll need the following items. Sm. electric grinder Stainless steel pot Stainless steel strainer Whole bean coffee A "To go" metal insulated coffee cup. Grind your coffee each week and store it in some kind of bag or container. Just boil a quarter cup of coffee with 2 cups of water. Use the strainer to pour it into your cup. Add whatever you like, sugar ect. Look at you, you are practically special forces in your self sufficiency. You will come to love coffee this way too.
I think Starbuck prices their product for ppl like my husband. He uses the app and his daily travel business expense. It's costs us 0 dollars. I'm a stay at home wife/ mother, trad wife, and I simply do not ever go to Starbucks. My job is to cost my husband the least money possible.
The funniest part of this issue is that all these companies need to do to win back customers is slash prices and gather a lower net profit for the year.
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.
I remember 3 tacos for a dollar. I laughed when in TJ and this outdoor vendor called himself Taco Bell and had 3 tacos for a dollar, except is was actual steak. For a buck.
If all the prices are going up, it’s not just corporate greed. These companies are in constant competition, and look for ways to undercut each other as much as possible. The fact that almost every one has at least a 50% increase says that it is something we aren’t seeing.
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.
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.
Great video bro. As promised on twitter, I came, I watched, and I subscribed. Imagine a world where CEOs didn't take million dollar wages, didnt live in million dollar homes, and took a more modest salary, gave that back to the workers, and used the money they do make to put back into their Business into more productive ways. A great world that would be.
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.
"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.
All monetary inflation is manufactured unless you think money just prints itself. People should think about their praxis word games a little more thoroughly.
Burger King Foot Lettuce instagram.com/zas11s/
true
yes
The last thing you want in your Burger King burger is somebody else’s foot fungus, but that might just be want you get.
Yucky lmao
Kurger Bing Loot Fettice
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.
I completely agree, I notice the same in the area I'm at and I'm eating more locally when we do go out for sure.
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.
And more food, buffets are so fkn cheap for by the lb carryout.
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.
It used to be trash food for cheap. Now it's trash food for expensive.
This country is a joke man this country is going to shit really quick. I don’t even know what to say. It feels like a nightmare we’re living in man.
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.
Now it's *more trash* for more cost
@@derek96720it's almost as if a societal model where profit is the end goal of every operation is actually bad for humanity or something huh
@@randot6675 "I'm 14 and this is deep."
Seriously though, no. People eventually learn, adapt, the consumer base drops, and they drop prices again. So the system works perfectly. Putting power into the market to adapt fluidly to the people's purchases is a significantly smarter system than willingly giving power to people in the hopes they do something for your best interests, consistently, forever. "Oh no! I can't fast food cheap! Now I'm forced to cook my own food or go to nicer restaurants which cost just as much as fast food now."
The system would work a lot better if it didn't have midwits like you trying to 'fix' the system through socialism which takes a small bit of profit away from larger corporations in exchange for them having much more power in the market than we do.
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.
Doesn’t matter, they got people hooked on their food so even tho the prices went up, a lot of customers are addicts and go buy it anyway.
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 $5 more ordering from a local diner, get way better food, and thier coffee isnt a frappe, but its good.
The question isn't why prices are increasing, the question is why people are still paying for it.
Exactly
because stupid parents keep bringing their even more stupid kids to mcdonalds
Addiction and habbit
Because people refuse to cook, even if the meal is simple! They want instant gratification despite it being poor quality.
@@deancorso6693then man, go to a local joint, their prices are about the same
It used to be the case that you had a choice between say McDonalds burger that's cheap and "craft" burger that's good, but the price gap between the two is now basically nonexistent.
And it went from good/cheap to cheap/cheaper
(Clarification, by cheap I mean poor quality, not inexpensive)
Exactly. Why would anyone buy Big Mac when they can get a Real burger for just a bit more?
This is why I'm on the homemade smashburger train these days. Get yourself an electric griddle and some of those burger weights, and those suckers pay for themselves in no time.
I feel like a burger 10 years ago at like "low end" restaurants was like 12$ now its 18$ but if I go to fast food it went from like 6$ to 15$.
You have to order with their app, unfortunately. A value meal is still just $6.50
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.
@@oyeahisbest123did you even watch the video or do you just wanna complain about people getting paid closer to a livable wage?
-average 300lbs mcdonalds bidaily customer
These fast food companies need to go down what they’re doing is wrong
@walterwhite1 Walter white is speaking facts
These reasons are minuscule. The real reason is corporate greed and the profits over everything mentality. Everything is rising because the incessant want to give investors record breaking returns. This mentality is the reason for The hiring of out of company CEOs. They have no respect for the customer. They have no respect for the brand they represent because they shuffle shuffle around from Company to Company, promising the same old stuff, which is record-breaking profits. Like in this video the McDonald’s new CEO is from two different previous companies. So each company that he goes to he brings the same ideas which is raise prices to give investors record breaking profits. Every single major corporation has his mindset from the games to farms. They used Covid as an excuse to raise the prices. And now they continue to do it as they almost normalized it. Our government encourages this behavior. Also, that’s the reason as well that the services of most things is also bad as at any point companies will try and save money to protect their profits. Everything in our lives has went down in quality. I believe also that behind-the-scenes there’s a group of people encouraging this type of behavior from our government. Hiring corporate leaders from within the company I feel would change the culture as they would most likely care about there own legacy within the brand unlike the serial CEOS only care for there own paycheck
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.
the quality of their ingredients has always been mediocre to low
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.
It’s wild that going to a sit down restaurant, where you’re seated and waited on by staff, then have your meal served on a plate that needs to be washed by staff, costs less than getting fast food that you order off a touch screen and is pumped out of an assembly line designed to function with the least amount of staff possible.
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.
Infinite greed. It is not enough to be extremely profitable, profits are expected to grow with a finite group of consumers.
and better coupons
better service AND FREE BREAD
Chilis is the GOAT.
Even the Chinese takeaway is cheaper than McDonald's where I live now, it's crazy. It also feeds 2 people rather than just 1.
Ngl I stopped going to BK, macdonalds, etc when I realised my local chinese gives twice the volume of food, with more flavour, for like £10 less
I gotta be feeling Chinese. When I get fast-food. I am not thinking of price...but what am I craving
Chinese is an food you need to feel. An burger is slop you can shove down your mouth and dont look back
@@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.
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.
Get sponsorblock, you can configure it to skip every kind of fluff. From sponsors to like and susbcribe to recaps etc
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.
I think companies in part make a big fuss about minimum wage raises so when they raise prices later they can do it under cover of the wage rise regardless of the actual reason. Everyone then blames the minimum wage rather than the company's own actions, giving the company a free pass. The pandemic gave the same cover--people knew prices were going to go up, they talked about it a lot, so companies raised prices above and beyond what was necessary under the cover of that expectation.
I'm Canadian so I have one particular food company in mind.
Raising the minimum wage generally hurts the small mom and pop shops. Not large corporations. So if you're cool with them going out of business then sure
It's not just increase in prices. It's also shrinkflation. They have also made everything smaller while increasing the price.
I hope the trend continues until these places go out of business. They're not good enough to charge what they charge
fr, subway is so fuckin ass anyway
Taco Bell deserves to go away. They really lost their way and forgot their place
Theyre all owned by the same conglomerates now.
Wouldn't bother me any.
@@rotting_karcass1369 If Subway is ass, then.....maybe you're ass at ordering a sandwich?
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
Gotta appease the shareholders. Infinite growth!
@@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 line must go up buddy
my local mcdonalds remodeled AGAIN last year. they removed the soundproof kids play area (which was downsized already from the previous remodel) they removed the TV, they installed walls that look like concrete, removed the beverage fountain from the eating area so whenever I want a refill i have to stand at the counter for up to 5 minutes trying to get the attention of employees in the back. the eating area is unwelcoming, its as if it now says, eat your Damn food and get out!
Local Burger King has banned "loitering" and has stated that you may only take 20 minutes maximum to eat your food and GTFO. I don't know why they seem to hate having customers so much
Because that's exactly what they want you to do. They don't want to outright say "no free refills" or "people letting their kids play in the playroom don't buy more food while they wait." Instead, they'll make it as inconvenient as possible so you'll just leave and they can get a new customer. It's finally starting to bite them in the ass which needs to happen even more.
Eat your damn food and get out is the entire point behind the McDonald’s color scheme. The colors we perceive actually have effects on our bodies, and reds and yellows often have the influences of making us feel hungry and energetic. They literally want you hungry, then in and out as fast as possible
This is a seperate phenomena - But I agree: In the 80s/90s, McDonald's buissness idea was that of "raising the customer of tomorrow". Hence catering to kids both in decoration, as well as in service (McDonald's birthday parties f.ex). However, nowadays, they changed that. Seeing how college students/young adults are the ones with the actual money. Giving it a more "quicker, detached, loft" look.
They aren't alone with that btw. Disney, very infamously, changed similiarly. Old Disneyworld/lands were very family orientated. Think free busses, edutaiment etc. Nowadays it's all about those few who spend THOUSANDS to get to Disney once. Only to ride a rollercoaster that re-tells a Disney story you already know. Removing any original IPs, catering only to capitalism & nostaliga of those who grew up with these Disney movies aka "nostaligalism"
@sarahtonin58913 Yea, no. I'm going to sit at my table and eat for as long as I damn well please, I don't care what The Man says.
This is a blessing in disguise.
Stop eating junk food. Prepare your everyday meals at home and treat yourself with REAL food once in a while.
Even grocery prices are getting out of hand
My workday is almost 12 hours with commute time factored in. I barely have time to sleep.
Not everyone has the luxury of cooking three meals a day for themself. And no one should be overcharging this much for any kind of food.
@@lucienfortner841 Well, that's capitalism for you. Even if you ignore the economics, if restaurants and fastfoods are too expensive then their demand would tank and they would have no choice but to cut price, but so far reality beckons the opposite. If you think that there should be price cap on foods then vote for socialists.
@@UrbanArmada Still cheaper than junkfoods and takeouts.
@@czinn327 That sounds about right. But even though I value my time, I still think that home cook meals it's a worthwhile investment not only for my finances but for my health as well. If I had diverted half of the money that I wasted on eating out during my mid 20s into an index based ETF, I would have been ~130% wealthier than I am today at 33.
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.
there’s some validity to this but i promise your chilli’s server is fried off their ass too 🤣
I unironically fucking love Chili's
What are you ordering at Chilis with a friend that would come out to being cheaper than 36 dollars? Are you not tipping?
@@A1phaz0ne right?! When I go there, I'm literally just drinking. The food is way way more expensive than that guy is suggesting.
@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.
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.
@@JerseyJester The quality of the fast food has one billion percent not increased.
Inflation, Shrinkflation, Enshitification, and Cutting Corners - the Four Horsemen of the race to the bottom for maximum profits.
@@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....
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"
Or better yet, discounts hiding the true 'cost' of an average pizza. As with Dominos and all...
At this rate, next year's coupons will be "free napkins with purchase of full price 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.
don't forget the "$5 off minimum purchase of $25" ones
Just looking at the coupons on the McDonalds app and I laughed. free 6 nuggets when you spend £20, free hash brown when you spend £15.
i love this guys editing! He's on a green screen, he's on a rooftop, he's on the stairs, he's at the bottom of the stairs...!
You're telling me my late night fast food cravings are funding a fucking taco bell keynote
dammit jeff
@@jrd3807😂
"16 times the size of a regular chees-it" holy shit they have their own Tod Howard and E3 for Tacobell???
When they should be funding an @DammitJeff sponsorship
@@Lil-ig7br all of it just works
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
@@mcbaws21when I was a child it was like that here in my country too but since covid it's all become crap
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.
When i was in high school in the early 2000s we had a joke that no one can eat $20 of taco bell. Today i doubt $20 can fill you up.
Taco Bell still cheap
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 go to ethnic restaurants now. I eat at Shawarma spots. Good food, large portions and worth your dollar.
Nowadays, if you want cheap, good value fast food, your only option is the supermarket. For around $6 you can get a 2 litre bottle of soda, a pizza, chicken nuggets and some ice cream. The quality is as good as any fast food restaurant and it doesn't take very long to prepare it yourself. If enough people did this and just scrapped fast food chains all together, it might force them to lower their prices.
fr
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
@@natas12rm if you use the app the meal is only $6 where i live
@@natas12rm "only $11"
But why on earth would I drop $11 at McDonald's when I can go somewhere like Zaxby's or Culver's for the same price?
56 cent big Mac, 20 cent fries, 19 cent coke.
Keep in mind that minimum wage was about $3.50 then and my mom bought her house in the 70s for about $12,000.
So adjusting for inflation it would be reasonable to expect the fast food meal to cost about $4.50 to $5.50.
Charging $12 means that they have gone up faster than the rate of inflation.
My parents at their 20s: home, car, kids
Me at my late 20s: can't afford mcburger
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
@@managaming01 But we are just lazy and don't want to work, according to all the 40+ MFS who bought their house for $9
@@cordellrobinson5179 for real. None of them understand how fucked our economy is
@@managaming01something has to give!
@@tarkelson2457 because it set them up for the American dream with repercussions that only put later generations in a choke hold
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
That's a great deal
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.
hell yeah love that starvin' student meal deal that tasty burger stuff is the good shit 😎
@@danielong4898 Veritas, brother!
The burgers are probably not frozen, and the French fries are not shipped pre-sliced and cooked.
The root of all these cost cutting scandals in big brands is a bunch of c-level upper management chasing a bonus, promotion or resume glowup to jump ship to a higher paying job after temporarily increasing profits. Period. By the time consumers get fed up and sales drop, c-level management responsible for changes jump ship to the next business to ruin. The only thing that will fix it is these individuals being put on a blacklist and becoming unhireable for the same position, but that's not going to happen.
It's not just the prices people are upset about either, but the unnecessary shrinkflation and recipe cost cutting that comes with it.
Man's just casually dropping some of the hardest Old School Runescape tracks.
meanwhile these companies are Ice Barraging our wallets!
whats that
lol, playing now while watching and it broke my brain a little bit.
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
That's literally the American food industry in a nutshell. Addict the youth, you've got a consumer for life.
Say it again say it louder
Bro, the food’s always been nasty😊
After the cig companies were sued in the 80s they switched heavily to food.
Addict us to ship product and juice us for what it's worth.
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
It’s cheaper to go to the grocery store and make these meals
That diet is RIP to an athlete. Even if you keep mass, your insides will be rotting before you turn 30 with that much processed junk. You can eat healthy and cheap, with a little effort.
Eating fast food costs you twice. Once now, and again when the eventual health issues begin.
@jsnel9185 calories are calories - poor or ill - but in ideal circumstances there's def better to eat
@@jsnel9185 thats just cope
@@ethancohen12it sucks that a single parent wouldn’t necessarily have as much time to cook the same things for less. It’s the endless loop of spending for convenience but having to work even more to offset these price increases. It’s sad.
A few months ago I was in Tokyo, one of the most expensive cities in the world, and I ate a breakfast meal at McDonald's. The total came out to be 560 yen ($3.64) and the quality was 100 times better than anything I've had at an American McDonald's. Here in the U.S. that same meal would've probably been around $11 and served on buns hard as a hockey puck.
It astounds me how easy it is for idiots to get into CEO positions. Spending millions on gimmicks instead of actually focusing on what people want.
many of them are kids of former ceo's who are now acting ceo .
It’s modern feudalism
@@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.
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
Frozen hash browns are like $2.50/pound....
Make your own and ball out, dawg!
mmm 3 dollars for 8 SMALL hashbrowns that are too mushy to eat by the time they get cool enough to eat
Dunkins use to throw out deals atleast 1nce a week for a free coffee. but not you barely get a deal a month.
Man, do they still taste super strong like onion like the ones at the last Dunkin I went to?
@@Saint_Sigismund good call
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😂
CEO is part of the workers.
Everyones salary goes up when there is minimum wage hike and/or inflation hits.
@@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.
@@ab-hv8qs right but paying CEO 100 million is ok as long as it's not regular workers?
@@ab-hv8qs if your job is to control the workers, you are not part of the workers.
People should stop buying fast food, if they think it’s overpriced.
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.
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
He pays for everything else so the company continues to make money. You can too if you started your own business.
@@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!
Company CEO or share holders dont pull out free money out of their company unless their willing to axe their own investments
@@Ethnogoblin okay Ghengis
@@Ethnogoblin True. The C-suite are mostly paid with stocks these days, they are indeed shareholders, and their main interest is in increasing the short term gains. Everything is going to hell because they don't plan long term, only short term.
0:50 bro for 36$ I could go to a non-fast food joint and get 2 burgers with fries
fuck that you could buy food for 4 or 5 people easy at a mom and pop pizza joint
@@TheKiddingStar yeah dude that's more than what a large pizza costs
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
@@StoryBird2 I did the math and I could get the equivalent of 4 large pizzas with 2 toppings each at my closest mom and pop place for $36.
Exactly my first thought
14:48 NO WAY! You used Old Scholl Runescape music? :D That makes me so happy!
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 UA-cam 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 UA-cam notify me about anything (sorry UA-camrs, I'm never clicking that bell, my Subscriptions feed works just fine)
Jokes on them, I automatically hate anything that sends me notifications!
Some even will send you notifications that your order is ready. I remember doing a double take because I didn’t remember ordering anything👀😂
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
I download when I get a craving for a certain restaurant, use a coupon and whatever welcome back reward they give you then delete it again.
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!
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 live in a city, thankfully only some places I used to frequent have done that but most haven't. I stopped going to the ones that raised the prices more than a couple dollars.
I'm in the city....that exactly what I'm trying to warn ppl. The pho, the Korean food place, the Hispanic mom and pops they have adjusted their menus, higher prices on menus for weekends or just all the time, lessened the meat. Or they have simply raised their prices. Yes it was a better value for a while but now it could be 60 darn dollars to take someone to lunch on a Saturday. Better value mom and pop was so 2 months ago.
If they were smart businesses they would wisen up on that, because if people also stop going to them for food they'll burn out and bankrupt a lot quicker than mcdonalds will. Simply stop going to them, or physically give them feedback saying that they're simply charging too much and you won't be back.
But what about places like five guys? They dont spend money on advertising, and somehow they have the most expensive food?
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
Same here
All food prices have been rising.
same!! its honestly for the best lol
@SPL-6 true but tbh putting $30 towards groceries instead of 2 meals at a fast food place is more cost effective in the long run
@@mibswashere I'm not disputing OP's point. Of course cooking the food yourself saves you money vs paying someone else do it for you, but the entire video is very misleading based on a false premise, claiming fast food prices have been outpacing general inflation, not realizing the food prices itself have been outpacing general inflation by a lot.
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.
The last 2 years they've been advertising maccies price gouges and is mediocre compared to the alternatives. Let them lie in the bed they've made.
Costco isn't a great example because they charge membership. If McDonald's starts using a membership system it's game over for them lol
Wtf calls it Maccies?
@@AnimeRecksYou I think it's a UK slang for Mickie D's
you can’t convince me it costs tens of millions of dollars to update your mobile app likes its a big budget video game
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.
Sorry, but video games are very low stakes programming
@@NokamiggThat's what AWS is for. They can do it better and cheaper for you.
@@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.
The fast food industry is used to having an audience that just does whatever the tv tells them to do.
But nobody watches tv anymore except old people, they dont know who any of these "celebrities" are and besides, they cant eat fast food anyway because it makes them sick.
3 years ago I could get a Chick-fil-A sandwich meal for $7.76... yesterday... it was $12.31
At least their chicken is still breaded from raw and isn't dumped into a fryer from the freezer.
And that’s not including fries and a drink I’m assuming
And it tastes worse.
@@Kultactivitiesit’s a meal so it probably includes fries
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.
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.
"Worth while beanie baby, now it's just plastic" yeah, sounds like you sure learned a consumer lesson 😂
@@Mobius_ll those beanie babies became collectors items people would line up outside to get like it was the next iPhone. Doesn’t happen anymore. Haha
the fast food apps are also notoriously laggy and buggy in my experience. i dont know how you invest tens of millions into an app that is hardly functional. ive played mobile games with solo developers that were more competently made.
It’s because it’s not the primary task of the app. For whatever permissions you allow it, that data is being sold to advertisers namely GPS being the most common. It also of course counts how long you use the app each time, when you use it and how frequently, so advertisers can cater to that person the cheapest way by sending ads prior to a typical time the user may or may not buy the product. Permissions aren’t the end of Opsec as far as information goes, in this case.
If they can get you to download an app for a “free meal”, and you get ads that you may or may not be aware of in a typical time frame you would make that decision beforehand, they end up with more profit.
Agreed. They are all just bloated electron apps becauae billion dollar companies cant pay for a native experience.
I’ve never seen ads using a ff app
The man speaks in the same BPM as the runescape background music and its eerie.
Came here after stumbling across your tweet regarding UA-cam creators reacting to this video and thus taking potential viewers away from your video. I hope that others will feel the same way as me, because (unlike so-called "reaction UA-camrs") you obviously put a lot of work and heart and soul into your videos. Don't let it get you down, you've already found a new viewer in me!
Tbh I wish I had seen someone else react to it, they might have had better insight than this surface level shit tbh.
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.
You just described every business everywhere.
If you ran one you would do the same.
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.
We need a fast food version of AA.
Congrats ❤
Replacement option grab a premade sloppy Joe container from grocery store on your next shopping trip tastes better makes more than one meal and prep is basically non existent plus you don't have to leave the house.
WTF is this chart @2:13, where prices start at 0% in 2014, next mark is 2019 (+5 years), then the next two marks are +3y. Non-linear axis are a new level of WTF-cary
You're missing another reason why prices are going up: Corporate greed, particularly with stock buy-backs.
What McDonald's does as a corporation does not inherently affect the price charged by your local restaurant.
@@VideoArchiveGuy Yes, it does. McDonalds decides how to charge for its food. Its executives have a big hand in that, especially the ones that like to give themselves multi-million dollar yearly bonuses.
Theyd be far less greedy if the government stopped bailing them out.
@@Toactwithoutthinking huge corporations run this country, people always say "your vote counts" but that's not true. Voting is PAY TO PLAY no matter who you vote for. It's the corporations with all the money backing politicians to keep the law in their favor.
@@iotatq3728 Well, you're not exactly wrong, but you're also not exactly right. Voting is absolutely free.
It's the corporate lobbyists that are causing the problem you describe. Politicians getting money from supporting particular corporations.
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.
And then there's doordash, now it's DOUBLE the price
blaming wage increase is such a corporate move since wages haven't increased by nearly as much as inflation since ever!
If anything had wages and goods all increased at the same rate(inflation rate) then prices should rise at inflation rate would it not?
I mean if the ingredients of the 5$ product go up by 20% then the new price will be 6$ not 10$ and the 5$ probably already has the profit margin so by making it 6$ it is maintained and grows at the same rate as everything else.
Make it make sense please.
I think corporate greed is definitely a thing. They need to lower the percentages/royalties so the local franchises can actually breathe. I’ve heard a lot of franchise margins are razor thin. And those margins can be even worse in the big cities. I don’t blame the restaurants themselves. I blame the royalties.
What was the numbers? 4% for royalties and 4.5% for advertising?!?!. That’s insane!!! Imagine selling $10,000 a day, $5,000 goes to product, $2,000 goes to workers, $1,000 goes to corporate, and a couple more thousand goes to miscellaneous. You’re starting to run out of money.
I hope everyone starts hating on react creators again, so we can get more content like this to thrive.
The irony of Subway making expensive ads with athletes rather than doing some recipe development to make their food better lmao
"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.
The sandwiches advertised are even more expensive, who is buying a $16 meatball sandwich??
@@Aircalibur I'd like to see the equivalent of the PlayStation "$299" clip for fast food. Just show a meal, have some executive walk on screen, say "$2.99" with terrible sound quality and then walk off. It'll cost almost nothing to produce, be short so it costs less to run, and it gets the point across
Let's stop going to places that force apps to get the best deals.
No, I enjoy eating at 2001 prices while people bitch and moan about $18 Big Mac meals
@@keithstevens8739 Everyone would have 2001 prices still if McDonalds didn't need to spend millions upkeeping their shitty app networks and all the data traffic it generates. It is literally easier on everyone else to simply go and buy for the same price.
Thumbs up for Runescape music.
The memories.
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.
Ethics are so 20th century.
Fast Food and alcohol aren't inherently unethical on their own so this is kind of a weird stance.
@@queuedjar4578 And I wasn't questioning how ethical/unethical they are. I was questioning the ethics of people that promote them.
@@TheMrDewil Their ethics is really not something indicated through their willingness to promote something. They worked their entire life as a career to build up their own image as something valuable, so if someone is willing to pay to use that asset that's been proven to be of tangible value, I wouldn't stop anyone from doing so.
@queuedjar4578 sure thing, bro. Whatever you say.
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.
Yeah like how for years Apple didn’t need to spend millions on advertising. Everyone already had an Apple phone, why waste the money?
@@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.
$2.50 here if you use the app deals. 2 for $5
Warren Buffets number one investment is Coke. Coke was built on advertising, so clearly it works.
The funniest part of this was when you said let me introduce you to commercials: “commercials interrupt to show McDonalds” like I made this YT algorithm brick by BRICK 💀
Use adblock if you aren't on mobile
@@LadiesandGentlemen660 On mobile there is ReVanced or just Adblock browser -> go to UA-cam instead of using main UA-cam app ;-)
3:04 well there’s the problem lol. First word to come to mind should be “scam”, not “luxury”
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.
This is very real. Simply don't buy, you force the hands of businesses because you have the power of being willing to give your money over.
Putting research into your local restaurants is so worth it. There is a diner near me that's been open for over 30 years, 24/7. No where else can I get chicken fried steak and a slice of homemade pie at 3am. My favorite meal there is a hot sandwich and fries (to which I always add a free side of gravy), it's $6.95 and I struggle to finish it.
People should start sharing plates more too. The portions at many causal sit down restaurants are made for you to take home leftovers, but I've found that instead a friend and I can pay less than $10 a person and feel full splitting a plate.
mcdonalds $15-20 or go to local hole in the wall burger joint for $15-25 with better ingredients and bigger portion sizes
@@FoxWJK Very true. In order to get full from a McDonalds meal I have to spend 18$. There is a mom and pop Burger place near me that's been there for 25 years. The burgers are really big, they give you a ton of fries and the entire meal is 12$ and the ingredients are so much better. They actually use potatoes to make fries and the meat and veggies on the burger are always high quality and fresh. The more you overpay for corporate fast food, the more you encourage them to keep jacking up the price and lowering the size and quality of the food. Speak with your dollars. Stop overpaying just because it's familiar.
@@Heathcoatman I used to go to mcdonalds up until these last couple years unless im really just in a pinch. 4 mcchickens was less than 8 bucks. now 6 of them costs you $20. takes 2-4 of those things to fill me up.
I just enjoyed fish and chips of spectacular quality served to me from a young sylvester stallone doppleganger. Coolerama! I keep wanting to ask if I can put him online to see if its just me or is he the sputting image of Rocky?
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 $20 million, would we turn it down because it might raise prices for strangers by 50¢?
If I had a shot at that much money (and even if you're rich, you still want it), and I heard that taking it would result in people actually being made unalive, I would probably think, "those people are probably gonna go anyway, so I might as well get the money."
Don't forget the Universal Excuse: "If I don't do, somebody else will".
I'm sick of the whole situation, but I'm also sick of sanctimonious people online acting as if they'd be above taking large amounts of money however they could get it, because NO ONE IS.
Plus there's no appreciable minimum wage increases
So small businesses shouldn't exist unless they can hire people at full time wages? 😅
I dont understand why prices are so high and yet service has gotten even slower >.
It seems that the concept of stack them high sell them cheap has been forgetton by executives. I guess when you earn so much you forget what is a normal price.
"How much can a banana be, 10 dollars? "
@@Walamonga1313i literally was coming to leave the same comment 😂😂😂
We're poorer than we have ever been. Corporate greed eating away at everything.
Stop buying fast food. It's no longer worth it at these prices.
Yeah, and many of those companies are raising prices faster than inflation and making record profits as a result. If you're not getting value for your purchase, think twice about patronizing them
Politicians are bought by corporations, that is passed on to Americans.
@@Strideo1 You thought I was talking just fast food. I'm talking life in general brother. Wherever you go, and it's not because stuff is more expensive. We are just poorer.
The thing about the app points is that they expire if you don't use them, forcing you to spend the points before you earn enough for the more expensive items. That's like having an expiration date on gift cards. Remember when that was a thing?
#1 6$ all the time in the app. no points needed
They had to write laws about expiring gift cards.
chick fil a points never expire
One thing worth noting, Wendy’s DOES allow you to use a coupon and reward.
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🥳
@@jordanphilipperris That's still pretty expensive for what you got
@@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.
@@cya6154 Canada is pretty bad too🫥
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
Ofc it does something. It has a big effect actually
@@adwans1491 really articulate position - my mind is completely swayed
@@andrewvalenski921 Wages are a big expense for most businesses including the food industry. This video is really stupid, because he didn't even bother to check the actual inflation rate for food prices.
@@SPL-6 sounds like you’ve been spoonfed talking points. First, minimum wages =/= wages and to conflate the two is either lazy or misleading; secondly, using the phrase “inflation rate for food” is such an obvious dog whistle that broadcasts how small the world is for you. Do you realize the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the “food industry” or have any appreciation for supply-chain capitalism? Finally, perhaps you’d benefit from some traveling - some food for thought
@@andrewvalenski921 That was one of the absolute most unintelligent and incredibly pretentious replies I've ever read in all the years I've been on youtube, and I've been here probably before you were in diaper.
How did you manage to make a reply even dumber than your original claim? You're trying so hard to sound smart, but you're not fooling anyone, but yourself.
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?
The advertising now is not to introduce it to you but to remind you it is exists in hopes childhood nostalgia and exhaustion will kick in
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.
@@Lacewise I don't even know who most of those new celebrities are, how's that supposed to enact nostalgia??
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.
Interesting. Fast food prices in germany are way lower than that.
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"
unfathomably based and frypilled
@@dr00g35 "Frypilled" 🤣🤣🤣
*BASED* 🍟🍟🍟
I love that the workers loved you
Wow you are so cool
0:12 "I'll have two number 9s, a number 9 large, a number 6 with extra dip, a number 7, two number 45s, one with cheese, and a large soda."
Big Smoke would have to sell one of his kidneys to order this today 💀
That would cost more than your yearly salary
@@MilkInTheBowlif San Andreas was set in modern times, that order would be an early sign that something wasn’t right
"I'll buy this fast food because it has the name of a celebrity!!!" said nobody ever.
Then you have never taken a marketing course cus that literally is how it works
They keep doing these celebrity endorsements because there are some real knuckle-dragging idiots out there...
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
You never had any k-pop stan friends if you think that’s the case
@@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.
It feels like the entire fast food industry is trying very hard to push customers away from their stores.
I worked at a Wendys in the early 2000s. The funniest times were between midnight and 1am. That's when all the bars would close and the drunks had the munchies. They'd pull in right before we closed, order $30 worth of food, it was all off the dollar menu and they paid in change.
You mean stoners? Yea I work at McDonald's and the same thing happens here I don't mind it because they don't cause problems, old people are the ones who cause problems.
Drinking doesn’t give you munchies
@@I-See-In-The-Dark Maybe it's different for different people. I can devour a bag of cool ranch doritos when I drink
@@I-See-In-The-Dark Alcohol actually has an interesting effect to your brain. It makes you think that you are starving, even if you had a decent meal prior to drinking. And since alcohol dissolves fat efficiently, you are more likely to crave for greasy foods and wouldn't you know it, those are the places that are open when bars close.
@@ShadowofPinceThe last time I went in McDonald it was to get my children ‘toy food’. They were still in Primary. Adults who eat this stuff are experiencing difficulties developing. Truth is, they’re not the least interested in food. They think they are , but you could put a turd in it and if it tasted good they’d eat it.
Why have fast food prices increased by 100%? They claim it's because labour prices increased by 36%. How does that math work?
And labor cost is only a portion of operating cost.
If people stopped going prices would go down. It's what the market will pay
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.
@@I.C.Weiner And yet, record profits for all of those companies
well a average McDonald worker earns maybe ~35.000 $ a year and the CEOs salary is about ~19.250.000 $ meaning they earn about x550 times the money of a single employee. that's indeed a lot of cash the CEOs get.
For running a multinational corporation? Yes, yes they do.
However, look up the difference between McDonald's corporation and your local franchisee that owns and operates your local McDonald's.
The two have zero financial connection except the corporation makes money on every sale even if your local restaurant is losing money hand over fist.
mc donalds has A LOT more than 550 employees. Even if you lower down 18 millions the salary of the CEO, the prices aren't going to go down that much
And that cash wouldnt last a month if it went to employees.
@@jhoughjr1 As in the cash would get cycled through the community and not get locked up in an offshore tax haven?
I grew up on McDonald's. I haven't eaten there or any fastfood place for over 6 months. At a certain point I realized it's almost just easier to cook for myself. I'm a better cook than any McDonald's staffer, it's cheaper, I don't mess my order up, and I don't have to deal with people. I'm loving it
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).
Proud of you....for real.
If you want to try hard core you'll need the following items.
Sm. electric grinder
Stainless steel pot
Stainless steel strainer
Whole bean coffee
A "To go" metal insulated coffee cup.
Grind your coffee each week and store it in some kind of bag or container.
Just boil a quarter cup of coffee with 2 cups of water.
Use the strainer to pour it into your cup. Add whatever you like, sugar ect.
Look at you, you are practically special forces in your self sufficiency. You will come to love coffee this way too.
I think Starbuck prices their product for ppl like my husband. He uses the app and his daily travel business expense. It's costs us 0 dollars. I'm a stay at home wife/ mother, trad wife, and I simply do not ever go to Starbucks. My job is to cost my husband the least money possible.
The funniest part of this issue is that all these companies need to do to win back customers is slash prices and gather a lower net profit for the year.
But.. BUT THE SHAREHOLDERS!
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.
I'm gray Brad as well skibbotoilet get brain rot
I remember 3 tacos for a dollar. I laughed when in TJ and this outdoor vendor called himself Taco Bell and had 3 tacos for a dollar, except is was actual steak. For a buck.
It's for sure cheaper and better.
If all the prices are going up, it’s not just corporate greed. These companies are in constant competition, and look for ways to undercut each other as much as possible. The fact that almost every one has at least a 50% increase says that it is something we aren’t seeing.
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.
I'm at the point where I'd rather just skip lunch than frequent any of the fast food places. My waistline this last couple of years has thanked me.
@@grben9959 Cant do that when you burn calories for a living, ie construction.
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.
@@bearnbunnyrl Yeah, the buy one get one for $1 are usually the best value in my experience. Nice when they have that with Big Mac and QPCs
I'm an audio listener and I couldn't even tell it was an ad. If only actual marketing teams could follow a similar strategy
Bruh, it's called SponsorBlock.
Unsure if you can still get it in Chrome. But, if you use Chrome, you deserve ads.
You think this video was sponsored by taco bell for a special they've already stopped selling???
Your media literacy is startlingly low.
Great video bro. As promised on twitter, I came, I watched, and I subscribed.
Imagine a world where CEOs didn't take million dollar wages, didnt live in million dollar homes, and took a more modest salary, gave that back to the workers, and used the money they do make to put back into their Business into more productive ways. A great world that would be.
"Let me introduce you to advertising" and an ad pops up. I'm dead laughing
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.
"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.
All monetary inflation is manufactured unless you think money just prints itself. People should think about their praxis word games a little more thoroughly.
Remember kids…the cause of nearly all of life’s problems is PRIVATE EQUITY
no its human stupidity and greed and vanity and lust and violence and GUNS
Is it?
Or it's just that people would buy anyways no matter the cost? ;-)