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Post by impulse on Feb 9, 2024 15:29:39 GMT -5
The McDonald's thing has been fascinating to watch. It would have been one of the super relevant timely spinoff conversations we'd have had when I was at grad school doing business case analysts. It's fascinating to see them struggle with their brand identity and value prop.
It sucks when my kids want Happy Meals though that are now like $5 each. I understand prices have to go up from when I was in college 20 years ago, but when a regular staple McDonald's burger is edging on $3 they've lost the plot.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 9, 2024 15:48:22 GMT -5
The McDonald's thing has been fascinating to watch. It would have been one of the super relevant timely spinoff conversations we'd have had when I was at grad school doing business case analysts. It's fascinating to see them struggle with their brand identity and value prop. It sucks when my kids want Happy Meals though that are now like $5 each. I understand prices have to go up from when I was in college 20 years ago, but when a regular staple McDonald's burger is edging on $3 they've lost the plot. How much were they 20 years ago? I honestly don't know, because I mostly avoid McDonald's like the plague. But I find that an awful lot of laments for "things were cheaper then" are 100% explained by inflation. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Feb 9, 2024 16:50:00 GMT -5
The McDonald's thing has been fascinating to watch. It would have been one of the super relevant timely spinoff conversations we'd have had when I was at grad school doing business case analysts. It's fascinating to see them struggle with their brand identity and value prop. It sucks when my kids want Happy Meals though that are now like $5 each. I understand prices have to go up from when I was in college 20 years ago, but when a regular staple McDonald's burger is edging on $3 they've lost the plot. How much were they 20 years ago? I honestly don't know, because I mostly avoid McDonald's like the plague. But I find that an awful lot of laments for "things were cheaper then" are 100% explained by inflation. I'm not going to lie, I'm a fast food junkie at times so I can tell you the cost of a big Mac right off the cuff: 7.99(though if you download the app you can regularly get deals for 5 bucks) and a quick Google search says that in 1996 the big Mac was 2.36...so a five buck increase over nearly 30 years isn't that bad. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Feb 9, 2024 17:56:50 GMT -5
How much were they 20 years ago? I honestly don't know, because I mostly avoid McDonald's like the plague. But I find that an awful lot of laments for "things were cheaper then" are 100% explained by inflation. I'm not going to lie, I'm a fast food junkie at times so I can tell you the cost of a big Mac right off the cuff: 7.99(though if you download the app you can regularly get deals for 5 bucks) and a quick Google search says that in 1996 the big Mac was 2.36...so a five buck increase over nearly 30 years isn't that bad. Likewise I’m a FF junkie, but they are pricing themselves out of business. The advantage of these places is that you don’t have to cook them yourselves. Everyone knows that food tastes 50% better when you don’t have to cook it. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Feb 9, 2024 17:58:41 GMT -5
And it’s not just the price jump from 1996, the price jump is mostly over the last2 years. Even the pack of burgers I buy from Costco has jumped 9 dollars in a few years.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Feb 9, 2024 18:01:27 GMT -5
I'd chalk it up to the fact that at one time fast food as a whole's selling point was it was cheap. That may not be the selling point for every fast food place these days. I don't eat fast food often but when I do 99% of the time it is Taco Bell where I can still eat cheap. For reference (since I am a life long TB junkie) in the mid 90's tacos were .49 and soft tacos were .59. Presently they are 1.19 and 1.39 respectively. While just this week I ate two tacos and a burrito from the value menu for $5. The last time I got a 1/4 pounder value meal a month or so ago it was almost $10. And the other place I occasionally visit, Jack In The Box, I can get two tacos for 1.29. I either get two or three orders of them and am easily full. That's just my two cents.
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Roquefort Raider
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 9, 2024 18:05:22 GMT -5
How much were they 20 years ago? I honestly don't know, because I mostly avoid McDonald's like the plague. But I find that an awful lot of laments for "things were cheaper then" are 100% explained by inflation. I'm not going to lie, I'm a fast food junkie at times so I can tell you the cost of a big Mac right off the cuff: 7.99(though if you download the app you can regularly get deals for 5 bucks) and a quick Google search says that in 1996 the big Mac was 2.36...so a five buck increase over nearly 30 years isn't that bad. The inflation calculator of the Bank of Canada estimates that $2.36 in 1996 should be the equivalent of $4.16 today (in terms of buying power). Of course, price variations aren't equally distributed across the board; comics, for example, haven't budged much since 1995. Cars are way more expensive than they used to, but they're loaded with bells and whistles nowadays... and airplane tickets are much cheaper than in my youth. |
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Post by driver1980 on Feb 9, 2024 18:07:33 GMT -5
I'm not going to lie, I'm a fast food junkie at times so I can tell you the cost of a big Mac right off the cuff: 7.99(though if you download the app you can regularly get deals for 5 bucks) and a quick Google search says that in 1996 the big Mac was 2.36...so a five buck increase over nearly 30 years isn't that bad. Likewise I’m a FF junkie, but they are pricing themselves out of business. The advantage of these places is that you don’t have to cook them yourselves. Everyone knows that food tastes 50% better when you don’t have to cook it. So, that’s why steak tastes better in a pub? |
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Feb 9, 2024 19:11:06 GMT -5
I'd chalk it up to the fact that at one time fast food as a whole's selling point was it was cheap. That may not be the selling point for every fast food place these days. I don't eat fast food often but when I do 99% of the time it is Taco Bell where I can still eat cheap. For reference (since I am a life long TB junkie) in the mid 90's tacos were .49 and soft tacos were .59. Presently they are 1.19 and 1.39 respectively. While just this week I ate two tacos and a burrito from the value menu for $5. The last time I got a 1/4 pounder value meal a month or so ago it was almost $10. And the other place I occasionally visit, Jack In The Box, I can get two tacos for 1.29. I either get two or three orders of them and am easily full. That's just my two cents. Well. there's always the possibility that Taco Bell doesn't have to deal with rising meat prices since what they serve is hard pressed to be called meat, so they are able to keep their prices lower...  -M |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 9, 2024 20:57:15 GMT -5
I'd chalk it up to the fact that at one time fast food as a whole's selling point was it was cheap. That may not be the selling point for every fast food place these days. I don't eat fast food often but when I do 99% of the time it is Taco Bell where I can still eat cheap. For reference (since I am a life long TB junkie) in the mid 90's tacos were .49 and soft tacos were .59. Presently they are 1.19 and 1.39 respectively. While just this week I ate two tacos and a burrito from the value menu for $5. The last time I got a 1/4 pounder value meal a month or so ago it was almost $10. And the other place I occasionally visit, Jack In The Box, I can get two tacos for 1.29. I either get two or three orders of them and am easily full. That's just my two cents. Well. there's always the possibility that Taco Bell doesn't have to deal with rising meat prices since what they serve is hard pressed to be called meat, so they are able to keep their prices lower... Have you seen my dog Rover? He seems to have disappeared! |
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Post by impulse on Feb 9, 2024 22:30:19 GMT -5
The McDonald's thing has been fascinating to watch. It would have been one of the super relevant timely spinoff conversations we'd have had when I was at grad school doing business case analysts. It's fascinating to see them struggle with their brand identity and value prop. It sucks when my kids want Happy Meals though that are now like $5 each. I understand prices have to go up from when I was in college 20 years ago, but when a regular staple McDonald's burger is edging on $3 they've lost the plot. How much were they 20 years ago? I honestly don't know, because I mostly avoid McDonald's like the plague. But I find that an awful lot of laments for "things were cheaper then" are 100% explained by inflation. This is certainly not a comprehensive or controlled study, but anecdotally, a McDouble was a dollar. Now it's almost $4. Inflation is absolutely in play, but not 4x in 20 years. Not that I eat McDonald's terribly often, but when I do, I am struck at how comparatively expensive it has gotten. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Feb 9, 2024 22:31:22 GMT -5
It’s more than inflation.
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Post by impulse on Feb 9, 2024 22:32:19 GMT -5
Likewise I’m a FF junkie, but they are pricing themselves out of business. The advantage of these places is that you don’t have to cook them yourselves. Everyone knows that food tastes 50% better when you don’t have to cook it. So, that’s why steak tastes better in a pub? That and butter. Lots and lots of butter. |
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Post by tartanphantom on Feb 9, 2024 23:41:06 GMT -5
I'm not going to lie, I'm a fast food junkie at times so I can tell you the cost of a big Mac right off the cuff: 7.99(though if you download the app you can regularly get deals for 5 bucks) and a quick Google search says that in 1996 the big Mac was 2.36...so a five buck increase over nearly 30 years isn't that bad. Likewise I’m a FF junkie, but they are pricing themselves out of business. The advantage of these places is that you don’t have to cook them yourselves. Everyone knows that food tastes 50% better when you don’t have to cook it.
Speak for yourself. I love to cook. The kitchen in our house is MY domain. We had lasagna last night, and I'll be making tacos with all the fixings Saturday night... with zero ingredients from Taco Bell or Old El Paso. My tacos don't come from a box.
While I don't have a problem with fast food or dining out for what it is, cooking is practically a religion in most of the Deep South.
the 2 cardinal rules of Southern cooking--
1) Fry everything.
2) if you can't fry it, Grill or slow-smoke it. If all else fails, bake it.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Feb 10, 2024 4:11:47 GMT -5
Likewise I’m a FF junkie, but they are pricing themselves out of business. The advantage of these places is that you don’t have to cook them yourselves. Everyone knows that food tastes 50% better when you don’t have to cook it.
Speak for yourself. I love to cook. (...) Yeah, I agree with this. I like to cook (even though my talents in that regard are modest) and in general tend to like home-cooked food better. In fact, I'd go so far as to flip the original contention and say that food tastes 50% better when it's home-cooked. |
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