So McDonalds is blaming their price gouging

[orangecrush]

Last edited Sat Feb 10, 2024, 11:31 PM - Edit history (1)

On paying workers a wage on the bottom of the sustainable living scale.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/yes-that-big-mac-meal-may-cost-18-but-theres-one-good-reasonfor-it-e9ca2f58

[dutch777]

1. There are things you MUST buy and things you can say "no thanks" to. McDs is the latter and could fix some prices

We complain about the price of McNuggets or whatever else we really don't need, at least not regularly, and yet we keep buying them. If enough of us stop buying things we don't need and think are too expensive, a message will be sent.

[Cheezoholic]

8. The old "want vs need" conversation my grandmother

taught me when deciding on certain things

[Sucha NastyWoman]

24. Of course cheese is a necessity

[Permanut]

28. Only Jarlsberg swiss.

[Sucha NastyWoman]

22. I used to live in a house near McDonald's that had a sign out front that advertised paying $10.50 per hour

It was the kind of sign that had those removable numbers and letters and I kept thinking that I should change the sign to read $15 per hour, which would’ve worked with the numbers they had.

[FarPoint]

2. Spewing the same old rhetoric they whined about before wage increase.

Looking at the big picture....it is NOT due to wage increase...it is simple GREED.

I don't eat fast food any longer...price gouging is over the limit for me...plus, food is more like a vending machine level..

[sellitman]

3. I haven't eaten there in years.

It seems like I made a good decision.

[SergeStorms]

9. I ate there last week...

with my grandchildren (McDonald's REALLY markets to youngsters, damn them!) and before that I'd say it's been a good 15 years or more since I last visited.

Everything tasted sooooooo salty I couldn't eat it. 🤮 My grandchildren asked why I wasn't eating. "I'm not as hungry as I thought I was".

I can't believe I once thought Mickey D's was an acceptable meal. 😳

[republianmushroom]

4. Blame whatever they want, flat price gorging as I see it.

[ratchiweenie]

5. I hadn't been there in years but my son wanted a Big Mac. We pulled in, I looked at the prices and started laughing and

pulled right out. They have got to be kidding. Yes, it's just plain greed. No way is their food worth those price even if they are paying higher wages.

[Emile]

6. So they raise prices to make them more competitive

in the marketplace and it's always the fault of labor.

[redqueen]

7. McDonald's net income for the twelve months ending September 30, 2023 was $8.333B, a 40.93% increase year-over-year.

These guys really want the poor and working class to lose it.

[SergeStorms]

12. Damn minimum wage.

Corporations seem to think profits can rise by 40+% every year.
I know their sales probably suffered a little because of COVID, but 41% is beyond ridiculous.

[ProfessorGAC]

23. The Critical Value There...

...is 40.93%.
Year over year 41% increase in net income? That's an astounding number in a mature I dusty & absolute proof that higher wages are barely involved.
They can't raise wages & make 41% more profit if raising wages is the reason prices are high. The math just doesn't work.

[Evolve Dammit]

10. Passing any wage increases onto the consumer. Corporate protocol 101. View "The Corporation" (documentary)

It won 36 international awards. It may make you feel the need for mind-altering substances after watching. There is humor interjected to keep you from contemplating ending your life, which was welcomed by this viewer...

[niyad]

11. For the same price as some of their combo meals, I can go to my favourite

Asian restaurant, be seated comfortably in a nice dining room, get a complete meal, including soup and eggroll, eat a very nice meal, and have leftovers for at least one, and often two, meals. Oh, and I am supporting a local business. hmmmmm which one to choose???

I occasionally go to Wendy's, but only if I have coupons.

[AllaN01Bear]

14. my fave combo meal at taco bell was originaly 5 dollars , now 11 dollars . plain greed.

[BannonsLiver]

25. Seems like a bit of an exaggeration

And if you’re fitting all that in for $10 or less there’s no tip happening for the staff. Doesn’t really add up tbh. I know DU hates McDonalds but c’mon.

[niyad]

33. Since you do not know me, nor do you know anything about my neighborhood,

or what is available to me, you are hardly in a position to make such a comment. And why would you assume, and assign to me, the role of diner who does not tip? On what evidence do you base that claim? My servers take good care of me, and I take good care of them. Always.

You owe me an apology for your gratuitous insult.

[Puppyjive]

13. So is Subway

I got some coupons for subway and found out the local franchise owners won't honor them. They should not be sending out mass mailings of coupons if the won't honor them.

[Jacson6]

15. Yeah. i don't eat at MickeyD's anymore

I will get a whopper at BK or a cheese burger at The Habit Burger grill. I Get a glass of water and no fries to save a lot of money. I only eat out once a month so it is easy to do.

[GiqueCee]

16. Oh, RIGHT...

... and paying Mickey D's CEO more than $8,000 an hour couldn't possibly affect the price of a Big Mac. Give me a fuckin' break. What ASSHOLES!

[orangecrush]

39. You win

The thread!

[Demobrat]

17. The last time I went to McDonalds, many years ago,

I had some symptoms I won’t go into in case anybody is eating.
Haven’t been back since. Honestly, I don’t know how anyone can stomach their food. I sure can’t.

[AllaN01Bear]

18. hey mcdonalds and others . i remember when u would only cater to college students for part time work

. then you put in a " trainining wage and deliberatly kept that low . and then you added wages for disbled people . i went to taco bell last nite to get a crave box , that went from 5 bucks to 11 bucks . a neihgbour promptly blamed the workers . we wound up getting a frozen pizza , bringing it home and cooking it there . we have been gouged for years . example somone trying to sell a computer like new from the 1980s, eww its been used , i aint paying full price for it.

[Warpy]

19. Wages are a lagging indicator of inflation

and only start to increase when inflation has already occurred. McDs had already increased their menu prices to try to cope with decreased sales during Covid. They're just trying to justify not reducing them now, when they certainly could.

Of course, paying the help adequately was never a part of their business plan and so theyy resent any wage increase.

[Farmer-Rick]

20. I'm blaming my never eating there

In the last 5 years on their overpriced food. $19 for a Big Mac combo meal.... Forget about it. $22 for a 10 piece chicken nugget meal, never. $10 hamburgers and sandwiches and $20 for meals, yikes.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wfla.com/news/national/this-mcdonalds-is-among-most-expensive-in-the-u-s/amp/

[nuxvomica]

21. Yet they still had enough for $1B+ in stock buy-backs

I wonder how the economy would look if stock buy-backs were illegal?

[Voltaire2]

27. We so need substantive reform.

Everything is blocked by the idiocy of the basically fascist Republican Party. I honestly don’t see how this ends.

[multigraincracker]

29. Stock buy backs benefit the big

bosses that are paid in stock options. Make them illegal or tax them at 90%.

[TexasBushwhacker]

38. They used to be. I wish we would go back to that. N/t

[totodeinhere]

26. Don't eat there. Their food is noy only over priced. It is unhealthy.

And I can cook a much tastier and more healthy burger at home for half the price.

[paleotn]

30. Spread over a whole bunch of burgers and fries, it ain't much of an increase

McD’s is full of shit. Increased labor costs are cents per order. Say otherwise? Then show us the math or shut the hell up.

[PatrickforB]

31. In capitalism, corporations like McDonalds run on a legal doctrine that holds shareholder profits above all else.

What this means is that labor costs are routinely cut through automation, through lobbying against any increase in minimum wage, and cutting hours so that even the larger franchises are not required to provide benefits.

They will cut the size and quality of the product as well, but charge the same price.

And they will be responsible, as McDonald's has been, for a lot of deforestation in the Amazon basin in order to 'create' pastureland to raise cattle.

So of course management at McDs will blame workers for their profit gouging, because if they can use the 'outrage' generated among the public over that profit gouging to drive wages back down, then profits can stay the same and they can present miniscule cuts in price and beat their chest about how well they have been 'listening' to their customers.

All without disturbing shareholder profits.

For further knowlege concerning this legal doctrine, reference the late Lynn Stout's book The Myth of Shareholder Value, and the 1919 MI Supreme Court ruling against Henry Ford in favor of the Dodge brothers.

This is why I am always pounding on the need for Congress to legislate a minor change in the rules of corporate governance - if we move from a shareholder is king model to a stakeholder approach, we can force CEOs and other corporate officers to consider the needs of workers, consumers and the environment on an equal basis to shareholder profits.

Think too about the effect this small change would have on truth in news media - almost all of our media outlets are publicly traded corporations, and if we had a stakeholder approach, we could insist in truth in news reporting. Think of what that would do.

[orangecrush]

40. Great post

Thanks for this.

I hope it happens.

[Shermann]

32. We're coming up on Shamrock Shake season

I gave McDonalds a try several years ago on St. Patrick's Day, and the ice cream machine was broken. I don't think I've been back since. I think I've made my point.

[twodogsbarking]

34. McDs is right by Jersey Mike's. Get large fries to have with great subs. Not much else but the fries.

[W_HAMILTON]

35. Of course they are. They aren't going to blame themselves for overcharging their customers to benefit shareholders.

PS - I live in a state that hasn't increased the minimum wage and wages for McDonald's workers are on the low end around the nation and their prices here are still ridiculous. I actually was thinking of ordering breakfast from them earlier and was wondering if they had brought back their breakfast bagels -- they hadn't -- and I checked the price of their hashbrowns after that recent article, and the price was $2.87 for one.

Yeah, fuck that. That's greed on their part and not the fault of workers. McDonald's is a public company, they know we can see their audited financial statements, right? We can compare labor costs over the years as well as their product costs and their profits.

[Initech]

36. How about we blame the fucking CEOs and their ridiculous 9 figure salaries?

They're getting rich while we're getting screwed. I really wonder why we're not rioting in the streets over this crap.

[GenThePerservering]

37. Not sure why adults eat at Micky D's anyway

except in cases of desperation.