Kevin Roberts remembers when he could get a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a drink from Five Guys for $10. But that was years ago. When the Virginia high school teacher recently visited the fast-food chain, the food alone without a beverage cost double that amount.
Roberts, 38, now only gets fast food “as a rare treat,” he told CBS MoneyWatch. “Nothing has made me cook at home more than fast-food prices.”
Roberts is hardly alone. Many consumers are expressing frustration at the surge in fast-food prices, which are starting to scare off budget-conscious customers.
A January poll by consulting firm Revenue Management Solutions found that about 25% of people who make under $50,000 were cutting back on fast food, pointing to cost as a concern.
I’m surprised to see all the replies about the McDonalds app and how its actually a great deal.
Most companies are doing this now, and giving free food regularly as an incentive to keep using it.
Why would these companies spend money to keep us using the app, and keep it installed?
The truth is, they make far more off selling your data then they spend giving away food periodically. Look at the permissions the app needs under the guise of “making it easy to tell when you are near a McDonalds so we can start cooking your food!”.
Lemmy is supposed to be better about privacy and such than this.
That’s not the only motive. The other is that if people are in the habit of using the phones and kiosks to place their orders, then that’s less money spent on people stuck on order taking. I’d even speculate that is the primary driver of “discounts in the app”.
For many of the restaurants, I’m actually in favor of tapping in the order, since it’s less likely to screw up getting the order right when I’m tapping it in.
I think this is a case where people might actually prefer the kiosks over the cashiers, since like you said, the kiosk doesn’t vet your order wrong.
There can be multiple reasons to do things, and they can definitely add on new ideas on top 9f old ones when they realize an avenue to make more money.
I’m not even saying noone should use these apps, just be aware of what the cost actually is.
I hope people in general figure out this whole “free” stuff scam soon. Drug dealers have been giving out “testers” for hundreds of years but I guess people just assume they aren’t part of the “easy to deceive” crowd.
Give me a fucking break.