Thank you, I hardly ever go to McDonald's. Fast food is supposed to be fast, cheap and convenient. We predicated so much of our business strategies in the United States on the business models that fast food capitalized on and now McDonald's isn't even cheap and convenient anymore. No, I shouldn't have to go on an app and play games just to get a fast, cheap and convenient meal. That defeats the purpose of the business model. Their food isn't good enough for what they're charging now.
It used to be “fast, cheap good, pick two,” and for fast food, you picked fast and cheap. Now, it’s “fast, cheap, good, pick one, get none, and also go fuck yourself.”
my experience with mcdonalds yesterday was 0 of 3. the 3 car drive thru line took 15 minutes. the burger was lukewarm and the fries undercooked and underslated. the prices were too high for mcdonalds, as we all know.
I went to McDonalds yesterday for the first time in years and ordered the fish sandwich. That and a drink was almost nine dollars, and the sandwich was so small that if it was a burger you’d call it a slider.
I think burger king is actually cheap though... I also found a hack that I'll share since I'm being a skinnylicous diva now a days...
Basically you order in person and get the trio with 3 sandwiches or 2 sandwiches and a drink then use the free large fry coupon code REMEMBER IN PERSON or the app will block you from doing it and it's $6 for 3 sandwiches and a large fry. Actually a good deal I'll do it once in a blue moon now.n
I agree. The only time I would ever get fast food is if I’m on a lunch break and have a half hour to grab something quick, if I’m on my way home from work and feel like grabbing a quick bite. If I’m like planning out my dinner, it’s not gonna be McDonald’s. The convenience was the benefit while getting food that wasn’t as great as other places or you could make at home. That and the low prices, which are no longer low.
The fact that McDondalds want me to take the extra step and use their app is one more step away from convenience. So no thank you. I will not allow you to track my spending, and allow them to dynamically price my meal. Fuck off and fuck them.
I live in a major city and will go to food carts and other options before going to a fast food chain. In no way does this make me better than anyone it’s just I don’t think about eating at McDonalds or any other competitor when I am feeling peckish.
i think they're (ALL OF THEM) are overpricing food (at a discount for people willing who does stuff that gets advertised to them) ... so the companies get money from the advertisement .
I think that's where everything is going these days.
You’re being dramatic, McD was always this way the best deals for going there in 2005 or whatever were the flyer coupons you’d get direct
Mailers or in penny saver/Sunday paper inserts. A real PITA to have them in your wallet or car and remember to actually use them or have them get messed up or lost or whatever. Subway was the same you’d get a txt message deal of the day code that continued to get you $5 footlongs or whatever well into the 2010s. Also — very often you can get great deals not available in the app. During lent the fish filet deals still exist on the store menus but they don’t show up in the app.
McDonalds used to be considered poor people food and predatory via being cheap and easily accessible. Like, let's be real, plenty of people drove on thru and bought that cheap shit without a coupon. Now, you either fuck around on an app to rack up points or you pay out the wazoo.
Not for my family :-/ if we didn’t have those 29 cent hamburger coupons we didn’t go to McDonalds. We were very poor. My recollection however is McDonald’s of that articles era was they were all in on McCafé and completely crushing it against Starbucks at like half the price. I don’t remember the food prices I’m pretty sure they was the $1 mcdouble era when people were paying $5 at five guys.
I’m not tech illiterate, using the app and screens inside is way faster than waiting in line, order on the app and it’s ready when you get there, I don’t see how it’s inconvenient
I'm happy that app usage comes easily to you. I also order from apps from stores and restaurants that I engage with. That said, McDonalds used to be cheap. Now, the common wisdom is that if you want something cheap from McDonald's, you need to find deals and points from the app. I know people who do this and it's stupid to have to put in the effort to get the food at the right time on the right days to afford it. McDonalds food isn't good enough for this amount of effort.
You clearly don't know how the app works, there's no games. It's the fastest easiest way to order, I literally place my order as I walk to the restaurant, pick it up from a window. Much faster than waiting in line stuck behind an old lady taking forever to order.
You don't understand, I think having to shop for discounts and deals and collect points is a freaking game. I almost never go to McDonald's and I'm not going to give them my personal information for the four times of year that I do go. Mcdonald's used to be cheap, decent food and it still tastes cheap to have to jump through hoops to pay a reasonable price for it.
Cool then don't. It's the modern era, an email/phone number is required to do a lot of things or enjoy perks and discounts now. Expecting things to not work that way isn't practical nor is being wary of using those things to gain access.
If you're so paranoid get a proxy phone number and a junk email account. I enjoy the luxury of cheaper more convenient fast food because I am able to navigate this system and it's truly not that difficult nor cumbersome as people make it seem.
Also, earning points for free rewards isn't some new concept, I remember sandwich places were punching cards 30 years ago, you're being decidedly stubborn.
It's the modern era, an email/phone number is required to do a lot of things or enjoy perks and discounts now. Expecting things to not work that way isn't practical nor is being wary of using those things to gain access.
….. honey. That’s literally what they are describing as “the game.” Companies have set it up so that expecting not to have to jump through hoops and give personal data to brokers and advertisers and who knows who else “isn’t practical.” So you play their game, because they set it up that way.
And the absolutely STUNNING last phrase there, my god….”nor is being wary of using those things to gain access.” You are literally describing willful ignorance point blank as if it’s a virtue, and disparaging critical thinking as if it’s frivolous. To gain access.ACCESS. To food from a fast food restaurant, whose business model was famously and fundamentally to make cooked food as accessible as humanly possible to as many people as humanly possible.
You speak of wariness as if it’s a quirk of the ill-adapted rather than a conscious decision of the well-informed. This isn’t like, boogeyman conspiracy theory nonsense. This is a given fact. Experts are pleading with anyone who will listen about the exponentially increasing dangers of AI in exacerbating this process. Interactions with apps like these are actively being used against consumers. Companies are “dynamic pricing” (gouging) based on what they know customers are willing to pay, or your purchasing habits, or your scrolling habits. Something you do on one app or website can be used to build into a data profile that can be used against your best interest in a completely different app or transactional environment. And you know what they’re banking on? People like you who will always choose convenience over risk assessment and critical thinking. People who are willing to play the game. Even though they (purport to) know the game is rigged. And the kicker is… you think the fact that you’re more successful than other people at giving them what they want means you’re winning.
If you're so paranoid get a proxy phone number and a junk email account.
The fact that you believe these are the only ways your data is identified/linked to you…
I enjoy the luxury of cheaper more convenient fast food because I am able to navigate this system and it's truly not that difficult nor cumbersome as people make it seem.
Describing this as a “luxury” is wild. The privilege of getting your extremely overpriced bag of actual junk faster than some little old lady.
You realize the entire point of fast food restaurants is that they were never supposed to be considered a luxury, right? You realize that describing getting fast food fast and (negligibly) cheap(er than regular price but still ridiculously inflated) in 2026 as a “luxury” exemplifies how shitty things have gotten for the average person, right?
Also, earning points for free rewards isn't some new concept, I remember sandwich places were punching cards 30 years ago, you're being decidedly stubborn.
You know what carrying around and punching a card didn’t require? A phone worth hundreds of dollars which companies deliberately slow down and make incompatible with the apps so you have to get new ones long before you should. Routine updates. Four kinds of personal identifying information.
I never had to download an update for my punch cards. My wallet has never been remotely disabled by the company that sold it to me. The McDonald’s cashier never asked me for my birth date when I handed it to them.
I find this especially troubling from McDonald’s. Like they created fast food and specifically promoted it as still tasty and accessible. And until like ten years ago it still was.
No, you're being defensive because I don't feel compelled to jump through more hoops like get a proxy phone to order reasonably priced fast food that I eat four times a year from an establishment that I lost respect for many years ago. I'm not here to try to make you justify your choices and I also don't think an app that farms my data compares to the punch card that my local ice cream shop gives me.
I'm going to agree to disagree with you. The quality of this food does not justify the effort they want me to put forth in order to obtain it at a reasonable price.
All I know is, the $1 any size drink, times 2, every fifteen minutes, is way cheaper than buying a bottled soda from the gas station. And probably every month, I have enough points for a free Quarter pounder with cheese.
Fair enough, not wanting to participate for what you get is perfectly understandable.
But I will die on the hill that it's still far more accessible than I feel like you're making it for anyone younger than a baby boomer. The additional hoops are not required, just a workaround for a concern I deem null. I don't think sharing data is something to be worried about, it's just head counting and number crunching not invasion of privacy.
I use apps for stores that I frequent. I definitely do what you do with the McDonald's app but with the bath and body works app. It really is just that rare that I go to McDonald's but if I see a good sale at bath& body works, I'll make a trip. I'm a nearly middle-aged millennial and I just find it disappointing that I would have to do that for a fast food place that used to be consistently cheap. I know I'm not the only one because their sales are dropping. I'm old enough to remember when McDonald's used to be poor people food LOL
I don't think sharing data is something to be worried about, it's just head counting and number crunching not invasion of privacy
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Who do you think is counting heads? What numbers do you think they are crunching? And, most importantly… what do you think they are doing with the results?
Not an invasion of privacy? You think keeping track of how long you are looking at a sex toy advertisement on a social media app or a pregnancy test at a superstore isn’t an invasion of privacy? You think companies violating contracts in order to sell their companies, along with your genetic information, to brokers and third parties isn’t a violation of privacy? You think this information isn’t being used to influence what you see on your phone, how you spend your money, and even your personal opinions about political, social, and cultural issues?
And by the way, if you think you’re immune to that, you’re directly admitting to being even more susceptible to it. Because those who understand how these systems work understand that everyone is vulnerable to it. Even if they know they’re not immune and often can’t avoid it, at least they understand what it is they’re up even up against.
We are LONG past this just being an issue of companies measuring metrics.
We are talking about data brokering for the purposes of (at best) directly manipulating consumers.
First, I still get notifications when you reply right before you block me.
Second, tell me you know even less about drugs than you do about this (you sound like a sheltered high school kid). And no, that’s not an indication or confirmation that I do drugs, and trying to act as if it is will only prove my point.
Third (and again), you’re framing willful ignorance as virtue and critical thinking as frivolous/inane. The irony is astounding. And terrifying in its ubiquity. Because you’re ignorant enough to actually put it in writing, which most people are self-aware or well-informed enough not to do, but you’re representing the vast majority of consumers in your justifications and consumer habits.
Because McDonalds doesn't have the logistical capabilities to make online ordering work the way that everyone is trying to convince me that it does. I've ordered McDonald's from the app exactly once for somebody else and they gave me half the food and when I pulled over to check I still had to go into the restaurant and claim the other half of the food and I still had to wait. And this wasn't a ghetto McDonald's.
I don't get where these people are saying that it saves them time. I would have spent the same amount of time in the Drive-Thru making the order and the same amount of time with waiting. If anything, it made things even more inconvenient for me.
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u/Anoninemonie 5d ago
Thank you, I hardly ever go to McDonald's. Fast food is supposed to be fast, cheap and convenient. We predicated so much of our business strategies in the United States on the business models that fast food capitalized on and now McDonald's isn't even cheap and convenient anymore. No, I shouldn't have to go on an app and play games just to get a fast, cheap and convenient meal. That defeats the purpose of the business model. Their food isn't good enough for what they're charging now.