McDonald's to extend $5 value meal in most markets as diners return

Hey Americans, does it work the same down there as it does up here where the McDonald’s menu is a colossal ripoff unless you bring coupons, which are ubiquitous, that bring prices down by about 50%?

Are they basically creating two price tags: for those who do and don’t really care enough? Ie. we’ll take your money if you’re fine paying a whole lot more for a meal. Otherwise here it is for half off.

Not directly related to the article, but I decided to have a look at their Privacy Policy. Lots of outs for the company. Also, your e-mail address is not regarded 'personal information' by MickeyD..

6. Use of Cookies and Other Technology > [...]McDonald’s does not currently take actions to respond to Do Not Track signals because a uniform technological standard has not yet been developed.[...]

8. Security > [...] However, the collection, transmission and storage of information can never be guaranteed to be completely secure. Please take steps to secure your access credentials such as login name and password, and do not share them with anyone.[...]

12. Recent Changes > [...] We do not disclose personal information collected in connection with the MyMcDonald’s Rewards program to data brokers. We may disclose certain identifiers such as email addresses and pseudonymized identifiers, information about the use of our online services, and inferences drawn about you to our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Under certain state laws, this may be considered a sale of personal information for consideration. We may also process and share this information for targeted advertising.[...]

Source: https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/privacy.html

I think a few chains have realised they've taken the rip-off increases too far.

In the UK for example, Pret has brought back its £1 filter coffee (a staple of many years up until the pandemic/shortly after. But still overpriced as it tastes disgusting). Perhaps they also realised raising their croissants 60% was too much, and have reduced it down to only a 30% increase. A competitor, Greggs, has been killing them with new stores opening weekly

I can't keep up with McDonald's pricing but I know the value items such as a cheeseburger and double cheeseburger (£2.29) never went away. But they've made some big increases in eg mcflurry (regular size used to be £1, now something like £2.40)

Perhaps some companies must be feeling the pinch, or at least, being crushed by competition

Oh this is interesting. I wasn’t aware Value Meal was a thing but I’m glad they kept their value sandwiches always available. I have never seen them advertise the value line so I assume they’re not that profitable compared to say a QP or a Big Mac.

weight loss drugs should also mean smaller meals.