McDonald's has been using AI to decide how much you should pay for a Big Mac

[Axeia]

the people working there had a work ethic, they acknowledge your presence [customer] and they actually worked, unlike today when they simply ignore you at the counter for five minutes or so.

Most opt to go to one of the big touch displays to do their order nowadays, saves you the hassle of interacting with anyone.

McDonald's doesn't make food anymore, just money. Haven't eaten there in years because we have places here that cook actual hamburgers for lower prices.

Even the CEO doesn't call it food

You realize that even their fries have no flavor? You're just eating salted deep-fried oil residue.

Depends on where you are, in the US you get their blend of what was it, 17 ingredients?
Other places it's just potatoes fried in oil with some salt.

tbf in my experience the McD fries in the UK/Netherlands are decent and the wraps they sell in the UK are pretty good, almost everything else is rather mediocre or just plain bad though. Ironically the US company does seem to have the worst version of itself in the US, in other regions they have to stick to often higher food standards and often times use more locally grown/raised ingredients.

PS: For a huge disappointment get an "apple pie" at the UK McD. It's not a pie, it's a fritter. It contains one small bite of an apple worth of apple. I got one for free through some special event and I still wanted my money back.

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Always odd to read that people considered McD cheap at any point, that's never been the case here.
It's always been far cheaper here to pop in the supermarket and get a premade sandwich, or if you got access to an oven/microwave and fancy something hot - a frozen pizza or microwave meal.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Its where I go when I am hungry but just can't decide what I really want to eat. I no longer eat any of their burgers they are horrible and tasteless. The only thing I like now are the fries.

The oily cardboard bits they call fries? Gross. You can do better!

I so much more enjoy making fries fresh at home.

$4, 5lb bag of Russet potatoes, peel and slice them up, toss them in a big bowl of water and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours. Dry them off, little bit of oil just to coat them, season them and bake them (or air fryer, this works best in my opinion or you can deep fry them yourself if you want to go that route). Takes a little time, but they always turn out so much better than any fast food joint. Plus, you can get so many fries from a $4, 5lb bag of potatoes and you can cut them to the size you like. Last time I checked $4 might get you a single large fry at a fast food joint.....$4 for one large fry for one person or a few hours of prep and cook time to turn 5lb bag of potatoes into fries for the entire family, plus left overs.

I don't know about you, but I'd much rather make my own fries for $4 and a few hours of my time which will certainly leave me with left over fries I can reheat in the air fryer.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

Depends on where you are, in the US you get their blend of what was it, 17 ingredients?
Other places it's just potatoes fried in oil with some salt.

In the US there's one extra ingredient that doesn't change the flavor, not 14 extra: Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate
US: https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/...ies.html#accordion-c921f9207b-item-283bee7dbd
UK: https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/product/fries-medium.html#accordion-195fbb6d4a-item-fdf905567c

 

[Theinsanegamer]

People are mad about this but no one is forcing anyone to buy Big Macs.

If the price is too high for their customers, the customers go somewhere else and then the prices come back down.

And deciding to never visit McD's again after learning of their dynamic pricing is an option as well. That's how voluntary exchange works. It's voluntary on both sides.


(Sure, people should go to a grocery for sandwich supplies for a better and cheaper "fast food" alternative, but those people aren't their customers.)

I don't ever eat at McDonald's and fast food in general is very rare.

That doesn't mean I can't be pissed at a corporation that has found a new way to screw the consumer. We don't live in bubbles, this will spread to other industries.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

You sound like you own a McDonald’s franchise. “Nobody is forcing you to buy it” is a pretty weak defence of a company using AI to figure out how much more it can squeeze out of customers.

Maybe instead of spending billions on AI pricing schemes, McDonald’s should put some of that money into improving the quality of the food. Charging more for the same increasingly mediocre garbage isn’t innovation — it’s just finding a fancier way to overcharge people.

"Nobody is forcing you to buy" it is literally the basis of free market capitalism: voluntary exchange.

To make it simple for you, that means both sides of a purchase do so willingly because they are getting more value in the trade than not making the trade - which is why the purchase/sale happens.

It amazes me how hard it is for people to understand this most basic fact of how a free economy works.

McDonald's food is gross and I am shocked that people eat it. But if someone wants a Big Mac more than they want X dollars who I am (or you) to stop them?

And why would McDonalds improve their food quality when millions of people pay them to make it as is? Again: gross food, stupid people, but both sides are getting more than they give in the trade.

 

[Axeia]

In the US there's one extra ingredient that doesn't change the flavor, not 14 extra: Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate
US: https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/...ies.html#accordion-c921f9207b-item-283bee7dbd
UK: https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/product/fries-medium.html#accordion-195fbb6d4a-item-fdf905567c

"Natural beef flavoring" would affect the flavor I imagine (and contains a bunch of things).

God knows why they add sodium acid pyrophosphate, supposedly for the color but the fries look fine without it. Just one more thing that might lead to bowel issues.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

"Natural beef flavoring" would affect the flavor I imagine (and contains a bunch of things).

God knows why they add sodium acid pyrophosphate, supposedly for the color but the fries look fine without it. Just one more thing that might lead to bowel issues.

I didn’t catch that ingredient, but it shows that McDonald’s fries internationally taste worse and just 2 fewer ingredients. Apparently the “natural beef flavor” is literally just milk and wheat proteins to replace beef tallow. McDonald’s doesn’t use it in other countries because milk isn’t “vegan” lol: https://eathealthy365.com/explaining-the-beef-flavor-in-mcdonalds-fries/