[farnsworth]

I think it's an open secret that McDonalds uses the app to segment customers by price. If you just walk in and order off the normal menu, you pay a lot and they push all the pricier special items on you. If you use the app, you can find surprisingly good deals every time, especially if you can take advantage of 2 for 1s. It's like a totally different menu.

[add-sub-mul-div]

I'm not giving up my phone to them for their bottom tier food.

[neom]

For me, I couldn't easily even if I wanted to, they use country-specific app stores for their app, and I don't live in the country my app store is set to. This is the first app I've encountered using such regional app stores. I'm sure there is a reason they do that, but I can't for the life of me guess it.

[8oclock]

I support you in that, but this really shows that you're just outside of their target market.

Did they lose a customer?

McDonald's, Taco Bell, all of these fast food places which people are mentioning are just jacking prices, well they're already everywhere. It seems to make sense that when you've got total market penetration, the final thing to do is milk your customers for all they've got, and I think that's what we're seeing here.

[Spivak]

Then why are you buying from them in the first place?

[huytersd]

Why do this though from McDonalds point of view? Isn’t it better to continue to be known as the mediocre food stop with good prices than an expensive place with mediocre food? Seems short sighted. Their economies of scale must really mean they have huge margins compared to a mom and pop.

[gtirloni]

Gourmet food has higher margins with same amount of cost or less.

They are pushing the limits until people complain. People complained, they reached the limits.

If your customer or employer isn't complaining slight about your price, you're leaving money on the table.

[add-sub-mul-div]

> Why do this though from McDonalds point of view?

Same as every other org that incentives you to use channels that leak your data. They use it to extract more value from you, whether it's selling your data, buying your data from other vendors to augment their first party data, or a combination of both.

[farnsworth]

To segment your customer base, like any company that offers "basic" and "premium" versions of basically the same thing. In this case, you get some people who walk in, order whatever is on the menu in front of them, then are maybe slightly annoyed by the price but will take out their wallet anyway. On the other side, you have people who are willing to put in a little effort to find the coupons, and buy the more basic menu items and buy the McChicken instead of the McCrispy Chicken Deluxe.

My dark dirty secret, as someone who frequents fast food restaurants, is that McDonalds is... actually not that bad, even good, and at the least it is very consistent and good value (if you use the deals, sometimes even without) and the people who think it's disgusting are just engaging in a little classism and can go home and watch Super Size Me again.

[moate]

So just slip them a little personal data and they’ll knock a few bucks off.

Feels…dystopian.

[me_me_me]

nah the idea is that people who want to pay less will jump few hoops and get the cheaper deal

People who dont care will pay the higher price because they dont care.

They must be making enough money of the people who dont care, to make up for the loss of people who will pick other service

[sphars]

This is how I feel about my Kroger account. Hate that I have to give up privacy to save on groceries

[frognumber]

A lot of personal data. Their app is super-sketchy in terms of permissions.

[kevingadd]

Similarly some chain restaurants gouge first-timers and out-of-towners by having high menu list prices but issuing coupons to locals and regulars constantly. Round Table Pizza did this everywhere I've lived that had a location - their menu prices were absurd, but you'd regularly get 30-50% off coupons in the mail that you could use when ordering online or via the phone, which made it reasonably priced.

[WalterBright]

I never liked the usual "discount for new customers only". Why don't loyal customers get the best deal? Back in the old Zortech days, we gave repeat customers our best prices.

[voisin]

> If you use the app, you can find surprisingly good deals every time, especially if you can take advantage of 2 for 1s.

This is rarely true in Canada anymore.

[switch007]

Shocker. Hike prices but reduce the shock and counteract critics with “deals on the apps!”. Then slowly remove the deals

PR 101