Here's Joe's reaction:
I'm a resident of Chicago's northwest suburbs and have now ran into atleast 2 McDonald's where the dollar menu no longer includes the Double Cheeseburger or McChicken Sandwich. Both of the items are now priced at $1.19. I was curious if anyone else has had this occur near them.
Personally, I'm mildly glad of it. My lack of self control in eating fast food was strictly for those two items. Now that they've raised the price, no way am I going to mentally justify eating that food.
What do you think? Will an extra few cents make a difference in your consumption of fast food?
(Photo: Ben Popken )
]]>@stanner: I know our local Burger King in Monroeville is now offering a $1 double cheeser...the McDonald's version has been $1.29 for some time now.
I defect!
]]>Maybe now the regular cheesburger will get some love. Two regulars aren't much more damaging together than ONE double burger, while being more filling. And if many folks are like me, you're not just going to settle for one double cheeser at the [dying] $1 price point.
Thing is, for the longest time a double cheeseburger was $1, and a regular cheesburger could be $1.09 or higher. I fully expect the regular hamburger and regular cheeseburger to represent future Dollar Menunaires.
]]>And just recently, like a few weeks ago, Wendy's brought back the $.99 Doublestack. They used to have that, then raised it to $1.50, then gone. Now it's back at .99
Guess they know the economy is tight and they want to keep us fat.
]]>@corbyz: Oh yeah, it adds up. Of course if THAT adds up, then you are using WAY too much gas.
$.19 is $.19, it doesn't matter what it's purchasing. The point is, McDonald's has had this item on the $1 menu (most places) for a long time. Even as it disappears from the $1 menu, they are still advertising it as being there. I saw a commercial for it during Heroes. Sounds like a bait-and-switch scheme to me. I don't think people are so upset about $.19 as they are about the principle of the increase.
]]>In NYC the double cheese burger is like 3 dollars
]]>If you order a double hamburger, with cheese, it is on the $1 menu. It comes in a silver foil wrapper. For the life of me, I cannot figure out what the $.19 difference is between the two.
]]>Game Over. The terrorists have won.
]]>Fact is, they can do what they want and you can either buy it or not. If they all of the sudden see their sales drop, you'll see them bring back the old prices. However, you also have a choice to simply buy some ground beef, make it into patties and cook them. you can then do what McD's does anyway which is to freeze them and reheat them, slap a cheap piece of cheese along with mustard, ketchup and pickles on a bun and you're good to go for about $.40 per sammich.
]]>When I saw that headline, for a second there I thought I was reading The Onion.
]]>What's even better is that they oversalt both sheets of meat. At least when they did that on the single slab, it wasn't nearly as much salt.
The fries from Wendy's at least used to be really good, but lately they've been old and chewy.
]]>The small fry bag isn't even half full!
I wonder if anyone has done a study of the amazing fry shrink ray.
]]>This is why McD is going to the coffee thing and other high-end strategies like angus burgers and bottled drinks. Same or less labor, but higher prices.
$$$
]]>But, compared to the $7 burger I had last night at a restaurant, $1.19 seems like a pretty good deal to me....
]]>As for the double cheese.. It's kind of a loss. It means my former tradition of 4.20 on 4.20 4 doublecheese burgers is alas... dead
]]>and i have seen like $2.50 doubles in st. louis on tour in my old band. everything varies (in new mexico they have green chili double cheeseburgers!)
the reason for not allowing the dollar menu in late shifts is because if you are some drunk asshat coming through and ordering 15 doubles at 2am, when 2-3 people are working in the whole store, it backs the drivethru out to the street.
/insight
//anon because, while my job sucks, i still need it
Wendys, here in MA, just released a double-cheeseburger-supreme (or something like that) for $1. Comes to, I think, $1.09 or $1.13 after tax.
Wendys has better burgers anyway, IMO. Plus, they don't look like they've been dropped and stepped on.
We notice the $1 Jr Whopper/no cheese at BK is a great burger and is still $1, at least around here.
Sure, they all want to discreetly get away from the $1 menus, but I say shop from the $1 menu where it's still available. Keep the $1 option on the menu!!
]]>They must be running some test market studies to see what they can get away with to alter their menu. They want to see if it annoys their core market. I bet if people avoid the stores with the new menu and the traffic drops, they will not drop the double cheesburger from the dollar menu at other stores. Only a thought.
]]>@Juncti:
I don't care much for McD's at all,but the $1 sweet tea is awesome! That's quite a value,and it's good tea also.
It's not the best thing to drink when traveling though. That's a big old drink.
Jesus I'm cheap. Live long and frugal.
]]>I live on the IL/WI border, and we too have to suffer with $1.19 double cheeseburgers. They replaced it with double hamburgers. The patties are SO thin! So they take off the best thing -cheese- and replace it w/ a regular hamburger w/ paper thin patties...this is so wrong. I wanted a double cheeseburger and got crap. It didn't even make me feel better after eating it. I felt dirty and bad.
McChicken so far is $1..but we'll see just how long that lasts...bastards.
]]>Changing from $1 to $1.19?
It's been £1.19 for years in the UK.
]]>Whats sad is they're still running that ad for "what can i got for this?" And at the end the guy runs off some script about a double cheese burger.
]]>@DashTheHand: Oh yea. Five Guys is awesome. Their double cheesebuger and cajun fries beat just about any other burger chain.
]]>It's straight B.S.
]]>@Juncti: $1 will still get you two apple pies at most McD locations. While they aren't too good for you, it's not a bad deal considering that one is $0.95.
Through the DC area, I've noticed that the dollar menu has not changed at all yet. We still have McChickens and double cheeseburgers and everything. Why don't they just get over it already and rename it the value menu? Put crap on there that is $1.25, I don't think people really care that much.
]]>@csdiego: Gosh, cheap cheeseburgers are amazing. This summer all the local McDonalds were offering cheeseburgers for .59 each.
They've brought much belly-filling happiness to me, and putting-the-kids-through-college for my cardiologist.
]]>I've seen differences in dollar menus between McDonalds before. I've made the trip from Portland, OR to eastern WA a few times, and the McDonalds along the highway have a much more limited dollar menu. Part of that is supply and demand, but part of it is that it costs more to get food to the middle of nowhere, even right along a highway.
At the airport, though? That's just plain gouging. Or supply/demand. But I'd be willing to bet they could come up with more burgers.
]]>My local wendys has jr bacon burgers for 1.29 but all the commercials say 99 cents. All of them at 1.29 around here.
]]>Will they still be showing those stupid commercials of that idiot walking around trying to see what he can get for a dollar that they play about 15 times during a football game?
]]>McDonalds: Fries / Fish Samich
Burger King or Carl's Jr/Hardee's: Burgers
Wendy's: Frosty
But there are better places to go if they are available in your area, though for a more expensive price. My recent favorite is Five Guys Burgers n Fries.
]]>@SudhamayiKabong: Ah, after a while, you actually start to crave the film...
]]>In Missouri, McDonald's still has the $1 Double Cheeseburger at some of it's locations. Oddly enough, some of these locations didn't even have it back when the event started.
]]>To quote another: "Short answer: No. Long answer "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo."
]]>If I order the 7 layer burrito from Del Taco, I need to ask them for no sour cream.
Del Taco, aside from the veggie works burrito, also has nice bean tacos, and the spicy jack quesadilla isn't bad either with lots of el scorcho sauce.
]]>Before the price change = 0/year
After the price change = 0/year
Yup, the price doesn't matter to me on this one.
]]>@snoop-blog: The dog LOVES those jr bacons. She'll woof incessantly in the car if she sees a Wendy's. No onions though....
]]>"I want to open my own McDonald's and not participate in anything. I want to be a stubborn McDonald's owner. 'Cheeseburgers? Nope! We got spaghetti! And blankets! But we are not affiliated with that clown. He attracts too many children."
]]>None.
]]>Also disappointing is that I can no longer get a really cheap dinner at Taco Bell. Their value menu now has mostly stuff I dont like, before I could had a lot more choices that were their normal products, now its stuff specially made to be cheap.
Oh well. Eating at home is cheaper anyway.
]]>But now that I found a del taco net by, I can grab some macho tacos and a churro and feel dandy post consumption. I found that after some age, maybe 26 or so, my body established this dining barometer which divides foods into two categories: foods that make me feel like death after eating them, and everything else, which is fair game to eat .
]]>Not that I foresee ramping up my McDonald's consumption anytime soon. I only eat McDonald's when I'm on the road, and then 80% of the time only if it's breakfast.
]]>There are some McDs around here (Northern Caliifornia) that have them at as much as $1.50. There are also some that still have the Sweet Tea at .99 while others have it at more than $2.00. Prices and participation may vary indeed.....
]]>Still the best deal in fast food. Not sure why I like the way they taste, but I do. Mmmm....
]]>Just what my local McDonalds says. Take it with a grain of salt.
]]>I don't understand how anyone can eat this crap... whether we're talking McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, or whatever.
Pretty much the only genuine fast food I will eat is a veggie works burrito from Del Taco. The next closest thing to fast food I eat is stuff like Chipotle or Pei Wei.
]]>@DashTheHand: well, moreso than onions and pickles, anyway.
]]>I've not been back since they did away with the Cajun McChicken.
]]>Thank goodness I stopped eating at fast food chains like this.
]]>Pretty soon the space that is the $1 menu is just going to read.
$1 will get you 70% of the way to the following items.
]]>The Mcdonalds I used to go to was pretty shady, they would make sure the single cheeseburger was in plain sight on the menu, but the 99 cent double cheeseburger was located above the menu board itself, making it very easy to miss it with a quick scan of the menu. They got me once those punks!.
]]>One thing I noticed this weekend is that McDonalds quietly changed the name of their Dollar menu to the "McValue Menu".
]]>oh stop your yacking.. $1 for a double cheeseburger is an insane deal.. I dont even know how they could keep doing it...
People these days just don't want to pay for anything...
Start eating healthy anyways, grab yourself some fruits and vegetables...
]]>@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->: Thirded. Can't beat the spicy chicken, but however my local Wendy's is selling jr bacon's for $.99. I wonder if the sale has anything to do with McDonalds removing items off their dollar menu.
]]>I'd rather have Wendy's. The extra patty hardly makes up for my lust of bacon and lettuce on a sandwich. It's understandable that they're changing this though, I did enjoy a dollar double cheese when I was a college student.
]]>I'd rather have Jack in the Box. The one's local to home/work are clean and the food is fresh.
]]>Somehow, I'm not all that optimistic that this development will drive most regular McD's customers to turn to healthy foods prepared at home...
]]>