Good. They used to give me 2 sauces for my 4 piece nuggets. What a waste.

How am I supposed to dip 10 McNuggets into just 2 tiny containers of honey?

This is weak sauce.

The McDonalds in SoCal have been doing this for a couple of years now. 90% of the time the drive thru person will give you whatever you ask for. I have been stocking up on BBQ sauce and Jalapeno relish for the upcoming "un-pleasantness".

Tens cents isn't too bad. Mine have been charging like 20 for extra nugget sauces. I like sweet and sour for my fries. Most the time if I go through drive and don't ask for extra until the window they just give them to me for free.

Well at least I can still refill my ketchup and mayo bottles for free.

This has been the policy at our local McDonalds for several years already.

Fast food restaurants operate on the slimmest of profit margins. Really. They're making cents per item. Something that seems stupid or little, like sauce or no ice in your drink can change that order from a profit to a loss.

It looks cheap, but so does going to a nice steakhouse, ordering a $40 steak and being told that sides will be extra. I don't begrudge a McDonald's franchisee their profits.

I like chicken fries anyway. With a side of french fries and apple fries. and a fry shake. fry fry fry fry blah!

This is old news in Los Angeles. McDonald's has been sauce rationing for years here. However, I've never seen it posted on the door/window before.

They use a similar sign in L.A., but more gramatically correct. It is hidden by the sauce dispensor behind the counter, mostly it seems as a reminder to employees.

I wonder what the "sauce asked" quantity was to reach the the tipping point for them to post this notice? How much sauce can one person carry?

I've seen this for mean years - in which I think it depends on local stores if they want to do it or not.

For example - I know my local Wendy's does this - but if I go though the drive-thru and ask for the extra sauce as I get my order and leaving, they will normally throw it in there without charging me.

Sounds about right. I've been to McDonalds (about 10 years ago, haven't eaten there in many years) that operate this way. They explained, "you can have x sauces with your nuggets, but each additional is $.10". x was usually 2, as I always ordered the 10 piece, or 2x 4 pieces, which was periodically on "insanely cheap" special sales, and thus the cheapest per-nugget option on the menu.

The grammar is fairly ass, but at least its free of typos.

This has been the case for as long as I can remember at many LA area McDonald's. I remember in college many friends asking for extra sauce to stockpile at home, so I can't really blame them.

@Rippleeffect:
Same here, I don't feel the need to slather my nuggets with sauce so this has never been an issue.

Wonder if who ever made up the sign is a MGMT (the band) fan?

Odd how its set off at the end after already saying it was from management.

I used to work at McDonalds back in high school ('98-2000) and we had this policy then. Best way around it is to pay, then when you receive the food ask for the extra sauce, most, if not all cashiers will not want to take the added time to ring up a $.10 sauce charge. Works especially well when you pick up your food at the drive thru.

ludwigk @ludwigk: ...but at least its free of typos.

When complaining about grammar, it's best to keep yours correct. (See it's vs. its.)

So, is this an official mcdonald's thing or is this the local manager deciding and printing it up... i mean, usually they've got like, a picture of the Hamburglar on there or something. I think people understand that in recessionary times you just can't go doling out hot mustard sauce like so many bailout dollars, but a little consistency would be swell.

They have been doing this here(Corpus Christi, TX) since I was in high school 1999. But it was different amounts. 4 got 1(had to ask), 6 got 2, 12 got 4, and the 20 got 6. But we actual have a plastic sign .

@corinthos
asking at the window would still get you charged. And paying with a twenty for 10cents would get you ones, pennies and dimes for change.

Can i get like 1/2 of one sauce and 1/2 of another?

10 cents is actually cheap. For years they charged a quarter. Then in the last year or so they went free. I love the sweet and sour and get it every time to put on my burger, even if they charge me.

Considering how regularly they screw up my order, without so much as a "Sorry bout that", this will be just another reason for me not to eat at the Poison Arches.

Thanks Consumerist!

People still eat at McDonalds?

@banderlin: I guess you don't get any now... 4 pieces isn't on the list.

@johnfrank: Old news in Chicagoland too. This was the policy when I worked at a McDonald's in the mid-nineties.

@snoop-blog: When will they have burger fries?

I have to agree with their sauciness. Those little containers are expensive and wasteful, and some people end up with dozens of packets in their refrigerator. Now if they ever did that at Taco Bell I'd be screwed. I need at least 2 per taco.

I have seen signs like this for years. Its nothing new. Except around these parts they charge 50 cents for each extra sauce.

@ArgusRun: In Europe you have to ask for ice in your drink...[or at least everywhere I went]. I wouldn't consider that the breaking point of coming out in a loss.

What's the mark up on that $0.10 package of sauce? or $0.20 as another commenter said?

Nothing to do with any recession. Many independent operators charge for extra sauce or for sauce that doesn't go with the menu item you selected (BBQ w/FF for example).

Damn, I didn't know the period could go on the inside of parentheses. Damn you English! DAMN YOU!

I don't expect stuff for free,but dammit, I like two hot mustard and a barbecue with my 10 piece.Since I like it and they don't want to meet my needs,then I will just find another dish to fill that rumbling void.

BTW- They already cured my McRib addiction with their hide and seek "here for a limited time" (because it meets McD's needs at the moment),BS . Haven't had one in years.

Huge companies suck.

@outinthedark: I agree...controlling the costs to the infinitly small level with slim margins is important. However, I think the sign should point inward. Mostly, its employees that are the biggest offenders. I was at McDs yesterday and got like 20 packets of ketchup to my one medium fry...

@tande04: i was thinking the same thing! Now i have an "Electric Feel" ear worm going.

Hmm, my family was charged for mayo at a McDonalds here...

Just go to Jack in the Box instead. They have ranch. And when you ask for it with your medium fries, they give you like ten handfuls of little ranches. It's awesome.

The local Chic fil'a does this and I find it hideously annoying.

@ArgusRun: I find the claim that ice is a big deal to them interesting. I've read that soda is one of the most profitable items, because it only takes 7 cents of syrup or so to make a $1.50 large drink. Add on a trivial amount of money for a little carbon dioxide and municipal water, and that's how a soda fountain works. Does corporate buy the syrup at low prices, then resell it to local chains at a huge margin? Or is soda meant to compensate for loss leaders in the store?

@lightaugust: Didn't they drop hamburglar years ago because he was teaching kids it was ok to steal?

Nothing like making things look even worse than they really are by acting like stuff that's been going on for a decade JUST started.

Maybe this is a good thing, people might stop eating disgusting fast food on the principle of that 10 cents...?

The best part of this: !MGMT!

Talk about passive aggressive notes!

This wouldn't be an issue if they'd stop giving a ketchup packet per fry...

Hey, at least there's not an extra charge for the "secret" sauce.

@Rippleeffect: I always get honey with my nuggets anyway, instead of their corn-syrup sauces.

@busrider: Yay! another person that eats them with honey. I thought I was the only one O_O

@Rippleeffect:

Same in my area.
And I am all for it.
If someone wants that many packages of corn-syrup based glop to put on their food then why shouldn't they pay for it?

I don't want to subsidize their gluttony by having everything on the menu go up so somebody can have more sauce.

Pay for what you eat.

@TVarmy: Supposed to compensate the loss leaders.

1 sauce is not enough for a 6 piece nugget.
It was barely enough to slather on a southern style chicken sandwich (which doesn't include a "sauce of choice" now anyway).

All of this used to concern me until I spent a week alternating between hugging the toilet and sitting on it this past January after eating a chicken sandwich. All three of us who ate one was sick for days. Haven't been to one since. By not eating there again it may have been the healthiest occurance of e-coli ever.

@JoseRZ: I think you misread...his local McD's is charging $0.20 not him paying for $0.10 with a 20...sounds as if you were one of the asshats that would give someone change like that.

I have asked at the window as well and have not gotten charged so I believe you are mistaken. Not all locations are as the one you worked at 2 decades ago.