Attention Entrepreneurs: Amazing Money-Making Opportunity at McDonalds!
One of America's fast-food supersleuths, Carlo Gesualdo, has broke open a secret about McDonalds: the McChicken Value Meal is a scam! At the franchise he visited in Edmond, Oklahoma, a McChicken Value Meal costs $4.09, but the sandwich, drink, and fries—the same items in said Value Meal—cost only $3.49 total. In other words, the Value Meal costs 60¢ more than the individual components!
This is a HUGE boon to the enterprising: just buy up as many McChicken value meal components at the earliest opportunity, then package and sell your own assembled McChicken Value Meals for $3.99—reaping a profit of a dime fifty cents per sale. That's PURE PROFIT.
You can thank us later, when you dive onto your dime fifty cent piece-covered bed.
(Photo: Neil Cummings)
Carrie McLaren & Jason Torchinsky are coeditors of Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture. In previous lives, they worked together on the hopelessly obscure and now defunct Stay Free! magazine .
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Comments:
So...The Value Meal is a lie?
But seriously, I once got into an argument at Baja Fresh w/the pimple face behind the counter. Tacos were $.98. A three taco deal was $2.99. The kid could not grasp that it was two cents cheaper to purchase thee individual tacos than a three taco "deal". I had to ring up THREE ORDERS to save $.05.
This won't hold at every McDonald's. Prices vary quite a bit from store to store. It does show it pays to do the math though-at my old McD's, a 10-piece mcnuggets cost more than a 4 piece+6 piece, for example.
I'm guessing this is a temporary thing, because they've got all drink sizes on Sale for $1. So $1 McChicken, $1, Drink, and $1.49 Fry. They just didn't lower the value meal price when the drinks went on sale?
Local McDonald's: 12 piece chicken nugget $4.09. 4 piece chicken nugget from the value menu $0.99. Three 4 piece chicken nuggets from the value menu $2.97.
As everyone said about the nuggest already, Mcdonald's isn't known for the best pricing...
When I worked at a Taco Bell in high school the "3 taco supremes + large drink" combo meal cost about 30 cents more than just the individual items ordered separately.
Is it possible that the sandwich by itself was on a promotion making it cheaper than the value meal?
I've seen this happen in grocery stores and places like target. Larger item should be less since bulk, but with sale promotion on smaller item, it's cheaper to buy 2 or more smaller items.
@WearingBlue4BillyMays_GitEmSteveDave:
Wouldn't some places just charge it as a combo meal? Like mentioned in this post, if you bought the sandwich, fries and drink by itself, the cashier might just put it in as a combo.
Although, i've always noticed the reciept usually breaks down the combo to individual prices anyhow...
@Bob Wier: Methinks they got confused as to which numbers they were comparing...McDonald's "value meal" price - your price = a dime.
just buy up as many McChicken value meal components at the earliest opportunity, then package and sell your own assembled McChicken Value Meals for $3.99-reaping a profit of a dime per sale.
This reminds me of living in Chicago, where I once saw a street guy trying to sell Kentucky Fried Chicken sandwiches to commuters on the Western Av exit ramp of the Eisenhower.
Innovative, yet I suspect not very succesful.
@Aesteval: God I was just going to complain about the same thing. They took the 4-piece mcnuggets off of the dollar menu here for some reason, but when they were doing it it cost .99 cents for a 4-piece, but 3 bucks for a 6-piece, two bucks more. The two extra nuggets in the 6-piece cost the same as 2 4-pieces off the dollar menu. For the cost of one nugget I could buy 4 nuggets.
@korybing: It was actually the McDonald's worker at the register who first pointed out to me that buying two dollar menu McNuggets was a better deal! I appreciated her honesty.
@rpm773:
That used to be a very popular location for the smash & grab purse snatchings.
That's where a guy smashes a car window & grabs a woman's purse off the seat.
Maybe he was the setup guy for that!
@Coles_Law: Yeah, we took that as a given (which is why we mentioned the particular franchise). Probably should have stated it outright in the post, though.
I dunno, but do people still eat this crap? There is absolutely no nutritional content in fast food.
@pkoutoul: What was wrong with this comment, exactly? I hashed it out and the commenter was only pointing out the math error....
Something's not right. All three items should end in a 9¢, unless you're talking a small drink and fries off the dollar menu for $1 each. It should add up to something ending in 7¢.
@nforcer: I think comments by text should be banned- they're impossible to read and usually aren't worth the trouble to decipher.
Prices DO vary depending on whether it's a company store or a franchise, but for the longest time I'd usually order a Big Mac, a Quarter Pounder with Cheese, a fries and a drink.
The Big Mac and the Quarter Pounder with cheese at the time were the same price. Yet the Quarter Pounder MEAL was $0.50 more expensive than the Big Mac Meal (the Big Mac Meal was cheaper than the components, the QP Meal was not). Why? Because the Quarter Pounder meal was at the time the single most popular of them all...they knew that most people didn't do the math (especially when in a rush and at the drive-in...if you're too lazy to get out of your car, you're too lazy to pull out a calculator at the menu).
@SgtMajorFragg: Really? Many doctors would disagree with you. Documentary film makers who ply their trade on producing movies w/no facts to make a $$ would agree with you.
@JGKojak: Here's a quick tidbit, that little A after the comment leads to an explanation of what happened to that guy's comment. There are times on Consumerist when a comment is rude, offensive or abusive and instead of deleting the comment, they remove all the vowels from it.
@JGKojak: Perhaps you don't realize this comment was disemvowelled. It was originally posted in clear, easy-to-read English, but The Consumerist believed it to be inappropriate and took all the vowels out. nforcer was asking Consumerist why it was inappropriate, as it was simply pointing out the math error in the text (albeit a little rudely).
@SgtMajorFragg: So no protein or carbohydrates? Really?
They may be loaded with fat and carcinogens, and anything good in them might be far outweighed by the bad, but it's inaccurate to say they have absolutely no nutiritional content.
@WearingBlue4BillyMays_GitEmSteveDave: Your math is a bit screwey. You mean:
Tacos were $.98. A three taco deal was $2.99. The kid could not grasp that it was FIVE cents cheaper to purchase thee individual tacos than a three taco "deal". I had to ring up THREE ORDERS to save $.05.
And, why did you need 3 orders? Couldn't you ask for 1 taco, 1 taco, and 1 taco? "Just keep pressing the taco button. Ok What's my total?".
@katstermonster: These types of screw-ups alternatively make me freak out, and make me love consumerist for feeling homegrown.
@SgtMajorFragg: do people still eat this crap?
It caught me by surprise, too. I just assumed nobody, anywhere, was eating any fast food anymore.
I saw this at a Dunkin Donuts in one of the terminals at JFK. One donut 89 cents, half a dozen $5.99. I tried explaining the pricing to the Indian gal who rang me up but she couldn't fathom it at all. Since I had only bought four it didn't matter but I told her to tell the manager to stop cheating people.
Here is an inconsistency that bugs me at value menus -- for example, let's say upgrading one sandwich to a value meal might be 69 cents but for the sandwich right next to it on the menu it is $1.09 for the same upgrade. I've particularly noticed this at McDonalds and Wendys.
I wonder which edmond location he went to... I live in edmond and im just curious.
@socalrob:
I see this when things *aren't* on sale. They're trying to take advantage of people automatically thinking "bulk = cheaper"
At the pizza shop near where I used to go to school, 2 slices of French Fry topped pizza (yes I like french fries on my pizza, and obviously other people there did too or they wouldn't have it as a topping) cost 25 cents more than 2 slices of pizza with a side of Fries. You got more fries as a side than on the pizza so by getting them separately, I saved money and got a side of fries.
I'll let you in on my BK secret. Order the whopper sandwich alone and the "value" fries and "value" soda off the dollar menu. It comes out to roughly $3 cheaper than the whopper meal.
In theory you get slightly less fries and 16oz soda instead of a 21oz, but I don't think the difference adds up to $3. Plus I'm not convinced the value fry is actually less fries than the normal size. I think the containers are deceptive.
@korybing: A McD's around here finally put the 4-pc McNug on the menu, but they won't give you any sauces.
Potatoes on pizza is really good. I used to go to this place in georgia that had potato skin pizza. It was fucking incredible.
Huh. maybe I'm lucky here, but they have a McChicken meal for $2.99. Sandwich, small fries, small drink. Much cheaper than individual items.
@MaytagRepairman: Can't vouch for Wendys although I would assume it's the same, but at McDonalds they have a larger profit margin on the slower moving items. The need for an inflated profit margin is removed if you buy fries and a drink, as your 69 cent upgrade only costs the store 6 cents including labor.
Bigger sellers are charged a premium for the upgrade in order to make a decent profit, since items on the value menu are either loss leaders or break even products. (ex McDs Manager)
@Hooray4Zoidberg: Plus if you eat in you can get a free refil on your drink anyways (in most places I've been to at least, all the BK's around here are self serve drink fountains.)
UMMMMMMM, wouldn't that be a profit of 50 cents. 3.99 - 3.49 = .50