It doesn't make sense, especially since the decision to give you a smaller size soda than you asked for meant less profit for them.

I don't quite understand their problem with just giving a large drink as a large drink. Surely, not everyone orders soda or powerade in the morning? It can't be that great of a cost-cutting measure, right?

I had that happen one morning in an Indiana McDonald's drive through. Never really cared too much about it though because I never go enough.

I would really like to hear the follow-up from any conversation from a manager. Was this an employee who's just mixed up (with the alternate pricing from OJ) or is this actually policy?

If it's a mix-up, no biggie. If it's policy, that really bugs me. It's not anyone else's job to decide how much or when you get to eat/drink.

Because anything they can do to confuse you usually makes them an extra $0.50.

I'd like an answer to this and also why every McDonalds has a Drive-thru menu price of the Happy Meal at $0.30 lower than what they charge you at the pay window. They hide it by itemizing the menu items by drink and burger and hope no one notices by actually doing the math.

I watched a Burger King employee physically change the drive-thru menu as I was arguing with the manager about a price discrepancy. She then "proved" to me that I was incorrect by walking me back to the menu. She vehemently denied someone had changed the menu while we were talking even though I was only 20 feet away and saw it happen. All for her pride, I guess? Since this pricing error occurs at 90% of restaurants, I'm guessing it may be a corporate instituted bait and switch.

Is this possibly connected to their OJ pricing scheme? When I worked at McDonald's in 1999, OJ was sold this way. A cup that would be a medium for any other soda was called (and priced as) a large for orange juice. I had the impression it was because OJ was more valuable (higher cost per ounce) than the other beverages. Maybe when this scheme didn't raise any complaints, they tried to expand it?

Yet another reason to not buy food at McD's. Anyone actually realize what they are eating there?

Ick.

You would think it would make sense though to give the customer what they're asking for and willing to pay for. Sheer business stupidity.

But then again, this is McD's we're talking about.

The only thing I can think of is that maybe they don't get a lot of people ordering soda in the mornings, and so they have to make a batch of it just for those people, and they give less so they can stretch it out without making more of it? I don't know, does soda in the machine go bad or lose its fizz if it's not consumed within a certain amount of time? If people are getting their breakfast at 7 am to 9 am, maybe the soda made at 7 am goes flat before lunch time, and the workers lose money by making too much.

A couple of things:

Pecan - Soda from a tap doesn't work like that. Syrup & fizzy stuff is mixed as it is dispensed.

Second, I live in the Midwest and all drinks at McDonald's, regardless of size or time of day is exactly $1. And have been for over a year. Are people getting screwed in the big cities?

I can see this. The meal has a set discounted price. It may be that from a pricing standpoint they can't give the larger drink with the discounted price.

@pecan 3.14159265: Generally, a soda dispenser has a) syrup b) water and c) CO2. There's no "making" of the soda until it's dispensed.

@pgh9fan1: What isn't clear is whether the coffee or orange juice that comes part of the meal is the same size as the large soda the OP requested. If it is the same size, I don't understand why McDonalds wouldn't give it to the OP. If it isn't the same size, why couldn't they just charge extra the difference of a medium and a large? The OP was certainly willing to pay the difference because she asked for a large drink. If McDonalds told her it had to charge the extra 50 cents, she may have paid it or traded down to the medium.

@MartinFeardie: Are you taking into account the toy in the happy meal? For food it might be cheaper but you are getting more than food in a happy a meal, you are getting some type of item for the kid to have.

The McDonalds in Chicago are always perfectly happy to give you an actual large with the breakfast meals. They just charge you a little bit more. Maybe the cashier didn't know how to upsize the drink on the register?

@sophistiKate: I was going to say this only happens to me when I order orange juice, but you beat me to it - and explained!

When I was a kid, the large soda was what is today the small. Something is wrong with that.

I'm not going to tell Rachel not to drink soda in the morning, but the thought of a large soda right now, at 6:45 AM, kind of makes me cringe.

Having worked at a McDonald's as a teenager (13 years ago), we did the same thing back then. So not only is it nationwide, it has been going on for a very long time.

The problem arises from pure incompetence. I used to work at McDs in highschool, I saw this stuff first hand 15 years ago.

The OJ sizing is one size down, so a large OJ is in a medium cup. The drones that work mornings, typically only work mornings, so they don't pour many sodas, so when someone asks for a Coke, the pour it the same way one would make an OJ.

Just call for a manager and if a manager doesn't fix it tell the to point it out on the price board. If they still refuse tell them you will call the regional manager to have them "retrained"

I have a some what related story. I was making double cheese burgers, and was yelled out by a manager about putting 2 pieces of cheese on it. We argued and argued to the point he was going to fire me. I took him out front pointed to the picture and asked him how the double cheese burger in the picture had single slice of 8 point cheese and where could I find it in the walk in? He backed off.

The moral? Most people work at McDs when they are teenagers, fully expecting to move on with their lives. Those who stay and become managers, are too stupid to do anything else.

@subtlefrog: When I get my breakfast, I see a ton of people with massive fountain sodas, and I wonder if they realize what they're doing to themselves. My 20 oz. cup of coffee is dwarfed by the 32 oz. and larger sodas that people are taking to the register. The problem I have isn't with drinking caffeine in the mornings, since I drink coffee. It's really not too different of habits. But these are the same people who are drinking another giant soda during lunch, whereas I stick to one small cup of coffee a day.

Consumerist, can I help you with your proofreading? seriously. I have never seen a website with such frequent typos.

@Eels: I wasn't going to say anything, but I cringed. As an editor, I cringe.

@MartinFeardie: I've had a McDonald's not only change the menu as I watched, but do it to explain to me that the price on my receipt was correct. The menu board panels were 3-sided - lunch/dinner on one side, breakfast on the other 2 - so when I complained that the price on my receipt didn't match the price on the board, they rotated the board so it did.

At that point, I told them to give me money back and I walked out. Oh, and filed a complaint with the state.

On the other hand, I ordered a breakfast value meal with coffee the other day and the price charged was different. When I questioned it, I got "well, that's the difference between small and medium". I said "Ok, but I didn't order a medium. She asked me what drink I wanted, I said coffee." The manager refunded the difference - and I kept my medium coffee :)

@mmmsoap: "It's not anyone else's job to decide how much or when you get to eat/drink. " ...although some could use the assistance.

@pecan 3.14159265: You're totally right, and I'm a coffeeholic, too. I had to cut back to one cup/day after destroying my stomach, which was heartbreaking, since I could drink coffee all day everyday, like the people with the soda.

But I drink my soda black, so I was imagining an explosion of sugary water first thing in the morning, and there's just no way I could handle that. Since OP mentioned Diet Coke, I was trying not to go there with the "what are they doing to themselves" but yeah, there's an element of that to it.

I saw a demo once of a teacher doing things to engage students. He grabbed a soda can from a kid, and looked at how much sugar is in a can of Pepsi. He then took out a box of sugar cubes, and started weighing them out to show the kids, actually show them how much sugar is in there. It was about 12 cubes of sugar - 12! - in one can.

@subtlefrog: I have a friend who is addicted to Diet Coke. As soon as she wakes up in the morning, she has to have one. This goes on all day long. I have personally see her consume a liter of the stuff in one sitting.

Currently, she is pregnant. She had started with just one a day, per her doctor's instructions. But, of course, if one is okay, what could be wrong with two? And if she's having two (which is MUCH less than she used to drink), why not have three. And hell, she'll just have four today and cut back tomorrow. Etc. Nevermind what Diet Coke does to an adult woman's bones and pH balance and teeth. What is that much aspartame doing to her fetus?

But I keep my mouth shut and rant anonymously here.

@Scatter: And what a useful comment! Thanks for sharing that with us.

@pollyannacowgirl: I have a friend like this too. It's an absolute addiction, and she admits to it, but she likes soda too much. In a fit of intervention, and boredom, I took away her soda. She responded by going to Wal-Mart at 3 am and buying an emergency supply. Some people can't be helped.

@sophistiKate: @BlondeGrlz: It could be but this doesn't account for the fact that drinks are keyed in separately from the meal itself. For a meal with a large soda the cashier should push the meal button, +/- any grill changes and then the large soda button. I tend to agree with someone down thread that the morning people are perhaps not accustomed to soda sizes and just went to their happy juice place in a moment of panic.

I'm curious if this is presented as some sort of cost-cutting measure. If so, why not just make Medium the new Large and be done with it?

@Scatter: Did you come up with that one all by yourself?

Is that a picture of Rock n Roll McDonald's in River North?

@caligulala: Very odd. This article must be regarding a new policy or just applies to certain markets. I worked at McD's about 10 years ago and we served the same size pop with breakfast as at other times of the day. The only drink that was different was OJ, as other people pointed out. Maybe there are some confused McD's workers out there.

In Wyoming it is hit or miss at the McDonalds that do this. It usually goes by who owns the franchise for that particular location. I don't eat at McDonalds often, but as I used to travel 400 to 600 miles a week, I would plan my eating trips accordingly so I didn't "feel" like I was getting ripped off.

@pecan 3.14159265: Though - to be fair, if you took away my coffee, not only would I do this, I'd probably cause injury to your person, too. That is, if I could figure out how to get out of my house without said coffee. Which is a bit of a question, really, as it's been that long since I've tried.

A "breakfast large"? Is there law of physics that says objects that hold liquids at restaurants reduce in size? Maybe she should say "OK, it was $4.00? Here is my 'breakfast sized' money" and give them $3.00.

in canada if you order a "supersize" combo in the morning (or whatever they are calling it now) you get a medium drink... if you ask for a large drink you get one

@subtlefrog: Eh, I always have a diet pop in the morning because for some reason my stomach does NOT want food in the a.m. However, eating breakfast is important, so the diet pop calms my stomach enough that I can then eat breakfast.

And @pecan 3.14159265: Your 20oz coffee has somewhere between 290 and 438 milligrams of caffeine compared to about 121 milligrams of caffeine in a 32 oz. diet coke. So, I'm not sure what your point is...? Even if someone has two of those in a day, they're not getting as much caffeine as your "small" cup of coffee.

@subtlefrog: Well, if you drank nothing but coffee all day, someone should take it away from you! But she was drinking entire liters of diet soda. We're talking at least three liters a day. And drinking soda in lieu of anything else. The most water she ever drank was whatever went into her mouth when she brushed her teeth.

@caligulala: Just seconding this from another Chicagoan. I get charged extra if I ask for a large pop with a breakfast meal, but it IS a large.

@pecan 3.14159265: There is no batch making on soda/cola/coke/pop - it is on demand from the fountain.

@headhot: So I was going to point this out, I worked at a McD's in highschool also, except I worked there about 10 years ago. I remember the "breakfast large" concept, and I really don't know how people could manage to screw it up, since even when I worked there, the small, medium and large OJ would correspond to different sizes from the soda sizes, RIGHT IN THE COMPUTER. someone asks for large sprite, in the "combo" menu the large sprite puts 32OZ SPRITE on the screen. So yeah, this is the result of gross incompetence.

Gotta disagree with you on the manager point (sort of) though; when I worked there, there were 2 kinds of managers- those that were "lifers" - people who, for whatever reason (incompetence, criminal record, some sick sense that their hard work would pay off with the company) were going to be there a LONG time- and the kids destined for bigger and better that were just plain smarter and more efficient, and became managers for 2-3 years into college, then left when they graduated (or got better jobs)

@Vandelay Import Export: We note your concern but this is not about the issue of portion size inflation.

[We already know that people should not be drinking swimming pool sized portions of sugar water because it will make them obese or rot teeth or contribute to the dumbing down of the population or numerous other social ills.]

This is about the retailer providing the correct size portion for the price amount the retailer charges depending on the time of day...

@headhot: Choke them with their own advertising. And that manager hated life since his bonus went down due to you putting two pieces of cheese on the double cheese burgers from there on out...

What about the mysterious cost of cheese at fast food joints? Price difference between a cheeseburger and hamburger costs less than adding cheese to a larger burger (like a Whopper). Can I not have the $.10 cheese slice added to my larger burger? I am perfectly happy with it if is slightly smaller than the $.39 cheese slice :)

@Vandelay Import Export: I have to agree. This is not a ripoff I can get really incensed about.

@ct_price: I think it is called "profit"... people notice the difference between the simple and similar hamburger and cheeseburger but not as often on more complex and expensive sandwich assemblies...

@subtlefrog: Some people just aren't into coffee in the morning especially in places where it is already 75° at 7:30am during the summer time...

They can NOT upgrade a hasbrown to large so they can not charge more (or don't have a system for just charging more for the soda) for the "Large" breakfast meal.

That's my guess as to why they can only give truly large sodas to Non-Meal ordering customers.