Mcdonald's Is Cutting Prices to Convince Customers It's Affordable Again

Posted5 months agoActive5 months ago

kaycebasques

14 points

8 comments

cnn.comOtherstory

heatednegative

Debate

60/100

Fast Food IndustryPrice InflationConsumer Behavior

Key topics

Fast Food Industry

Price Inflation

Consumer Behavior

McDonald's is cutting prices on combo meals to regain affordability, but users question the overall value and criticize the company's previous pricing strategies.

Snapshot generated from the HN discussion

Discussion Activity

Light discussion

First comment

12m

Peak period

0-2h

Avg / period

Key moments

01Story posted
Aug 21, 2025 at 12:10 AM EDT
5 months ago
Step 01
02First comment
Aug 21, 2025 at 12:22 AM EDT
12m after posting
Step 02
03Peak activity
5 comments in 0-2h
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03
04Latest activity
Aug 22, 2025 at 5:44 AM EDT
5 months ago
Step 04

Generating AI Summary...

Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns

Discussion (8 comments)

Showing 8 comments

JohnFen

5 months ago

1 reply

I think it's kinda funny how many fast food restaurants forgot why people eat at fast food restaurants. Almost nobody eats at them because they love the food. They eat at them because they're cheap, fast, and convenient.

But in this case, McDonald's in only reducing prices on some combo meals, not actually reducing prices overall.

fuzzfactor

5 months ago

Clearly to the CEO it's all about "perception", more so than value, the preferred outcome is for customers to think they can afford it when they can not.

tstrimple

5 months ago

McChicken Meal still makes sense to me. $5 for small fries, small drink, 4 nuggets and a McChicken. Taco Bell still has decent value menu items as well. You mainly just need to avoid the numbered combos. The price for those are indeed crazy.

add-sub-mul-div

5 months ago

High fast food prices got me to make cooking more of a regular habit and I'm not going back to this garbage.

sans_souse

5 months ago

Well, how else would you convince your customers that you are affordable?

k310

5 months ago

I hadn't noticed. I haven't frequented a fast food place in 10 years or more. And I worked at Mickey D's when they were bragging about selling a million.

SilverElfin

5 months ago

The prices are insane for all fast food near me. Taco Bell and Subway are also like this. Six bucks for a single chalupa or whatever? Fifteen bucks for a foot long sub? Might as well go to a nicer restaurant. The speed isn’t enough to justify it.

But also the menus have changed. I noticed during COVID lockdowns many of them eliminated breakfast all day, and other things. It’s not just the prices. The experience is itself different. I’m not sure lowering prices will bring back customers.

toomuchtodo

5 months ago

McDonalds made $14B in profit last year (2024).

Greedflation Is Back as Corporations Use the Tariff Excuse to Hike Prices - https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/inflation-is-heating-up-a... - August 14th, 2025

On Inflation: It's the Monopoly Profits, Stupid - https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/on-inflation-its-the-mono... - June 22, 2022

View full discussion on Hacker News

ID: 44968955Type: storyLast synced: 11/20/2025, 11:35:13 AM

Want the full context?

Jump to the original sources

Read the primary article or dive into the live Hacker News thread when you're ready.

Open link View on HN