In the late 60s a hamburger was 15 cents, 18 cents for a cheeseburger, fries were 15 cents and a drink maybe 15 or 20 cents. I used to like McDonald's then. The fries were cooked in beef fat and were much better than the fries now cooked in vegetable oil. I haven't eaten anything from McDonald's for over 34 years (at least).
Inflation, real inflation (food) is 50% since this time last year. The same groceries for my wife and myself cost about $150 a week as compared to $100 a year ago. This is for the mostly the same items with little variation. And that is with me getting a company provided lunch at work (wife is retired). We are fortunate to be able to cut back as we buy some pre made salads/dinners and can switch to making them ourselves. I can imagine how hard it is for those on SS only or regular jobs like the people that work in the store. Oh and FJB.
I haven't had a BigMac since 1978. No particular reason, just a record I enjoy maintaining. Molly Ivins once said (of watching the Texas legislature) that her choices were to laugh, cry, or throw up. Since two are unhealthy, we choose to laugh. We have always recognized that a restaurant meal has nothing to do with the price of food. We're paying for someone else to shop it, prep it, cook it, serve it, and clean up after. But our indulgence of that luxury has shrunk from an average of once a week to once a month now at best. We both cook, and we alternate the chores, so our frugal lifestyle means for us that we have not yet been forced to alter our diet to any extent. That may change as we see the supply chains disintegrate around us. Oh yeah. When I was in high school, the food truck hamburgers were $0.19. We called them "gutbombs" and ate a lot of them.
It's not McDonald's, per se, that is the important point. But they have about 14,000 restaurants in the U.S. Each one employs 40-50 people. If they lose 10% of their business, and start laying off, that's 63,000 newly unemployed. Then they buy 10% less beef, bread, etc. from their suppliers. Their customers drive less, so less gasoline purchases. Their suppliers lay off, and buy less from farmers. Who make less too. Times every restaurant in the country. And their suppliers. And their suppliers' suppliers. This is how snowballs at the top of the mountain turn into avalanches on the town in the valley. Or canaries in the coal mine. Take your pick.
All that "money printer go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" crap from 1970 onwards, and especially since 1992, is coming home to roost, hard.
Has anybody else noticed how much prices at McDs vary? I've used the app to compare prices in different cities, some of them near each other, and item prices vary significantly. For example, in my town a cup of coffee starts at 41.99 and goes up; in the next closest McDs east (granted, 75 miles away) the same cup is 99 cents. For the same 2 stores, a basic hamburger is $2.59 versus $1.59. The larger combos are the same everywhere I've looked, but the lower end stuff varies.
Not counting the news outlets or websites along the full range of accuracy and veracity, I follow multiple actual individuals' handwritten blogs. (Bot news aggregators don't thrill me.) Looking them over, many are current serving or former military and a couple are some variation of high-speed low-drag elite forces ninjas. Or just funny as all. Because life without humor is just despair. So in other words, the same folks I trusted in the military not to wet the bed, sh*t themselves, or otherwise run around like headless Nancys, are the same folks I trust on the interwebz, for demonstrating pretty much the same trustworthiness and circumspectly responsible behavior. Color me shocked.
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10 comments:
You know inflation is bad when the dollar store and dollar menu have to cease.
In the late 60s a hamburger was 15 cents, 18 cents for a cheeseburger, fries were 15 cents and a drink maybe 15 or 20 cents. I used to like McDonald's then. The fries were cooked in beef fat and were much better than the fries now cooked in vegetable oil. I haven't eaten anything from McDonald's for over 34 years (at least).
@libertyman,
It's worse than that. Have you seen side-by-side pics of a Big Mac then, vs. a Big Mac now?
https://i.imgur.com/OEbDPpY.jpg
They should rename it the McRip-Off.
I remember when it took two hands to handle a Whopper. Now a whopper is the size of a Krystal.
Our Everything a Dollar store has become Everything a $1.29.
Yeah. Hereabouts, the 99¢ Store has become the $__.99 Store.
Inflation, real inflation (food) is 50% since this time last year. The same groceries for my wife and myself cost about $150 a week as compared to $100 a year ago. This is for the mostly the same items with little variation. And that is with me getting a company provided lunch at work (wife is retired). We are fortunate to be able to cut back as we buy some pre made salads/dinners and can switch to making them ourselves. I can imagine how hard it is for those on SS only or regular jobs like the people that work in the store. Oh and FJB.
I haven't had a BigMac since 1978. No particular reason, just a record I enjoy maintaining.
Molly Ivins once said (of watching the Texas legislature) that her choices were to laugh, cry, or throw up. Since two are unhealthy, we choose to laugh.
We have always recognized that a restaurant meal has nothing to do with the price of food. We're paying for someone else to shop it, prep it, cook it, serve it, and clean up after. But our indulgence of that luxury has shrunk from an average of once a week to once a month now at best. We both cook, and we alternate the chores, so our frugal lifestyle means for us that we have not yet been forced to alter our diet to any extent. That may change as we see the supply chains disintegrate around us.
Oh yeah. When I was in high school, the food truck hamburgers were $0.19. We called them "gutbombs" and ate a lot of them.
It's not McDonald's, per se, that is the important point.
But they have about 14,000 restaurants in the U.S. Each one employs 40-50 people.
If they lose 10% of their business, and start laying off, that's 63,000 newly unemployed.
Then they buy 10% less beef, bread, etc. from their suppliers.
Their customers drive less, so less gasoline purchases.
Their suppliers lay off, and buy less from farmers.
Who make less too.
Times every restaurant in the country. And their suppliers. And their suppliers' suppliers.
This is how snowballs at the top of the mountain turn into avalanches on the town in the valley.
Or canaries in the coal mine. Take your pick.
All that "money printer go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" crap from 1970 onwards, and especially since 1992, is coming home to roost, hard.
Has anybody else noticed how much prices at McDs vary?
I've used the app to compare prices in different cities, some of them near each other, and item prices vary significantly.
For example, in my town a cup of coffee starts at 41.99 and goes up; in the next closest McDs east (granted, 75 miles away) the same cup is 99 cents.
For the same 2 stores, a basic hamburger is $2.59 versus $1.59.
The larger combos are the same everywhere I've looked, but the lower end stuff varies.
Beef fat you say? Interesting.
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