[farnsworth]

I think it's an open secret that McDonalds uses the app to segment customers by price. If you just walk in and order off the normal menu, you pay a lot and they push all the pricier special items on you. If you use the app, you can find surprisingly good deals every time, especially if you can take advantage of 2 for 1s. It's like a totally different menu.

[add-sub-mul-div]

I'm not giving up my phone to them for their bottom tier food.

[neom]

For me, I couldn't easily even if I wanted to, they use country-specific app stores for their app, and I don't live in the country my app store is set to. This is the first app I've encountered using such regional app stores. I'm sure there is a reason they do that, but I can't for the life of me guess it.

[8oclock]

I support you in that, but this really shows that you're just outside of their target market.

Did they lose a customer?

McDonald's, Taco Bell, all of these fast food places which people are mentioning are just jacking prices, well they're already everywhere. It seems to make sense that when you've got total market penetration, the final thing to do is milk your customers for all they've got, and I think that's what we're seeing here.

[Spivak]

Then why are you buying from them in the first place?

[add-sub-mul-div]

I'm not. I still eat some fast food, if it's higher quality than McDonald's. But the price of fast food relative to real food has gone up everywhere and it doesn't really make sense anymore so I'm eating less of it.

In principle I also won't use any apps, hence my comment.

[dylan604]

Because you can get bottom tier food without giving up the data on your phone

[joezydeco]

What data is McD extracting from your phone?

[dylan604]

I assume any data they can get you to give them permission to take. Assume they don't at your own peril

[huytersd]

Why do this though from McDonalds point of view? Isn’t it better to continue to be known as the mediocre food stop with good prices than an expensive place with mediocre food? Seems short sighted. Their economies of scale must really mean they have huge margins compared to a mom and pop.

[gtirloni]

Gourmet food has higher margins with same amount of cost or less.

They are pushing the limits until people complain. People complained, they reached the limits.

If your customer or employer isn't complaining slight about your price, you're leaving money on the table.

[add-sub-mul-div]

> Why do this though from McDonalds point of view?

Same as every other org that incentives you to use channels that leak your data. They use it to extract more value from you, whether it's selling your data, buying your data from other vendors to augment their first party data, or a combination of both.

[farnsworth]

To segment your customer base, like any company that offers "basic" and "premium" versions of basically the same thing. In this case, you get some people who walk in, order whatever is on the menu in front of them, then are maybe slightly annoyed by the price but will take out their wallet anyway. On the other side, you have people who are willing to put in a little effort to find the coupons, and buy the more basic menu items and buy the McChicken instead of the McCrispy Chicken Deluxe.

My dark dirty secret, as someone who frequents fast food restaurants, is that McDonalds is... actually not that bad, even good, and at the least it is very consistent and good value (if you use the deals, sometimes even without) and the people who think it's disgusting are just engaging in a little classism and can go home and watch Super Size Me again.

[moate]

So just slip them a little personal data and they’ll knock a few bucks off.

Feels…dystopian.

[me_me_me]

nah the idea is that people who want to pay less will jump few hoops and get the cheaper deal

People who dont care will pay the higher price because they dont care.

They must be making enough money of the people who dont care, to make up for the loss of people who will pick other service

[moate]

Why would it be that way and not "we will charge you more for the privilege of not tracking anything about you as a consumer since that data can be sold to aggregator companies"? Both feel equally reasonable to me.

[me_me_me]

But it is what you are saying, you pay the 'normal' prices with cash for not being tracked. Otherwise you use loyalty cards to fish for discounts and being tracked

[sphars]

This is how I feel about my Kroger account. Hate that I have to give up privacy to save on groceries

[jfim]

You can always put (local area code) 867-5309, as long as you don't care about accumulating grocery points.

[devilbunny]

Just listen carefully to the next old lady in front of you in line. She won't type her phone number in, she will tell it to the cashier. Boom, now you have a Kroger card.

[frognumber]

A lot of personal data. Their app is super-sketchy in terms of permissions.

[tzs]

On my iPhone the only permissions it has are to use my location while I'm using the app and to use cellular data.

It also has whatever random looking @privaterelay.appleid.com Apple made when I used "Sign in with Apple" to create my McD account.

[frognumber]

Nice. I installed it on my Android, and permissions were such that I uninstalled it immediately.

As a footnote, I don't want apps knowing my location either.

What I'd most like is an Android phone which can decide when to give apps null / blank / fake information. My location should be north pole, with an error the size of the circumference of the earth. My contacts should be blank, as should my media. If the app wants to add contacts or media, they live in the app's silo.

[kevingadd]

Similarly some chain restaurants gouge first-timers and out-of-towners by having high menu list prices but issuing coupons to locals and regulars constantly. Round Table Pizza did this everywhere I've lived that had a location - their menu prices were absurd, but you'd regularly get 30-50% off coupons in the mail that you could use when ordering online or via the phone, which made it reasonably priced.

[WalterBright]

I never liked the usual "discount for new customers only". Why don't loyal customers get the best deal? Back in the old Zortech days, we gave repeat customers our best prices.

[voisin]

> If you use the app, you can find surprisingly good deals every time, especially if you can take advantage of 2 for 1s.

This is rarely true in Canada anymore.

[switch007]

Shocker. Hike prices but reduce the shock and counteract critics with “deals on the apps!”. Then slowly remove the deals

PR 101