[nabbed]

I stopped going to McDonald's (which I previously visited about once per month) mainly because they got very expensive, and the price does not match the quality of the food (and they also are not that fast anymore). If I am going to spend that much, I could spend a little more a go to a much nicer mom-and-pop place.

A secondary reason is that they are American. Although I am American, I am currently a resident of another country that is targeted by American tariffs, so I am trying to buy local as much a possible.

[nerdsniper]

I stopped going because the McDonald's closest to me stopped serving water. The only way for employees to fill a cup with water is to use the sink, and that's not an option offered to customers. There's no way to buy or be served a water, not even a bottle of it.

[franktankbank]

That sounds illegal.

[nerdsniper]

In some jurisdictions it is, but in most it is legal. It’s one of those things that just didn’t require any regulation in the past.

[dd8601fn]

It’s required here. Same with access to the toilets.

I always thought it was weird when traveling to have places like burger king charge you to use their bathroom. It’s uncivilized.

[danudey]

There's a McDonald's near my home that I can order from if I'm craving garbage food quickly and don't feel well enough to leave the house, but they only get my order correct about 20% of the time. Another 20% of the time they make the wrong thing (e.g. the wrong kind of breakfast sandwich), and the remaining 60% of the time they forget to put half the order in (e.g. we ordered three of the Minecraft happy meal cube things a while back, plus an extra chicken sandwich, and we only got two of the cubes and no sandwich, plus we were missing two of the drinks for the meals).

The tariff issue is another reason not to patronize them, but at the same time if everyone in Canada stopped eating at McDonald's then McDonald's corporation would take a hit and thousands of Canadians would be immediately unemployed and thousands of Canadian suppliers of ingredients (beef, eggs, chicken, vegetables, etc) would lose a ton of business, so while I'd rather order from A&W for dozens of reasons I'm not outright boycotting American chains the way I am with American products.

[mbirth]

I’ve actually switched from Just Eat to slightly more expensive Deliveroo because the latter one makes it extremely easy (at least in the UK) to report wrong deliveries and you get your money back in a matter of minutes. Also make sure to do the McD survey via the link on the receipt - that usually improves things for a while.

[bryanlarsen]

In Canada they have a CAD$5 McValue meal deal, so USD$3.67 for a McDouble, small fries & small drink. Do they not have similar deals in your jurisdiction?

[jbm]

For what it is worth, I live in Calgary and the McDonalds near me does not have deals like that. There is apparently a huge range in prices across McDonalds in a city, so there may be geographic limitations.

I don't go either, and the price is part of the reason. (I would go for the ice cream in summer, or for their cheap drinks promos).

[dylan604]

> There is apparently a huge range in prices across McDonalds in a city, so there may be geographic limitations.

Aren't the vast majority of McDonalds actually franchises vs corporate own where everything would be much more consistent?

[red-iron-pine]

I can't speak for Calgary proper but I've hit McDs in Cochrane and Airdrie (outer 'burbs of Calgary) and they had similar. Ditto for Edmonton.

[dole]

US McValue meals (my local location, ymmv): $6 for a McDouble, small Fries, 4 nuggets and small drink. $5 for a McChicken, small fries, 4 nuggets and small drink. $2.50 for a McDouble itself.

[Vrondi]

In the USA midwest, it is around $12-13 USD for a sandwich and fries, no drink.

[HarHarVeryFunny]

A typical burger + fries + drink at McDonalds where I am in the US is now about $20. You can get something much better quality (& larger size) at FiveGuys for same price, and even some nice quality restaurants have lunch specials that cost the same.

McD was never good, but when it was $10 it was still an OK occasional convenient lunch option. At $20 there is zero reason to go there.

[bayesnet]

That’s bonkers. I’m on the east coast (not nyc) and a quarter pounder medium meal is $10.49. Meanwhile Five Guys is $20.29 for a regular meal.

[Eddy_Viscosity2]

It's also slow. It's not 'fast food' anymore. You order than wait for 15 or 20 minutes. I've waited 40 minutes at an airport McDs for food after ordering. The food is expensive, not very good, and slow. So yeah, I don't go to Mcdonalds anymore.

[qwertyuiop_]

How do you communicate your guilt based purchases to the local citizenry ?

[nabbed]

Am I supposed to?

[paleotrope]

I seem to recall that Mcdonalds goes to pains to source locally.

[red-iron-pine]

wtf is that based on? McD's is the largest purchaser of beef in the US.

it all goes into the slop bin and is delivered as patties to locations. ditto for the pink goo that makes the chicken nuggets.

why do you think the CEO was so hesitant to eat the burger?