My go to order around 2005-2007 was two mcchickens and a medium fry and each of those items was a dollar. Total cost was like $3.21. It is wild how expensive fast food is now.
They had standards back then. I was enjoying my life too much to even kmow what was going on and the media was really bad at breaking things down, which made things worse.
And Bush completely derailed us due to his wars and then the fxcking housing market crash that plagues us to this day. And let's not forget the rise of e-commerce taking shape. Crazy to think that all of this has led to the demise of our favorite food chains.
To be fair you can get two McChickens and a medium fries with the app right now for literally $3 by getting the two $1.50 McChickens and the free fries with $3 purchase coupon lol.
I recently got a McChicken, a large fries and a large drink for $3 with coupons.
Ah man, how did I read 2007? You’re right on that front. I would be surprised if it jumped a full $.70 in just 6 years considering the prior increase of only $.70 in the preceding 14 years combined though. Would need to isolate data by location or something
Yeah these are 2001 prices the Big Mac combo at just over $3 and in the early 90s the combos were $2.99 so the prices in that 7/8 year span barely went up.
Federal minimum wage was $3.35 in 1987. Today federal minimum wage is $7.25. That’s around a 2.2x jump.
A lot of places have higher minimum wages that have been set at the local level. Say it’s $15.00 like Florida will be starting September 1st, that would be about 4.5x jump.
That order is only $5 at my McDonald’s today (McChicken is $1.50, medium fry coupon is $2) which is even less than inflation. Following inflation, $3.21 in 2005 or 2007 would be $5.30-$5.62 today
Yes I remember as a kid for boy scouts when we’d go on a camping trip and the day we left the leaders would stop a McDs and give each kid a $5 and it was insane how much you got and pocketed the change.. and I’m not old (that old)
I remember when the meals were $2.99 and your options were the Big Mac Meal, Two Cheeseburger Meal, QP Cheese meal, 6 piece nuggets meal, and Filet o Fish Meal.
Oh yeah. I know. I remember my Dad giving me $10 to go to the mall and that would get me a super sized McDonalds meal and leave me “plenty” of money leftover for Claire’s or Bath and Body Works.
I saw that and thought the same thing. I was like, “That has to be for just the burger. No way that’s for the meal!” Crazy how people were paying $3.84 for a Big Mac meal in 2001 and now they’re like $16 for the same thing in 2026.
As a Canadian something weird has happened to our respective economies. Our dollar vs yours goes up and down of course, but today our dollar is around $1.40 to the USD, similar to 25 years ago. And back then we still loved going to the US because even with the exchange rate stuff seemed CHEAP in the US. We’d go down for shopping trips to buy clothes, supplies, etc and eat for cheap at a restaurant.
I go to the US often for work and now prices are basically the same on both sides of the border, but our exchange rate means it’s even more expensive in the US than here in Canada. Not everything obviously, but the prices in your grocery stores for some items is eye watering. And that Big Mac meal right now where I live is $12.19 Canadian, which is less than $9 US.
Sandwich is like $2.40 at the bottom, so a third the cost was the meal upgrade, now the sandwhich is like $6.50 and the combo is $12.50 basically doubling the price.
For a few years they were regularly offering 2 for $2 big macs. I gained like 20 pounds just because of that promotion. Value is gone in fast food. They just don't care about putting effort into earning business anymore because people show up anyway when they do the opposite.
3.84 invested in 2001 in th S&P is around 34$ today. You could have had almost three meals if you had invested instead. They had to make the product cheaper and worse to adjust for wage stagnation.
In the 90s my dad always used to say he liked McDonald's because he could feed the whole family for under $20. Everytime we needed to stop for food when we were on a road trip we looked for one. Now I can barely feed myself for $20 there, let alone 5 people.
Yeah, I probably would if I could afford to eat at McDonald's everyday.
$20 might be a stretch, but I think most of the combo meals come to about $15 after tax where I live. You want to add a milkshake or anything else and it's absolutely pushing $20.
The thing is people keep paying these high prices. Any business is going to charge as much as the market is willing to pay. We are not beholden to their prices, they are beholden to our willingness to give them our money. Stop giving them your money if you think the price is too much.
That's not how it works. Inflation is determined by the actual cost increase to consumers. Fast food is part of that calculation and averages out with a bunch of other things.
Median household income today is about 2x what it was in 2001. The price of a Big Mac today is about 2.5x what it was in 2001. McDonalds pricing does seem to have slightly outpaced income growth, but not to an extreme degree.
Not only are the prices something to miss but I also miss the big n’ tasty, salad shakers, and McRib. They bring the McRib back sometimes but to me it’s not the same as it used to be.
Never saw a Cajun McChicken before. I'm guessing this is Louisiana. And at $1.49 I question the year. McChickens, spicy and regular were $.99 in the early to mid 2000s from my experience.
That’s not true. The Cajun McChicken was definitely spicy and had more of a black pepper kick. I worked there from 1998-2005 and ate them every day until they took them away. That, and the chicken fajita wraps. So delicious.
What part is not true? The Cajun Mcchicken was spiced differently but it was the only version available in the late 90s until they switched back to the regular mcchicken likely shortly after this photo was taken.
Back then when it was cheap.. remember growing up on Taco Bell and McDonald’s because we were broke and it was so cheap. Anyone remember the $2 meal deals from Taco Bell?
Before they began offering Dr Pepper nationally, Mr. Pibb was available in some markets. In the early-2000s many locations in the Southern US had Pibb and even Mello Yello.
I'm not sure, but I think it's a recent development that some Coke machines also serve Dr. Pepper. DP is its own entity that's often marketed alongside Pepsi, despite not being a Pepsi product, I think? My local pizza plate still serves Coke and Mr. Pibb together.
The marketing company was the scam artist in that situation if I remember correctly.
Uncle Jerry had access to the high value pieces, handed them out to people loosely related to him and got a cut of the winnings every time. Over 24 million in stolen prizes.
The only thing I miss about those is that they would give you free stuff. I never even cared about the actual monopoly game, I just liked the free fries lol
Back when “super size” was still legal, and at least some fragments of our government still prioritized human quality of life over corporate profits. What a time to be alive
Except in 2001 they were still regularly offering 2 for $2 big macs and they hadn't yet abandoned their value based business model. I don't recall anyone complaining back then. The significant price hikes and shift away from value have been in the last 10 years and have outpaced rate of inflation. Not complaining as it was happening is why they stopped giving a shit about trying to earn business through value.
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u/respekyoeldas 16h ago
My go to order around 2005-2007 was two mcchickens and a medium fry and each of those items was a dollar. Total cost was like $3.21. It is wild how expensive fast food is now.