Here's a real sign econ troubled: McDonald's sales fell

Forget the DJI , S&P 500 or all the rest... here's is a real sign the economy is in trouble

On Tuesday, McDonald's said sales at restaurants open at least a year fell 0.6 percent in the U.S. It was the second consecutive monthly decline for the measure, an important indicator of a restaurant chain's health, and a steeper fall than October's 0.1 percent.

doesn't sound that bad right? but this time last year November, during the height of the sub-prime thing, sales in locations open a year climbed 4.5 percent in the U.S. and 7.7 globally.

forget GM this has always been one stable company but now the cracks are starting to show

Stroy here

Yea this is worrisome. The upwards spike is entirely expected. When things get bad people soothe themselves with inexpensive comfort foods. People also 'downshift' --- moving their purchasing to what they see as less expensive options (MarketBasket instead of Whole Foods, Dunkin Donuts instead of Starbucks, McDonlads instead of Quiznos). But as the trend continues, the money dries-up. Especially from the lower economic cohort. I'd be willing to bet that alot of the sales losses are from normally frequent, long-time customers.

reply to post by DaddyBare


Have you been to McDonalds lately? Fast food isnt as cheap as it used to be. Their "value" meals are over $6.00. Throw in some nuggets and you just blew through a ten dollar bill. For a family of four, your looking at $30.00.

Originally posted by liveandletlive
reply to post by DaddyBare

 

Have you been to McDonalds lately? Fast food isnt as cheap as it used to be. Their "value" meals are over $6.00. Throw in some nuggets and you just blew through a ten dollar bill. For a family of four, your looking at $30.00.

I disagree! I can eat lunch from the "Dollar Menu" and stay below $10 a week! Anywhere else that wouldn't get me one meal!!

Before reading your post, I was wondering if the decline was a result of the falling prices in their stores!

i think the best value places to eat is non branded takeaways.

like where i am you can get a 18 inch pizza for £9.99

or you can get an indian meal for the same price and feed 5 people.

at mc donalds you would pay a lot more to feed the same amount of people.
plus it full of crap

remember guys this really isn't about good food or not has little to do with price... Micky D's is one of the most successful business models of all time... one of the few companies to find a niche in almost every country they've gone too.

they kno wbetter than to seek quick huge profits their fine with good steady business... This kind of hints people are changing their spending habits... A Big Mac was never a comfort food it was something to grab on the way to someplace else...looks like more of us got fewer someplace elses to be?

Um.. not really, it could be an indicator of the opposite. Fast food places saw a solid rise in profits, as people took advantage of dollar menus and all that. Now people are afford to *not* eat that crap all the time, so yes, their sales are dropping.

reply to post by fleabit


Hey, fleabit. I was thinking the same thing. While MY economic situation hasn't improved, I have been seeing that other folks around me might have improvement, or maybe, they just believe they have improved. I can't speak personally of their personal finances. However, McDonalds' sales soared in recent months, so, a decline for now, just might be due to losing newer customers who feel better about spending a bit more for a meal at a higher priced restaurant, now.

Also, their loss of sales might be due to just lil ole me
I stopped eating french fries lately. Oh, yeah, I love those deep fried taters! The greasier, the saltier the better, lol. The potassium, though, is upsetting the balances in my body. So now I go to Wok n Go to get some fried rice, a different type of comfort food instead.

These are the results of very small shifts in habit. Instead of getting the value meal and a dessert, people are choosing a couple $1 things and small drink they refill numerous times. Shaving a couple dollars off the total is what people do when they want to convince themselves they are being responsible.

We all know you can eat cheaper or better one way or another, but we are talking about the middle of the bell curve here, very pragmatic types that ''make do'' in a conditioned manner. They don't want to cook so they go out. They are not ''foodies'' so they just get sandwiches, burgers, pizza, chicken, whatever. They are just looking for acceptable high calorie content for low prices. They are not looking for the gourmet stuff. Their wages are not rising. They are hunkering down in the trenches.

Originally posted by liveandletlive
reply to post by DaddyBare

 

Have you been to McDonalds lately? Fast food isnt as cheap as it used to be. Their "value" meals are over $6.00. Throw in some nuggets and you just blew through a ten dollar bill. For a family of four, your looking at $30.00.

Are you telling us that you are ordering $6 value meals from McD's? If so you you either ordering the top of the line Angus Burger or you are ordering the triple mac and supersizing everything. Then you are throwing nuggets (large is $4) into the mix. When I go to McD's, which is very rare, I get two hamburgers and a fry for less than $3 and that is actually plenty of food.

reply to post by sligtlyskeptical


Depends where you live really.

When I was in Orlando it was about 1.50 more for everything than it is in tampa/sarasota area

This isn't an issue if you look at what's behind it. Are McDonalds prices down because of people not having enough to buy food at McDonalds? Or maybe it's because of things like the trend of healthier foods, prepping your own in the down turn economy, Better quality foods at new lower prices?


There's a lot more to McDonalds price than good econ / bad econ.