Many people believe it’s an astounding $18 after a post on X of McDonald’s menu prices at a rest stop in Connecticut went viral and made national headlines. (Narrator voice: It’s not.)

Now, almost a year after the post, a top McDonald’s executive wants to set the record straight. In a recent letter, Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald’s USA, said $18 for a Big Mac combo was the “exception” and not the norm across all 13,700 restaurants in the country.

The average price of a Big Mac in the US was $4.39 in 2019,” Erlinger said in his recent letter. “Despite a global pandemic and historic rises in supply chain costs, wages and other inflationary pressures in the years that followed, the average cost is now $5.29. That’s an increase of 21% (not 100%),” he added.

      • BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        That’s crazy, i can’t comprehend. Americans told me that junk food is cheaper than actual food, so obviously i believe that.

    • The Snark Urge@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I can make a hamburger and fries in like ten minutes active cooking time for £3, and it’ll have proper beef and be perfect.

      What is even happening at Burger King?

    • ramble81@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      But a $15 minimum wage will cause prices to skyrocket! …. Prices have skyrocketed, wages remain stagnant.

      • Mostly_Gristle@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        It’s not that we can’t afford to pay you $15 an hour, or even $30 an hour, but if we did that then we couldn’t give that money to the shareholders. You see, they’ve purchased a certificate which entitles them to the wealth created by your labor. We assure you we can imagine it must be somewhat uncomfortable to live in constant grinding poverty, but you can understand how our hands are tied here. They have a certificate. What are we supposed to do, ask a rich person to be a teeny tiny bit less rich? That’s just crazy talk.

        • ArbiterXero@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          We promised those shareholders that we’d pay you as little as we can…… you wouldn’t want to make us liars, would you?