McDonald’s has some beef with today’s largest meat packers.
The fast food giant is suing the U.S. meat industry’s “Big Four” — Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef Packing Company — and their subsidiaries, alleging a price fixing scheme for beef specifically. In a federal complaint, filed Friday in New York, McDonald’s accused the companies of anticompetitive measures such as collectively limiting supply to boost prices and charge “illegally inflated” amounts.
This collusion caused the beef market to become “a monopoly in which direct purchasers were forced to buy at prices dictated by (the meat packers),” McDonald’s suit reads — later noting that the injury it has sustained as one of those buyers is what “antitrust laws were designed to prevent.”
McDonald’s alleges that the meat packers’ conspiracy dates back nearly a decade, at least as early as January 2015, and continues today. Its suit argues these companies’ actions violate the Sherman Act, a federal antitrust law.
Tell your boyfriend, if he says he’s got beef, that I’m a vegetarian and I ain’t fucking scared of him.
McDonald’s should become their own meat packer and interface with the farmers direct. Everyone gets the best deal that way and cut out the asshole middleman driving everything through the roof.
They’ve tried. Wendy’s QSCC has tried. Walmart is trying. It’s hard to be a beef packer. You have to sell the rest of the animal too, and now you’re just a filthy beef packer yourself. Also sadly impossible to interface with ranchers direct, still must be fed out at a feed yard.
Ahh yeah, good point. I didn’t think about the feed lot portion.
Said one quasi monopolist to the other…
I’d be OK with giant corporations as if they were actually competing with each other for consumers and labor, paying their fair share of taxes, and weren’t allowed to use their revenue to subvert the will of the people by buying politicians.
The problem is that it takes a strong FTC, IRS, NLRB, FEC to ensure the above things, and we know how Republicans and billionaires feel about that.
What? How on earth is mcdonalds a monopoly in any way?
Maybe not a real monopoly, but a sufficiently big player that usually has no problems of using their buying power to squeeze the blood out of their suppliers.
Now that I’m vegan these articles are so bizarre to me. Oh the price of corpse has gone up? And the industry that produces said corpse is price gouging? That’s nice I’ll have these lovely inexpensive chick peas for dinner and not participate in death and abuse and rape, and my health will be better for it. It’s pretty easy to do.
They fucked with McDonalds. Big mistake.
Big Mcsteak.
McGenius
Only available for a Limited Time!
Sounds like something I’d buy
“This is an absurd accusation. We make money by employing children and undocumented immigrants and violating safety standards, not by colluding on prices.” -US meat industry
not sure why, but i read this in J K Simmons’ voice.
Good. The beef packers already got slapped with a FTC suit for price fixing.
Hey everyone. This week, I challenge everyone to eat half as much beef as you normally would. If you eat 2 burgers a week, try just eating 1 and replace the other burger with a piece of chicken, or better yet, it’s autumn, and a ton of veggies are still fresh in season from the harvest.
McDonalds can sue the beef packers, but we can cripple their entire supply chain and maybe help the planet out a little bit.
A few years ago, I was hit hard with some food poisoning that had me in the hospital. I don’t remember what it was, but it made me tune into food recall reports.
And those recall reports are FREQUENT, and they’re mostly meat.
I’m not a vegetarian, but I cut beef out of my diet last year. Pork is my next one. Chicken is going to be really hard though.
For years I never thought I could do vegetarian because I would miss bacon and chicken. Over a decade later and both of those things are so far down in my list of things I miss.
I have beef maybe once or twice a month. Doing my part.
0/2 = ???
I was wondering the same. Maybe vegetarians/vegans can buy a cow lunch, or something.
You had money for beef? Prices are sky high. My chicken, pork and fish intake dramatically increased?
If it’s beef, they why have their chicken nuggets also doubled in price in the last couple of years? Oh, this goes back almost a decade you say? So why did you double or triple prices post pandemic?
Yeah chicken prices are absolutely insane.
Dude it’s literally right there at the beginning of the post
The fast food giant is suing the U.S. meat industry’s “Big Four” — Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef Packing Company
You can’t honestly think McDonald’s trying to blame their massive price increases solely on their meat providers is valid.
I said nothing of the sort. I was responding to the OPs question.
If it’s beef, they why have their chicken nuggets also doubled in price in the last couple of years?
It’s right fucking there at the beginning. They’re suing Tyson chicken as well.
You can get mad at me, but I’m far from the only one who thought that’s what you were suggesting.
I’m not responsible for your’s or anyone else’s reading comprehension.
I’m pretty sure being understood is, in fact, the responsibility of the person making a comment.
If I were to misunderstand what you just said, would it be my fault or yours?
It might be valid, but there’s no way McD’s was harmed. Their customers sure got that price fixing damage passed onto them, though.
It’s just over 11$ for 2 large fries. McD should also get sued. I feel like they’re just trying pass 100% of the blame on to their suppliers, after they’ve continued to post record profits year over year. They not only weren’t harmed, they’ve thrived and have been making even more money by price gouging. McD is as much, if not more culpable for inflating prices, than the meat packers.
You can get great deals in the app, all you have to do is let them harvest your data and “dark pattern” you into exclusively eating McDonald’s.
Oh the ironing
Can we sue McDonald for all that they did to artificially decrease the cost of beef, and the immense harm that was done to the climate as a result?
And the poor animals. Cows are friends not food
They can be both.
But mainly food.
Drag doesn’t eat drag’s friends unless they’re into vore, and drag doesn’t think cows can consent to sex with drag, so no vore for the cows.
Fuckin’ yikes.
Uhhh cows not being able to consent is the only reason you aren’t banging them? How the fuck do I unread something? Why speak in 3rd person? Lots of questions
Drag seems to be a roleplayer and if you look at drag’s profile, drag’s pronouns are the same in 1st 2nd and 3rd person.
Though I don’t know if drag realizes that means drag doesn’t need to speak in 3rd person, drag could speak in 1st person like this:
“Drag don’t eat drag’s friends unless they’re into vote and drag don’t think cows can consent to sex with drag, so no vore for the cows”
Replacing I/me with drag, as drag’s profile says is proper for first person.
Now whether drag is roleplaying for the fun of it or trying to make some point about pronouns, I have no idea.
Drag thinks it’s disgusting that most people vore cows. It’s not right to vore something that can’t consent.
Drag trolls does drag.
Thank god we have Good guy McDonald’s going after the evil natural beef guys….wait
Drag thinks McDonald’s is evil and so is Big Beef. Natural beef is bad. Lab beef and imitation beef are ethical.
And they’ll certainly reduce their prices once they get their supply chain work down right? … Right?
Hey now, we should salute McDonalds for keeping Big Beef in check. Those prices trickle down to us! /s
Capitalist system
Big four fixing prices
ShockedPikachu.png
The system is working exactly as it’s designed to. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: captialism only encourages monopolies/cartels - that’s the whole point.
I trust what McDonald’s is saying in this case. If anyone knows what collusion to inflate prices and fuck over clients looks like, it’s the place with the broken soft serve machines.
