Hank talking about getting little burgers, little fries, and getting in his little car and making his little car noises warmed my heart

@moonshinershonor202

Ай бұрын

My boi got a hovercraft.

@CheesecakeMilitia

Ай бұрын

It was specifically Tesla backing up noises

@OliverSchlecter

Ай бұрын

It warmed my little heart

@nicolelatson2677

Ай бұрын

❤

@BaumSquad

Ай бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/gqOdpsmDYbTRlNo.html

I'm gonna open a fast food place and call the small size "Wittle Beby" size and the regular "Big Hulkin' Smash" size and see if this works

@tendnotto

Ай бұрын

wouldn’t regular be “wittle beby” and large be “big hulkin smash”? i am enjoying the naming scheme tho…. it brings to mind some of the deranged stuff you find in fancy restaurants. like. Oh you actually want me to say those words with my mouth to order

@sarah.s.flanagan

Ай бұрын

I think this could backfire, purely because Wittle Beby is fun to say

@jacforswear18

Ай бұрын

A local lounge bar where a live has a “Big Boy Cheese Board” and you 100% feel like a tool ordering it but you also feel powerful looking a server in the eye and saying “we’re going to have the Big Boy” 😂

@darkknight84123k

Ай бұрын

Positive out of a negative i like it

@chinareds54

Ай бұрын

honestly i think the size trap only works the first couple times you go there. once you get used to it, you realize how big the various sizes are and then you order however much you want to eat. the problem then becomes that our gluttonous society just wants the largest size possible.

The five guys double burger trick reminded me of a story about Dave Thomas. He thought a double was the ideal burger size, but noticed (at the time) customers were uncomfortable ordering something that large. So he put a triple burger on the menu too - not for people to buy, but specifically so that the double looked like the medium choice. What a freakin wild thing to do, putting a red herring on your menu

@elishannon3855

28 күн бұрын

Did he flip it for the whole future? He noticed *at the time* but now it's like, not weird or abnormal or excessive at all.

@z-beeblebrox

27 күн бұрын

@@elishannon3855 Yeah he’s partially the reason. The other part is Bob’s Big Boy creating the double decker burger, which McDonalds -stole- used as inspiration for the Big Mac, and between the three of them they normalized doubles in America

@ck7802

26 күн бұрын

@@z-beeblebrox Which is sort of sad because while everyone and their mother has a double burger of some kind on the menu, the vast majority of them are rinky dink patties. You end up with the same meat that would have been in a single had the double not existed, just with more bread or toppings depending on how the double works at that particular establishment.

@z-beeblebrox

26 күн бұрын

@@ck7802 For sure. It's important to remember that shrinkflation ain't new, it's in fact a time honored tradition

@AlexHuneycutt

18 күн бұрын

This is a common sales tactic, and you can see evidenced in most tech offerings and online websites selling product now.

I work at Dominos and the price difference between the coupons and the menu price is staggering. My issue with price discrimination is that English as a second language people often end up in the "pay more" category when they would really prefer to be in the "pay less" category

@pastate

15 күн бұрын

Exactly! I used to work at a pizza chain and we had all kinds of deals that could essentially cut your total in half, but you had to ask for the deal by name. Employees were not allowed to discuss anything other than the 3 coupons that were cherry picked each month, unless a customer specified "do you still have x coupon?", and very few ESL folks knew to do that

@tiffanyfrost3271

14 күн бұрын

@@pastate lol that is extra shady

@ethor7676

Күн бұрын

Dominos is wild with that. And it doesn't help that their website is absolute ass, so you end up either suffering through it or paying like twice as much.

@robster7787

Күн бұрын

I adopted online order as soon as it was available. I’m saving like $30 from the app. Hank’s argument of price discrimination isn’t a strong one. The idea of people valuing more time over cost doesn’t match up with how much of a hassle it is to call in an order vs just quickly placing a pre-saved order. I value my time AND money. Using my time to discover how convenient the app is has made me save both my time and money.

five guys cannot manipulate me because I am allergic to peanuts so I win

@langly27

Ай бұрын

Same!

@SylviaRustyFae

Ай бұрын

But think of how many ppl you can manipulate if you have a backpack full of free peanuts (and disposable gloves for safe handlin)

@sommeone

Ай бұрын

I literally can't even walk into Five Guys lol

@moonshinershonor202

Ай бұрын

70 because you can fit one more in there.

@SylviaRustyFae

Ай бұрын

@@sommeone Biohazard suits exist :p

Lol I gotta remember to call myself a "price sensitive person" next time I'm trying to tell someone I'm poor 😭

@geeksdo1tbetter

Ай бұрын

Hey, how're you doing lately? Feeling a bit price sensitive, if I'm honest.

@solarskwintz8197

Ай бұрын

I was looking for this comment

@slottmachine

Ай бұрын

It smell like price sensitive in here

@JordanRebecca

Ай бұрын

+

@pembertr0n

Ай бұрын

Shades of the Starbucks CEO complaining about discrimination against "people of means" (billionaires like him)

The first time I went to Five Guys, I went with my sister, so I went up and ordered two burgers and two large fries. The cashier looked at me and said "You want TWO large fries?!?" and I was confused, there was two of us, and both of us are big eaters, why wouldn't we want two large fries? I watched them put two cups into a bag and just proceed to pour scoop after scoop of fries into the bag. I swear there was 3 pounds of potatoes in that bag. Guess we learned the hard way...

I’ve been unemployed for the last year and have free time. I discovered that you can’t “use more that one coupon per order” but if you order, sit down, eat your meal for ten minutes(maybe 15?) and order with an new coupon, you can just keep doing that. I don’t do that often but I once did it three times. Took the last order home. 😂

The discussion about "little" burgers and fries at Five Guys reminded me of the reason places like Starbucks don't use "small", "medium" and "large". By using custom named sizes, they make it more difficult for you to mentally compare their prices to the prices from somewhere else. The difference in name is enough to disrupt your thinking so that you don't consider how much a "tall" coffee at Starbucks is compared to a "small" at Dunkin or something like that. Restaurant chains spend a lot of time and effort coming up with ways to fool you into spending more like that.

@altejoh

Ай бұрын

I love it when someone gives an additional reason to dislike something I already vehemently hated. Starbucks naming convention is one of those things.

@ethank5059

Ай бұрын

Starbucks special lingo also adds a sort of "fancy" or "exotic" element to an order. You're using specialty language to order a specialty drink and even the simplest orders still have a degree of customization all of which makes it easier to mentally justify paying more. At a diner if I just tell the server "coffee" they'll bring me a coffee but at Starbucks they ask "what size," "light roast or dark roast" and "room for cream or sugar."

@IrisGlowingBlue

Ай бұрын

@@altejoh This is what we call 'confirmation bias'! It's not always a bad thing but it is a thing

@someguy1ification

Ай бұрын

my brain doesn't remember the fancy names lol. I just say "the big one" or "the little one" or "the middle one"

@Fen_Fox

Ай бұрын

@@ethank5059 i mean pretty much all cafes will ask about the size, light/dark roast, room for cream, and all that stuff. Kind of comes with the territory when you specialize in coffee, unlike a place like a diner. I also have to ask milk preference as a barista because while most people are fine with the default 2% there's always going to be some people who forget to mention they want oat or almond etc for taste or because of lactose intolerance or whatever. I do agree with the fancy wording for cup sizes though.

"I'm just a little guy" Hank, you're 6'1"!

@silverandexact

Ай бұрын

He's just a little guy in a non-physical sense.

@ronaldmartin2666

Ай бұрын

@@silverandexactalso larger than life at the same time, just not in the sense of stereotypical toxic masculinity

@ronaldmartin2666

Ай бұрын

Honestly I had no idea, I only see him on camera and hardly ever in comparison with other people 😁

@GaviLazan

Ай бұрын

@@ronaldmartin2666 I've met him and he gives off very tall vibes even though he's only an inch or so taller than me!

@DigiRangerScott

Ай бұрын

That was pre-COVID measurements. Now he’s 3’5

I can second this, worked at a local ice cream place for a while that called the smallest size “kiddie”. Almost never saw the “manly-man” type but a kiddie even though it was PLENTY of ice cream for one person.

@EnlightenedMinarchist

8 күн бұрын

Just because you think it was enough ice cream for you, doesnt mean that it was enough ice cream to satisfy a full grown man. Furthermore, even if it was, a man would not order it, not because of their ego, but because the name conveys the idea that it is intended for a child, and thus the amount of ice cream they receive will be less than they are seeking.

One point of disagreement - not everyone has access to apps. Not everyone has/wants/can afford the devices that can download apps, so things only available through apps DO end up excluding those people.

@victoriab8186

28 күн бұрын

And even with a smartphone phone, internet and memory space are additional expenses which are necessary to use this kind of app - which may be not much of an issue if it’s only one or two stores, but when you’ve got all your supermarkets having apps, all the other places you might get food, email and two factor authentication and banking and… it adds up, and it adds up to ongoing cost

@justintime1237

28 күн бұрын

Honestly this is just not the case. Smartphones and phone plans with even unlimited data are very cheap at this point. The space required for the app on the phone is incredibly minimal as well as the data required to use it. The only valid point is that not everyone wants to download the app, and that just comes down to that persons opinion.

@AlthenaLuna

28 күн бұрын

@@justintime1237 For you, maybe they are "very cheap". But that's subjective, and you don't get to tell others for whom that isn't the case that they're wrong. They're just poor/live somewhere else where costs and access are different/not you. You may not have intended to come off as dismissive or insulting, but telling poor people they're wrong about being poor does not read well.

@Sherubiiii

22 күн бұрын

My thought when I heard the point is that MOST people would have access to a smartphone, even if it is a shitty cheap one. Maccas has free WiFi (as do supermarkets and shopping centres and other public places) so downloading the app and using it IS accessible in those stores. There will always be outliers, but I think it can be said that an adult purchasing takeaway food that cannot access a smartphone and subsequently an app is an outlier in our society now

@AlthenaLuna

22 күн бұрын

@@Sherubiiii I don't know how applicable that is to the US (where I - and Hank - live) in broad terms, but in more rural locations - and we have a lot of them - free wifi anywhere is rare, and I've never heard of grocery stores (even big chain ones that would count as supermarkets) having it at all. It's not in the public places I have access to, unless I drive the better part of an hour to a more urban area, making it inaccessible in a practical sense - having to have a car (we don't have any public transportation in most rural areas, including mine) to drive to free wifi...doesn't count. It sounds like where you live makes it more accessible than where I do. My original point is just that: these things are less accessible than people seem to think they are. They're treated as if they're ubiquitous - available everywhere to everyone (in "rich" countries at least), and while they are increasingly common it's exhausting for people to always talk as if those 'outliers' don't matter or exist. Having your existence disregarded so casually...it gets old, you know?

Price discrimination is wild. My parents (80 years old) have flip phones and hate how every place wants you to download and app, or sign up for loyalty programs and clip coupons online. They feel like they are being ripped off because they can't access digital programs, and I sympathize with them. In their case they can afford it, but many elders can't.

@culwin

Ай бұрын

I'm not old and I am tech savvy, and I still would not "download an app" or any of that other nonsense. I just wouldn't go to such a place.

@trianglemoebius

Ай бұрын

​@@culwin I'm in the same boat - not old, I just refuse to use anything but a landline because I'm not keen on the idea of people being able to contact me anywhere at any time. But the assumption that everyone has a smartphone is getting so baked into society I might have to cave soon. I recently could not order at a restaurant because the only menu they had required me to scan a QR code to look at it. No paper menus, no internet menus, just that bloody QR. Obviously, I just left and went somewhere else, but this is getting more common. Where am I going to go if *every* place just requires a QR code?

@nursecathy123cat

Ай бұрын

⁠@@trianglemoebiusI do have a smart phone and I can scan a QR code. But have you tried to read that tiny print on your phone screen? I always request a physical menu.

@nanoflower1

Ай бұрын

@@trianglemoebius Agreed. I have been to places that wanted you to use the QR codes but also had paper menus available. I've heard of places that only had the QR codes but haven't been to one. If I had only QR codes to order from I would walk out. I have my land line and that's it. No need for a smart phone when work from home is a thing that exists now.

@100GTAGUY

Ай бұрын

​@@culwin best of luck to ya man, i cant find a replacement lightbulb since the incandescent ban that doesnt require a damn internet connection and smartphone app. Every industry is following suit, hell we're not going to be able to refrigerate food without apps and connectivity features in just a few years.

Another reason McDonald's wants you to use the app is because they get to sell advertising profiles and user data to third parties

@ValkyrieTiara

Ай бұрын

Hooooonestly I'm not sure about that. Like maybe? Obviously giant corporations don't get to be giant corporations by not being greedy and stingy. But at the same time that data is so cheap I have a hard time imagining that a company as big as gargantuan as McDonalds cares about the few million enough to bother with it, especially in the face of the potential scandal/erosion of trust that would occur if it ever got out that they were selling user data. Basically if I were running a corporation as big and famous and profitable as McDs (which I'm not, so maybe ignore me) I would be more worried about the damage to the brand selling data would deal than the chump change we stand to make from the actual data sales.

@goosenotmaverick1156

Ай бұрын

I refuse to give any kiosk my info or download apps specifically for this reason. I'll use em, but you can't have my info, I just wanted noms, dudes.

@stevendufour

Ай бұрын

@@goosenotmaverick1156instead you just give all your data to Microsoft, Apple and/or Samsung. What’s the difference? I’m against it all as well, but the companies already know everything about you anyway.

@goosenotmaverick1156

Ай бұрын

@@stevendufour oh I get what you're saying. But anything I can do to limit what I give out, I try to. It's an easy way. Plus I don't frequent too many establishments that use them, and it doesn't inconvenience me in any way, just selecting my order, paying, and waiting for my less than mediocre food. Lol What I'm basically trying to say is, it's important to try, and it's just as easy to not give them the info as it would be to give it to them. On the contrary I just hit one button instead of having to enter information at all.

@alexdg7755

Ай бұрын

It requires your location be on at all times while the app is in the background, spooky imo

7:01 Hank those are NOT the reasons why McDonald's wants you to use the app. The real reasons they want you to use the app are 1. It allows them to collect and sell your personal data 2. It allows them to collect and sell your personal data 3. It allows them to collect and sell your personal data Seriously, you cannot overstate how much these big companies are going all-in on collecting people's data. I'm sure the reasons you listed also contribute, but they're maybe like 2% of the reason and collecting data is the other 98%

@jazzpear8877

27 күн бұрын

Yeah I’m surprised he missed this point. Idk if I’d go as far to say it being 98% of the reason, the other reasons he listed are also very strong motivators for sure, but this is also a big factor

@chrissears9912

27 күн бұрын

Good points, adding one more: 4. It allows them to collect and sell your personal data

@RedSpicyKiwi

27 күн бұрын

I think the data industry issue is more of a 30 and under concern. A lot of people don't like it, but people who grew up with a phone in hand from middle, and high school, feel a deeper disgust .

@ltlbuddha

25 күн бұрын

And don't forget, it also allows them to collect and sell your personal data

@jess-mx

12 күн бұрын

Everything else is selling it anyway and I need to eat cheap so :/

I live near Edinburgh, Scotland. There is a Five Guys in Edinburgh, but I don't go there. I checked the prices and for a cheeseburger and fries at Five Guys it costs about £15. There's a locally owned takeaway near me that has a cheeseburger that is just as good and only costs £7, with fries included. There's a Dominos in my town. I rarely order from them. A medium pizza from Dominos is usually around £15. A medium pizza from any of 3 or 4 locally owned takeaways is closer to £10, and is better quality. It's one of the things I love about Scotland. It's so easy to support quality local businesses.

Having worked at a McDonald's i think its important to note the way that these deals also lure you in to buy more. I have seen many people use those deals as intended, they come in they grab the food listed in the deal and they move on with their day, But i have seen significantly more people come in get their discounted food item AND something else to fill out their meal. So fries function as a loss leader for them, lure people to use their service with cheap easy to make fries then make up that lost money with people who buy the comparatively overpriced burger with it.

@catherinebaldwin6580

Ай бұрын

That why I deleted it. I realized I was being played after a while, and didn’t like my money being drained. You might think your getting free stuff, you’re not. You’re getting broke.

@maggie6152

Ай бұрын

A Venus Fry Trap, if you will.

@IrisGlowingBlue

Ай бұрын

@@maggie6152 I will Not, thank you (/jk, jk)

@Zhiperser

Ай бұрын

If they were going to get food anyway some of those people only changed where they were going, not how much they were buying. It definitely works as you said though for many.

@ramzikawa734

Ай бұрын

Yeah I was going to leave a comment like this as well. Price discrimination is weird because it somewhat requires you to become mentally dependent on a system and learn how to “best” use it. It hooks your brain because you start thinking about how much money you’re not saving when you don’t order. And if you’re that price sensitive you likely don’t have the bandwidth for more than a few systems. I’m not saying I know this, but I wouldn’t be shocked if McDonald’s makes more money on average from poorer people who are more dependent on it than from richer people who more often pay full price. There’s also the difficult to quantify value of risk avoidance. You can afford to take larger risks on volume allocation (and therefore potential profit maximums) if you know that you can guarantee your stock gets cleared out whenever you put product on sale (still slightly above profit thresholds too).

I worked at five guys for several years and the amount of people I heard complaining to me about how much more the prices were compared to the McDonald’s that was like a four minute walk away fyi was ridiculous. It was particularly infuriating when I’d spent the two hours that morning helping to prep the food fresh for the day and being paid a livable wage for my work, like I’m sorry the cost of my labour is making this burger slightly more expensive but also no one is forcing you to eat here! Thank you Hank for pointing out that the price isn’t even that different for what you get! And yes the amount of manly men who ordered absurd amounts of food even when I advised them the little fry was enough for one person was a lot.

@Anewevisual

Ай бұрын

The price isn’t that different for him at those individual locations. For me, five guys is literally 1.5 to 2 times as expensive for equivalent food LOL Hes trying to extrapolate it to everywhere

@whitdodge

Ай бұрын

​@@AnewevisualI implore you to look at the price per calorie and not just the menu price like most of the goobers who complain about Five Guys prices. With the exception of couponing in the app I cannot imagine a market where the price per calorie is twice as high at Five Guys.

@TheWheatless

Ай бұрын

@@whitdodgeI don’t see much value in judging price per calorie. That would, for example, make broccoli seem ridiculously “expensive”. If anything I’d care more about price per “satiety value” or something, which is way harder to measure.

@whitdodge

Ай бұрын

@@TheWheatless But we aren't comparing broccoli to hamburgers? We are comparing hamburgers to hamburgers. This argument is nonsensical. Price per calorie is used here because that is how we objectively measure the value of common goods. Any meal with a higher serving/calorie count would just immediately lose the value comparison by your troubled logic. Introducing factors like "satiety value" just puts Five Guys even further ahead.

@TheWheatless

Ай бұрын

@@whitdodge What puts five guys ahead on satiety?

Smart vid!! Two little comments: 1) Price Discrimination - It's important to understand that the savings that people get in money are extracted from their other kinds of capital, specifically temporal and psychological. I'm all for people having access to affordable food, but if we only focus on the price, we are missing the behavioral forest for one very green tree. 2) Five Guys and MANLY MANS - Five Guys is one of the smartest brands in the country from a consumer psychology standpoint. Almost everything that they do is intelligently calibrated towards a very particular set of people, behaviors, and value propositions. It's so solid that it can get guys like Hank in the door, but also know that a lot of their customers are not going to buy anything little.

AMA I work at both Five Guys and McDonald’s in Canada and have been doing so for more than a year. I am also a supervisor at both. So shoot your queries if you want to🙃

@pricessLeopard112

Күн бұрын

how do you have enough time to be a supervisor at two of the busiest fast food chains in canada? i'm assuming supervisor work is full-time

@devlimbani

Күн бұрын

@@pricessLeopard112 I started at McD and was full time there first and then started at FG and only do McD on weekends now as they don’t require me to be full time

@pricessLeopard112

Күн бұрын

@@devlimbani oh cool! get that cash money homie

I work in the app rewards department for a pretty large company. One thing to note though is that despite the point about price discrimination being basically right, McDonalds would still DEFINITELY prefer that you use the app, even as a less price sensitive customer, because every time you order or scan a QR, or do anything else, they know it’s you. Being able to tie all your spend in together along with your specific buying habits is tremendously valuable to them

@ftlbaby

Ай бұрын

This.

@dr.spookybones3965

Ай бұрын

I never thought about this and it’s horrifying. It makes me glad I don’t use McDonald’s, but this also applies to places like Target. Having a RedCard and taking advantage of the deals and paying through the app makes things “easier” - I’m more likely to buy the dog treats that are on sale if they’re actually a better deal than the ones I normally buy, but then I’ll get recommendations or ads for those treats or similar products. Technology is truly wild.

@idontwantahandlethough

Ай бұрын

@@dr.spookybones3965 it IS kinda creepy! Especially because they *_could_* use that data to help people make better, more informed purchases... but in reality, they'll use it to manipulate people into less informed, less needed, costlier purchases :/

@motormaker

Ай бұрын

Yes, data mining.

@thekingoffailure9967

Ай бұрын

If I had the app they would know that I go to McDonald’s once a month stare at the drive-through from the sidewalk and then continue my bike ride home 😂😂😂

As someone with Celiac, Five guys was the only place I could safely get fries at for years since they’re straight potatoes and one of the rare places that don’t do anything else fried in their fry oil. Also one of the few places that early on offered burgers wrapped in lettuce

@joonsantini

27 күн бұрын

Yes my favorite place as a child was five guys! And the peanuts as the ‘free appetizer’ instead of it being like rolls or bread was great too

I wouldn’t really mind ordering a Little Burger or whatever, but IHOP has the “Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity” and there is no universe in which I will ever physically say those words in that order to another human being 🤣

My favorite story about coupons, since you brought them up: When I was a freshman in college, one day I bought a box of Hot Pockets at the grocery store (I had heard that's what college students eat). When I checked out, along with the receipt a coupon popped out: "$1 off when you buy any TWO boxes of Hot Pockets!". I went to my dorm, ate the Hot Pockets I bought, and they were alright, so I was like "Okay sure, I'll go for that". Next time I'm at the grocery store, I buy those two boxes, and the coupon printer kicks in! "$1 off when you buy any THREE boxes of Hot Pockets!". I was like "Well that's a worse deal, but I'm in college and broke; sure." Next time I go shopping, I buy my 3 Hot Pockets boxes, lo and behold: "$1 off when you buy any FOUR boxes of Hot Pockets!". Well okay, at this point, this is barely a deal. But I also feel like I'm playing a game of Chicken, and I really want to see how far this will go. So I decided to play along. I took longer and longer between grocery trips, but I kept on buying more Hot Pockets, and getting more coupons. It ended when I got $1 off SEVEN boxes of Hot Pockets, and then either they just gave up, or the promotion ended. But I really liked feeling like they were testing how many boxes of Hot Pockets I would buy to save one dollar. And I think after all those Hot Pockets, I never bought another Hot Pocket again.

@partylizard7012

Ай бұрын

I have never heard of anywhere in the world that sales work like that. The sale price is on the label of the shelf, it is not dependent on how frequently an individual customer buys an item. Only exception I can think of is limiting how many times the deal can be applied per order (think "limit: one per customer")but you can just leave and come right back in to get the sale again

@geeksdo1tbetter

Ай бұрын

​@@partylizard7012this scenario is more common with loyalty cards that track one person's spending and customize the coupons

@jackelliotts

Ай бұрын

​@partylizard7012 I think they're talking about places like Kroger where coupons will print when you use your rewards account. At least in Kroger's case, my coupons are related to things I buy often on my rewards account. I've never seen them go up sequentially like that, but they do end up related to something I purchased recently or something I've bought consistently for years.

@MCNeko6554

Ай бұрын

@@partylizard7012 These kinds of coupons attached to a receipt are actually really common in the old, small stores (like Dollar General, Big Lots) and I can totally see someone programming a deal in there to check how many of an item was purchased, add one, and give $1 off as a sick joke. Not all sale prices are directly attached to the shelf.

@0cossin77

Ай бұрын

Not quite the same, but a lot of places will put up a sign that says something like "Get two for $3!" but if you check the normal price in the fine print they are actually $1.50 each and not discounted at all.

As a former five guys employee from ~6 years ago, you make some great points! I'm glad that there are many options for people to be able to get quick food whenever they need it. Some interesting poiints I thought of while watching: -I trained as a new employee at a new store, so corporate was all over the place. They and the training videos both pointed out very clearly that five guys purposefully doesn't advertise and doesn't give out coupons because they stand behind their products being worth that much. -Five guys quality really is at least a step above other "fast foods", at least compared to places I've previously worked. The patties are shaped and weighed individually every day, potatoes are cut every day, most toppings are prepared fresh every morning (not pre-packaged bags of lettuce, pre-cut tomatoes, etc.). There's nothing wrong with places that do so - I frequent them a good amount myself, but something to consider. That's a lot more prep work and labor that goes into it and goes towards the price of the food! -Not completely relevant to this but compared to other fast food restaurants I've worked at, five guys give their employees a free burger, fries, and shake every shift they work which is super dope for those who need or want it!!

@xuapril32

Ай бұрын

Your description of Five Guys food prep reminds me a bit of Chipotle, which I consider more fast-casual than true fast food. When you go in, you can see employees in the back chopping lettuce, mixing guac, cooking the meats, etc and I like that you can see ingredients being prepped right there so you know you're getting fresh food.

@PuzzleBread

Ай бұрын

its not very often a current five guys employee, former mcdonalds employee gets a video like this thrown at them. I honestly never got the app for mcdonalds but its very interesting to to compare them 2 now, but to be honest i would have likely said a lot of similar things to you @verh7 like free meals and the quality preaching of five guys. The mcdonalds i worked at had employee meals free up to $5 but any more than that and you have to pay for it, so i often got the cheaper items becuase of that, such as the mcdouble mentioned in the video, much to the aversion of my stomach. One thing five guys does that Mcdonalds never did is on days where i dont work till close/only work a few hours/get sent home early becuase reasons, and thus dont get a break like normal, is i still get my free five guys employee meal. When a case arose similarly at Mcdonalds and i got food, i had to pay for it still if i recall correctly.

@lesliefranklin1870

Ай бұрын

What you're saying also reminds me of In-N-Out, except Five Guys is a *lot* more expensive.

@dashvash5440

Ай бұрын

Yea McDonald's may be equalling calories but calories are super cheap. Not to mention McDonald's is a massive publicly traded corporation. They're all to happy to cut costs since they have a captive audience. Five Guys seems like they started out realizing that McDonald's is expensive for cheap food. Honestly it's a good idea and they executed it well. McDonald's makes enough that Five Guys could make a quarter of McDonald's profit and be thrilled. Wonder if they'll end up racing too the bottom. Not sure if they're publicly traded.

@verh7

Ай бұрын

@@lesliefranklin1870 that's fair! I worked at five guys on the east Coast where in-n-out isn't at all, so maybe five guys was able to capture the market there. Five guys also doesn't do drive thrus at most, if not all, locations which is an interesting note as well.

hank I love your videos! I always learn something new and it makes me feel better about my day :)

5:45 “I am not a very price sensitive person” is such a flex

let’s not forget reason #4 why McD’s wants you to use the app: linking orders to customers for data / trends analysis etc

I see some people here in the comments pointing out the very good fact that McDonald’s is using one product as a loss leader in order to get people in the door and potentially fill out their meal with other (full price) items. Another aspect I think should be considered is that, even if you just get your discounted product and go, they are getting you to come to them more frequently than you would on your own. They might operate at a small loss or neutral by offering heavily discounted fíes, but now you are more used to and more comfortable with adding a stop to McDonalds to your way home from work or on your way to pick up your kid from soccer. Now you know the location of the McDonalds closest to your home, work, and your kids’ extracurriculars. By drawing you in they are creating a familiarity so that they become the “easy” choice when you need something fast (even easier than they are already, due to habit and familiarity).

@Jayson_Tatum

25 күн бұрын

Even selling TWO large fries for $1 is still profitable. French fries are incredibly cheap to make

@seranacoldharbour

20 күн бұрын

Yes. Even if 100 people get free fries that week. That's 100 people that didn't go to a competitor and that's worth more than any TV or billboard advertisement. The customer actually gets to sample the product. Also psychologically, people are more likely to eat fast food at a place they have been to before as they subconsciously feel more comfortable. Humans are pattern following creatures. It also creates dopamine for the customer as they have gotten "a good deal". Humans are more likely to favourably think about a shop where they have previously gotten their money's worth of service. It really is genius. I find it utterly fascinating. It really speaks to the phrase "you've got to spend money to make money". It shows how a company with a large capital behind them really can leverage that capital to become dominant in the industry. :)

@Ellis-Tor

14 күн бұрын

on top of all that, french fries stimulate your appetite in a crazy and unnatural way, you will crave more food immediately after eating fries, this is very commonly observed thing in food science. These companies are genius!

@TheTerrainWizard

11 күн бұрын

Mc Donald’s is real estate company who sells burgers and fries, though.

I've heard also that things like apps and "customer loyalty programs" are largely about 1st party customer research, because it has become mostly illegal to buy market research from third parties because of the privacy acts in the past decade.

Your videos the past few weeks have been riveting

Every time you say 'A Large Fry' I just imagine a single giant fry. I find it so hilarious, I would never phrase it like that.

@ladyofthewittyremark

Ай бұрын

this is super interesting to me, because at present i cannot think of any other way *to* phrase it. how would you put it?

@ethank5059

Ай бұрын

They're ordering the Megatater

@madspacepig

Ай бұрын

@@ladyofthewittyremark If I was trying to be most correct I would say a large portion of fries. If I was actually speaking casually I would probably just say large fries though, plural. Now granted, I wouldn't actually say fries at all because I'm British, they'd be chips, unless I need to convey the thickness (or rather thinness) to you specifically, then I might say it.

@lVlegabyte

Ай бұрын

Very common way of phrase where I am at. Similar to how “getting a hair cut” doesn’t mean a single hair is getting cut.

@trianglemoebius

Ай бұрын

@@lVlegabyte The difference is you're actually saying "get a haircut". Not to be pedantic, it's just important because the compound word entirely changes the grammatic makeup of the sentence. "I am getting a hair cut" = 'hair' a singular object, 'cut' is a verb. "I am getting a haircut" = 'Haircut' is the object.

I was a manager at five guys and got to look at our margins. The potato’s in A whole fry basket of fries only costs a quarter so they use fries to cover the cost of the rest of the food.

I understand and sympathize with your price discrimination argument. There is one big glaring problem with it. The companies only care about the customers as long as it is making them more money. I want my government to sort out equity. I want the companies to focus on making affordable, well-made products. I don't accept having them choose who gets what based on made-up loops for more profit, neither do I trust them to be generous for the sake of it.

The 'extra fries in the bag' thing totally worked on me, but unfortunately for them, I only ordered the medium size once before realizing 'this is an insane amount of fries, and I will only buy small from now on.'

Price discrimination is good for basically everyone watching this video. People who have the means and capacity to download and app or get a loyalty card without any issues. Unfortunately we are having big issues with this in the UK with things like the Tesco Clubcard which is a loyalty card that gives you access to "Clubcard Prices". The issues is not for the individuals who chose not to sign up but more for those in society. Those who are older, homeless, less able and vulnerable people who simply do not have the means or capacity. Now these individuals are having to pay inflated prices when in reality they are often the ones most I need of financial support.

@andrewadami3920

Ай бұрын

This was literally what I was thinking about. What about the people that don't have phones? Surely, they are the ones that need access to the app most.

@OsloTime

Ай бұрын

Yes, exactly this!

@BTrain-is8ch

Ай бұрын

The card isn't some act of charity though. You're almost certainly trading getting some minor discount for having data collected about you and your purchases. Price discrimination only works when it's invisible. If people see that you paid X and I paid Y where X < Y that causes immediate problems.

@LameytheClown

Ай бұрын

My supermarket switched from the little card that you get penalized for not using to requiring the people use the phone app at checkout. There is a line between price discrimination and coercing people into the data economy that is being crossed there.

@moonshinershonor202

Ай бұрын

The rich care not for the plight of the poor an old working class.

Hank it’s really important to note that the TOS in the McDonald’s app includes a clause waiving your right to sue / forcing you to go through arbitration if there is a class action law suit. So if you need it to be cheap, you also have to waive your rights.

@JosephDavies

Ай бұрын

A lot of these hidden costs don't get calculated in how much people are "saving". Sometimes it's because it's pretty hard to quantify directly (at least from outside).

@myuzu_

Ай бұрын

There's a tiny saving grace where, if they do something really egregiously illegal, that agreement can be thrown out by a judge and a class action can proceed as normal.

@rachelkeener932

29 күн бұрын

+

@jess-mx

12 күн бұрын

I assume that means for the app though, not like if there was something wrong or unsafe with the food

@JohnPruden

11 күн бұрын

@@jess-mx No, it would apply for the food. It is really broad language so a good lawyer could argue against it potentially being over broad or not including particularly devastating circumstances, like others have said, but the language in the TOS would include it.

The passion and excitement in your voice over burgers and fries kept me smiling for nearly 10 minutes. I always appreciate your uploads, Hank. Thanks for sharing.

Also McD used to have a restriction on their app where you could only use one coupon an hour or something, but they seem to have gotten rid of that so you don't have to have 3 people with the app, you can just make three separate orders. But this costs a lot more time, as you have to pick each one up before you can place the next one. For me, I use ordering apps for my convenience. It may not save me in time, but it saves me in frustration of trying to figure out what I want to order on the spot as I can just read and click each thing, and see the whole menu, while fast food restaurants have mostly taken to only showing like 10 rotating menu items on their digital menu at one time and usually none of those are anything I want. In that way, the deals are like the price paid to me for doing that part of the job for them 😅

A sponsorship on Hank’s channel?! A whole new era

@hankschannel

Ай бұрын

This is not the first, but yeah...weird...

@sofasangriamusic3337

Ай бұрын

@@hankschannel Yeah I was gonna say, given the fact that this is on your side channel, I was curious where the sponsorship money is going?

@zatchstar90

Ай бұрын

The video he made a few months back about how the regulating agencies changed how a unit of engagement is classified which upended a ton of existing contracts that had guaranteed sponsors a certain level of engagement now were able to get a lot more out of those existing contracts and creators were left with the short end of the stick trying to make up for all the units of engagement they now had to make up for. Hank mentioned you would probably see a lot more double ads like this popping up because of those contracts

@hjewkes

Ай бұрын

Its so wild haha. You dont do sponsor reads on vlogbrothers, the scishow and crash course stuff doesnt do them because their educational, and shorts dont have time for them. So i think this is the first time in 15 years of watching Hank I’ve heard you plug something that isnt your own business lol. Like even that freakin mobile game you plugged you made an investment in lol

@thefaboo

Ай бұрын

​@@hjewkes SciShow does them sometimes, but the ones I've seen are either for educational things, or more like underwriting where it's just a mention or a logo of a company.

Please cover more of these business myths and how they manipulate people with psychology

@ethank5059

Ай бұрын

It's a really interesting topic. I saw an article that compared actual price increases to the perception of price increases and argued that companies like McDonalds have gotten better at optimizing orders and getting people to buy add ons and upgrades so the amount a typical customer spends at McDonalds is much higher despite the price increases not being as much. People then get mad and blame the overall economy while many economists are left scratching their heads because the prices didn't go up by that much.

@sarahcb3142

Ай бұрын

There's actually a Sci Show Tangents that covers advertisements that I just listened to! It's a bit weird as it's one of their first episodes so they're still figuring out the format but they talk a lot about ad psychology and trickery.

I would argue that the fast food apps actually save time when used in a specific way. Many apps make it so you can save your favorite orders and immediately add to cart and check out. But the best feature is that you can send your order before you arrive so that when you get there, the food comes out almost immediately.

I feel like using a fast food app actually *saves* me more time overall than ordering at the store. Often, when I order ahead, they'll already have my food waiting for me, but even if they don't the time I spent getting to the store was also time that was being used to prepare my food.

What these videos have shown me is that a disturbing amount of work goes into trying to manipulate people into giving companies as much money as possible as quickly and frequently as possible. I kind of understood this already but I don't think I comprehended just how engrained it is.

@silverandexact

Ай бұрын

Every for profit company does this, from food to video games to children's shows. They all want to hack your brain for attention.

@hankschannel

Ай бұрын

Oh yeah...that's, like, a huge thing.

@deadlyshizzno

Ай бұрын

Like pretty much the crux of what this country's biggest companies (and many more aspiring giant companies) is built on. As long as they're making profits, they're happy. And ever-increasing profits is a huge part of the goal and what makes Wall Street happy

@ps.2

Ай бұрын

True enough, but these tactics all scale to 1000 franchisees, and are copied by dozens of other brands, and so the effort expended to get _you specifically_ to spend more of your hard-earned cash doesn't really seem like a "disturbing amount" after all.

@deadlyshizzno

Ай бұрын

@@ps.2 True, but the fact that the 1000s of franchises/brands exist means that almost any individual can find at least one company's branding more enticing fall to the traps that make them spend more money on that brand

This point about price discrimination is so interesting, and now I'm seeing how it manifests in my life. My parents and MIL are very price sensitive, for various reasons, and they tend to balk at prices that they see as high and use coupons as much as possible. But my husband and I just don't have the time or mental bandwidth to care, so we often end up paying more for things without even batting an eye. We also don't have kids and, once I'm done with school, are likely to have a significantly higher combined income that our parents have ever had. So, yes, we pay more, and we probably should, and we don't mind. So weird!

@miroslav3919

Ай бұрын

Absolutely! Another commonly accepted form of price discrimination is airlines increasing ticket prices as the flight approaches, effectively allowing tourists to buy fairly cheap flights while putting more of a burden on businesses that commonly make these last minute purchases. But I think there is an important caveat to be added to Hank's statement about price discrimination. In microeconomic theory, there is this notion of perfect price discrimination. It essentially means that you charge everyone the maximum they would be willing to pay for a product. Such an arrangement would be efficient (achieving the maximum potential output of the given economy), but it would wipe out all the benefits consumers gain from competition (precisely not having to pay the maximum price you'd be willing to pay, we call this phenomenon consumer surplus). With the growing amount of our data that vendors and producers can access, I fear that it allows them to gradually approach this state of perfect price discrimination, making increasingly well-tailored offers to all of us. This certainly isn't an unsolvable problem, but we should keep it in mind. Price discrimination can be acceptable and even desirable, in some cases, but I recommend that we keep an eye on it.

Hey Hank, fascinating video. In regards to the ordering a “little” and how masculine male egos won’t allow the utterance of “can I have a little” cross their lips; I used to work at a pizza shop, and at this pizza shop we often received the order of “meat lovers” pizza. Our meat lovers pizza was called the Pretty Pretty Princess, and we would only ring up the order if the customer would say “can I have a pretty pretty princess”. I don’t think we saved anyone from clogging their arteries with the pizza but we certainly broke down ego barriers lol.

6:29 the level of how much difference having the app makes for so many fast food places is wild. My grandma enjoys getting fast food and then sitting in the car and people watching. I do too! So when we do this together, she’s shocked at how basically the food costs the same when we’re feeding us both because I order through the apps or use app based coupons.

As a truck driver and welder who definitely can give off the vibe of someone who would absolutely never order a little burger i now want to in order to break the stereotype but their food is so good I just need that second patty.

@exeggcutertimur6091

Ай бұрын

order 2 little burgers but no fries!

@Dracomancer273

Ай бұрын

Big way to break the stereotype: bring in all your welder and/or trucker friends, order 2 littles per person, split the fries appropriately by the group numbers. 2 littles means twice as much bread AND toppings. And then there is that little sense of comradery and community that comes from fighting over fries XD

@geeksdo1tbetter

Ай бұрын

I absolutely love this!

The "little" burger affect is totally a thing. I have seen guys that usually would never get a double order it because they don't want to order the widdle chweese burger

@ethank5059

Ай бұрын

And then they make the next size up just a little bit more expensive so people also think "well I was going to get the little but the regular is just a better value" even if they don't want a big burger.

@nathaniel-shields

Ай бұрын

Internalized toxic masculinity really got us fucked up bc I was doing that shit without realizing it until hank j called me out

On the "I don't know how the app works", I am a software consultant working on a fast food point of sale app (not the mobile app, but the ipads/tablets they use for registers), and the way it works at the fast food place that I work on is that they have a check-in button in the mobile app (or, occasionally, geofencing - depends on the restaurant) where the user basically says "I'm here" and puts your order on the prep screens (via a few backend processes on the corporate servers) for the workers to make and designates it as a mobile order and which place the customer will be picking up their order (e.g., drive-thru, lobby, etc.). Not going too in-depth since it's obviously proprietary info, but speaking at a high level, the process is: 1. Customer make order 2. Customer check in (either via a button press or geofencing) 3. Check in kicks off information to be sent to restaurant prep screens 4. Customer goes up to where they want to pick up their food (usually designated in the app) and says "I'm here to pick up my mobile order" 5. Food is handed from worker to customer I will say, I don't work for McD's, so I can't say that's how McD's mobile app works, but I suspect it's probably similar or has a lot of the same ideas.

The verbal content is richly fascinating. The visual ... I am *loving* your gorgeous, luxurious, curly hair. :D

Welcome from your scientist neighbor, also in Montana. I am, of course, assuming we are next door. I am assuming you are somewhere inside the Glasgow, Ekalaka (an under rated town), Hamilton, and the Yaak polygon, well, we are right next door. Loved the video. Best of luck with your channel.

my McDonald’s app sneakily changed the “any size fry for $1” to “$1 off any size fry” 😭

@hankschannel

Ай бұрын

Nooooo

@sentimentalhermit

Ай бұрын

Type and availability of deals is regional. In my app, there is a still a daily low-price deal for fries, although it's $1.29 (inflation!) any size fries

@slottmachine

Ай бұрын

I want to check the app to see if that changed in my area too, but I know if I open that app, I’m simply going to buy McDonald’s at midnight for no good reason 😂

@doomsdayrabbit4398

Ай бұрын

​@@sentimentalhermitNot even just regional - I've had differences between parts of the same city.

@meganfuentes3487

Ай бұрын

$2 for a large fry in my app. 😢

EVERYONE TAKE NOTE HANK SAID “IRREGARDLESS” AT 3:10

@Greyhawksci

Ай бұрын

Tis a perfectly cromulent word!

@General12th

Ай бұрын

*_Um actually_* the right word is inregardless.

@hankschannel

Ай бұрын

I think it's a good word even if it does not technically exist...

@dtrippsbold7931

Ай бұрын

@@hankschannel it’s a fine imaginary word. Also this is the perfect time to say i bought your socks and i love them

@Count_Smackula

Ай бұрын

Much better than gormful. IJS

1. It's annoying when the container of food is not big enough to actually contain the food! This happens with fries, tortilla chips, basically all sides. I don't like my food rolling around loose, touching everything else and being crushed by other items. 2. After the initial hurdle of downloading & logging into an app, using an app is faster for me than ordering in person, because when I arrive the food is ready and I don't have to wait while they prepare it, if I plan ahead and order right before leaving the house. 3. I had no idea these places have coupons in their apps because I don't install apps for everything. I paid $7 for an order of fries at McD's the other month and I couldn't believe that's how much it costs now. I can get the same thing at a dozen other local places for the same price, so why would I go back to McD's?

The rewards points system on the mcdonalds app is EXTREMELY generous too (at least in the UK) - if I go alone I'm basically getting a free coffee on every second or third trip from the points, or if I pay for a full meal for my whole family, I'm basically guaranteed a free big mac on my next visit from those points. It's wild.

Hank, can we talk about Factor's use of the phrase "Chef Prepared"? Because _no it isn't,_ a chef is someone that _designs recipes_ and a cook is someone that cooks them. Factor does not have an army of chefs cooking their meals, that would be an incredible waste of money.

@geeksdo1tbetter

Ай бұрын

oh, is that title super important in the industry?

@rideronthedrumbeat

Ай бұрын

​​@@geeksdo1tbetterIt is. A chef is usually someone with a trades certification who went to culinary school. You can expect them to have a lot of background education about the chemistry, culture, supply chain, etc. of food. Cooks simply follow the instructions that the chef provides them, so they require minimal (if any) prior experience/training.

@matthewschneider6725

Ай бұрын

As someone who used to work in advertising, I suspect that rest of that phrase was very carefully worded. Perhaps they would argue that "chef-prepared meal" works like "chef-designed meal" where a chef prepared that "meal" (here used like "recipe" or "menu") once upon a time. Absolutely very misleading.

@thekingoffailure9967

Ай бұрын

@@geeksdo1tbetteris an engineer different than a construction worker?? 🤔🤔🤔

@tedonica

Ай бұрын

@@geeksdo1tbetter Well... kind of. It isn't a protected title. They could just as easily call them "engineer prepared" meals, as "engineer" isn't protected either (although Professional Engineer _is_ protected). That said, the general consensus in the industry is that chefs design recipes, and they also are typically the managers of the cooks. But honestly, the only thing it takes to become a chef is to convince someone to call you one.

In 2014 most of the people around me stopped drinking Coca Cola for Gaza. The BDS list I was handed at that time was several pages long & I kept forgetting which soda was & wasn't from the same company (Oasis or Fanta or SevenUp?), so I just tried to stop having soda at all. A few years later I had managed it & now I can't drink it even if I want to, I just find it too sugary. Boycotting McDonald would have been unthinkable before, but once you stop drinking soda, buying stuff at McDonald is hard, you can't do the menus, so I had been going less & less anyway. So the BDS campaign basically improved my eating habits (which all counts for nothing, I get bubble tea instead...).

@imjumokay

Ай бұрын

I relate to this comment. When Starbucks took an anti-union stance and condemned a union for supporting Palestine, I dropped Starbucks completely. I found that I didn't miss it at all, and it wasnt even that convenient. I spent more money at local coffee shops and got much higher quality goods for the same or even lower prices.

@kimmcdonagh6756

Ай бұрын

Lol, I did the SAME thing....boycotting Starbucks, although I now make coffee at home, bit I use pretty high quality ingredients. It totally improved my life overall.

I occasionally get McDonald's like once every few months. Let me just say; ever since they launched their app, the drive-thru person always says "welcome to mcdonalds! will you be using our app today?" before taking my order and its kind of irritating. Im not sure why it bothers me so much but it really does. It kind of feels like they are being bit rude. It comes across as if they were too lazy to take my order so they were hoping I'd be using the app so they didnt have to talk to me.

Some great things about the app: improved order accuracy (no risk of miscommunication over a crappy comm system), time-shift the time spent ordering so you spend less time in the drive-thru lane. One big downside is the data collection. The amount of data collected through that app about food preferences, food habits, food dislikes, food values, etc is astonishing.

@rachelnotluf4585

9 күн бұрын

Agree! As a "price-sensitive" person, I think using apps for ordering food actually saves me time, since I don't waste time standing in the restaurant, scanning the menu board and waiting in line at the register. Plus, no pricing surprises - if I add an "extra" and it immediately raises the total in my cart, I can decide if I actually want to add it or not before finishing my order. But, yes, your second paragraph is still true.

Crazy that "everyone has access to the app" is now normalized. I have a 7 year old Android phone. Most apps no longer work on my phone, because they require a newer version of android to run. Old apps stop working because they force you to upgrade to the new version. And let's not forget that smart phones are EXPENSIVE. Not everyone can afford one.

@thegriffinnews

Ай бұрын

+

@sams1982

Ай бұрын

+

@tass466

Ай бұрын

And some of us that can afford them don't want them! I value my attention!

@miche8868

Ай бұрын

+

@elizabethparrish4454

Ай бұрын

I had an old Android and not only were some apps not compatible, I just didn't have enough SPACE for all the apps people wanted me to install. Older phones didn't have as much memory. If I didn't wasn't to use that app at least once a week, I didn't put it on. Memory was too precious. I finally had to upgrade because the phone wouldn't hold a charge for longer than an hour and that is no longer a "mobile" phone. I couldn't afford the latest, so I looked for a refurbished phone not too old that had as much memory as I could afford. 6 months along, and I'm still surprised every time I remember I CAN install another obscure but handy app.

When I lived in a place where McDonald's was on my way home from my night shift job, I used the "any breakfast sandwich for $1" coupon a lot and it saved me so much money with the lifestyle I had back then. My McDonald's was in a Walmart so I'd buy a big thing of orange juice to last for multiple days, and use that coupon about 3 days a week. It was probably unhealthy for me but I was struggling with money, had trouble getting large amounts of groceries home (this Walmart was my bus stop and I still had to walk 2/3rds of a mile to get home)

I realized a couple years ago the phenomenon you’re describing about how willing I am now to spend a little money to save a lot of time and effort. College student me had what felt like infinite time to eke out value on things and working professional me couldn’t care less about coupons if it takes me time to get the discounts.

Another person that worked at a French fry "fast casual" place. Burger-Fi also didn't sell French fries that were one serving (as of 2016). The "regular" was enough fries for 2 people if they also got burgers. So many people wanted half orders, which we did until corporate made us stop.

McDonald's doesn't just have an app, they have a *good* app. That's such a rare thing in restaurants for some reason.

@nickp3177

Ай бұрын

Legitimately the best fast food app that exists. It is wild how good it is compared to every other one.

@EvilGenius007

Ай бұрын

In my experience the Wendy's app was pretty good (also good coupons, annoyingly it required you to confirm the CVV code for the saved card with each order), the Sonic app is decent (not too many deals but some, UI is acceptable), the Taco Bell app *was* good until I got banned because of doing chargebacks when they repeatedly left food out of my order. The best app is Little Ceaser's because with the pizza portal I can order and pick up a pizza without having to say a single word to a single human being.

@CollinMacQuarrie

Ай бұрын

I agree! Their rewards system is also top-tier, including their deals.

@backpackvacuum9520

Ай бұрын

I agree that the app is the best restaurant app I've tried, but I disagree that it's*good.* 😂 I've had it glitch out on me many times.

@hazmatt8349

Ай бұрын

Very true, could be great but it's just good. But most other restaurant apps are just awful.

1:50 at least here in Canada the Five Guys bag fries are a measured quantity, I can literally watch the person measure them before dumping them into the bag

@moonshinershonor202

Ай бұрын

Nah bro one time i literally only got the cupful and I literally was about to go Karen in there because they know dam well to give me an overflowing cup.

@hankschannel

Ай бұрын

Interesting...I wonder if Canada's regulations are tighter!

@thisishandlenumber2048

Ай бұрын

@@hankschannel I live in California and a similar thing happens. They fill up the cup, then they fill up a metal tin with fries and pour that into the bag. So your fries are whatever size cup you paid for plus the size of the tin.

@Ms.Pronounced_Name

Ай бұрын

@hankschannel entirely possible, though up until now I'd assumed it was a cost control measure

That's an interesting point about price discrimination that I had never considered and makes a lot of sense. On the other hand, though, there's the "time tax" that comes with using apps and coupons and figuring out how to get the best deal, and that's something that feels unfair to people who are still very very busy, but get smaller paychecks. Either way, infuriatingly, the brand wins because you either pay them more or you only have enough time to figure out a couple rewards apps so they get your loyalty. 😑

The fact that a VIP’s time is more valuable than mine is depressing. But it just drives home the fact that there is a huge wage gap between the haves and the have nots.

“Four point two dollars”

@moonshinershonor202

Ай бұрын

So... Fotwenty

@Colorcrayons

Ай бұрын

It's that time of day again...

@hankschannel

Ай бұрын

This seems absolutely normal to me...

@CheesecakeMilitia

Ай бұрын

@@hankschannel All spreadsheet programs have number formats!

@wolf496

Ай бұрын

Because you live in Missoula, where they regularly celebrate 'Hempfest'​@@hankschannel. I think you might be biased

Also it's entirely possible McDonalds is purposely giving away better deals just to drive App adoption. Some mid-level analyst decided it's worth subsidizing your meal to hit their quarterly engagement target. This sorta thing happens all the time in tech... at least until some exec decides it's time to transition from growth to profitability and begins the enshittification protocol

@silverandexact

Ай бұрын

I don't disagree with your premise, but while most tech startups operate at a loss before enshittification, McDonald's is almost certainly not losing significant money from these deals, just not making as much profit. The best and most consistently available deals are free fries or drink with a minimum purchase. I imagine these are offered because making these free saves the consumer several dollars but the company only loses cents of product. The customer feels like they're getting a great deal by getting a free $4 order of fries or soda, items that, based on everything I'm seeing online, have a 75-90% profit margin, as opposed to 55-70% on meal items.

@evildude109

Ай бұрын

Maybe this is just me not being immune to propaganda, but I don't think this will work the way you're saying. This isn't like an Uber or Facebook, where the network effect is so fantastically powerful. Burgers are a commodity. If the time ever comes where McDonald's raises prices to profit on their customer base, people will go next door to Wendy's.

@forgingstrength6119

Ай бұрын

@@evildude109 It's already happening and people are going to the grocery store instead of another fast food place.

@pendlera2959

Ай бұрын

@@evildude109 The thing is Wendy's is also raising prices.

@TheSongwritingCat

Ай бұрын

That's why you get your Postmates order and then never use it again. Take advantage of the deal while they're trying to attract a user base and then bounce.

When I had fast food apps, they would send notifications, like 10 times as often as any of my friends or loved ones. Too personal and manipulative. Just made me pissed in anticipation every time I got a message. It's like getting too close to a horrible person, and now they won't leave you alone.

An app purchase is like a coupon purchase with a rewards card where you also consent to letting someone snoop through your wallet, car, house, etc. The reason they give you a "discount" with an app rather than something like a digital coupon or daily deal is because they are talking payment in personal data.

I think one of my biggest worries with the stance that people who can afford it should pay more to get time back also translates to the flip side that people who can't afford it should have to wait longer. Not sure how I feel about a society that forces long waiting queues onto those with fewer means (which we already see at theme parks, airports (global entry), and even parking/traffic laws ... wealthy people can afford to speed or park illegally).

@BTrain-is8ch

Ай бұрын

It's not zero sum so it doesn't translate that way. You're either willing to pay more to wait less or you wait the normal amount of time. You're not forced to wait additional time. My colleague having global entry doesn't imply that getting through security takes longer for me.

@JustcallmeJayrot

Ай бұрын

@@BTrain-is8ch I mean if anything, it might imply a shorter wait for you since everyone with global entry is either not in the same line as you, or if they are is speeding up your line by being handled faster.

@intelligentdonut

Ай бұрын

The global entry argument isn't as valid when you consider Mobile Passport control, which gives you access to an expedited lane for free.

@Meloncov

Ай бұрын

@@BTrain-is8ch That depends on the program. Global Entry and TSA Pre genuinely save time for everyone involved by pre-empting some of the work. But many airports have programs that are just paying money to go to the front of the line.

@jmeluwho6685

Ай бұрын

💯👏👏👏💯 this! well put, sir, very well put indeed. ps. 😍 the profile pic - your li'l doggie is TOOO flibbin' cute!!!

Does the McDonald’s app tell you if the shake machine is down at your local store? If not what are we doing here?

@silverandexact

Ай бұрын

The stores can mark ice cream items as unavailable and often (but not always) do.

@lued123

Ай бұрын

In my experience, it usually does. The employees can set the app so it stops selling those items at their location. But there is an element of human error in that they can accidentally forget to do it, or they might just leave those items perpetually disabled because they don't want to deal with it.

@Hudelf

Ай бұрын

Why should it? The answer is always yes.

@becauseimafan

Ай бұрын

_Asking the real question here!!_

Note about the McDonald's app: When I first installed it, I got pretty good deals similar in scale to the ones Hank saw...for about six months. Then over time, the deals became less significant ($0.30 off a $6-ish purchase, after comparing with regular pricing) or required purchasing in personally impractical volumes ($2-ish off _four_ Big Mac combos, etc.). More data points are needed for comparison, but I feel like there's an attempt to exploit sunk-cost feelings (quantized in "points", which _expire_ if unused) after using discounts to establish a purchasing habit.

@rachelnotluf4585

9 күн бұрын

I would actually be surprised if this WEREN'T the case.

There was/is a situation in Australia regarding price discrimination with the supermarkets (grocery stores) who would stock more of the exclusive items in well to do areas and more of the generic items in struggling areas, but they would charge more for the cheaper items in the lower socioeconomic areas. The same "own" brand in the rich suburbs would cost less. So the people who were more price sensitive, and making decisions based on that sensitivity would be penalised further. All for the sake of "increased shareholder value".

The other reason why McDonalds wants you to use the app is that the terms of sevice include waiving your right to a trial against them in court, in other words, you can't sue them if you have ever used their app.

Since you evidently read the comments, just going to say that Factor is pretty terrible. I have some dietary restrictions and they were out of something I ordered. *Without asking me*, but still charging me (and Factor isn't cheap!), they substituted something they were out of in an order of mine. They sent me an email saying "oh we're out of this so here's this other thing that violates your dietary restrictions lol enjoy".

@screwaccountnames

Ай бұрын

How is the packaging situation? I've read that Hello Fresh and Factor are pretty bad on packing small quantities of food in a lot of extra paper/plastic.

@thisisspacepig

Ай бұрын

Factor gets sent to you like a frozen dinner tray, so it’s one plastic tray, sometimes a small plastic sauce container and lid inside, and a sheet of plastic lid, and that’s in a cardboard sleeve. The shipping box uses paper insulation padding (no plastic or metal layer) and plastic water pouches frozen to ice. The packs can be melted and then used for watering plants and recycled, according to the pack marking. So all in all I’d say significantly less waste and more recyclable products than Hello Fresh, which has each component individually wrapped in plastic, uses plastic insulation padding with a metal layer (to my memory) and has non-water ice packs.

@geeksdo1tbetter

Ай бұрын

Argh! Did you have an option of requesting No Substitutes after that? Or even, getting a refund for that part of your order? so frustrating!

@djstubed

Ай бұрын

I didn't realize Factor was basically just frozen dinners until I finally looked it up. I have no idea why anyone would pay for it. I actually ended up subscribing to Hello Fresh a few months ago and I don't regret it. Yes, the price is too expensive, but when they screw up (and they will send you rotten scallions or carrots at some point) the compensation is way more than the value of those items, even at their prices (I just got $20 credit for not sending me enough potatoes and carrots). I don't think the packaging for Hello Fresh is that bad. It does vary depending on your distributor as far as I know. I think eventually everyone will "graduate" from Hello Fresh to just buying their own stuff, but it's more about convenience and consistency. I pay more for the food, but I use all of it with almost zero waste. And since I have to plan my meals a week ahead, I can't just decide to eat mac n cheese every night instead of something healthy.

@TheSongwritingCat

Ай бұрын

If this keeps going, I really want a comparison to the cost of cooking at home or a decent sit-down restaurant in Missoula but I don't know if that's going to happen with a Factor sponsorship.

The time value model you describe doesn’t really work when apps have quick order features. Like I have pre-saved orders in a couple of my apps. Often times in my experience, the mobile order is faster on top of making it cheaper. I make really good money as an engineer, but I also value putting that money into something way more useful. Like saving a couple bucks at McDonald’s means I can put that money saved into another Raspberry Pi for my project.

Important to note that price discrimination is based on *willingness* to pay, not wealth. Sometimes they go in the same direction (like student and pensioner discounts); sometimes they don't. E.g. I don't have stats for this but I was told in an economics lecture that McDonalds is often cheaper in wealthier suburbs because wealthier people are less willing to pay for fast food (because they have more alternatives). That may be apocryphal, or it may have only been true before online ordering. But even if it's not true, it illustrates the idea that price discrimination isn't necessarily in favour of people earning less.

I worked at Arby's for a couple months and was able to chat up the district manager about margins of profit on their sandwiches. The ROI in the fast food industry is mindboggling when you take markups into account. A roast beef sandwich was priced at $5.19 pretax and I was struck with the mind boggling info that an individual sandwich costs $.39 to make including the wrapper. Manipulation is a lot stronger when you see what the actual profit margins are. Interesting stuff Hank!

@geeksdo1tbetter

Ай бұрын

0.39 including wages?

@treverse_

Ай бұрын

@@geeksdo1tbetter Nope. The individual ROI on their items is ridiculous. But even with wages calculated they are still making around 400%-500% ROI. Obviously this will depend on the sandwich, ingredients, etc.

@pendlera2959

Ай бұрын

@@geeksdo1tbetter If a fast food worker earns $15 per hour, but helps make 60 burgers per hour, that means it costs 25 cents per burger to pay that person. If the cashier takes 60 orders an hour at the same wage, that's another 25 cents per burger. You could pay each of those people $30 per hour and only have to raise the price of the burger by 50 cents. I have no clue what the actual productivity of fast food employees tends to be, of course, but wages have a much lower effect on prices than people realize. What happens instead is that if a person's wages rise, then businesses raise their prices in order to capture that extra money instead of that person getting a better quality of life. That's why minimum wage has to be tied to inflation and regularly adjusted to price of living in order to work.

@skyirwin1445

27 күн бұрын

There was an article some years back, when a minimum wage increase was first discussed/debated. In order to pay a more livable wage, the increase to the customer was very negligible. They used McDonald's as an example. The price increase on a Big Mac was maybe ten cents, very small. Most of the cost is greed, blaming everything like wages as an excuse. This applies to everything. We live in a very greedy country.

@treverse_

26 күн бұрын

@@skyirwin1445 I would have to agree, but as someone who used to blame greed I now blame education. If we educated our students on how to be financially literate rather than not teach them at all and throw them into college for they will know nothing about making a quarter of a million dollar investment. So TLDR, its a mix of greed and people just not being prepared. Thanks for sharing your input

We love Hank! He's just a little guy!!!

The thing about coupons, sales, etc. that I've found frustrating as someone constantly living paycheck to paycheck, is that it ends up being a lot of work to seek out the best deals and make sure you're not paying too much for something. I only learned that King Soopers is SO MUCH CHEAPER than Walgreens when it comes to prescriptions after switching because a KS was closer to me, I had grown up going to Walgreens and just assumed all pharmacies charge about the same amount. With my physical and mental disabilities, I often rely on food delivery and know that I'm being charged more for the "convenience," even though for me it's a necessary service. I agree that people picking up my food and groceries should be compensated well, but I just wish there was a better way for people who use delivery as a need to pay less than those who can afford to use it as a convenience, like you said. It's just all so complicated, and of course this is all on a background of companies jacking up their base prices so that even with all the discounts they're still making a profit. It's all fucked.

3:12 this is the best thing on the internet & I need to remember to come back & screen record it & save it FOR-EH-VERR!

I really appreciated the breakdown of the McDonalds app. Many loyalty programs often seem overly convoluted to me (including, sometimes, surprising partnerships between brands) and I've often wondered how it all maths out for the companies.

@hankschannel

Ай бұрын

Making it convoluted is part of the way they make it confusing. It's like a gambling system...the more opportunities for confusing you and abstracting things the better.

@Idefilms

Ай бұрын

@@hankschannel Honestly I'm just impressed that there are people whose job it is to keep the backend math straight so that when I spend 23 million Starbucks points to book an Air Canada flight nobody is losing money in that transaction

@eyflfla

Ай бұрын

@@Idefilms There's a story about a guy who bought thousands of pudding cups in order to get cheap frequent flier miles. Pretty good read.

Hank saying, "irregardless" at 3:00 has to be rage bait and I guess I'll take it

@existenceispain_geekthesiren

Ай бұрын

well, language is defined by how we use it. literally means figuratively, and irregardless is a word, and means regardless. words are weird!

It's been so long since I ate any fast food (or any other restaurant food really) that I am in complete disbelief that anyone would pay those kinds of prices. And that makes me feel really old.

I used to work at Friendly's, and when we made milkshakes, we'd give a milkshake glass, plus the metal milkshake container full of the rest of the milkshake we made (from the blender) and I was always surprised how many people thought that was a bonus milkshake, when it was just the whole thing. Same with Five Guys fries.

Fantastic impression of an electric car reversing, my friend’s car sounds like a choir of angels when he backs out of my driveway

@singerofsongs468

Ай бұрын

like heavenly ethereal beings or like the biblically accurate kind?

@Air_OK

Ай бұрын

@@singerofsongs468 I’d say it’s a bit of both, definitely feels ominous but it isn’t completely horrifying

Hank, there's an entire section of corporate science dedicate to how to get consumers to do what they want. From the colors and music inside the restaurant to how big around the straw is for a Mcdonalds coke. And I have no doubt that they will find a way to repackage "surge pricing" in a way consumers don't notice. And people have a preception in difference of quality of beef from a mcdonalds patty to a 5 guys patty, but considering our meat industry is 80% run by 4 corporations it's unlikely it's any different.

@ethank5059

Ай бұрын

They can probably use the app pretty effectively to do "surge pricing." Maybe they don't actually change their prices but if there's a day or an hour where they are getting a lot of orders they could switch to the least popular discounts. I could see something like discounts changing based on the hour of the order and if you order at three (least popular time to eat) you get significantly better coupons than if you order at noon. If a given McDonalds has so many orders that they're backlogged they get switch to the worst possible coupons and it could all be determined by algorithms.

@geeksdo1tbetter

Ай бұрын

The five guys patty was made today and not frozen, even if the cows were from the same factory farm the prep has an affect on taste

"this isn't supposed to be perfect and I think you can tell FACTOR -" absolutely killed me. A+

I have to say the thing about McDonalds app... is there is NO easy way to REFUND or dispute orders. You end up having to call your bank and fill out a thing. I can't imagine how much money McDonalds actually steals using this app

@rachelnotluf4585

9 күн бұрын

Maybe I'm just being dumb, but what are some situations that would require a person to refund or dispute an order?

McDonald's also has strange in person/drive-thru pricing. One Bacon McDouble costs $4.85 where I am in Washington state but the SECOND burger if you order two costs $1.00. Same pricing for large fries: first one normal price, second one for $1.00

This could be an entire series on how different companies manipulate people. They pump the smell of foods from the main entryway zone at Disneyland. Supermarkets are very intentionally designed based on many scientific studies. The location of certain products the lighting what shelf products are placed on. The essentials (milk, bread, toilet paper and frozen foods) will always be past fresh foods, the deli, and most other produce. McDonald's actually changed the recipe of their sprite to comingle with their fries to taste better. It goes on and on. Can't remember the exact name of the reddit but I think one of them is the fast food secrets club?

Shout out to hank green, the product is so much less important then the process because the product will never be perfect. I love the transparency, and I love the strive to make a better video even after making the money on the first.

Issue with price discrimination: when combined with mass analytics (so they REALLY know how much YOU make, and what your disposable income is), and subscription-ification, It is very easy to imagine a world we’re the vast majority of people lives day to day, subscription to subscription, with every price tailored exactly to what they can afford, and thus have no extra money saved and no way to socially move up. (Not that it’s easy now, but this would essentially become a money in - money out equation with most of the humanity removed)

"IS A FEELING THAT I FEEL" is something that I think we all need to start shouting a lot more frequently.

Hank I love the phrase, "price sensitivity", it acknowledges and captures all financial means. Going to start using this :)

i personally love the app too good to go. usually i order a box from any of the hotels nearby which will essentially be them givin you a box and then you go through their leftover breakfast/lunch/dinner buffet and you can pack in anything in there for 3.50 or max 5 quid. this is my perfect alternative to fast food, but even fast food places do it, local chinese ones, bakereries!!!! and grocery stores. getting a 3.50euro grocery mystery bag occasionally gives me vegetable for a whole week and its perfect especially for single households.

I enjoyed reminiscing about how Starbucks had me going to their stores quite often due to their app and then just gradually started clawing back all benefits to the point that I don't even bother using it anymore. Even to order ahead.