If you’re upper-income, earning over $100,000, things are good … What we see with middle- and lower-income consumers, it’s actually a different story.
When had this ever not been true? What a windbag.
McDonald’s CEO is grappling with a ‘two-tier economy’ as he slashes prices on value meals—and signals backing for a minimum wage increase
Submitted 3 weeks ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to workreform@lemmy.world
https://fortune.com/2025/09/03/mcdonalds-two-tier-economy-lower-income-minimum-wage/
Comments
forrgott@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Nougat@fedia.io 3 weeks ago
Over $100K ain't chump change, but that also isn't the line where "upper income" starts.
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/heres-minimum-salary-required-be-considered-upper-class-2025
The Pew Research Center defines upper-income households as having incomes greater than $169,800, based on three-person households. For a household with a single earner and no additional income, that $169,800 is the minimum salary required to be upper class. With two earners, each with the same salary, that minimum would be $84,900 each.
Reyali@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
And the difference between that level of “upper class” vs the truly wealthy is insane.
Unless you’re in places like CA or NYC, $170k allows for a very comfortable life. It’s nothing to scoff at and it is absolutely beyond what most people in this country have.
But when thinking of the “upper class,” I think most people picture lush lives. Mansions, yachts, foreign vacations, private schools, house staff, etc.
I don’t think most people imagine someone who lives in a nice suburban neighborhood, saves enough money for retirement that they actually expect to retire in their 60s, and takes a modest vacation every year. But that’s closer to what $170k gets you. It’s comfortable and it’s a life most people would kill to have. But it’s a whole lot closer to a stereotyped “middle class” experience than it is to what most people imagine “upper class” to look like.
chunes@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
uh there are still loads of people living on like 30k/yr. you 100k people will fucking live
DireTech@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
This has gotta be some AI drivel. It even tried to say upper class in San Francisco starts at $69k so unless they’re talking about 1930 this is nonsense.
aramis87@fedia.io 3 weeks ago
Psst, hey, got a handy hint for you: you can actually raise wages at your business without it being mandated by minimum wage laws.
deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 3 weeks ago
Paying an employee minimum wages just means you’d pay them less if it was legal.
Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Yup. The bare minimum because the law says you must.
These fuckers would all keep slaves if it wasn’t illegal. It’s not the ethical and moral disgrace of slave owning that stops them, but the legal aspect of it.
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
so? that’s why laws exist, right?
Windex007@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say that the CEO of McDonald’s is aware of that.
The rationale here is that if they get minimum wage increasesed, they can raise their workers wages without the reality or perception that they’re ceding a fiduciary advantage to their competitors.
It’s a reality that needs to be addressed. Some major corp had to eventually acknowledge it. Everyone knew it, nobody wanted to be the first to say it.
The first step is admitting there is a problem. The gravity of even this first step, and the fact that it’s from Trump’s fucking gold standard for food and American business, is massive.
pdxfed@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Yeah, but you don’t get to keep your job in publicly traded companies if you are hitting the delusional talking points of people bent on burning society and country down so they can get a 9th yacht.
It’s Fordism, the dude literally realizing his employees can’t even eat there. Since most of his employees are on government assistance, it’s true corporate welfare while he pretends he can’t change things.
I hope Boston Dynamics is working on a robot that can operate a guillotine; we have an industrial scale of resetting to get through.
Artisian@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Ummm… Isn’t this already true of McDonald’s? They aren’t at $18 an hour everywhere, but I believe the average is $15+ for starting salaries. I would guess they’ve hired anyone for anything successfully at minimum wage.
This isn’t generosity; several market forces push fast food in this direction. In fact, it makes a lot of sense for this CEO to lobby for it. It will cost competition more than it will cost them.
frostysauce@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I took a job at McDonald’s for a bit a few years ago. (Living in a small town in Oklahoma when my car broke down and all I could reasonably walk to was Walmart and McDonald’s) They didn’t start everyone at minimum wage. They started everyone at $8.00/hr. 😞
I did eventually get hired at the Walmart (and eventually move to civilization) at $14/hr.
yeather@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
The McDonalds CEO has no control on the hourly wages set by franchisees outside of a general “pay more.” The McDonalds corporate controls a very small portion of actual restaurants, they mostly just lease land.
glibg@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Lmao “the poors can’t afford our shit… maybe now is the time to advocate for higher minimum wage” fuck off corpo dickheads
commander@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Someone actually figured out that a service company competing with a shit ton of other service companies in a service economy needs people that work service jobs to be able to afford their services. They won’t raise wages themselves alone because it’s not like McDonald’s workers will spend the raised wages solely at McDonald’s. They have other essentials and non-Mcdonalds services to pay for. They need every place to have their minimum wage increased and then McDonald’s try to capture a larger portion of everyone’s higher income that exceeds their higher labor cost. Stagnant incomes means non-essential services like McDonald’s get squeezed out
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
i read that in the calm and convincing voice of cardamon, the 8 y.o. landlord of Bee and Puppycat, who’s the most reasonable character in the entire show.
SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
“skipping breakfast or eating at home”
Look, McDonald’s breakfast is pretty damn good, and is super nostalgic. But holy fuck 1030 cutoff and like $6 for a mass produced, frozen sausage patty, English muffin, and a Kraft single is insane.
Also, I just meal prepped us an awesome breakfast for the next two weeks. Like 15lbs of chunked potatoes, mushrooms, onions, hot sausage slices, and bell peppers, seasoned with Chile powder and garlic butter, oven roasty-toasted to golden brown, and tossed into containers in the fridge.
Then in the morning, I plate a big scoop or so of that and microwave it until it’s hot, and fry two eggs with runny yolks, topped with salt and fresh ground black pepper and some hot sauce (like valentina) on the plate. Fork, toast, glass of milk or coffee.
Fuck you, McDonald’s. Like 30 meals-worth was only like $35 bucks, and kicks the shit out of most things.
I look forwards to breakfast everyday now.
syreus@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I was always told mushrooms have a limited shelf life after being cooked, 3-4 days.
SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
Good point. I should freeze it all in portions, soon, maybe tomorrow.
Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
You shouldn’t be keeping food in the fridge for 2 weeks. 4-5 days max. You should immediately freeze it when you cook it. Don’t wait a few days before freezing it.
5too@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
…might let it cool first, then freeze it!
sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 3 weeks ago
It is amazing how many people just didn't know these basics...
I thought everyone's mom taught this
But no 🤡
bitjunkie@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
my local bagel shop sells a fresh bagel on a fresh egg with cheese for $7.
Bosht@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
My god that sounds amazing. We don’t have bagel places around here and I’d fucking kill for something like that. Also now I’m hungry.
jerkface@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
how do you know when someone abuses animals don’t worry they never stop telling you
Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
The irony here, lol. I think you know that the joke usually is told about vegans. In your attempt to flip the script, you end up playing your part perfectly.
Comes into the conversation not looking to participate, makes sure that everyone knows that they are vegan. Doesn’t elaborate. Hilarious 10/10 vegan satire. I love vegans, but man are some of you ever easy to laugh at.
Electric_Druid@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
If there’s a point you’re trying to make I, can’t tell what it is
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The guy probably donates to the republicans that help him suppress wages and give him massive tax breaks but offers up this nugget of wisdom the rest of us have lived with for decades now?
DarkFuture@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
It’s expensive. It’s shitty, even for fast food. They let a rapist felon use one of their locations for a photoshoot to improve his image.
Yeah, I’m good on McD’s.
Pika@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
I haven’t gone to a mcdonald’s by choice in almost 4 years now. When my meal rose from 12-13$ to 17-18$ I stopped going. Just for the chuckle I put that same meal into the app, it’s now 22$ after tax. yea no I’ll just go to apple bees or dominos and get more food for less.
Azal@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
I remember the last time I ate at mcds. Summer 2020, middle of move, wrapping up about 2am. mcds is the only thing close that’s open, don’t want to have to drive anywhere. I remember their dollar menu used to be tolerable.
Cost me $10 for the “value meal” of the two tiny wimpy cheeseburgers that used to be a dollar, small fries and small drink. And I had to get the meal because it was cheaper than buying separately like I used to do. That is more than double the price I used to have to pay for that meal.
But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Im in Canada and it’s crazy that a Big Mac meal now costs close to $20. In a great competitive move, Burger King now has a whopper jr meal for $5 which honestly is enough for me. I’ve been taking advantage of it. The thing is, with prices what they are, instead of bringing back the value Menus, these fast food chains need to keep only the value menu, because that was their whole point. Over time the burgers got bigger and crazier and more costly. I just want to go back to getting a regular burger with a normal, non fat person amount of fries and a small drink and not break the bank.
Remember original McDonald’s only really had the small hamburger and cheeseburger and fries, not all these other burgers
ifItWasUpToMe@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
That’s interesting to me, I always thought it was more of an American thing. I’m in Canada and a Big Mac meal is 11.49. Breakfast with chicken McMuffin, hash brown, and coffee is $5. Obviously not super cheap like it used to be but it doesn’t seem unreasonable to me.
crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I haven’t been inside a McDonald’s in… 15 years? 20 maybe? When I stopped it was because I realized it’s disgusting food. Since then I’ve added the whole fuck-corpos thing to that.
Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Yeah, I used to eat the occasional burger there years ago but it got way too expensive for food that is basically poisoning me.
CaptPretentious@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The last time I was there the dollar menu meal still existed I think. Fairly certain the last time I was there was probably around 2011/2012, to pick up some chicken nuggets for some kids.
The last time I went there regularly, you could buy two full meals for less than 5 bucks (or at least really close to it). And even that was overpriced. This is a place that has insane profit margins, but will yell at employee for putting an extra pickle slice on anything. And there’s some low quality pickles to be honest.
PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I can get a large pizza from Dominos for less than 10 bucks with a coupon if I pick it up myself.
Pika@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Agreed, I almost exclusively go to dominos for that carryout deal. I can get 3 meals worth for < 10 or one meals worth for twice the price. It’s a no brainer.
LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Curious what your meal is. Where I’m at, you can get a large fry and drink for $1.50, then after that it’s just the cost of the sandwich
_g_be@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
You’re describing an elaborate maneuver to get a meal at the price it used to be without “app exclusive deals” etc. The turn to app-ification is shit.
McDonald’s has traded “cheap” and “convenient” for gamification. They’re not the only ones, either
Pika@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Sorry I havent been on lemmy as often so delayed reply.
My standard order is 2 bacon mcdoubles(currently $4.89 a piece), a large fry($4.99) and a lemonade($2.49) or a Mcafe($5.99), so it ends up being $17.29 for my food or 18.64 after tax, or if I wanted a cafe it would be 19.76 or 21.34 after tax.
Just 5 years ago I could get 2 bacon mcdoubles, 2 large fries, a 20 piece nugget and a lemonade for about 18$ (granted that was with a deal).
Back in 2016 I could get that same bacon burger meal above for a little over 12. I can’t warrent it.
hotdogcharmer@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Why would you buy two orders when you only want one? Wouldn’t that literally double the cost, too?
SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Their cheeseburgers were literally called “dollar cheeseburgers”
I would go and get 8 fucking cheeseburgers for like $10 after tax
I stopped going when I noticed my dollar cheeseburger cost me 2 dollars each. I don’t make double my income now McDonald’s, why do you think you deserve double price?
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
i remember several years ago as a kid thinking “hey why’d they raise the cost of a cheeseburger from 10 SEK to 13 SEK? isn’t the whole point that you can just fish out a single coin to buy a burger?”
RickyRigatoni@retrolemmy.com 3 weeks ago
this is the economy you helped create dickshitter.
sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 3 weeks ago
Ohh I am sorry you don't led your price over last decade...
Did the wages double?
I hope idiots stop eating your slop... Deny the parasite profit.
BigMacHole@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
As a Shareholder this man needs to be FIRED! If POORS can’t Afford our Meals then we should RAISE the Prices so that NON POORS can Also not Eat our Food because for $15 you can get a MUCH BETTER HAMBURGER Elsewhere! And then we can FIRE Cooks too to save even MORE Money!
MajorasTerribleFate@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Next: replacing the customers with kiosks
ABetterTomorrow@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
There’s always room in the CEO budget - George Bluth
DERRALEXANO@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Get fucked fascist burger “oh no leopards are eating our faces instead of our burgers” hahaha
FosterMolasses@leminal.space 2 weeks ago
Seconded lmao
bitjunkie@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The closest McDonald’s to me has a local BBQ joint right next to it at about the same price point. There’s zero value prop, but these dumb-dumbs had to realize it after they lost a shitload of customers.
SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
They only take the money printer off autopilot when it stops printing money.
Raiderkev@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Literally the only thing I’ll go there for is a happy meal for the kids on very rare occasion if I’m in a pinch.
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
It’s incredible McDonalds lasted that long.
Even a decade or two ago, I just don’t get why people would choose McD in that situation. Maybe if you’re in a rush, I guess?
bitjunkie@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yeah the BBQ place’s pricing has stayed more or less the same, while McD’s has steadily increased their prices into that range.
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
fast food as a whole is just baffling to me at this point, especially since frozen meals that taste good and are of perfectly decent quality exist.
Why the fuck would i spend at least 8€ on a burger meal when i could buy literally a fucking kilogram of food for that same price? And it’s not like fast food is faster, that 1kg bag of hash takes 10 minutes in a skillet, even with mcdonald’s being 500 fucking meters from my house it’s faster and more convenient for me to just cook the hash than it is to travel to mcdonalds, wait for the food, and take it back home (which is annoying anyways and means the food will have gone slightly cold).
And no, cleaning the dishes isn’t some ardous task, get one of those sponges with a hollow handle you fill with soap, it takes 30 seconds to rub down the skillet, plate, and cutlery and it’s not even remotely messy.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Americans tried to escape Fordism, but eventually you need someone to buy the thing you’re trying to sell.
Mangoholic@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
He can just pay them more than minimum wage lol
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
No, that’s not how the modern economy works. A CEO can’t just pay higher wages randomly. They have to adhere to some invisible laws guiding them towards paying the minimum wages they can get away with. If they pay more, they get fired and replaced with another CEO who pays less again.
The only way to make a company pay more is if it benefits the company or if it’s forced by law, i.e. legally-mandated minimum wage. That, however, is a bad idea too IMHO because for one some businesses who’re just barely profitable today would simply go out of business and people would lose their jobs, and also it would make human employees more expensive and companies would look towards automating their jobs away, because machinery would be more competitive.
IMHO the best solution is to give people money, but not through the workplace, but through a legally-mandated universal basic income. Otherwise, you’re forcing people to go to work to be able to live and people would have to suck up whatever bad working conditions their workplace features just to be able to survive, i.e. the same we’re seeing with medical insurance today when it’s tied to work requirements.
LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
They actually kinda legally DO have to follow fiduciary duty towards their shareholders. If their shareholders were also all the workers of the company, this wouldn’t be a conflict to lay them more, right? But that’s actually literally socialism and that’s why socialism is a boogeyman
SabinStargem@lemmy.today 3 weeks ago
I advocate for what I call “Universal Ranked Income”: Everyone gets $10,000 a year by default, while jobs get a fixed amount, no negotiations with a company. it is decided for a job class to be assigned to a rank by the whole nation, regardless of location. Getting an education or holding a job replaces the basic income - $12k to $20k for a student based on grades, $40k if a waiter, $60k or 80k ranks for higher labors, $100k as a CEO. There are absolute income and wealth caps, the taxes also become increasingly higher for each pay grade. After taxes, a store clerk gets $30k, and a CEO is down to $60k.
In effect, that means “best” occupations are only twice the value of a regular job, instead of the fiscal insanity we see with CEOs have 1,000x+ the income of a normal human. Only 6x the income of someone who isn’t working. Also, having fixed incomes might help prevent inflation, since corporations have to target job ranks for pricing. UBI also gives everyone benefits, such as basic shelter, generic food, healthcare, a boring car, utilities, and so forth. Money is solely for lifestyle upgrades and luxuries, rather than for buying necessities.
By having universal benefits and a modest amount of money, workers would be able to freely unionize, strike, participate in politics, or avoid bad workplaces. Without being held hostage by capitalism, people can help decide the direction of society without having to sacrifice their wellbeing.
BigMacHole@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
This is WISDOM! Because Wages are SO LOW right now there’s NO DANGER of Jobs being Automated away!
nucleative@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Not if he wants to keep his job. The shareholders (hypothetically) control the board, the CEO works for the board.
Artisian@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I guess capitalism isn’t always perfectly dead set on breaking itself.
Xaphanos@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Sooner or later, reality teaches it’s lessons.
wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Yeah, and it you could not serve dogshit quality food, that’d be great
fodor@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
More basic dishonesty from McDonald’s and from Fortune. If he really wanted to raise the lowest hourly wages for his salaries, he could have done so already. There’s no need to wait for a minimum wage increase.
Laser@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
In addition to what others have already said (McD paying above minimum wage), only you paying more leads to the following:
- your competitors gain an advantage as they have lower labor cost
- only a tiny fraction of your customers have more disposable income because the rest of the population is unaffected
- and even then, for that tiny fraction, you’d have made more money if you hadn’t paid it to them in the first place, because they’re not spending it all on you, and also taxes
So for them, they need to make sure their competitors pay more money to their employees.
Also, their food is garbage, you’re doing yourself a favor not eating there.
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
nice of him to say minimum wage should be higher so he can make more money, but why isn’t he increasing it for his own workers?
he’d get a competitive edge and put some pressure on other companies in competing markets to do the same. what’s stopping him?
kelpie_returns@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
This reads like the wealthy realizing, in real-time, that the poor can’t spend money they don’t have, more than anything else. Like, no shit, dude.
Use your privileged position to make actual change if you care so much. He doesn’t though, so he’s not going to. Instead, he’ll make sure we all know that we can get an entire combo for only $5. Wow! Truly a hero of the down-trodden, this fucking guy. I’d love to be proved wrong, but we all know where this is headed. His virtue signaling doesn’t change that, just like it doesn’t change that stunt he pulled with potus and all that it so clearly represented. Just more mealy-mouthed lies from another worm in a suit’s all it is.
rocket_dragon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
If only someone warned them about this!
TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Yeah, that’s like, the most classic of Marxism
Cethin@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Yeah, Ford was horrible, but that’s one thing that’s reasonable about Fordism. He knew that if he payed his employees well enough then they’d have money to spend. I don’t know how the idiots who are wealthy today don’t get that, but they assume their wealth is infinite and comes from nothing.
SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Seriously, this is Economics 101 shit and everyone in a position of power just pretends it doesn’t apply for some dumb ass excuse.
The more money people have, the more they will spend.
The more money spent in an economy, the more things are bought, the more opportunities for others to start businesses and make profit present themselves.
The system works better for everyone when money keeps circulating. That’s why UBI is becoming a popular solution to this problem.
The majority of money is stagnant in the US.
It has been siphoned from the working class and is currently kept in the assets of the rich.
And it needs to be redistributed for the system to work well again.
DrFistington@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Hey let’s spend 20 million to market a ‘deal’ that will actually end up making us $100 million due to the increase in patronage. Remember, we can’t survive as a company if we don’t double shareholder earnings every fucking year in perpetuity