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VendaGoat posted:Just so you garner the perspective of the other side. I would pull my money and buy the United States instead, because under that scenario I'd have ten trillion dollars. edit: Serious response: "maximum return to stockholders"-over-all is a disastrously-bad approach to corporate culture. And as a stockholder, if I were getting a 200% ROI for even a few years I'd diversify; that looks like a bubble about to burst, not healthy growth. SneezeOfTheDecade has a new favorite as of 02:35 on Oct 19, 2015 |
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Oct 19, 2015 02:27
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I don't disagree with any of you. Now please go to http://richkidsofinstagram.tumblr.com/ and have some scope on the world at large.* Warning, may make you even more unreasonably angry than you already are.
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Oct 19, 2015 02:37
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You know you're in for some mental pain when people start using the phrase "fiduciary duty"
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Oct 19, 2015 02:37
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VendaGoat posted:I don't disagree with any of you. Actually, the photos they're posting don't really bother me. I was kind of expecting it to be kids trashing their Lamborghinis, not just having them. Whoever designed that theme and named the "sister sites" along the top should be set on fire, though. I can't wait for these "steal content and staple our logo on it" sites to die out.
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Oct 19, 2015 03:05
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Full Battle Rattle posted:The reason that broke down (from what I understand) is that they wanted to make it 'McChipotle's', use lower quality ingredients and expand faster than they were prepared. Kind of. McDonald's originally bought Chipotle and had plans to support it as a "gourmet" franchise. Chipotle would be the upper-scale fast-casual dining option and McDonald's would target the budget and speed conscious crowd. The Chipotle leadership team wanted to start slow and McDonald's decided that "upscale fast casual" was not profitable, because if people wanted something higher scale than McDonald's they would just go to a sitdown restaurant / Taco Bell. McDonald's decided it wasn't going to be very profitable in the long run and in the short run the Chipotle people wanted to start slowly, so McDonald's thought there would be no profit in the short run either. They decided that the concept was not going to be successful and sold the Chipotle company back to the Chipotle founders for a few million.
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Oct 19, 2015 03:13
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Now....now that you can be thoroughly incensed by these loving idiots of instagram. Remember. They are being fleeced out of their parents hard earned income by the same corporations that you are protesting against. Without them, this wealth would continue to accrue at a x% of interest per month. Without rampant consumerism, it would just be a number in an account. You want to eat the rich? Do it the way that benefits you directly, own the places that feed off of them. That fleece them. That cater to their very banal wants and profits from them in the most ludicrous amounts. I may or may not be joking right now
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Oct 19, 2015 03:15
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ToxicSlurpee posted:And that right there is just another example of "the problems with corporate America." Corporate America demands unreasonable, continual, perpetual, exponential growth forever. Not only must you grow every year but you must grow faster than the last year. The only direction is "up." Anything else is wrong. McDonald's is already everywhere. I live in a rural college town and even this tiny place has two of them. The other snag is that the price just keeps going up; they're trying to market themselves as both cheap and quality food and get the millenial dollar while refusing to pay that same generation anything. Yeah, the stock price is really holding them back. In 2003 was $12. It's price now? Over $100. Surprisingly enough, it was only when the stock price was low that they made the fundamental changes that enabled them to have a fantastic decade of growth. But now that it's so high, they can't do poo poo except gimmicks because no one wants to be the executive that made a bonehead move and destroyed tens of billions of dollars in shareholder equity.
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Oct 19, 2015 03:38
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VendaGoat posted:I don't disagree with any of you. http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/17/wealth-therapy-tackles-woes-of-the-rich-its-really-isolating-to-have-lots-of-money
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Oct 19, 2015 04:34
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Krispy Kareem posted:Yeah, the stock price is really holding them back. In 2003 was $12. It's price now? Over $100. Surprisingly enough, it was only when the stock price was low that they made the fundamental changes that enabled them to have a fantastic decade of growth. But now that it's so high, they can't do poo poo except gimmicks because no one wants to be the executive that made a bonehead move and destroyed tens of billions of dollars in shareholder equity. Just like every bubble it's eventually going to pop. They never learn.
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Oct 19, 2015 06:25
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I'm approximately 30 and McDonald's has been a punchline for my entire living memory. It's only ever been known for being a place that has unappetizing food. Compare that to other food megabrands? Other brands are known for being overpriced, having bad politics, bad treatment of employees, being unhealthy... only McDonald's has most of those along with the reputation of providing products that simply don't taste good. It's time for McDonald's to go away and minor tweaking of the brand won't do poo poo. I go there all the time to get a coffee. The coffee's inconsistent, but it only costs a dollar, and the cashier's cute. You can't build an empire on that.
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Oct 19, 2015 06:50
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The problem is simply that their niche has become too crowded and the only thing setting them apart is their legacy. But that's not enough to make you go out of your way to a McDonald's over a virtually identical burger place that's more convenient.
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Oct 19, 2015 07:22
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I was interested to learn when I visited the states earlier this year that the price of a Big Mac meal was only slightly (by like 50 cents or something) cheaper than a pub burger that was twice the size, included chips and was by far superior in every way. I was left wondering, why do people eat McDonalds when they can get this plate of awesome?
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Oct 19, 2015 07:35
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princecoo posted:I was interested to learn when I visited the states earlier this year that the price of a Big Mac meal was only slightly (by like 50 cents or something) cheaper than a pub burger that was twice the size, included chips and was by far superior in every way. McDonald's is, if nothing else, consistent. Granted the quality of the food has also gone downhill for my entire memory. It was never all that good but it was never as awful as it was now. Even so every McDonald's tastes about the same. You know what you're getting in any McDonald's you stop at between California and Massachusetts. Because the company is old, has deep pockets, and the franchise used to be a good investment because of brand recognition your bog standard McDonald's generally occupied prime real estate as far as location goes. They tend to be built in places with loads of traffic. That and advertisement spamming keeps them fresh in your mind. They're extremely visible, always convenient, and wherever you're going there is probably a McDonald's along the way.
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Oct 19, 2015 07:43
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All the McDonalds where I live seem to cater to people who want to eat the same thing for the rest of their lives. At incredibly irregular intervals they offer a new type of burger for a few weeks and then never serve them again. I miss that chicken saté
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Oct 19, 2015 08:00
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I don't go to a McDonald's for the pricy stuff like a Big Mac anyways. I go when I'm exhausted at the end of the day and can get a cheeseburger, chicken sandwich, and sundae for less than 4 bucks. The sandwich is not great, but anywhere else it would be at least 6 bucks by itself, while definitely not being 600% better.
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Oct 19, 2015 08:03
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I've always wondered how much of McDonalds' income, particularly in Europe, is from people who are scared as poo poo of new things. 10-15 years ago when I used to go on holiday to Spain with my family, there was always a McDonalds right there on the beach with a line out the door every lunchtime, because British tourists were afraid of going to an actual Spanish restaurant where they might not know what stuff means. I thought after nearly two decades we'd have gotten better, but no, I went to Portugal this summer, same McDonalds on the beach, same line of sunburnt British tourists lined up for McNuggets.
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Oct 19, 2015 08:05
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I was in Spain a few weeks and the one McDonald's I saw was completely packed with locals.
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Oct 19, 2015 08:08
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NO gently caress YOU DAD posted:I've always wondered how much of McDonalds' income, particularly in Europe, is from people who are scared as poo poo of new things. I think it was Usain Bolt that talked about how, during the Beijing Olympics, he'd even wind up having McDonald's on event days because he was familiar with it. In a city where he didn't really know the language, culture or food, McDonald's was great because, even if it was unhealthy poo poo, it's unhealthy poo poo he knew and trusted.
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Oct 19, 2015 08:23
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There's a video game called Payday 2, which is a co-op shooter where you and three other people play masked gunmen robbing banks, jewelry stores, armored transports, and engage in other criminal activity such as transporting drugs and so on. Last fall they did a big community event called Crimefest to hype up the game, which included a free heist to break a character from the previous game out of prison, improvements to gameplay, etc. This year they did a precursor event called Road to Crimefest where the community did a bunch of stuff like kill X thousand enemies of one type, take Z number of hostages, or complete Y number of a certain heist on a certain difficulty. Again it was announced that everything would be free, and it seemed like everybody was getting really into it and was hyped for Crimefest 2015. And then on the first day of Crimefest, the announcement is that they've added weapon skins (that actually effect gun stats) that you obtain by getting a safe as a loot drop (how gun attachments and masks are awarded after finishing a heist) and then pay $2.50 of real money to buy a drill to open that safe. If you're familiar with crates/cases in Team Fortress 2/Counterstrike: GO it's exactly the same thing, they apparently even copied the website layout from when Counterstrike added skins. There was also a major weapon rebalance at the same time that ended up being totally overshadowed by this. Needless to say people got really mad. And to top it off, back before the game came out the developers had said they weren't going to add microtransactions. It's kinda amazing how they've bungled it. They could have probably waited until the end, or right after, and then announced it and I think people wouldn't have gotten anywhere near as mad about it.
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Oct 19, 2015 08:45
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For a second there I thought I was in the game dev trolls thread.  Even going as far as to copy the layout of another microtransaction store? Are people sure they're serious and this isn't some Xmas-in-July-esque April fools joke in October?
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Oct 19, 2015 08:49
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NO gently caress YOU DAD posted:I've always wondered how much of McDonalds' income, particularly in Europe, is from people who are scared as poo poo of new things. That is the very appeal of McDonalds. In nearly every city in every country in the world you can get the same burger as you can get in your home town. Tourists who are scared of 'foreign' stuff are it's lifeblood. My similar story to yours is years ago I was in Paris on Bastille day, and the McDonalds on Chance Elysee was full to bursting. Visiting France on France's national day? I guess I will have an American shitburger I can buy at home that will taste the same.
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Oct 19, 2015 08:51
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Cleretic posted:I think it was Usain Bolt that talked about how, during the Beijing Olympics, he'd even wind up having McDonald's on event days because he was familiar with it. In a city where he didn't really know the language, culture or food, McDonald's was great because, even if it was unhealthy poo poo, it's unhealthy poo poo he knew and trusted. No doubt McDonalds is popular wherever you go, I just think it's funny how so many people spend so much money traveling to these places just to eat a Big Mac and fries every day. Even if local people everywhere stopped eating McDonalds tomorrow you could keep those stores open just on tourist trade.
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Oct 19, 2015 08:52
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AlphaKretin posted:For a second there I thought I was in the game dev trolls thread. If it was a joke I think they'd have framed it as "we're going to be launching this" and then followed up with the gotcha later in the event, but money is already changing hands. Edit: So far there also hasn't been any sort of response from the company about it, I suspect they might just be ignoring the backlash and waiting for it to go away.
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Oct 19, 2015 09:01
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Check out this UK McDonalds ad I saw the other day, it's got it all, groovy music, punky worker (c.1998) and loving PULLED PORK. I'm surprised there wasn't mention of salted caramel too. (For non-uk Goons, I don't know about your country, but the people who make food have decided that pulled pork and salted caramel are two things that should be rammed down our collective throats at the moment.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7szKcGAbXgo
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Oct 19, 2015 09:46
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I will remember in disgust forever how we were on a class trip to Greece via Venice (from Germany, before you assume I was on the finest of private schools - it was sweet nonetheless), and we had to wait three hours for the ferry in Venice. Cue someone going "we have just enough time for lunch, and I'm sure we can find a McDonald's here!" and a group of 20 students running through Venice desperately on the lookout for garbage fast food. These were the kids that would grow up into the stereotypical German vacationer who likes to visit all those foreign countries and then complains that they don't even have a proper Schweinebraten in their restaurants. Another European perspective: when it comes to fast food, we pretty much have McDonalds and Burger King, and the latter usually has far less locations per city (which is a shame because I actually really enjoy Burger King). Oh, and a few KFCs (which suck) and I saw a Hooters in Prague...I would assume Berlin has more diversity too, but even Munich doesn't really unless I missed something obvious. If McDonalds is starting to become pressured in the US because of better and cheaper and generally more numerous alternatives, I don't see that happening over here for a good long while. I mean, they still have the reputation of garbage food etc., but their biggest competitor is the Döner stand around the corner. Which usually owns far more, granted, but it's not a chain.
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Oct 19, 2015 09:54
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I don't get the big deal about pulled pork or any pulled meat. It ruins the cut and is just flavourless stringy rubbish most of the time.
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Oct 19, 2015 09:58
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NoNotTheMindProbe posted:I don't get the big deal about pulled pork or any pulled meat. It ruins the cut and is just flavourless stringy rubbish most of the time. Ruining food is near free and you can convince idiots to pay more for ruined food pretty easily.  I don't know that, just my cynical guess. Sort of the opposite of this thread, though. 
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Oct 19, 2015 10:02
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Rondette posted:For non-uk Goons, I don't know about your country, but the people who make food have decided that pulled pork and salted caramel are two things that should be rammed down our collective throats at the moment. Wow, it really is true that they test this poo poo out in New Zealand first. We've had the salted caramel/pulled pork thing moving through the food scene here for at least a year now.
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Oct 19, 2015 10:16
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Somfin posted:Wow, it really is true that they test this poo poo out in New Zealand first. We've had the salted caramel/pulled pork thing moving through the food scene here for at least a year now. It's been here a while now, but we seem to be at peak PP/SC saturation right now....
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Oct 19, 2015 10:19
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Rondette posted:It's been here a while now, but we seem to be at peak PP/SC saturation right now.... Get ready for the next wave, then. https://mcdonalds.co.nz/create-your-taste
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Oct 19, 2015 10:21
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E: ^^^ We've had that for a few months now, don't see many custom burgers ordered but they're doing a better job of the "We're not poo poo, really!" marketing this time around compared to the Angus stuff a while ago. Australia has had salted caramel for a while, haven't noticed that much pulled pork but pork hasn't been pulled from the government sponsorship hat this year and things might be different in a place more built up than my corner of the woods. AlphaKretin has a new favorite as of 10:25 on Oct 19, 2015 |
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Oct 19, 2015 10:23
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Somfin posted:Get ready for the next wave, then.  Oh god, it's got everything that annoys me about trendy restaurants! Novelty serving ideas like a stupid bloody wire basket that you get less in, and a wooden chopping board. There was somewhere that served bread in a hat. In a hat. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/11462989/Twitter-mocks-hipster-fashion-for-serving-food-on-arbitrary-objects-including-a-hat.html
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Oct 19, 2015 10:33
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NoNotTheMindProbe posted:I don't get the big deal about pulled pork or any pulled meat. It ruins the cut and is just flavourless stringy rubbish most of the time. That's right up there with how every few years new cycles of commercials for lunchmeat that is sold "deli-thin" is supposed to be fancier instead of just, well, less meat per slice. It's not like thinner slice affects flavor, it just means I grab more individual slices from the package when making my sandwich. Regarding McDonald's, if my son is any indication, it's not just the Millennials that are driving away from the franchise. Sure as a toddler he loved it as all do. Now he's 8, and in the 2 and a half months I had custody of him this past summer I think we ate there like 3 times, and all because he needed to burn off energy mid errands at the playland and/or I didn't feel like cooking. When asked he would much more often pick Burger King as his fast food preference. They just plain have better tasting food. I mean, it could be because I clearly have the coolest 8 year old in the world as an 8 year old, but that might indicate how the kids who are given a choice besides "toy and a playground" feel.
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Oct 19, 2015 11:08
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Mu Zeta posted:I was in Spain a few weeks and the one McDonald's I saw was completely packed with locals. I was in Tahiti years ago, but what made me cringe was seeing a packed McDonalds there. Not even in the tourist area of the place. Since the kids are growing up I go there less, but it's amazing how lovely some of the stores were. For a while every one had their "niche design." The one decorated with dinosaurs was sweet and we'd drive further to go there. One was all Atlantis decor'd. And the playplaces were the same. But then you'd come across a few stores that had loving grand pianos in them and no playplaces. So for the latter it became more of a "drive thru and eat at home or the park" which meant no desserts or any last minute "do you want a pie?" thing. gently caress, the last time the kids wanted to go to Smashburger, but seriously the higher price didn't mean the food was any better. The fact half of the Dollar Menu, that made McDonalds the go-to for "poo poo I need dinner and I had to work late and everything's going to take an hour to make" time, is over a buck matters. It's pennies, yes, but haven't there been studies that say people are more willing to pay for the flat 1.00 than a 1.39? I don't know if the all-day breakfast will help much. gently caress, I want French Fries at 8am. If Burger King can do it, why can't McDonalds?
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Oct 19, 2015 11:22
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Haha no way, I have Pandora on right now and an ad for Trader Joe's came on. The entire premise was trying to sell people on the idea of giving out julienned, seasoned carrots and parsnips to trick or treaters on halloween instead of candy, and sincerely acted like the little kids would be over the moon for this. 
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Oct 19, 2015 11:37
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Choco1980 posted:Haha no way, I have Pandora on right now and an ad for Trader Joe's came on. The entire premise was trying to sell people on the idea of giving out julienned, seasoned carrots and parsnips to trick or treaters on halloween instead of candy, and sincerely acted like the little kids would be over the moon for this. If they were smart they'd also run some kind of advertising for eggs and toilet paper, to cash in on the pissed off kids.
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Oct 19, 2015 11:42
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BrigadierSensible posted:That is the very appeal of McDonalds. In nearly every city in every country in the world you can get the same burger as you can get in your home town. Tourists who are scared of 'foreign' stuff are it's lifeblood. Yeah, but with a beer to drink. McDonalds north america and aus/nz should try that trick to get people in
Fo3 has a new favorite as of 11:54 on Oct 19, 2015 |
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Oct 19, 2015 11:50
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Rondette posted:
gently caress burgers on paddles (gently caress food on paddles in general) with wire baskets for chips. All the cafes around here (Tasmania) have decided this is super awesome and COOL. Whatever else is wrong with the US, you got this right: you invented the hamburger and then, like civilized people, you put it in a basket: 
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Oct 19, 2015 11:53
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cptn_dr posted:http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/17/wealth-therapy-tackles-woes-of-the-rich-its-really-isolating-to-have-lots-of-money There just aren't even words anymore, honestly.
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Oct 19, 2015 12:24
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ToxicSlurpee posted:McDonald's is, if nothing else, consistent. Granted the quality of the food has also gone downhill for my entire memory. It was never all that good but it was never as awful as it was now. Even so every McDonald's tastes about the same. You know what you're getting in any McDonald's you stop at between California and Massachusetts. Because the company is old, has deep pockets, and the franchise used to be a good investment because of brand recognition your bog standard McDonald's generally occupied prime real estate as far as location goes. They tend to be built in places with loads of traffic. That and advertisement spamming keeps them fresh in your mind. They're extremely visible, always convenient, and wherever you're going there is probably a McDonald's along the way. The other thing is that McDonald's is still FAST food. You can get your food in less than five minutes usually, versus a half hour minimum at a bar and grill.
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