This morning, noon, or afternoon, my family and I made a trip to McDonald's for lunch. We had in our possession four McDonald's coupons. The fine print on them was some of the longest I ever saw:Expires 5/5/08. Valid only at participating McDonald's restaurants in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura Counties. Current prices and participation based on independent operator decision. Prices may vary. Not valid in conjunction with any other offer, discount, coupon or combo meal. Cash value 1/20 of 1 cent. Limit one coupon per person per visit. Plus tax if applicable. Price of required purchase posted on menu board. Coupon may not be transferred, copied or duplicated in any way or transmitted via electronic media. Valid when product served. may not be valid for custom orders. © 2008 McDonald's.
When placing our order, the cashier proved extremely annoying and unsympathetic. "I'm sorry, but it's only one coupon per person," she whined. I'm already risking my heart eating there and they want to give me a headache? Luckily, our family happened to be one of four, so we each had to take a place in line so that we could make use of all the coupons.
This system is rather stupid. First of all, McDonald's printed those coupons, so they should expect to make a smaller profit than usual. Then they complain when we use more than one coupon during a transaction on separate items.
Say I buy a Big Mac (which really isn't as big as it looks on the pictures), and use a "Buy one Big Mac and get another Free". So I get two Macs for the price of one. Then I also buy a Cinnamon Melt and use a "Buy a Cinnamon Melt and get a Free Medium Iced Coffee" coupon for a hundred-ninety calorie overdose of sugar.
So in reality, I'm getting a two Big Mac's, a Cinnamon Melt, and an Iced Coffee for the price of a Big Mac and an Iced Coffee when using the two coupons at once. If I used them separately, I would have gotten two Big Mac's for the price of one AND a Cinnamon Melt and an Iced Coffee for the price of a Cinnamon Melt. If my passing Geometry Honors with two Asian fails say anything, I think the two equations come out the same.
Okay, so we're using the coupons "in conjunction with other offer(s)" and other purchases. It's not like we're using the coupons on something we got for free, so McDonald's isn't losing money.
They also have this "per visit" thing. It would be assumed that a visit would consist of walking through one of the several doors that a McDonald has and then walking out through the same or different door. So I go in, buy something with a coupon, and then leave. I then return on a second "visit" and use another coupon.
What would that leave McDonald's with? A lesser profit, since they have to waste another piece of a paper, another tray to clean, a table to wipe, etc... and a less satisfied customer. McDonald's then argues that a "visit" means once a day. Well, I frankly don't see what difference it makes other than make me madder.
Furthermore, "valid only at participating McDonald's restaurants only". What the hey is this? McDonald's presents itself as a chain restaurant. Therefore, every restaurant is expected to be more or less the same. One McDonald's should be the same as any other McDonald's restaurant, and I don't want to have to walk into one only to find out that the restaurant isn't participating because the owner didn't feel like it and have to go to another just to use that discount. Don't you know there's a fuel shortage going on? I'm not even going to talk about "prices may vary".
On a side note, the coupons may be worth $0.0005, but apparently they were also selling on eBay for a dollar or two. Auction for that piece of problem causing paper closed a couple hours ago, so I can't find the link.
3 comments:
I received those coupons in the mail the other day too. You know... everytime i buy something with a coupon that says "one coupon per person per visit", My dad uses one coupon, i use the another, and my sister uses another. The cashiers do not care. What did you do afterwards?
You had two B's in Geo H? Hows the placement test? I need to pass the freakin placement test because of a really really really really x1000 close-to-an-A B. Freakin teacher does not round grades, does not give back quarter or semester finals, has at the most 10 questions on the tests, collects homework by surprise, and was absent for at least a month. Nice one. Whats up with all the legal info on other blog post? Oh yeah... im not going to log onto my account because i do not want people to know who i am. You do know who i am, right...?
Sorry to say that I can't tell who you are under Anonymous. However, I can say that the entrance exam if you go to my school isn't easy, but it isn't hard. Don't worry, it's based on percentiles, and its mostly algebra.
Here's what i'll do... I would dress up in a suit, photoshop a Health Inspector's badge, tell the cashier, "Due to recent complaints of unsanitary procedures, we, the California Department of Health Services, would like to conduct a quick, surprise inspection. If you decline, your restaurant will need to be closed down in a week." Then, I would eat to my heart's content.
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