avatarRyan Canady

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What the Hell is Going on with McDonald’s Hashbrowns?!

Photo by Jurij Kenda on Unsplash

What is a writer supposed to do with prices like this?!

Inflation is a story as old as the concept of capitalism itself, but lately, many of us have been taking more notice of the problem as a whole.

It is touching our daily lives in both expected and unexpected ways.

I touch on this idea in my latest SubStack post, and its something that you should check out if you haven’t already:

In the free post, I cover some of the broad strokes of what we are seeing out in the world regarding how inflation is impacting writers.

In the paid post coming out later today, readers will enjoy details about how I personally combat inflation in my life and what I think writers need to be concerned about.

So, what is going on with McDonald’s hashbrowns anyway?

TikTok Users Note the Problem

Photo by Eyestetix Studio on Unsplash

Sometimes you just have to hand it to people who use their social media profiles for good.

Fox Business reports that one TikTok user took to their account to note that the price of McDonald’s hashbrowns have gotten completely out of control.

That user pointed out that they would have had to fork over $2.29 for a single hashbrown!

That is $0.29 more than the $2 breakfast sandwich that they were also looking at ordering.

This begs the question: How could hashbrowns possibly be that expensive?

Honestly, the simple mathematics of it make no sense to me whatsoever. I am not one to order breakfast from McDonald’s at all for any reason, but I definitely avoid even considering getting hashbrowns at that price.

Enjoy Bulk Hashbrowns at FAR Better Prices

Photo by Kyndall Ramirez on Unsplash

Heck, you could probably get most of what is on this plate for the cost of just a few McDonald’s hashbrowns!

I get that McDonald’s needs to charge more for the hashbrowns than what they pay for them. That’s called earning a profit, and I totally understand that.

However, at a price of $2.29 for a single hashbrown (and even higher in some markets!), things have gotten completely out of control.

Just out of curiosity, I pulled up how much it would cost to purchase a case of 10 hashbrowns (of the same size as the McDonald’s ones) at a Wal-Mart store.

Believe it or not, you can get a box of 10 hashbrowns from Wal-Mart for just $3.42. You can check it out for yourself here.

That’s the price you get for just 10!

Imagine the bulk purchasing discounts that McDonald’s gets!

My point is, McDonald’s is likely paying anywhere from $0.10 to $0.30 per hashbrown and charging you $2.29 or more for each one.

Yes, they have other costs such as labor, marketing, property expenses, etc., but it still feels like an extremely big rip-off to charge customers that much for something that they likely pay so little for.

My recommendation?

Skip the drive-thru line and purchase some bulk hashbrowns to make at home if you like them.

Don’t forget to check out my musings on the inflation situation and sign up as a free or paid subscriber today at Substack:

McDonalds
Hash Browns
Inflation
Inflation Rate
Economics
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