I've been scratching my head for the last day and a half wondering how the McDonald's drive-thru near me is always packed. Your comment is illuminating to me because I didn't know that I needed a McApp to get McDonald's prices, though I am not at all surprised.
It's a kind of price discrimination tactic—people willing to clip coupons or use the company's app might pay 1/3 or less the menu price, and those who aren't, pay the full (and crazy-high) menu price.
Like, yes, coupon shopping has always been a thing, but not like this, because the normal menu prices used to already be pretty good. They're super expensive now, but if you burn some time, they'll give you a really good price, consistently, pretty much any time you want it.
[EDIT] More generally, I just prefer my commerce to be fairly straightforward. I don't like having to second-guess whether there are hidden tricks going on to screw me.
It is entirely bad. It arrogates consumer surplus to the supplier. The people paying higher prices don’t subsidise those paying lower prices, the supplier pockets most of the gains. They’d like you to believe that the people paying cheaper prices are subsidised, but they’re not selling to them at a loss. And it causes a deadweight efficiency loss.
The fact that businesses can pass this off as some kind of progressive pricing and good for the consumer makes it as disingenuous as it is pernicious.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_surplus
The trick to McDonalds has, for a long time, been that the value meals are any thing but a value and to buy exclusively from the dollar menu. If you do that you will be hard pressed to find anything cheaper.
I installed the app to take a look. My local McDonalds, in Orange county, through the app, has the Big Mac meal for $9.19.