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Comment by SoftTalker | Hacker News Reader

A few years ago my wife and I stopped at a McD drive thru and ordered two meals. The total was over $20. I was aghast and I questioned the cashier if there was some mistake. It's only gotten worse.

On a local subreddit recently someone was asking where to get a decent lunch that "doesn't break the bank" and turns out that their target spend was $10. My answer was "Pack a peanut butter sandwich and an apple at home and take it to work with you." Which is my usual lunch.

I am just astonished that people spend $10-15 or more, every day, on lunch. And often will pay more to have it delivered.

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You ordered two complete meals (a drink, a side, and an entree), you probably got it in 30 seconds, and the total was less than the cost of comparable meals at virtually any restaurant. And you were aghast? ....You are aware inflation makes things cost more over time, right? 2% per year means things cost 10% more after just 5 years

That is precisely the problem, you look at the inflation and compare it to what you payed 5,10,20 years ago and your either getting less or paying more than that inflation. Average price inflation of a big mac in the US for the past 25 years is 4% versus average CPI inflation of 2.29%. So instead of increasing in price by 65% it increased 166%.

> Average price inflation of a big mac in the US for the past 25 years is 4% versus average CPI inflation of 2.29%. So instead of increasing in price by 65% it increased 166%.

Because a big mac isn't a TV or smartphone. It doesn't get those juicy negative adjusted inflation values applied to it because of "more features". CPI for ground beef is ~4% YoY. Processed cheese? 4%. I don't doubt some of it is price raises just because they can, but let's not just compare two difference averages as if they represent the same thing.

A burger at any restaurant today costs $15. The quarter pounder at McDonald's is $5.50. You get to sit and eat in both restaurants. McDonald's is 3x cheaper... complaining that it's not 4x cheaper is first world problems

Yes and if you live in the first world you want to fix the problems with the first world... You're looking around and saying McDonald's is cheaper than everywhere else why are we talking about it, others are looking at it and saying why is the cheaper option so much more expensive than it used to be.

If you're on a GLP-1s and crave junk food (quite uncommon), almost all fast food places have a small combo that's around $5 that'll satisfy. At least Wendy's, Taco Bell, McDonald's, and others do.

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