People like things to be cheaper and cheaper in McDonald’s because its fast foods are becoming people’s convenience goods more likely nowadays. There are a lot of bundling pricing strategies such as those ones for combos. In addition, we can get a better deal by buying two of the same item. However, there is not always the case.
Last week, when I was buying cranberry pies at McDonald, I was amazed how the pies were priced！
“One for 69 cents, and two for $1.39.”
By first looking at it, some people will buy two because they may think that, well, two pies for just $1.39, that’s not bad! But, is that really? If we buy one for 69 cents, and then we later we buy another one, how much do we actually spend? Simply multiply 2 by 69 cents, we get $1.38. Isn’t that cheaper that if we buy two pies at the same time? ($1.38 vs $1.39) If someone didn’t pay attention to these prices, he or she will actually add up spending more money on a “deal.”
Is that a mistake McDonald has made? It might be, but I don’t think so!
If that is a mistake, is that no one is good at math in McDonald, one of the largest company in the world with millions of employees? If someone found out this mistake, like me, he or she may just buy one pie instead. ( just like me, sorry I really care about that one cent!) Or, maybe, he or she doesn’t really care about one cent and will still buy two pies. If McDonald does that by purpose, each time a person buys two pies, McDonald will earn one cent more. How many people are there who buy pies in McDonald everyday in every restaurant? As least 20, conservatively. Then, McDonald earn at least 20 cents more from one McDonald restaurant each day. How many McDonald’s are there in Canada? 1400! Therefore, at least 28000 cents, or $280 more is earn each day. In one year, they will earn more than ￥100,000！！That is just the extra profit earn from a tiny “mistake.” How easy is that!
That really sounds fantastic! However, I would definitely not learn that for use in the future if I start doing my own business. I think, it is not ethical, since it is based on cheating. I would not be happy with the money I get from cheating!