Unsalted

October 25th, 2016 at 8:29 PM ^

That meal is still not worth $2.99.

I must confess, I used to eat those things, but I was young. When I was in HS, you could get a whopper, fries, drink AND a cheeseburger, and get change from your $2 meal money the school gave us for away tennis meets.

truferblue22

October 25th, 2016 at 8:40 PM ^

Sorry in advance for doing this, but I have an economics degree and you got me thinking.

 

$3 for a whopper, fry and drink sounds great, but how does it compare to today? Unfortunately, I'm not sure whether or not the offer they showed there is just the buying the Whopper combo or not (what I mean is because the modern Whopper combo is a medium fry and drink and the offer in the ad very well could have been for a Whopper and a small drink and fry) but we can do it both ways.

Assuming it IS a like for like (medium in '96 and '16), $2.99 is a GREAT deal. $2.99 in 2016 dollars is $4.55. 

If the 1996 ad is offering a Whopper and small fry and drink for $2.99, the nearest offer to that that I was able to find just now is $4 for 2 bacon cheeseburgers, a small fry and drink. $4 in 2016 converted to 1996 dollars would actually be $2.63, so slightly better. 

 

As for the gasoline, I couldn't find historical data specific to Michigan, but the annual, nationwide average cost of gas in 1996 was $1.23. Today I paid $1.95/gallon in SE Michigan. $1.23 in 1996 equates to $1.87; more or less the same. 

 

TL;DR I'm a nerd. 

HarleyMarlboro

October 26th, 2016 at 9:18 AM ^

I know that was me for a long time.  I just couldn't fathom paying more than $5, especially when the "big" value meals like this or the Big Mac meal were $3 for so long.  

I haven't been to either McDonalds or the BK Lounge in years.  If I need to grab a quick burger, I'll stop at a 5 Guys or something like that.  The whole meal with be around $12, but it's worth it.