Did Minnesotans Help Force McDonalds Back to the $5 Meal?

Back in the early 90’s, I was a college student at a community college where I studied Radio. I lived in one county, went to school in a neighboring county, and then worked nights at a radio station in another neighboring county.  

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I would make a full circle each day for college and work. It’s a good thing gas was cheap then, less than a buck a gallon, otherwise that feat would have been impossible to do.  

I was broke most of the time while in college, so I got creative to find ways to eat. I learned to stretch a dollar in some cases farther than it should have done. I realize now it was God’s blessings that helped me survive that experience. 

At about this same time McDonalds came out with the Value Meal, or Value Combo’s. I remember most were under four bucks, and in some cases around three dollars depending on what you got.  

I was able to eat at Mickey D’s a couple times per week by learning how to juggle the money around. My story isn’t unique to me, a lot of people learned that the Value Combo Meals were away to eat relatively cheap and still have money for gas, other groceries etc.  

As we look back through the years, the cost did go up on these meals slowly, like everything else. But over the last few years, people have noticed that the Value has been lacking from the McDonalds Combo Meal.  

Then, as my co-worker Chad wrote about recently, the five-dollar meal was back at McDonalds. They said it was their way to fight the rising cost of inflation and help people eat again.  

But there was another reason McDonalds made this move. According to The Morning Brew, sales have been dwindling a lot at McDonalds and other restaurants like them.  

The second quarter earnings report for McDonalds says that there was less traffic in their stores worldwide, which of course means sales have been down. Globally profits fell 12% from a year ago. But the profit number is still staggering, $2 Billion. That’s still a lot of McBucks! 

The move to bring back the five-dollar combo meal was to combat the fact their prices had risen to ten bucks and above for "value" combo meals. The Morning Brew says that traffic is slowing coming back around with this deal, but it remains to be seen if (a) there will be a positive result from this deal and (b) if McDonalds will keep this deal around on a full-time basis.  

Let’s hope the Value becomes part of the Meal at not only McDonalds, but other restaurants as well.