Watch him, he’ll run off with 80 yen if you let him..
Japan’s netizens have decided to call out McDonald’s yet again. This time, they’ve noticed that the price of double cheeseburger is not double the price of a cheeseburger, oh no. It’s almost triple! So what gives, McDonald’s?
One clever Twitter user, who apart from now being a legend among netizens is also an assistant professor at Toho University, created an equation to prove that not only is the burger over-priced, but that McDonald’s would actually owe customers 80 yen if they purchase a double cheeseburger rather than two regular cheeseburgers…
From NetLab:
Doubts Over Price Of McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger? Discovered As Result Of Netizen Calculations: “If You Eat The Bun, You Get 80 Yen Back”
And No Matter How You Calculate It, They’re Right…
On October 26, McDonald’s consolidated its product pricing in each of its branches, and even started putting its prices on its website once more. However, after the prices were published online, netizens started talking about how strange the set prices for the cheeseburger and the double cheeseburger were.
Looking at the menu available on McDonald’s official site, a cheeseburger is 130 yen [approx. $1.10], whereas a double cheeseburger is…340 yen [approx. $2.80]!? Even though it’s twice as much as a regular cheeseburger, isn’t the price closer to triple the cost?
Just to be sure, we looked at the nutritional information. A cheeseburger weighs 122g and is 310 calories, while a double cheeseburger weighs 178g and has 463 calories. Since both the weight and calorie content of the double cheeseburger is just under twice as much as the regular cheeseburger, it doesn’t seem that the double cheeseburger has significantly more in it.
Nutritional information for a regular cheeseburger.
Nutritional information for a double cheeseburger.
So what the hell kind of calculation did McDonald’s do to get to that price? Twitter user @CDR6275, who is an Assistant Professor of Information Sciences at Toho University’s Faculty of Sciences, did a proper calculation in response to the doubts a lot of people must have been having. The result was even more absurd: “If you eat the bun, then you should get 80 yen back” [approx. 66¢]. WTF…..
x= burger and cheese
y= bun
If you just think about those two products, then you will always arrive at this answer. In fact, if you were to order two cheeseburgers, for 260 yen you’d get a double cheeseburger and an extra bun…Damn, the more you think about it, the less sense it makes! Why has this happened!
Online, there have been a lot of responses to this calculation: “So they’re definitely adding 80 yen to the cost even though they’re taking away the bun”; “Oh…”; “So I guess it’s better to just order two cheeseburgers then, huh?”; “LOLZ”. Nah, I mean, setting the price for something is pretty difficult, right…?
Comments from 2ch.net:
ストレッチプラム(神奈川県)＠＼(^o^)／:
It’s because they do stuff like this that they don’t sell so much any more…
ジャストフェイスロック(やわらか銀行)＠＼(^o^)／:
This doesn’t make you want to go to McDonald’s, does it?
ローリングソバット(dion軍)＠＼(^o^)／:
No one’s gonna buy them so let them set the price at whatever they like.
ボマイェ(東京都)＠＼(^o^)／:
Man, economics is tough.
ファイヤーバードスプラッシュ(鹿児島県)＠＼(^o^)／:
This has to be a trick to make you buy cheeseburgers at 130 yen.
ボマイェ(西日本)＠＼(^o^)／:
Aren’t they going to use this to make their set meals look cheaper?
エルボードロップ(庭)＠＼(^o^)／:
Cheeseburger 130 yen
Double cheeseburger 200 yen
Triple cheeseburger 250 yen.
Those are the prices they should have if they’re following common sense…
ランサルセ(庭)＠＼(^o^)／:
So I guess what we should do is order two cheeseburgers, then at the register, right in front of them, put the burgers together and ask them to throw away the extra bun, right?
トラースキック(dion軍)＠＼(^o^)／:
Isn’t the meat from different countries in the two burgers? In fact I reckon its from places like China…
ストマッククロー(四国地方)＠＼(^o^)／:
It’s been weird since they had the McDouble and the Double Cheeseburger for sale. It was like, come on, how much you gonna charge for a frickin’ slice of cheese.
頭突き(神奈川県)＠＼(^o^)／:
Maybe what’s really going on is that because fatties aren’t good with money, they won’t notice the price, so McDonald’s figure they can make good there.
レッドインク(岩手県)＠＼(^o^)／:
If you happen to be from the class of people who frequent McDonald’s, then you’re probably not going to notice, so it’s OK.
キチンシンク(大阪府)＠＼(^o^)／:
Sell them at the going rate already!
スパイダージャーマン(大阪府)＠＼(^o^)／:
More than anything, this just makes it clear that they set their prices without thinking.
毒霧(栃木県)＠＼(^o^)／:
As far as McDonald’s is concerned, if this means they’ll sell more cheeseburgers then it’s fine. Just what we expect from Casanova! [NB Sarah Casanova is current CEO of McDonald’s Japan].
レインメーカー(京都府)＠＼(^o^)／:
Oh what are you doing to the only thing you had going for you, the double cheeseburger! w
I’m only ever gonna buy coffee there now.
