Bargains at McDonald's

This morning, on a whim, I stopped for an early lunch at McDonalds (MCD).  I ordered two regular hamburgers and an iced coffee -- hazelnut, my favorite.   The charge? $3.17!  I looked at the receipt.  I was charged $.99 for the two  hamburgers and $1.99 for the coffee.

I started thinking about that.  Why would McDonald's only charge me $.49 for a hamburger?  That is about the same price I paid in St. Louis over 25 years ago.

The iced coffee I could understand.  You can get Starbucks type beverages for less -- a good way to get "prestige" on the cheap.  Of course the atmosphere isn't quite the same.

But, that $.49  hamburger?  After studying the posted prices over the counter I finally found, in small print near the bottom,  the regular hamburger price. It was marked $.69!  Well, that only deepened the mystery.  Why would they only charge me $.49?  Some kind of senior discount maybe?  I'm 60.  The sales clerk did not ask my age and I could find no promotion advertising a hamburgers or senior specials.

Times are tough,  If people can get 2 hamburgers for $.99 and skip the drink this would be a great way of getting meals on the cheap.  I'm not sure this stuff is good for you but it is cheap!

For what its worth: at the next table two teenage girls were splitting what looked like a large order of fries and a medium drink.  Apparently McDonalds is doing well with this type of stuff.