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Comment by flerchin | Hacker News Reader

The critical industry of McDonald's delivery will never pay a living wage. There's not enough value. Folks will have to self-select out.

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McD’s has doubled prices with rising profits

That's true, but the delivery people do not work for McD's. They do not legally work for the delivery companies (although practically they do). People that pay for delivery will not pay very much for delivery, generally less than minimum wage. They'll instead get the food themselves.

McD's is a franchise in the US. Franchisees set prices.

I don't know how this actually works, but this can't _always_ be the case if they run national ad campaigns [1] for $5 meal deals, right? Unless they're baking a lot into "pricing and participation may vary"

[1] https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/full-menu/5-dollar-meals....

If you scroll down, in small text you'll see:

*Prices and participation may vary.

That said, McDonalds corporate isn't running promotions unilaterally. Instead, promotions are proposed by committees elected by franchisees and voted on by franchisees themselves, so participation rates tend to be high.

So? What I said is correct

And it gets those without having to pay drivers (and technically even workers in most McDonalds’ restaurants since they are franchised), so why would they start?

Delivery and final assembly of food is not McDonald’s’ business.

They would start if workers organized against them. I'm responding to the notion that there's not enough value on the table for collective action

"final assembly of food"?

I haven't eaten McDonald's in a while, but from what I remember the food arrived fully assembled.

McDonald’s sells their marketing and logistics, and rents real estate, to franchisors. The franchisors’ business is the one that employs people who do final assembly of the food.

The franchisors’ profits and profit margins are nowhere near McDonalds’.

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