McDonald’s CEO Joe Erlinger was taken aback enough last week to write a letter to the consumer public about the idea that the cost of a Big Mac meal was now over $18.  For some reason that price number went viral and because of that consumers were thought to be avoiding McDonald’s restauarants.

Erlinger took the stance in his letter that an $18 Big Mac meal was not the reality at McDonald’s restaurants in that letter that you can read here.  He also took the unusual step in that letter to make the statement that the average price of a Big Mac in the United States has went up. . . and up considerably.

Here’s what he also included in the letter, “The average price of a Big Mac in the U.S. was $4.39 in 2019. Despite a global pandemic and historic rises in supply chain costs, wages and other inflationary pressures in the years that followed, the average cost is now $5.29. That’s an increase of 21%. . . . .”

Here’s a graphic from a Yahoo Morning Briefing article about McDonald’s pricing:

Erlinger pointed that increase out because, according to the data provided, inflation in general is up 23%, food inflation is up 28%, and wages for non-supervisory employees are up 28% in that same period.  By that data one can theorize, that the new cost of a Big Mac has actually decreased in “real price” when “compared to other inflationary data”.

That’s the point Erlinger was hoping to make and stick in the consumer’s mind. . . .and remove the $18 Big Mac price floating around.

Funeral Director Daily take:  I include this story today because it points out the fact that the cost of providing service in America (and other parts of the world) has increased over the past 5-6 years. . . and it has increased considerably.  I think it makes the point that one must look at their own business and determine if they have raised their prices enough to cover these inflationary costs.

I do understand that every service, including funeral service, has a price point where consumers will choose another product if they conclude prices are “too high” and also has a price-point where one’s service prices has to be in the competitive ballpark to attract clientele or that clientele will move their choice to another lower-cost provider.

However, with those things being said and taken into consideration, I think it is imperative that funeral homes fine-tune their pricing to make sure that margins and profits don’t take a fall.  After all, a death care business is only worth a multiple of what those profits are. . . . Letting them slide too far will be detrimental to your business value in the long run.

More news from the world of Death Care:

• Life celebrations at Macken Mortuary, an alternative to the traditional.  Long Island Herald (NY)
• Delaware is the 10th state to legalize human composting, an alternative funeral practice.  Delaware Online (DE)
• Grieving daughter welcomes police investigation into funeral directors.  STV News (United Kingdom)
• California AG says funeral service provider made a killing – at consumers expense.  Kelley Drye blog
• “We hadn’t even grieved for my mum properly”:  Families feeling impact of spiraling funeral costs.  Yahoo News – Sky News (Great Britain)
• The latest climate grift:  “Climate-free” human composting.  Townhall

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