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Get a Medium Cheese Burger Meal for $4.05 Instead of $5.95 at McDonalds + Some Hints and Tricks

6920

Hey guys, I have been an employee at McDonalds for 5 years so I have decided to share a few deals and hints you can use to save some money and get the best products.

Firstly - A ~$4 medium cheeseburger meal.

The loose change menu deal is currently a $5 medium double beef n bacon meal. Personally, I prefer just normal cheeseburgers. So instead of taking the meat off manually, you can request the burger without bacon and without one piece of meat (We call it 10:1 (ten to one), as it is a tenth of a pound). As you can see in the picture provided, the meal is -90c as adding and removing pieces of meat costs and saves you $$$ respectively.

By asking for a medium double beef and bacon meal WITHOUT 1 piece of meat and without the bacon, you are essentially ordering a cheeseburger (without a pickle, but you can ask for a pickle if you want) with medium fries and a drink, saving yourself nearly $2 if you had ordered a medium cheeseburger meal.

Secondly - Fresh fries

Personally, I hate it when customers do this, but whatever.
If you want fresh fries, you can simply ask for fresh fries, but generally we will be annoyed by your request and just give you the same fries as everyone else.
Instead, ask for either no salt, or only a little bit of salt. We will be forced to wait for the fresh fries to come up to give you the type of fries you asked for.

Thirdly - Fresh Meat

Again, I hate this.
If you want fresh meat on your burgers, ask for the meat unsalted and with Angus seasoning. We automatically salt and pepper all meat we cook. If you ask for Angus seasoning instead of salt and pepper, we have to cook a run of meat specially for you and put the Angus seasoning (Usually only put on Angus meat) on your burger. If you want a Angus burger, we put both salt and pepper AND Angus seasoning on it, so this will still work.

Fourthly - General hints and tips

  • We are supposed to throw out any meat/chicken which is past it's timer (Generally these are 20-30 minutes). On overnight and during non-busy periods we get lazy and just press the timer again instead of throwing it out and cooking fresh product. This is why I never eat the bacon on the double beef n bacons. It is one of the worse culprits for this. Sometimes it will sit in a tray from breakfast (10:30ish) to about 12-1 in the afternoon until we use it all, depending on how much was cooked and left over.

  • The oil in our vats are supposed to be changed every 2 weeks. If you can see the the bottom of the vats and the oil is clear, the oil is very fresh and the chicken is 5x more tastier. If it's black, then it's old and you get run of the mill tasting chicken.

EDIT

Just to be clear - we filter this oil every 12 hours. The chicken is not cooked in dirty oil continuously. Once filtering is done, the oil is pretty much brand new, but not as see-through-ey.

Sorry for the confusion.

  • Be nice to us and we will be nice to you. Common sense. I don't come into your workplace and start swearing my head off because this burger isn't $2 cheaper than the store down the road or that you got the wrong order. Be calm and polite and you will get your problem sorted.

  • Every store which has a drive thru has a certain amount of time to get cars through. My store is 3 minutes. That means as soon as you roll up at the speaker box, we have 3 minutes to get you your food and rolling away. We have a scoreboard in the store showing how many cars each store has done in the past hour, and the percentage of how many cars have met that deadline. So when going through drive thru, please be conscious of this and order quickly and efficiently as you will make us and the people behind you waiting happy.

  • If you have a problem, ask to speak with a manager if it's serious. If you're missing a toy, fries, a drink, just ask a normal crew member and they will get you one.

  • I am 90% certain that a Bacon and Egg add Sausage is cheaper than a Sausage and Egg add Bacon. 10% of me says that they are the same price.

  • Remember that the crew who work at McDonalds are generally teenagers and this is their first job. Don't expect 5 star service from people who aren't tall enough to ride a roller coaster.

Sorry if this belongs in the forums. Enjoy your Meals!

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closed Comments

    • +3

      The one i have will give you a kick in the but for daring to even ask for something off the menu.

      You mean just trying to alter a burger with another regular ingredient, like lettuce on a cheeseburger or something? If it's a reasonable request and it gets denied, you should write to head office about it, and they'll probably send the store a rebuke.

      manager went mental and threatened to have me arrested and screamed at me for 10 minutes because I spilt a small bit of drink at the drive through

      If that's true, then you should definitely have written to head office. These things do get handed down.

      • No, I mean standard menu items. Maybe something that is not a meal on the special board etc. Even wanting to look at the menu gets them huffing.

        I did write to head office, the lady really went to town on me and I was quite upset. I asked them to review the security cam, but they have no sound. I got a phone call saying sorry from the store and only after I said something was offered a refund of the value of the meal. In the end I decided not to take the refund and never to go back, too scared that lady will be there.
        I don't think they realised how bad the incident was, in hindsight I should have made an accident report for anxiety and stress to force a proper investigation.

        I have found the standard at many fast food restaurants so bad now that I avoid. Managements don't care they still have people queuing to hand over money.

        • +1

          No, I mean standard menu items. Maybe something that is not a meal on the special board etc. Even wanting to look at the menu gets them huffing.

          So… they get annoyed when you try to order just normal things? I can't even imagine how or why that'd happen. Which store was this?

        • +1

          @ProspectiveDarkness: One of the Liverpool ones, south maybe.
          I think there are so many fast food junkies out here that if you haven't memorised the McD menu and order everything in a value meal you are a freak.

  • +1

    OMG, I actually read all of OP's words

  • Give this man a raise!

  • Thanks, no salt on chips is great tip!

  • -4

    I haven't eat maccus for years, and i still not intend to eat it any time soon.

    • +15

      Thanks for the update. It was very beneficial to us all.

        • +20

          Lol can I please remind you that your initial comment was of relative benefit to… nobody.

  • I order the $2 chicken lettuce mayo burger without the chicken which is reduced to 40cents. Throw in a small fries for $1 and it becomes a fries, lettuce& mayo burger for $1.40.

  • +1

    Best thread ever.

    I was disappointed one year going to Melbourne to find their $2 menu different to Sydney's. It was the chicken one I wanted.

    As for drive-through, my frustration is there are a ton of choices leading up to the order box, yet when you get there, you miss half of what you were trying to remember, especially with the limited burger ranges from time to time.

    Maybe I should take a pic from my phone next time. Problem solved!

  • You sir, are a gentleman and a nation's hero,

    I cant believe no one else has the balls to step up and give such good behind the scene tips.

  • Would have to be the first time going to such trouble to save $1.90 has got 400+ likes…

    If that much was an issue I'd buy a loaf of bread and make sandwiches…

  • Kudos to you OP, thanks for the tips.

  • Is there a way to get you guys to make Chicken McMuffin for breakfast? Had some in Singapore… was amazing! used the same chicken fillet you get with McChicken… but Chicken McMuffin, mayo and melted cheese for breakfast?? !! creaming

  • +1

    OP, Is there anything else (besides the bacon) that you refuse to order because of health or sanitary concerns?

    • +3

      Probably the Angus meat (3:1).

      Usually it sits in the tray for 1-2 hours (if it's not busy) before someone buys it.

      So use my tip and ask for it without salt and pepper and you'll have some nice juicy meat.

      ALSO:

      Scrambled egg on breakfast. If you come in around 7am, you're going to get scrambled which was cooked at 4-5am because nobody purchases it. While it's busy you'll probably get some moderately fresh stuff.

      Overall, just come in when it's relatively busy and you'll get better food.

  • +1

    Ya know I don't even eat Maccas hardly (every couple a years ;) but I love this kind of post - thanks for the great tips!

  • It aint easy! being cheesy!!!

  • Sweet advice.

  • -6

    The "food" you sell is shit

    • +12
      • There's always someone with issues and the uncontrollable urge to let you know they have them LOL …

    • +1

      The "food" you sell is shit

      Do you eat shit often?

  • +1

    Level headed post OP. well done. I personally dont eat that crp but im sure the other McD lover - ozbargain fanbois would find it useful.

  • Haha, well done mate! I've been with Maccas (2nd Asst) for over 9 years now, but the ways you've said to order stuff is pretty good! :)

    With the $1 Cheeseburgers soon starting you'll no doubt be able to get 4 for the price of the meal above! :P
    +1

    • +2

      I love me some cheeseburgers :)

      And only 2nd Asst for 9 years? Our new consultant (prev store manager) has been with our licensee for like 6 years. But there's a 40% chance she's been rooting him… Oh well.

      Wish you luck!

      • +1

        I'm just floating :) lots of experience been and done other jobs 3 times but came back to maccas for stable income :)

  • This should be stickied or something :)

  • -1

    I can get the medium cheeseburger meals for $4.50 anyways…with 144g of fries instead of the standard ~120g med fries.

  • -1

    if only other companies have these type of transparency.

    • This isn't McDonald's being transparent here, it's a crew member sharing some tips.

  • +1

    The closest Maccas to me has 2 waiting bays for drive through, I hate it when these are full and you're asked to find a spot in the mostly full car park, just so the workers can fudge their targets. Defeats the purpose of the name, 'drive-thru'. I don't mind waiting, in the proper bays but manoeuvring around the small car parks is a hassle, and sometimes end up at HJ's in the area purely because they don't do this. That and 80% of the time, they forget the sauce. The process for sauce distribution is seriously negligent, if it was free I wouldn't care.

    • I used to ask for extra stuff with my order (fries, nuggets and so on) if they did this. And they usually threw them in depending on the store.

    • Just say the bay is full and don't move.

  • the 10:1 and angus seasoning, never heard those before, very impressed, thanks!
    my friends at maccas have let me down
    by the way how do we ask for 10:1, if we ask to remove a beef patty would it just come under - "No Beef Patty" or do we have to specifically ask to remove it 10:1?

    • Should just have to ask for without one piece of meat.

      Went through a different store yesterday and the cheeky buggers gave me it without meat entirely.

  • +2

    I got a tip for you, don't eat at McDonalds, i worked there as a teen and we use to play cricket with all the dead mice that use to run around and eat bits of the buns at night.

  • You popped my voting cherry. Long time lurker on OzB, but had to login and vote you with a +ve after reading your post as it's well deserved. Keep up the great work!

  • ask for fresh seared chicken lol

  • -1

    Worked at Maccas for half a year and I can say that I will never eat there again, or extremely rarely. Since I've worked there I have only been there twice to try out the world cup menu items.

    The "fresh" food isn't even fresh, most of the guys at the back just get the already cooked products and dunk it in the oil for a few seconds and put the oily, greasy product inside the burger, just how people love it. Seriously though, when it comes out of the vat the products are soaked in oil.

    Another tip is to ask for your cheeseburgers, mcdoubles, chicken and mayos to be put in a box so they don't get squashed in the wrap.

    Btw, the oil at the Maccas I worked at looked like it was changed once in a blue moon. It made charcoal look white.

    • +2

      The "fresh" food isn't even fresh, most of the guys at the back just get the already cooked products and dunk it in the oil for a few seconds and put the oily, greasy product inside the burger, just how people love it. Seriously though, when it comes out of the vat the products are soaked in oil.

      Never done that. Your store must be a bit dodgy.

  • +1

    +1 not so much for the deal as I don't think I'd use the tips, but for lifting the lid on a corporate conglomerate! Thank you OP.

  • -6

    Hurry along through the drive through so Maccas workers can meet their time quota? Nah, I prefer to check my order before I leave so I don't have to circle back around the drive thru and wait even longer. Seriously, it's not rocket science. You read from a screen and put stuff in a bag. A monkey's job. I don't know how people can screw this up so often with such consitency (KFC is the worst for this, Maccas is up there, Red Rooster has been good in my experience). Not to mention getting, say, a mighty angus without bacon… how do you stuff this up? All day you've been putting bacon onto mighty angus burgers, and for some reason you decide to skip the bacon on mine?

    Go easy on them because they are kids and it's their first job? Nope, why can't the kids learn some care and respect for what they do? It's important for them to learn this in their formative years because it sticks with them into their adulthoold and harbours good adults. Kids these days are way to blasé and they seem to get worse every generation. Stop being a bunch of emotionally impossible little brats and do something for once. I was working the fields grinding my fingers to the bone day in and day out from the age of 6 until 18, I would have killed to be in a nice warm kitchen where the only thing I had to deal with was customers asking for a fresh hamburger patty. lol @ spoiled little first world brats.

    The customer is always right, if you want fresh fries/nuggets/beef you should get it. If an employee gets mad at a customer for asking for something then they are in the wrong job. Don't work in customer service if you don't want to deal with people making requests. It's customer service. Service the customer.

    It's good that you've got a job I respect that but dude you work at MacDonalds and your post came off like you're a brain surgeon and command respect and we should all tread on eggshells when ordering at Maccas. Hell no, this weekend I'm going into my local Maccas extra drunk, extra annoying and asking for fresh everything and being extra difficult, and the next time I'm going through the drive thru I'm going to take extra long to order and it's all because of your post.

    Thanks for the money saving tips and tricks man, appreciated :D

    Have a nice day.

    • +10

      It's good that you've got a job I respect that but dude you work at MacDonalds and your post came off like you're a brain surgeon and command respect and we should all tread on eggshells when ordering at Maccas

      I am merely asking for the respect you would give to someone who works anywhere. Everybody deserves your respect whether they are the prime minister or a 15yo acne ridden kid who works at McDonalds.

      A monkey's job

      Monkeys are still a little bit primitive for that, sorry.

      Hell no, this weekend I'm going into my local Maccas extra drunk, extra annoying and asking for fresh everything and being extra difficult

      Well you seem mature.

      Have a nice day.

      You too.

  • Another tip, if you are the type to get a meal with the extra burger added on the side (or a 6pack nuggets), generally with every store I've seen, there is a large disparity in the value meal prices compared to the burger/nuggets on its own.
    Eg: My local (iirc) has-
    Big Mac/Big Mac Meal at $5.15 and $8.20 ($3.05 addon for medium fries/drink)
    6Nuggets/Nuggets Meal at $5.45 and $7.25 ($1.80! addon for medium fries/drink)

    So a 6Nuggets medium meal + Big Mac on the side ends up being cheaper than the other way around. (13.65 vs 12.40)
    Intended?

    • I'd say it's intended so you are incited to spend an extra $2 at the store. Maccas is low cost, high turnover.

  • Kwaker, you've just made me laughed so hard that I fell off my chair lol

  • Another tip for freshly made food, if you're female or with one, tell them you're pregnant and they should make it up fresh for you without getting pissed. Probably not the best thing to be eating if you are actually pregnant tho.. :/

    • +1

      if you're female or with one, tell them you're pregnant

      So if I have a female friend with me, I still tell the person i'm pregnant ;)

      should make it up fresh for you

      If the person serving had a soft spot for a pregnant person, it might happen. We don't usually do special orders based on demographic or anything.

      • +4

        Way back when I worked at Maccas I think I used to subconsiously make an extra large cone if the customer was ridiculously skinny…and fill up the fries a little less if they didn't need all those carbs :) Does this mean I'm a bad person ><

    • +2

      Why would the worker give a dam about some one being pregnant. Not their problem or concern.

  • +2

    riveting reading for a vegetarian

  • Are these really deals? It's just like sometimes it's cheaper to buy two smaller packages of an item rather than one large, at a supermarket. Eg, a lot of the time it's cheaper to buy 2 x 1 kg packs of flour than buying the 2 kg pack. But I don't find that deal worthy of posting.

  • its really excellent analysis of the cost factors which can be adjusted to give a good result for a bargainer. a lot of research went into this.

    actually it may be rare that smaller sizes are cheaper than larger.

  • +1

    My question is what is that siren sound that goes off every few minutes?

    • +2

      The sound you're probably hearing is when the store "loses" a car. Meaning the car has been in drive thru for longer than 3 minutes. If you can see a screen which has cars on it and random times, then the total time down the bottom will be red, the car will be red and you'll hear the sound.

  • Hey OP, I once tried to order the double beef and bacon meal without the bacon and was told by the store manager is was against company policy to alter promotional items. Is this true or should I report the guy for being a prick?

    • The stores i've done it at have accepted it. But technically you can't edit promo items.

      Sorry.

      • Thanks you for your answer. I'm surprised by that because a majority of stores are happy to do it, which means a majority of stores are breaking company policy. I think that makes for good customer service. Well done.

        • It really varies. The LCM menu was like that in the beginning, but they relaxed the policy (at least at my old store). The limited time items like the recent World Cup stuff should be alter-able though.

  • +1

    Read through every comment because as Maccas was my first job I do still have a soft spot for it! haha.

    I'm not sure if this is still true (it was 6 years ago - someone please verify) but if you wanted to uber ozbargain it you could potentially get a free tea.

    Because from memory:
    Hot water on it's own is free
    Tea bag on it's own is free
    Sugar and of course plastic stirrer is free…

  • Not sure if anyone can confirm: Walked into Maccas on the weekend at Darling Quarter and asked for some tap water. The lady rejected me flatly and said I need to buy something first. I have done this a few times successfully before, so I wasn't in the mood for her and walked out.

    Not sure what the policy is on that. If I needed to buy something, that's fine, I just want to know for the future. Maybe all the previous times, the staff were cool haha.

    • It is actually only a requirement of licensed restaurants, legally speaking. It's generally considered the right thing to do though by all other establishments, however, as you encountered, some people are bastards.

      Just ask for a cup of ice next time, and wait for it to melt. Feel free to stand close to some of the overhead lights maybe?

      • But the questions is, was I required to make a purchase?

        • +1

          It's their water and cup, they can make what ever requirements they wish. They owe you nothing. The self entitlement if some people is amazing.

  • +2

    The 'fries with no salt' trick worked!
    I ordered a small and the lady serving me gave me an odd look.
    Anyhow I was placed in a queue and knew they were cooking up a fresh batch as people who ordered after me received their orders first.
    Then my little golden goodies came and they were very crisp and freshly cooked! The ketchup more than compensated for the lack of salt in my chips, anyway.
    Great tip.

    A kid before me walked away with a soft serve-in-a-cup with M&Ms - must have known the system :)

    • +2

      Just a tip: I know you didn't do this, but I wouldn't recommend asking for a separate salt sachet if you ask for the fries with no salt, as some are known to do. Servers get shitty when it's obvious you're just trying to fool them. Better off just straight out asking for fresh fries.

  • -2

    eat veggies people not this cancer food

    • Cows eat grass. Grass is good for you. Therefore, cows are good for you.

  • I ask for fresh chips IF the ones I am given are cold and crappy - why ?? I get heartburn if they aren't reasonably fresh. I realise this may peeve some people off, but I'd rather that than heartburn for hours.

    • +1

      That's funny, because I get heartbun if they are fresh. So I just do without now, because I'd rather have neither heartbun or crappy old fries.

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