Stumbled upon this last night when ordering a family box via the touch screen kiosk @ Wetherill Park mcDonalds
Obviously a glitch but i was able to swap the small fries ($1 value) with the NEW loaded fries ($5 value) and also upgrade to a water bottle at no extra cost. Saved around $20 when compared to buying each individual item separately!
They still charged for big mac sauce so it wasn't all free :)
Beef Value Box NSW/ACT & 1030am - 11pm only.
Yes. Just like how fast food is cheaper than eating normal food.
@Turd
Except that in this instance, water is a main ingredient in softdrink… So it's more like a bun costing more than an entire burger.
But i guess that highlights the ridiculous price of bottled water, more than the cheapness of softdrink.
Either way- no wonder we're so fat
we have pipes in the ground that deliver tap water very cheaply & easily, bottled water requires trucks :)
The water in maccas softdrink is tape water not mineral water. It costs more to produce the bottle and to ship the water from the source than to make softdrink.
Pretty much
The markup is about double the price for getting gas bottles delivered your house on trucks vs getting gas piped into your house.
I don't know what the markup on tap water vs bottled water is $/L but it would be massively more than double.
Here's the stupid thing. Yes the markup on the ingredients is huge. When you think about packaging, storgage and delivery it's no different to softdrink. I remember when bottled water was a new thing and I thought it was ridiculous and that no one was so stupid. How wrong was I!!! It's terrible for the environment, it's horribly priced, and anywhere you have good quality tap water you have an equivalent product that's just as good. Unless you're going somewhere without taps, it's a ridiculous proposition.
You can get it from a damn tap for next to nothing without polluting the planet with crappy plastic bottles. Bottled water is just the fast food version of water.
In many countries where most of the population live, tap water is dirty and bottled water is really the only way to survive.
True. But we're talking about here in Australia where that isn't the case, not anywhere else.
Order water in a cup it's free
Some stores will not provided tap water for free and technically they charge 20c for the cup and provide the water in the cup for free.
If we pay the 20c, are we able to get water refilled into that cup?
@ProjectZero: Ozbargain tip - keep the cup in your car/handbag, and never pay for water at McDonalds again!
Fair enough. The pollution you generate buying a cup should cost something. Still better than 10x as much for a bottled product.
Never had to pay but I do see your point
I find it stupid how they charge $1 extra if you want to swap out our normal coke for frozen coke. Why don't I just get my normal coke and buy the frozen coke on top? Would have cost me the same. :)
And then you can mix them and have more of almost the same thing!
If you mix coke with frozen coke you will just end up with funny tasting coke which will be a bit flat (don't do it).
At the moment its stupid, as frozen coke is on special for $1. Normally its priced more than softdrink, so I guess the $1 is semi acceptable.
But for the moment, just get the softdrink and buy a $1 frozen coke. double drinks!
Had this problem on the weekend… Was driving from Mel to Syd with no aircon in the car… Stopped and bought a medium meal, changed the drink to frozen Coke, they charged me 70c extra, and bought a bottle of water ($3.50).
Got totally jipped - next time I stopped and bought a large frozen coke it cost $1.
If you wanted water, you should have stopped at Hungry Jacks. It is selling for $1 there. Sometimes if I walk past HJ, I would try my luck on their Shake and Win app, sometimes I get free stuff. Lol.
Should have changed the drink in the meal to water and bought the Frozen Coke separately.
This extra charge for Frozen Coke in meals is a hangover from when Frozen Coke cost more than regular Coke. Before HJ went to $1, a large Frozen Coke there was $3.95. It's a scam that they haven't changed it, and HJ also charges 60 cents more in their meals.
@James1976: yeah :( It really sucks! If I was a customer service person though I'd point out the cheaper option :S where's the customer service these days?!
@geek001: I should have! I don't get takeaway often so I wasn't even sure if HJs did frozen cokes :(
That may be true, but my gut feeling is that once the $1 Frozen coke promotion ends, the "upgrade" cost will go up accordingly, which will make it stupid again.
Anyway, I don't see this $1 Frozen coke promotion thing ending anytime soon, Coles Express has just started selling $0.80 small Frozen coke. I am sure it will be around for a while longer.
Only available in NSW/ACT?
Lol cheers, Wetherill Park Maccas is near my work place. Will check it out
glitch = price error
price error =/= bargain
But this was the whole point of ozbargain, back in 2007, there was heaps of glitches and loop holes, it was great finding out all these things to get bargains. Nowdays not so much, always store owners from China trying to push their warez
So you guys know bottle of water is now interchangeable for soft drink for free. It's not a glitch.
Free calories! Yay! :)
QLD have a 19.95 family meal. It has 2x big macs, 2x jnr burgers, 4x small fries, 2x medium drinks and 2x small drinks.
I've found that you can change out the soft drinks for say their apple pops and you'll save a few bucks, around 17??
We change out the drinks and add a few extra cheeseburgers and it ends up being about $20 bucks.
I am a manager at McDonalds. We have just gone through a "major overhall" for the summer promotion, and apart of that is with everymeal. a bottle of water is now free instead of costing extra. As for the loaded fries, get in while you can because they update the system every week or so
Enjoy :)
How about doing us some ozbargain promotions sometimes.. Like a buy 1 get 1 free on Tuesday if we whisper ozbargain.
Rich People! Spending 20 bucks on Maccas
Loaded fries look totally yuck
They are. One squirt of liquid cheese and bacon crumbs on medium chips. Totally worth $4.95
It's fixed now.
![[NSW/ACT] McDonald's Family Box Free Upgrades: Small Fries -> Loaded Fries, Sml Drink -> Bottled Water](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/27/224027.jpg?h=85487faa)
Water costs more than softdrink?