Free Fast Food

storewanderer
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Free Fast Food

Post by storewanderer »

Fast foods must be doing terrible.

McDonalds has some promotion going now with 2 weeks of free items with $1 purchase. This is reportedly a national promotion. In my area outer NorCal region McDonalds they cut most of the free items out months ago and kept the ones left requiring a $2 purchase, but they are participating in this national promotion.

Today was free McFlurry. In the past, this promotion, most McDonalds would claim their ice cream machine was broken. Now the promotion has a disclaimer that says if the ice cream is not available you can have a free slushie or free 3pk cookies instead. Still today one location in Reno at 5000 South Virginia decided to make both the ice cream and the slushie unavailable today... some of these locations never learn...

Wendys also has multiple of free items this week, mostly free fry with various purchases (any purchase, frosty, etc.). Hadn't seen anything free at Wendys in months.

Funny how they are suddenly doing this again.
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Re: Free Fast Food

Post by Brian Lutz »

In general McDonald's seems to have a lot more promos in their app than most of the other ones I've used. For several months now there's pretty much always been a "Buy one get one for $0.29" promo on McFlurries or shakes, and deals like free fries with quarter pounder or chicken sandwich purchase or buy-one-get-one for $0.29 on quarter pounders or Big Macs. In fact, even though the points you accumulate for purchases tend to expire fairly quickly I hardly ever use them because they can't be used with any other offer, and it seems like there's almost always some offer in the app that's better than the free items you can get with points. I don't see the sweet deals lasting forever, but I suspect at least in the short term the promos are made up for in efficiency from not having to take orders at the counter or drive thru and process payment for it.

In contrast Wendy's used to run a lot of deals but now you pretty much always see the same deals ($3 off a $15 purchase, Buy 1 get 1 for $1 on premium sandwiches, $2 off a combo with mobile order, etc), and a lot of them are tied to mobile ordering, which in my experience can be very hit-or-miss. Even in-store deals can be hit-or-miss since you never know if the scanner is going to actually work. Just yesterday when we went to a Wendy's in Everett there was a line so we tried mobile ordering and got some non-specific error on the checkout page that wouldn't let us continue any further.

In the Sonic app, aside from the half-price drinks most of the promos they offer seem to be one-time use deals, things like a free cheeseburger with purchase or a half-price shake or Blast, and they don't have any sort of loyalty program. Mostly I use that app because they have stopped taking orders at the stalls due to short staffing and unless you order in the app you can only use the drive-thru. Taco Bell offers hardly any "promos" besides the relatively cheap customizable Cravings Box and points for free items, and those expire within a couple of months. When they released the Mexican Pizza they had a promo in the app for a free one but I was never able to use it because it never available anywhere that I saW.
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Re: Free Fast Food

Post by Alpha8472 »

The apps are not where the good deals are all the time. Wendy's sent out coupons in the mail and they had a coupon for a free chicken sandwich with any purchase.

I feel awkward using coupons at the drive thru. Do they take coupons at the drive thru?
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Re: Free Fast Food

Post by mbz321 »

Alpha8472 wrote: July 14th, 2022, 4:53 pm

I feel awkward using coupons at the drive thru. Do they take coupons at the drive thru?
I haven't used a paper coupon in quite some time, but yes, just tell them you have a coupon before you order, Half the time, they don't even ask for the coupon by the time you reach the window.

In my region, McDonald's has been offering a Free Crispy Chicken Sandwich through the app (with $1 minimum purchase) after the Philadelphia Phillies win a game...not bad given it is a $5-6 value depending on location. At the same time, they also have a free large fry with any large purchase. As I pass two McDonald's on the way home, as long as the lines aren't long, I get the chicken sandwich and cookies or an apple pie at one, then stop at the other for $1 small drink and free large fries. Can't just a cheaper meal than that :P
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Re: Free Fast Food

Post by storewanderer »

Typically the drive through will ask for the coupon code from the paper coupon, then rarely ask for it at the window when you pay.

Some franchisees may hold the cashier responsible for the coupons to ensure each discount given is actually supported by a paper coupon but in the current environment I don't think anyone has time to go through that manual process.
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Re: Free Fast Food

Post by Bagels »

McDonald’s app offers vary by region. You can view other regions’ offers by changing the location you’re ordering from. The SoCal offers have been very weak for the past year or so.

Burger King has decent app offers, including free grub. HOWEVER… I’ve noticed that my local restaurant is increasingly refusing to take them (when you go to check-out, it says ‘offer not valid at selected location’ - colossal waste of time IMO).

Jack In The Box had the best offers - usually free fries, shakes, tacos, etc. all the time, plus tons of app exclusive pricing. I’ve received very few offers in the past few months, and theres’s hardly any app exclusives anymore.

Dell Taco sends me push notifications for free grub, but I’ve given up trying to figure out how to redeem them.

Wendy’s just had several days of free food, and regularly offers free nuggets and fries.
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Re: Free Fast Food

Post by storewanderer »

Bagels wrote: July 15th, 2022, 4:10 pm McDonald’s app offers vary by region. You can view other regions’ offers by changing the location you’re ordering from. The SoCal offers have been very weak for the past year or so.

Burger King has decent app offers, including free grub. HOWEVER… I’ve noticed that my local restaurant is increasingly refusing to take them (when you go to check-out, it says ‘offer not valid at selected location’ - colossal waste of time IMO).

Jack In The Box had the best offers - usually free fries, shakes, tacos, etc. all the time, plus tons of app exclusive pricing. I’ve received very few offers in the past few months, and theres’s hardly any app exclusives anymore.

Dell Taco sends me push notifications for free grub, but I’ve given up trying to figure out how to redeem them.

Wendy’s just had several days of free food, and regularly offers free nuggets and fries.
McDonald's Pacific Sierra Region (Reno/Sacramento/rural NorCal) offers are probably the worst. They now require $2 purchase for free items and the free items are a joke (like 1 free cookie, or 1 free hash brown). If it is a national promotion like the current 2 weeks of free offers or the free Friday they still are $1 minimum purchase.

Jack in the Box had a 15% off coupon for 4th of July. I hadn't gotten into a Jack in the Box in a while but found one that was actually open inside, it even had iced tea out self serve at the beverage counter. It seemed well staffed but the manager was on drive through and seemed to be coughing a lot. Luckily no issues from that. I was going to get a Spicy Chicken Combo but the menu price was $9.49. Ouch. So I went with the $8 Munchie Meal with the Spicy Nacho Chicken instead and just had them remove the nacho from it, ended up with more fries than I could eat and also the two tacos I could not finish. That was a solid deal with the 15% off coupon.
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Re: Free Fast Food

Post by Alpha8472 »

The Munchie Meals used to be $6 until recently. I noticed that the more you order through the app, the more deals you get.

I forgot my password and made a new Jack In The Box account. The deals I used to have did not appear in my new account.

I have earned some free items at Jack In The Box. However, you have to buy something and add it to your cart in order to redeem a free item.
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Re: Free Fast Food

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: July 16th, 2022, 1:00 am The Munchie Meals used to be $6 until recently. I noticed that the more you order through the app, the more deals you get.

I forgot my password and made a new Jack In The Box account. The deals I used to have did not appear in my new account.

I have earned some free items at Jack In The Box. However, you have to buy something and add it to your cart in order to redeem a free item.
The Munchie Meal used to be $6 after 9 PM. Only some Jack in the Box locations are even open at that time of night at present in Reno. One still closes at 3 PM, another closes at 7 PM, some others are open late again but it varies by week.

Tried to go to a Wendys in Reno last night around 8 PM. The inside was all lit up and there was a table with people sitting at it. It looked open but the door was locked. The people sitting at the table were actually the employees. A car went through drive through and I watched the employees and after a minute or so one got up and ran over to the window to take their order on the register. They may as well just make the decision of Jack in the Box down the street that closes up shop at 7 PM. Really disappointing situation.
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Re: Free Fast Food

Post by Bagels »

At the locations I frequent, Munchie Meals are still $6 after 9PM - unquestionably the best deal on the menu.

I don't think the offers on JITB's app are user specific (other than birthday, anniversary, etc. coupons) but rather distributed to accounts that have been active over X days. It's likely a deterrent to prevent account creation when popular coupons are offered (e.g. multiple accounts for a 20% off, free shake, $1 premium chicken sandwich, etc.) Most couponers get around this by maintaining multiple accounts at all times, but the average person isn't going to remember the throwaway account they created one time only.
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