Posted on 05/07/2026 10:03:29 PM PDT by Red Badger
The price didn’t just go up. The product went down.
This is shrinkflation on steroids.
The cost increased. The value didn’t.
BRIEFING
Grant here. Shrinkflation is everywhere nowadays. It's actually becoming so common that we seem to just almost be throwing up our hands and accepting it. Well, for the most part.... Because this latest video showing what an absolute rip-off the classic McDonald's sundae has become has people pretty darn heated. Let’s break it down.
A popular X video shows a woman holding her obnoxiously tiny McDonald’s hot fudge sundae. I mean, it's comically small. It looks like something you would give to a four-year-old child, not a grown adult.
And what's worse? It costs $4.
Yeah, $4 for a cup of vanilla soft serve with some crappy "chocolate" sauce on top.
SOURCE
The McDonald’s Hot Fudge Sundae used to only cost 99 cents
American shows what it looks like now, and they have resisted the price to $4
It looks much smaller, they don’t fill it all the way and it no longer comes with a pack of chopped peanuts
But it’s now 4x the price…. pic.twitter.com/h4w89HPXHo— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) March 30, 2026
DEBRIEFING
Really, at this point, you're better off heading to the store and buying a tub of vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. Honestly, the quality would be better, and you could probably make like 10 sundaes instead of the measly little plastic cup of dairy goo McDonald's is trying to peddle.
This is shrinkflation on a whole other level, and it's an extreme that makes most of us think, "What's the point?"
What is the point nowadays of going out and getting a meal if this is the type of experience you're going to have?
We've reached the point where everything feels like a rip-off, and the only way we can start to move the needle back to normality is just to flat-out stop supporting businesses that are pushing shrinkflation to this extreme.
NOW YOU KNOW
Companies push shrinkflation because they can.
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
quarter pounders used to be bigger too
People still go to McDonalds?
I went a few times when they furst opened, ate around the menue and hated everything. Their cofffee is reasonably OK
I remember when coffee was sold in 36oz containers and a link of polish sausage was 1 lb. Now they are 32oz and 13oz respectively. A bar of Dial soap was a solid bar, not a hollowed-out piece of something that’s been whipped full of air to make it look big. And the 5 lb bag of potatoes really did have 5 lbs of potatoes? I bought a 5 lbs bag at Kroger, brought it home and weighed it: 3lb, 15oz. Start weighing your package meat and produce, too. I bought a 2 lb bag of shrimp at Kroger. I found out it is sold “glazed”, which means a thin layer of ice on each shrimp. After thawing and pouring off the melted water, 1lb, 12oz of shrimp. Inflation is worse than you think!
You are FR's only breathatarien.
That brings to mind one of Sly & The Family Stone’s greatest hits: “Hot Fudge In The Summertime!”
FWIW, QT Mart has just introduced a really nice hot fudge sundae comparable to DQ for the relatively bargain basement price of $1.99.00
The author acts like he just discovered something. Products have been changing sizes as long as products have existed. they shrink for a while, and then they explode to new, larger sizes with a larger price. So it’s more like accordioning, not shrinking. I was on to it as a 10 year old watching the size of a five cent Three Musketeers shrink and then all of a sudden explode in size to the new ten cent price. If products only shrank, everything would be the size of a thimble by now.
Costco.
Pint of Haagen das ice cream costs the same as it did in the late 1980s.....on sale.....same with Ben & Jerry’s.....and they often are on sale.
But the pint only is 14 ounces.
The only good thing to come out of Covid 2020 is Costco letting go of its non fat yogurt ice cream and getting real- ish ice cream. Fudge sundae is quite ample and inexpensive.. ...but Costco used to dip ice cream on a stick in liquid chocolate ...about 1/8 inch thick, then roll it in almonds.
Funny. My dad had restaurants all over the country and was negotiatiing to open more in the UK when he died. I grew up knowing what realy good food is. Thus my scorn for a lot of terrible places today. Traveled a lot too. I dislike all chocolate except Belgian. Ditto for beer.
But I’m not a good cook. My daughter has that distinction. When I cook, I follow my dad’s direction: “Buy the best food you can afford and do as little as possible to it”. Quality foods just have more flavor....if you don’t overshadow it with salt. I threw my shaker away.
Went to a McDonalds for the first time in about 10 years the other day. I stopped going there cause my last visit was not enjoyable. I wanted to see if they had improved. After all, people still go there.
Got the Big Mac. $7.19.....
Small. Tasteless. Absolutely not worth ever going back there. The other burgers there were more expensive.
The proof that bad habits are almost impossible to break and that advertising works is the fact that McDonalds still exists
Hehehe. Reminds me every Sunday after evening church dad took me and my my siblings to get a sundae.
Never eat that stuff, hard to care what others choose to spend money on.
I thought that was done by Vanila Fudge?
That would have made culinary sense. but no. t’was Sly and Company
😆
It was funny though.
Never saw that term before.
Well it is supposed to be a treat, not a meal. Maybe people should rethink what they eat and why?
The article fails to nail down the real culprit. It’s not the company it is the government, and all those folks who keep voting for the government to set wages, etc.
Government and hordes of people (and imaginary voters) voting to take other people’s money for themselves is destroying the economy.
I can never get a hot hamburger at Mcdonald’s and someone told me to order the Quarter Pounder because they’re always made fresh. Sure enough, that’s true.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.