BM

I saw an ad for McDonald's that offered a special deal--after 9 pm you can get two Big Macs for the price of one. (They also said check out #McDAfterDark but I'm not sure how helpful that is.)

Whenever I hear this sort of promotion, I wonder how deeply they thought it out.  Did they notice Big Macs weren't selling after normal dinner hours?  Did they just want to draw people in later?

In any case, will this increase overall profits?  I mean, now you know that if you just wait till 9 you can get a great deal.  But most people don't eat then.  So won't this just make the vast majority who get their Big Macs (which I assume is Mickey D's biggest seller) like chumps?

For that matter, what do you do when you get to McDonald's and it's 8:30 and you discover this deal.  Let's say you're using the drive-thru.  Do you go around the block a few more times?  Do you put the car in park and say just bring it to me when the deal starts.

And when the deal ends, will business drop off?  If that's so, why start it to begin with?  The fast food wars are pretty brutal, but how much do people count their pennies. (I'm guessing plenty of the crowd they get feel that saving a few bucks is no joke.)