We should also take note that points will expired after a certain time if we don’t redeem them.

The med and lg fries are too much and would be wasted.

I wish they had more menu items and wish there was not a limit on one item.. someone who has earned enough points to purchase an entire meal should be able to do so in one transaction.

Barry, you aren’t getting anything for “free”, anyway. The cost of the rewards system is already built into the items you purchase in order to qualify for the “rewards” in the first place, whether you ever use the points or not. If you choose to redeem the points, you are simply getting back part of what you paid to get the rewards in the first place.

I honestly doubt that there is any way we can ever get back all of what we pay for the rewards programs, no matter how we use the points.

Ken Ganshirt

Bill, this is for you and Barry. First, my apology for using incorrect terminology. In retrospect, it was not his use of the phrase “deep dive” that bothered me. That’s simply what triggered my reaction to the article. And it makes be guilty of exactly the real issue I have with Barry’s article; his use of the word “value” throughout when he was really referring to “cost”.

It would have added no more cost and made his article much more accurate if he had simply used the word “cost” instead of “value”. His choice of the word “value” makes it seem like the article includes consideration of much more information than it does.

I was discouraged enough to express it because his terminology led me to expect more from the article than it gave me. I make no apology for that. But I do apologize sincerely for making the same error in use of terms.

Bill, for what it’s worth, this was never about looking for some sort of deep “nutritional” analysis. That’s almost as limited a view of “value” as Barry’s, if indeed he actually thought he was giving us some assessment of value rather than simply cost, eg. the dollar cost of the items you can redeem points for, absent any other aspect of actual value. It did not seem, to me, that it would have taken a lot of extra work, if any, to simply share with his readers the same thing I observed in my response to him:

The real value of the points redeemed per item is inverse to the items’ content, eg. low points cost = lots of sugar and water vs high points cost = items with actual food in them. The value of any of the items redeemed is almost exactly inverse to their points cost. Barry has his table of “values” upside down.

And, by the way, you can’t game the rewards system. The cost of the system is already built into the cost of the items whether we take advantage of it or not.

Ken Ganshirt

While I have both apps, I prefer the coffee at McDonalds. Plus, McDonalds has SENIOR priced coffee. If you’re 55+ you get about a $.40 discount. The other nice thing McDonalds offers is a coffee/muffin combo discount. You end up getting the muffin for half price. I don’t recommend this for every visit (waistline) but it’s nice on occasion.

Hi Bob. This change was all about shaking guys like you and me out of the tree. Under the old system you were actually earning TWO free coffees for every 7 purchases if you played your cards right and ordered through the app. 7 physical and 7 digital stickers. Plus I’d buy regular coffee and redeem for Americano. It was a fun ride for a few years. 🙂

Hey Bill,

Thanks for the backup. I didn’t even bother responding to the other reader as clearly he would be disappointed no matter what.

Of course companies will give away the highest margin items. And of course they price it in already. You either play the game or you don’t.

If the person then says they won’t eat McDonald’s or whatever, then why are they reading my guide? A 10 point of potatoes costs $3, but I’ll still claim a large fries when I can.

I don’t think you’re being very fair to Barry. He has gone to great lengths to calculate the point/dollar amount for each item, for each reward level. I’d consider that a deep dive for a blog post. Using this you can find your own “nutritional” sweet spot. Fast food rewards programs are the same as most other rewards programs. You need to figure out the best way to “game” the system.

Hey Bob,

Their program is more valuable, but I prefer the taste of McDonald’s food and drinks.