Brij: There has been a lot of inflation on various fronts over the last year or so. Cattle feed has skyrocketed (according to a farmer friend in my neck of the woods), fuel has gone up drastically, etc, etc. This has pushed up the cost of producing a kg of beef substantially. Selling prices for prime beef or pork on the supermarket shelves have gone from £5.50/kg to around £7/kg in the last year.
Businesses when faced with such cost increases (and presumably Sweden is subject to the same market forces as the rest of the world) have four options: 1. Absorb the cost increases - only possible if you already have a healthy profit margin. Not possible if your margins are already at the minimum. 2. Reduce the quality while keeping the quantity and the selling price the same. 3. Increase the selling price while keeping the quantity and quality the same. 4. Decrease the quantity while keeping the selling price and quality the same. Now assuming McD's is facing the same cost increases as everybody else, and assuming it cannot, or doesn't want to, exercise option 1 (and this of course we don't know), or option 2 (its customers probably do not expect a reduction in quality), it has the choice between options 3 and 4. Recent articles on the BBC and elsewhere suggest consumers are far more upset at option 3 than with option 4. As option 4 causes less consumer unhappiness than option 3, then McD's could chnage their 113 g QP to a Big 100 (or whatever name they want), and make a 12% saving in the quantity of beef used while keeping the selling price (and quality) the same. And get rid of a name that likely means nothing to its customers (except primarily its American ones). And that is my point - is the name QP more important (outside of the US) than good business economics? John F-L ----- Original Message ----- From: Brij Bhushan Vij To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2011 11:52 PM Subject: [USMA:50653] 100g/125g RE: Re: Sweden John sir: >.....100 g for the price of 113 g. I have NOT been in business; BUT promotional sense would demand the right PRICE for the right product. Crowd at McDonald shall resent, I feel. Why deprive them or give the people a sense that they are being cheated? Instead, make the product weighing 100 g/125 g and charge for 100 g/125 g. This way both promotion value and liking the product/teaching aspect shall go in harmony rather than cause dissent! Brij Bhushan Vij Wednesday, 20110615H18:86(decimal)EST Aa Nau Bhadra Kritvo Yantu Vishwatah -Rg Veda The Astronomical Poem (revised number of days in any month) "30 days has July,September, April, June, November and December all the rest have 31 except February which has 29 except on years divisible evenly by 4; except when YEAR divisible by 128 and 3200 - as long as you remember that "October (meaning 8) is the 10th month; and December (meaning 10) is the 12th BUT has 30 days & ONE OUTSIDE of calendar-format" Jan:31; Feb:29; Mar:31; Apr:30; May:31; Jun:30 Jul:30; Aug:31; Sep:30; Oct:31; Nov:30; Dec:30 (365th day of Year is World Day) ******As per Kali V-GRhymeCalendaar***** "Koi bhi cheshtha vayarth nahin hoti, purshaarth karne mein hai" My Profile - http://www.brijvij.com/bbv_2col-vipBrief.pdf Author had NO interaction with The World Calendar Association except via Media & Organisations to who I contributed for A Possible World Calendar, since 1971. HOME PAGE: http://www.brijvij.com/ Contact via E-mail: [email protected] > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: [USMA:50652] Re: Sweden > Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:37:24 +0100 > > I suggested in a post some time ago that McDonalds is missing a trick here. > On another subject here just recently we talked about downsizing product > package sizes while keeping the price the same. McD's could easily rename > their QP as Big 100 ( as a companion to Big Mac?). 100 g for the price of > 113 g. Or is the promotion of American 'culture' even more important than a > bit of good business sense? > > John F-L > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "James Frysinger" <[email protected]> > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> > Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2011 7:53 PM > Subject: [USMA:50651] Sweden > > > > I'm in Sweden this week -- specifically, in Kista, which is a district of > > Stockholm. The purpose of this trip is to represent the U.S. National > > Committee (of ANSI) at IEC/TC 1 and TC 25 working group meetings. But > > that's another story. > > > > McDonald's apparently has Sweden surrounded! I went into one tonight, not > > to eat but to see what the menu looked like. You know that classic > > sandwich of theirs, the patty of which cooks down to about 100 g in mass? > > Yep, they misname it here, too. It's called "QP med ost" on the posted > > menu. But they don't hide the significance of the QP very well. On their > > website > > http://www.mcdonalds.se/se/maten/menyer/big_mac_meny.html > > they say [skim the Swedish till you see something you recognize]: > > QP > > När du är sugen på något speciellt så vet du att det är Quarter Pounder du > > är ute efter. Du äter den förslagsvis tillsammans med våra världsberömda > > pommes frites och valfri dryck. > > Men glöm inte att du också alltid kan välja bland våra andra tillbehör > > till din meny! > > > > Maybe they just aren't allowed to post non-SI units on menu displays. > > > > A couple of days ago I got a cheeseburger from Max, a local competing > > hamburger joint. The cup I was given for my beverage had a line about 2 cm > > below the rim and that was labeled "0,4 L". A line about halfway down > > probably represented 0.2 L. But almost all the cafe and bar signs for > > beverages here are in centiliters (cl). > > > > I did a little shopping at Clas Ohlson and, yes, I did purchase some > > measuring spoons and a non-electronic meat thermometer -- marked entirely > > in metric, of course! > > > > Jim > > > > -- > > James R. Frysinger > > 632 Stony Point Mountain Road > > Doyle, TN 38559-3030 > > > > (C) 931.212.0267 > > (H) 931.657.3107 > > (F) 931.657.3108 > > >
