DoorDash really wants to sell its customers a Big Mac for one cent. The only problem is that with taxes, tip, and DoorDash’s own $2.99 delivery fee, the Big Mac’s cost a lot more than one cent. The result is that what should have been a fun promotion has ticked off the very people it was trying to lure in.
It all started when DoorDash announced that it was taking McDonald’s delivery (or McDelivery, if you must) nationwide to all 9,300 Golden Arches outposts across the country. To kick off the McParty on September 30, the company decided to give away one million Big Mac sandwiches for just a penny each (plus fees) to the first million people plugging in the 1MBIGMAC code into their order. It’s the plus-fees part that customers seem to have overlooked—and some unhappy customers have been tweeting their frustrations.
When a company promotes a one-penny burger and then charges fees that are pretty comparable to the price you would pay if you just walked into the restaurant and bought the darn thing yourself, customers tend not to be all that impressed.
That’s too bad for DoorDash, as the delivery app could use some good publicity. Not only was the company in the hot seat for the miserly practice of using customers’ tips to pay the salaries of its delivery drivers—and for paying a paltry salary to begin with—but the Big Mac delivery frustration comes days after the news of a data breach that affected approximately 4.9 million consumers, DoorDash delivery workers, and merchants was announced.
While customers should always read the fine print, DoorDash probably could have tried harder to make the fees clearer—or just sucked up them up for the duration of the promotion. In the meantime, if you’re determined to take advantage of this offer, leave a healthy tip—don’t take your frustrations out on the drivers.
We reached out to DoorDash for comment and will update if we hear back.
Doordash offering 1 penny Big Mac but the total coming out to 5.98 is the most doordash thing in the world.
— Oliver Woodruff (@owoodruff3) September 30, 2019
So the 1 cent #BigMac is really $8+ #fail @McDonalds @DoorDash pic.twitter.com/v3vF0jHPnH
— foodhussy (@foodhussy) September 30, 2019
DoorDash 1 cent Big Mac promo comes out to $7.78 NICE
— Michael (@foladar) October 1, 2019
Doordash: Big Mac for only a penny
Me: (the receipt saying my bill is $8.06) pic.twitter.com/zM9xvh48lL
— Steven Stack (@StevenStack6) September 30, 2019