No problem, as salaries also trippled in that time
Tap for spoiler
/s
Maybe not tripled, but making 7.25-10/hour was pretty common in 2008. The standard today is 15-20/hour at fast food.
I’m aware this doesn’t justify tripling the price. Even 3x wages would not triple the cost of the burger.
Wow, so I did tha math. The official inflation rate factors up to just over 1.5 (50% increase) over the past 16 years. But this meme suggests a factor of 3.58!!! (258% increase)
The official inflation rate doesn’t include food or energy. It’s ridiculous.
The most funny thing was the “I can’t eat an iPad” reply, when someone from the Fed tried to explain these mental gymnastics
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704893604576199113452719274
For those who don’t have a plugin to bypass WSJ paywall
It does include food and energy, but they also separately report a “core” inflation that excludes those items because food and energy tend to go up and down.
Looking at beef in particular, a pound of ground beef has gone up from $2.10/lb in 2008 to $6.20 in 2025.
Chicken breast, on the other hand, has gone from $3.50/lb to about $4.10.
Beef has been getting more expensive faster than inflation basically my whole life, while stuff like chicken, milk, and eggs have been volatile, jumping up and down at times, and stuff like rice and flour have long periods of stability with the occasional big permanent jump.
It’s prepared food, so the price also depends on wage increase and changes to tip structure in that state. Several states began fair wage for servers after 2008, so the gratuity may now be included in the price of the meal.
I would like to say, California instituted a $20 fast food minimum wage which was estimated to cause an 8% increase in overall wages (they already trend high there) but a 1.5% increase in menu prices. To my mind this tracks as wages are kind of small (too small) against ingredients, building lease, etc.
Granted, increasing the wages of everybody in the agricultural supply chain would probably have a bigger effect, but overall I think businesses tend to mcfucking lie about the impact of wage increases on consumer prices.
I’m more getting at tipped worker vs fair wages for servers. The minimum wage in the US is $7.25/hr, but tipped worker minimum wage is $2.13/hr. States that have shifted to fair wages now must pay their workers standard minimum wage. Most eateries in those states have increased their prices 15-20%, and inform customers that the gratuity is now included in the meal price. It’s no different on your wallet, but could account for some of the increase in price point depending on the location of the establishment.
AI burger meat is my favorite.
In Pulp Fiction (1994) John Travolta’s character freaks out over the “5$ milkshake”.
In 2025 a chocolate shake is 5.49 at the sonic near me. I thought that was expensive but compared to this thread apparently inflation on milkshakes hasn’t been to bad. Though I’m pretty sure you can get a $10 shake if you start asking them to add every kind of diabetes candy into it.
There’s a fast food chain where I live called Nifty Fifty’s ('50s themed of course). They have “dessert milkshakes” for $9.85 - basically shakes with a whole extra dessert blended in - and if you get it malted you’re at $10.50. TBF they’re really fucking good milkshakes, but $10 is ridiculous.
One of my parents said that steaks were 35 cents when they were kids.
I am not looking forward to my Walmart cheese & breadstick snacks costing $70 bucks for a set of five.
