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McDonald’s: Proceeds of Happy Meals Donated?

McDonald’s has been advertising that it will donate money to Ronald McDonald House Charities for every Happy Meal sold at participating restaurants.

At HappyMeals.com, they do the same:

In a press release announcing the promotion, the company said:

Today McDonald’s® announced a new in-restaurant fundraising program and online campaign benefiting Ronald McDonald House Charities® (RMHC®) and local children. Beginning this summer participating McDonald’s restaurants in the U.S. will donate proceeds from all daily Happy Meal® and Mighty Kids Meal® sales to RMHC — McDonald’s “Charity of Choice” — benefiting more than 11,000 sick and critically ill children and their families every day.

The keyword here is “proceeds” — that they are going to donate the proceeds from the sale of these meals to charity.

According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, “proceeds” means:

*MOUSE PRINT:

1 : the total amount brought in [the proceeds of a sale]
2 : the net amount received  [as for a check or from an insurance settlement] after deduction of any discount or charges

Therefore, you might expect the company to be making a very generous contribution per meal, whether proceeds is defined as either the gross or net amount of sales. Whoa, as they say.

So how much is McDonald’s really giving for each Happy Meal sold? According to the fine print in their TV commercial, and a disclosure further down their press release:

*MOUSE PRINT:

The “proceeds” from a $2 or $3 Happy Meal is only a penny? I’m not lovin’ it (nor buying it).

Thanks to Mark G. for this submission.

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Scott Toilet Paper: Here We Shrink Again

In the continuing retail race to shrink the size of a sheet of toilet paper to that of a postage stamp, Scott 1000 sheet rolls have been downsized again.

Exactly four years ago, we reported on Scott shortening each sheet on the roll from 4 inches to 3.7 inches.

Now, they are making each sheet narrower too.

*MOUSE PRINT:

It went from a full 4.5 inches wide to just 4.1 inches wide. A four pack now has almost 42 square feet less paper — a reduction of nine percent.

When the company was asked why they narrowed each sheet, a customer service representative replied:

This makes Scott “comparable with other brands on the market shelf” … and that there was “a slight improvement to make it thicker.”

How much thicker are the sheets now? Probably not too much as the new package weighs a full five ounces less than the old one.

Scott has a long history of downsizing its 1000 sheet rolls: 

Original: 4.5 inches by 4.5 inches

Pre-2006: 4.5 inches by 4.0 inches

9/2006: 4.5 inches by 3.7 inches

9/2010: 4.1 inches by 3.7 inches

The cumulative effect on consumers of all this downsizing is significant. Today’s roll is a full 25% smaller than the original.  Maybe they need to rename the product Scott 750.

As with all products that are downsized inconspicuously, it is a sneaky way to pass on a price increase because the customer is paying the same price, but getting less.

Thanks to eagle-eyed Mouse Print* reader Karen S. for this submission.

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Capital One’s 10% Savings Bonus Catch

Capital One Bank has just begun a major national advertising campaign on TV with comic Jerry Stiller and in full page newspaper ads touting its high interest savings rate compared to “bupkus” [nothing] paid by competitors.

In addition to paying 1.35% interest, you also get a 10% quarterly bonus on the amount of interest earned in the previous quarter.

capone

If you click the above ad, you will see unreadable mouse print under the bank’s name. Even looking at the original ad, the text is almost unreadable because of its size, faint color and weight of the font, and the fact that it is printed on a striped background doesn’t help either.

What does the fine print say?

*MOUSE PRINT:

Besides requiring a $1000 minimum balance to get the advertised interest rate, it also imposes some unexpected conditions in order to receive the advertised bonus interest:

“To receive the bonus, your account must be open and you either must maintain an average balance of $10,000 each month in your account or own an active Capital One credit card in good standing with at least one transaction per calendar month.”

This is a pretty significant requirement to bury — that you need $10,000+ to earn the bonus interest. And it is not like they didn’t have enough space in this full page ad to disclose it upfront clearly.

So, how much will MrConsumer deposit at Capital One because of this deception? Bupkis.

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