Sneaky Burger King Coupons Change Size But Not The Price
By Paul Rudoff on Nov. 4, 2020 at 11:41 PM in Public Service Articles
Like most fast food restaurants, Burger King offers coupons in various publications every few months. I tend to get them free with the weekly manufacturer's coupons and store circulars. Well, for the past year now, I've noticed something very sneaky that Burger King has been doing, and I think that it's about time I made everyone aware of it. Read on to find out more about it...
As I said, what I'm about to tell you is something that has been going on since before the pandemic. So, while I'm sure that the pandemic has resulted in changes to Burger King's marketing and pricing, this isn't one of them.
I tend to get Burger King coupons fairly often (WAY more than McDonald's), and the exclusive offers are enticing because they usually give a sandwich, fries, and drink for $5 or less. Sure, it's not a whole heaping helping of food, but that's for the best given the nutritional value of said food. They also have $1.99 "side" garden salads, which helps increase the nutrition, somewhat. In my town, the Burger King is centrally-located to my usual haunts, so that helps make it my choice for a quick bite between errands. Interestingly, I use to hate the taste of Burger King food. The burgers always tasted "burnt" to me. Now, I don't have much of a problem with them.
For the longest time, each of the coupons that included fries and/or a drink, would include the "Small" size. From smallest to largest, Burger King sizes go Value, Small, Medium, and Large. In the offer below for the Impossible Whopper Meal, notice that in the coupon on the left you get the burger, SMALL fries, and SMALL drink for $6.00. That's a great deal. The coupon on the right appears nearly identical, but if you look carefully, you'll notice that the drink and fries are now a VALUE size, but the price has remained at $6.00. You're getting less food for the same price.
Most people won't notice that the two coupon photos show the fries in different containers because that's a detail that's hard to pick out in a small physical coupon. To the average person, the LARGE "$6" price and "WHOPPER" name, and seeing a burger, fries, and drink in the photo, is all that they'll notice. I'm telling you that as a fact, because even I was fooled by this...once. I was completely shocked when I was given my food, and the drink was teeny tiny. I looked at the receipt and saw that it said "value" size. Thinking that a mistake was made, I checked the other coupons in my pocket, and that's when I noticed that they ALL now said "value" and not "small".
Since then, I carefully check every Burger King coupon that arrives in my mail, whether it's the large full-size sheet tucked in with the store circulars, or the quarter-page set printed among the manufacturer's coupons. In doing so, I've noticed that Burger King will go back and forth beween the "value" and "small" varieties. There seems to be no rhyme or reason between which kind they will print for any given month.
I wish I would have taken a photo of two whole sheets of these "value" and "small" coupons, which have an identical layout of coupons and prices, but only vary in the size and have those nearly-identical photos. That way I could show that this happens with ALL of the coupons, not just the Impossible Whopper Meal.
The latest batch of coupons seems to indicate an end to this deceptive practice. The bad news is that the reason it's ending is because now the "small" bundles have higher prices than the "value" bundles, so they're not deceptively the "same" in appearance anymore. Let's just hope that Burger King doesn't start offering the "value" deals at the new higher prices, causing this whole thing to continue.
While I don't like paying more money - even though it's only $0.50 - I'm happy that I can instantly see a difference between the coupons and know what I'm going to get without having to play a "spot the difference" game.
Addendum: It seems that Burger King is going back and forth on pricing. Below are two coupons for the "Whopper Meal For Two" which both expire in January 2021. You'll notice that both are for the "Small" bundle, though the prices are completely different.
So, we'll just have to wait and see what Burger King does with their coupons in 2021 to know what the deal will be with the prices and sizes being offered.
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