Every Item FREE, Total ¥0: The Drive-Thru Screen That Needed Explaining

What's going on

Someone pulled up to a McDonald's drive-thru in Japan and found the previous customer's order still sitting on the confirmation screen. Every line item was priced FREE, and the total at the bottom read ¥0. Not a discount, not a coupon — zero. The obvious question followed: what's the trick here, and is the person in the car ahead simply very rich?

The answer turned out to be something most Japanese consumers recognise instantly and almost nobody outside Japan does. Listed Japanese companies routinely send their shareholders a benefits package on top of the dividend — vouchers, products, discounts, sometimes rice or hot spring passes. McDonald's Holdings Japan sends out booklets of meal tickets twice a year to anyone holding 100 shares or more. Each ticket covers one burger, one side and one drink at any price point on the menu, which is why the register rings them up as FREE rather than knocking money off.

What follows is the thread doing the maths out loud — roughly ¥800,000 for the entry-level 100 shares — plus a run of people confirming the tickets work at the drive-thru, a tip about where to buy the vouchers without owning the stock at all, and a quieter complaint about the fact that the screen shows your order to the next car in line.

Comments

The previous customer’s order was still up on the screen at the McDonald’s drive-thru for a while. What kind of secret trick is this? Upper class person?

マクドナルドのドライブスルーで前のお客さんの注文画面が暫く表示されてたのですが、どんな裏技があるんだろう？上流階級の人？

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Not upper class here, but my drive-thru screen looks like this too — shareholder perk tickets. About 20 years ago McDonald’s stock was going for just over ¥1,000, so I’ve already made my money back on the perks alone. Might as well go big, so I always order the Big Mac since it’s the pricier option.

上流階級ではありませんが、私も株主優待でドライブスルーこんな感じです。20年前頃はマクドナルドの株は1000円台前半で買えていたので株主優待だけで元は取っています。せっかくなのでハンバーガーは値段が高い倍のビッグマックを注文します。

So people who’ve held on since way back get to feel like they’re really cashing in. Bet that makes the drive-thru more fun too.

ずっと前から保持してる人はすごくお得な気分になれるのですねドルイブスルーも楽しくなっちゃいますね

Just tell them you’re using shareholder tickets when you order and they work at the drive-thru too.

注文時に、株主優待でって伝えたらドライブスルーでも使えます

I use the perk tickets at the drive-thru all the time.

いつもドライブスルーで優待券使ってますよ

They work at the drive-thru as well.

ドライブスルーでも使えます

If you do a mobile order and pick it up at the drive-thru, it shows up as FREE.

モバイルオーダーでドライブスルー受取しているとFREEと表示されます。

I do mobile order with drive-thru pickup every single time and it doesn’t show that for me.

自分、毎回モバイルオーダーでドライブスルー受け取りですけど表示されないですよ

Shareholder perks. You need 100 shares minimum, and the stock was around ¥8,000 a share today, so you’d need about ¥800,000 (roughly $5,000).

株主優待ですね 100株から貰えて今日の株価が1株8000円くらいだったはずなので80万くらいは必要かと

So they ARE upper class after all…😳

やっぱり上流階級じゃないですか…😳

Right now 100 shares runs a bit over ¥800k, perks twice a year, and the dividend is a little over ¥60 a share, so about ¥6,000…

今なら100株80万チョイで年2回優待、一株配当60円ちょいだから6000円みたいですな…

¥800,000…😳

80万…😳

It’s shareholder perks. From 100 shares up, you get tickets that make a burger, a side and a drink free.

株主優待ですね。 100株からで、バーガー、サイド、ドリンクが無料になるチケットがもらえます。

Ah I see… so in a way they really were upper class.

なるほど…ある意味上流階級でもあったわけですね

Ticket shops sell the McDonald’s vouchers! You can get them without buying the stock, and it’s a good deal (ticket shops are small storefronts, usually near stations, that buy and resell gift certificates, transit passes and vouchers at a discount).

チケットショップにマクドの優待売ってますよ！株買わなくても買えますしお得です。

Huh, so there’s another way to get hold of them. If it saves money maybe I should go looking?

なるほど…そういう入手方法もあるんですねお得になるのなら探してみようかしら？

They get cheaper the closer they are to expiring.

期限が近いと安くなる

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I always buy the burger ticket for ¥400 and cash it in on a Samurai Mac Triple (a Japan-only thick-patty line that sits at the top end of the burger menu) or whatever expensive limited-time thing is running.

バーガー券400円をいつも買ってサムライマックトリプルか期間限定の高い奴で消化してます

I kind of wish they’d stop doing this, the next person can see exactly what you bought (´・ω・) There’s got to be a sensor or something, they should clear it the moment the car moves…

これ次の人に何買ったか丸わかりだからやめて欲しいなぁと感じてます(´・ω・) センサーか何かあるだろうし車動いた時点で消してほしい・・・

Yeah, that’s a fair point… I don’t know whether staff clear it manually or it times out on its own, but today’s order screen sat there for a while, so maybe it doesn’t clear automatically.

確かにそれはありますね… 店員さんの操作で消えるのか、一定時間で消えるのかは分かりませんが今日の注文表示画面は暫く残ってたので自動で消えるわけではないかもしれません

My take

Shareholder perks really are a peculiarly Japanese institution. Elsewhere owning a slice of a company gets you a dividend; here it gets you a booklet of free burgers.

#Surprising #Culture #Society

Source & translation note

Comments loosely translated for tone. Reactions collected from Togetter and X threads.

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