Dear McDonald’s Head Office,
I understand your Bradford franchise has been having some issues with its water, so much so town council voted to give 50 percent off the October 2019 through February 2020 water bills. Apparently the local franchise was paying nearly ten times as much as they'd typically pay, from $2,500 every billing cycle to nearly $20,000 in February.
Quite simply, this sucks – in more ways than one.
Because this means at a time when town council’s revenues are stretched due to COVID-19 and the town is trying its best to support local small businesses, one of the world’s largest corporations got tens of thousands of dollars written off by our town.
It was suggested your local franchisee didn’t catch the issue sooner because you have bills sent to you directly, i.e. McDonald’s corporate head office in Chicago.
I’m going to echo what Councillor Gary Baynes said: someone “should have noticed and been more proactive as well.” The councillor is right. Here’s a tip: if you insist on sending bills to head office, at least let a duplicate be sent to the local franchise management, too. I mean, come on, McDonald’s – help your local franchisee out here.
The simple fact of the matter, as the town report states, “Staff have reviewed all components of the metering and billing system and did not find any issues. The water meters are designed in a manner such that if they fail, they will register a reduced volume or 'no flow' - which did not occur in this case.”
The town staff suggested, “The increase in consumption is consistent with a garden hose running 24/7….As staff have been unable to find fault in the town's water system, we are unable to justify an adjustment to the billing."
The only precedent, such as it is, was also articulated as “a request from a residential property owner for a billing reduction in 2016. In that case, council decided to reduce the bill by 33 percent.”
I suppose there is some question as to why a resident only received 33 percent off but a major corporation’s franchise received 50 percent off – but, at the same time, it’s hard not to sympathize with what the town council did here. The billings were, as stated, “anomalous”. Clearly, some reduction was justifiable, even if not palatable.
The town did commit to “investigating opportunities within its water monitoring system to establish automated notices flagging abnormal consumption among commercial users. Such a system exists for our residential clients”, which is a good takeaway from this experience.
The deputy mayor said your franchisee is a “good corporate business in our community”, and that your franchisee’s support of local initiatives should be a factor considered. I get that. And we do see your franchisee’s efforts to support the town. So, to me, this isn’t about the local owner.
It’s about the larger international megacorporation.
Because, geez, McDonald’s, you have to know how this looks. A minimum-wage employer, one of the world’s largest companies, that sells junk food – with its knock-on effects in public health and on the climate – just went to a small town asking for a discount.
That’s hard to stomach – which is a concept McDonald’s should be familiar with.
Sincerely yours, etc.
Jonathan Scott
