McDonald’s confirms subtle change after customers fume over annoying problem

A subtle but game-changing change as been made at McDonald's stores across Australia

Courtney Greatrex
·News Editor
Updated ·2-min read
A McDonald's restaurant (left) with two drinks (right).
McDonald's has made a subtle change to their straws to make customers lives easier. Source: AAP

There’s nothing worse than enjoying a nice cold drink from Maccas when, halfway through, the paper straw you’re drinking out of disintegrates.

It’s a problem many have faced since Australian businesses started phasing out plastic straws. And while removing plastic straws is a major environmental win, drinking out of a soggy straw remains one of the downsides.

"The straws go soggy and break, please look to improve this problem," one customer put it bluntly to the fast-food giant.

Remarkably, McDonald’s confirmed a subtle change to its restaurants across Australia, revealing that after hearing complaints from customers, they have improved the thickness of their paper straws by 30% in a bid to improve the customer experience.

The straws at McDonald's will now be 30% thicker.
The straws at McDonald's will now be 30% thicker. Source: McDonald's

In a statement to Yahoo, a McDonald’s spokesperson said that the stronger version of the straw was introduced in response to customer feedback while continuing to adhere to government legislation.

“We worked closely with our suppliers to make the straws 30% thicker, giving our customers an even better experience when sipping our drinks.

“The straws are still made from fibre-based materials, aligning with government legislation and McDonald’s commitment to sourcing 100% of guest packaging from renewable, recycled or reclaimed materials by 2025.

“We would like to thank our customers for their feedback and can’t wait to hear what they think of the new straws.”

McDonald's was one of the first restaurant groups in Australia to phased out single-use plastic straws and cutlery nationally in 2020, removing more than 500 million plastic straws and 115 million pieces of plastic cutlery from annual circulation.

In the past, customers had no choice but to attempt to get around the soggy straws with a hack replacing plastic lids designed for hot beverages.

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