Is $5.00 for a Footlong Really a Good Deal?

For years, I felt strongly that one should be able to get a meal at a fast food restaurant for less than $5.00. But inflation happens, so I've come to accept that the cost of a fast food meal will sometimes, even often, exceed $5.00. But it should still be less than $6.00.

By my thinking a "meal" at Subway consists either of a footlong sandwich and a drink or of a six-inch sandwich, a bag of chips (or other side), and a drink. Either combination, in my opinion, should cost less than $6.00.

Thus the restaurant's new Five-Dollar Footlong campaign has been eye-opening. I had no idea that Subway's footlongs had gotten so expensive that $5.00 is a good deal. Even at this discount race, a footlong and a drink crosses the $6.00 threshold. I didn't realize that the Veggie Delite™ sandwich that Ashlee and I order now normally costs $5.18. Many of the sandwiches that include meat are normally upwards of $6.00. Those are Quizno's prices.

If only the average worker's wages would increase at the same rate as the price of a footlong (and gas and health insurance and movie tickets etc.).