For years, the McDonald’s McFlurry reigned as a go-to, reliable sweet treat. With classic mix-ins like OREOs, M&M’s, caramel, whipped cream and hot fudge—plus a rotating lineup of limited-time, seasonal flavors—it carved out a spot on many fans’ lists of favorite fast food desserts.
Lately, though, the McFlurry seems to be in the middle of a long, drawn-out fall from grace. Between perpetually broken soft serve machines and the controversial shift away from the traditional cup and iconic thick plastic spoon, today’s McFlurry comes with its own fair share of customer complaints.
And now, to add insult to injury, fans everywhere are reporting that when they open their McDonald’s order, their McFlurries aren’t even being mixed.
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“Isn’t the McFlurry supposed to be mixed??” one customer captioned a Reddit post, showing off a lackluster excuse for what should’ve been McFlurry greatness.
“They don’t do it because then they’d have to clean more stuff,” one fan speculated.
“They used to mix them with the spoon,” another chimed in, referring to the thick plastic utensil the McFlurry machine once used to blend the treat. “Did they get rid of that?”
To which another replied, “The spoon no longer exists. They just give you a normal black plastic spoon.”
Considering McDonald’s locations across the country operate under a mix of franchise and corporate management, it makes sense that some spots might be plagued by faulty machines while others run just fine. But changing the very things that make the McFlurry what it is? That feels like a great way to shoot yourself in the foot. And as for the Chinese-food-esque takeout container that replaced the traditional cup, fans say it only makes a bad situation worse.
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In a separate Reddit post about the matter, one user wrote, “I just got an Oreo McFlurry and it was just vanilla soft serve with Oreo crumbles on top. I know they switched their cups and are no longer using the mixing spoons, but did they really stop mixing them all together?”
“As a current GM it’s improper training or broken equipment,” one user replied. “We all should have a mixer that works and employees that are trained to use it.”
Between speculation that employees simply “don’t want to clean the machine” or that McFlurries are just causing “too much mess,” it’s a bit disheartening to see such a fan-favorite treat careen towards what feels like an inevitable demise. And if faulty machines are the main reason, why not improve the very system responsible for keeping so many fans coming back?
“Such a sign of our times that they got rid of all the things that made the McFlurry the McFlurry,” one dissatisfied fan wrote, “the first time I got the Chinese takeout container was the last time I got a McFlurry.”
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