Reddit Seems Baffled By The Inconsistent Prices Of Dunkin' Munchkins
Next time you want some Dunkin' Munchkins, you might want to make sure to have a couple extra dollars on hand. As one person posted in the Dunkin' Subreddit, the popular donut chain's app charged them $3.99 for just three of the bite-sized treats. "When did donut holes get so expensive?" they asked.
More than a dollar per piece seems like a ridiculously high price, so others began to check the app to verify. For some in Chicago, for example , the price was $0.99 for three Munchkins, more along the lines of what people noted it is supposed to be. For others in Chicago, however, the app stated that $3.99 was correct. One Redditor noted yet more oddities with Dunkin's pricing: "Bro I just checked on the app for an On-Tap store in Rockford, you're legit. A 10-count is also 3.99 though." Others in New York said a three-count order was still $0.99 while someone in another undisclosed area said their store noted $2.49.
So, what gives? The Reddit community had two possible explanations. The original poster said they asked their location about this situation and followed up, "So basically Dunkin's response was franchisees can set their own prices." Price setting is indeed part of what franchisees do, but the majority of people also assumed that the app was suffering a glitch. After all, $3.99 would easily get you three whole donuts.
Given previous problems, Dunkin's app could be the issue
It's probably a good bet that the high prices seen on Reddit are due to some kind of glitch in the app, and not inflation. In fact, the Dunkin' app has had a long history of not working properly. Reviews in Apple's app store, for example, have shown issues that have been going on for a while. "Come on," one person complained on June 6, 2018, "help me ditch my Starbucks addiction and acquire a DD addiction. I'm willing ... just waiting on an app that works more than 50% of the time." Another said, "The reason I took a star off is because not all of the specialty items show up on the app," another explained on July 11, 2021.
In late 2020, yet another issue popped up on the Dunkin' Subreddit in which a person was charged five times for one order. "We get issues with the app all the time," they said one Dunkin' worker explained to them, adding, "usually if I see an order come in multiple times I assume this is the issue and have customers get in touch with any customer services they might be able to get ahold of and cancel extras ... happens quite often with all iOs updates [and] android stuff."
So this could very well explain the Munchkin' snafu, or it could in fact be franchisee pricing — in which case, you could always visit another location.