McDonalds mystery on why Aussie highway signs changed
If you ever did any kind of road trip as a kid this is a highway sign both you – and by default – you parents – would be very familiar with.
A billboard revealing there was just minutes between you and a McHappy meal was sure to jolt you out of boredom – and then annoy your mum or dad with endless requests to stop there.
But one Aussie woman says she has now uncovered an epic “conspiracy” about the iconic Macca’s signs – leaving social media divided in the process.
In a TikTok video that’s been viewed more than 70,000 times radio host Carly Portch said how she had worked at a McDonald’s near Port Macquarie in north NSW when she was younger.
RELATED: Macca’s employee shares massive secret
“I can distinctly remember driving up to the highway with signs around like this, six minutes ahead, and I feel like these were all over highways up and down Australia,” she said.
Ms Portch said she knew “for a fact” these signs existed everywhere because they were so memorable for children to spot.
But driving recently she noticed a “distinct lack of signage that tells you the minutes to the McDonald’s”.
“Now this started a little bit of a witch hunt for me,” Ms Portch said.
“So I was on a road trip and I noticed all the signs are now saying things like this, like ‘1.7 kilometres to’ … which poses the question: Did someone complain about these signs not being accurate to the minute?
“Because I swear they never were accurate.”
Ms Portch’s video sparked hundreds of comments from people, many of whom were split on whether the minute-countdown signs were a thing of the past.
“NSW signs are all kilometre, Queensland still have minutes,” one person commented.
“Brisbane still has the smaller billboards on lamp posts that’s like two minutes away but highways say distance,” another wrote.
RELATED: $20 Aldi receipt infuriates shoppers
Others said they could “100 per cent” remember the minute signs, offering up plenty of theories as to why they were rare now.
“I remember one claiming one minute, but you would have needed to do about 180km/h (in a 60 zone) to achieve that,” one person wrote.
“I also worked at Macca’s for a while and remember hearing our owner talk about people complaining … about the distance/time weren’t what the sign displayed,” one commenter claimed.
“It was because it was easier for drivers to keep track of km than it was on the time so they wouldn’t miss the exit,” another commented.
News.com.au has contacted McDonald’s for comment.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7HWrGWcp51jrrZ7y6Kdnqukrrmme8Wopp1nlZbBcLvLnWSmmZOYrrR5x6Keoa%2BRrnqjtculmaiZopnAbrLUnqOsZZOku7S8yKuYnLFdnrtuwsirmKVlpJ64tbvKaKWer6NiwLW70bJma29ilrJ5r5OaaGqeY2eEcq%2FEa3BvnWJsf3OFwJ5scp4%3D