Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 12.31.24 BEST OF: Become A Price Negotiator / Warning: Dietary Supplements & Protein Powders About this episode Happy Holidays! Please enjoy this Best Of episode. Clark returns January 3rd. Only 1 in 4 people realize you can negotiate on items you think come at a fixed price. You can negotiate everything from the price of a new car to your cable bill to large appliances. Also, social media is full of pitches selling supplements and powders with claims they can improve your health and change your life. Not so fast. What you need to know about dietary supplements. Price Negotiation: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 Warning: Dietary Supplements: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: A Guide To Negotiating For Cars, TV Bills, Home Renos And More Is It Worth Buying High-End Appliances? Here's How Long Your Home Appliances Should Last The best time and place to buy appliances Submit a complaint | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Dietary supplements and protein powders fall under a ‘wild west’ of unregulated products that necessitate caveats and caution — The Conversation How To Avoid Fraud With Herbal Supplements ConsumerLab.com / NSF International / U. S. Pharmacopeia Consumer Federation of America Life Insurance Rate of Return Service How To Find and Claim Missing Money in Your Name Clark.com resources Episode transcripts Community. Clark.com Clark.com daily money newsletter Consumer Action Center Free Helpline: 636-492-5275 Learn more about your ad choices: megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change, your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5. Only at McDonald's for a limited time.
0:12 Speaker 01 Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.
0:15 Speaker 02 They're running a cover two defense. But you're running to get game day deals on Uber Eats. Keep everyone at tonight's watch party fed with deals from your go to restaurants. Or stock up with deals on your favorite snacks and groceries. Whatever the occasion, get game day deals on Uber Eats all season long. It's not football without food. Uber Eats, order now. Terms apply. Product availability varies by region. See app for details.
0:45 Speaker 03 Hope you're having a great holiday week. I am off on adventures, so this is a best of edition of the Clark Howard podcast. I hope you enjoy it and that you have an enjoyable holiday week.
1:05 Speaker 03 It's great to have you here on the Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life. I hope that you're getting our free, incredible daily newsletters and your email every Monday through Friday. If you're not, what are you waiting for? We work hard to send you relevant, timely and useful stuff that you can act on to make a difference in your own life. And so you can see what's there.
1:47 Speaker 03 They're free, clark.com/newsletters. And we're not like some sleazy company that makes it really easy for you to sign up for something and makes it impossible for you to quit. If you hate our newsletters, just as easy to get rid of them as it was to subscribe to them. Isn't that the way it should be when you sign up for something? In today's show, I'm going to begin with something that you may not think about because survey says only one in four people realize that you can negotiate price on something you think is a fixed price.
2:28 Speaker 03 Also, does it seem like everyone on social media right now? I mean, everywhere you look, they're pitching a supplement or a powder that's supposed to make your life so much better. What do you need to know? I'm going to share the cautions you need to be aware of. So, we know when we are going to buy a car, that you negotiate the price, right? It's part of the thing, unless you buy fixed price like from Tesla. It's all negotiable. We know that when you have internet service at your home, that the price is not the price,
3:13 Speaker 03 that it's always subject to bargaining. But what if we're doing a kitchen remodel? The appliances for it, we think the price is the price. At least 75% of the time, according to survey data, people just say, "Oh, so that's what the new oven costs," or "That's what the built-in microwave is," or "That's what the refrigerator is." And people just pay. It's Consumer Reports information about how seldom people comparison shop. But you absolutely can negotiate. It's crazy that you can, but people don't.
3:53 Speaker 03 And when they do, do you know that 2/3 of people who try got a better deal? Yeah. That's what Kiplinger says, that if you do try to negotiate, most of the time, they may not be happy with you, but the appliance seller is going to offer you a better deal. It's funny that we think about this in so many other parts of our lives, and then we're doing something that's really expensive. Just know you can. And while I'm on this topic of appliances, there's something that's a beef of mine I want to share with you. There's this thing where people get excited doing a reno of their kitchen,
4:38 Speaker 03 where they think, oh, wow, we're putting in these beautiful countertops and we're putting in these beautiful cabinets and we're doing all this wonderful lighting in here and all that. So that means we've got to buy the fanciest brand name appliances that exist on planet earth. No. And you know, real estate agents will tell you, you know, whoa, you put in a fancy kitchen like that, you can't put in run-of-the-mill appliances because the buyer is going to just turn their noses up at that. Man, let me tell you, the reliability
5:19 Speaker 03 of those high-end appliances is terrible, terrible. On the other hand, the mid-market appliances that have large units of production are likely to be much, much, much more reliable. I was talking with a relative who called me for advice because they had done a kitchen reno and put in this really fancy series of appliances and they love to cook and entertain, you know, preparing a feast for people who come over. So their fancy oven that they
6:01 Speaker 03 bought, that was this premium thingy, has broken seven times. And they were talking to me about what they do with the manufacturer because the manufacturer was like, yeah, not our problem. And I walked them through the process. But the thing is, the mid-market, high-volume, that don't have as many gizmos and gadgets involved with them, are going to be much more reliable. And the appliance stores, they just say, well, look at this, this one does, I mean, it's like they're showing you a circus act, this one does this and that and the other, and you should get this one because it does all these different things. Forget it. Simpler is better and more reliable.
6:46 Speaker 03 What do you want? You want the oven to cook? You want the stove top to cook? You want the refrigerator to cool? The freezer part to freeze? The microwave to do my kind of cooking? And Kristin, I shared the story recently about the microwave nightmare we had.
7:06 Speaker 04 I don't think you did.
7:07 Speaker 03 Oh, man, this is funny. So we bought this place that had all these fancy appliances. And one of them is this crazy expensive microwave. And the microwave has an electrical fire. And thank goodness, it didn't burn down our place. So then it took seven months to be replaced. Fortunately, it was still under warranty. But the thing is crazy expensive. So we need a microwave. So I go to Walmart and I got a $59 microwave. There was a countertop. That $59 microwave was so good and so much better than this built in
7:49 Speaker 03 crazy expensive microwave from some brand in Europe. And then they tell us the replacement microwave is now available. And I'm like, no.
8:00 Speaker 04 What'd you do with the other one?
8:02 Speaker 03 I have it in our storage room because.
8:05 Speaker 04 Case it breaks again?
8:06 Speaker 03 Yeah, and I keep hoping day by day that terrible microwave will break. And I can go back to this $59 Walmart microwave that actually works.
8:18 Speaker 04 All right, well, Larry wrote in, Larry in Michigan with a question about an appliance as well. Hi, Clark, the upper and lower racks from my seven year old stainless steel dishwasher are rusting and starting to break. Should I spend the $350 to replace them or just replace the entire dishwasher? It is otherwise in good shape.
8:36 Speaker 03 Wow, $350 to replace the racks? Doesn't that seem crazy expensive?
8:43 Speaker 04 It seems like a lot. I mean, dishwashers aren't much more than that, right?
8:47 Speaker 03 I wonder, well, you can buy dishwashers as cheap as $350. But the marketplace is more like 600 for a typical dishwasher, five, 600 bucks.
8:58 Speaker 03 Okay, so first, if you're not a Costco member, even if there's not one near you, you join it to buy appliances. Buying appliances from Costco is so fantastic because they install them without all the tenant junk fees. They bring all the accessories they need. You're good. And you get generally a long-term coverage on it if you buy it from them. See what a new dishwasher of something you'd be happy with would cost from Costco. Otherwise, there are lots of used appliance stores. You may be able to find a used version of your stainless steel dishwasher
9:41 Speaker 03 that you could even buy the whole thing and say, "All I want out of it, all I want out of this thing are the racks." You can keep it and sell it to somebody else. I just want to buy the upper and lower racks from it. And you may be able to get them far cheaper than the $350.
10:02 Speaker 04 Steve in Illinois says, "I recently went to a concert and bought two hot dogs from a street vendor. The charge was $20.80." Well, the cost was that much. "My credit card showed a charge of $180.80. I disputed my bill with Visa and they initially took $80 off of my bill. Weeks later, I got a call from a customer service rep asking me if I had a receipt. I said, 'No,' I tapped to pay." Their response, "While an $80 tip on a $20.80 purchase is outrageous, unless you have a receipt, it is your word against the vendor's and the vendor wins."
10:36 Speaker 03 That's completely wrong. That's not how it plays.
10:39 Speaker 04 "I either entered the tip amount wrong or did not complete the transaction and the vendor did it for me. I must have been distracted when I paid. I'm so sick of tap-to-pay tipping, and this was an expensive lesson. Always complete your transactions and have your receipt emailed or texted to you. The customer service rep was empathetic, which was nice. He did suggest that I go back to the vendor to get a receipt, which of course is impossible. An expensive lesson to pass on to your followers."
11:03 Speaker 03 Okay, first of all, yes, Steve, this is not the lesson I want you to take from this. All right, number one. Street vendor with the charge, it will have a phone number normally to contact that vendor. The person who was selling you the hot dogs was probably just a paid employee or contractor of whoever owned that concession at the concert. So you want to talk with that individual that owns it, or it could be a company that owns it. Obviously, you did not spend a hundred dollars on two hot dogs.
11:41 Speaker 04 I spent ten dollars and forty cents per hot dog.
11:44 Speaker 03 Well, I didn't even want to get into that because I don't want to make light of this because it's ugly. So, nobody's leaving an eighty dollar tip against already paying a crazy amount of money for the hot dogs. And what the credit card, what the bank is not Visa, it's the bank that was the issuer, that's ridiculous what you were told. That's a total lack of common sense. You redispute it with your bank and you want it elevated with the bank. You also should at the same time file a complaint against your bank with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov. This is a complete lack of common sense.
12:29 Speaker 03 I mean, the nice person at the bank said, "Yeah, I know you didn't leave an eighty dollar tip, but burdens on you." No, that's not how this plays. This isn't how this works. And that's why you redispute and file the complaint at consumerfinance.gov. But I'd also like you to show that you've gone the extra mile and tried to reach the vendor. This is silly and crazy and ridiculous. And when you go to a restaurant and they say, "Would you like a receipt?" You know, as you pay on the tablet, you know, more and more they're using the tablets at sit-down restaurants. Always say yes. You always want the receipt.
13:12 Speaker 03 Ninety-nine point nine percent of servers are honest.
13:17 Speaker 03 But that one in a thousand, maybe, who's not? The fact that you didn't ask for a receipt, they can do the same kind of thing as happened to you at the hot dog stand and put down whatever tip and maybe, maybe not get away with it. So that's why you want the receipt. You want to look at it, make sure it's right.
13:37 Speaker 04 Okay, Daniel in New York says, I've been confused about Zelle for some time. I believe you're against it because there's no protection if my money goes away. But if I'm careful and only send it to close family or friends, is there still a risk? How is Zelle more risky than Venmo, Square, PayPal, et cetera? If those are linked to my account and if I mistakenly send money to the wrong person, my money may be gone as well. And that would be my mistake. Wouldn't the scammer also be able to empty my account out with these other apps once I made contact with them?
14:05 Speaker 03 That is a great question, Daniel. So here's the difference with Zelle. Zelle is embedded, it's like a Trojan horse. It's embedded inside your bank account. So the banks were terrified of the non-bank entities. They were terrified of Venmo, Square, Cash App, PayPal. And so they rushed out without really thinking through the vulnerabilities that exist, having Zelle embedded in your account. That's why there's so much, what's known as pretexting. The scamsters trying to con you that there's a problem with your account. They need to verify things. Did you make this purchase, whatever?
14:49 Speaker 03 Because they're trying to gain access to your account to then move all the money out of your account, untraceable and unreclaimable through Zelle. The, the fact that it's embedded in the account is what makes Zelle so much riskier, more risky. So the banks, under great pressure from media and from the Congress, now offer, for those that are assertive, some level of mealy mouthed kind of reimbursement to you in the event that you are conned by a pretexter.
15:31 Speaker 03 But I'm finding in real life, most people are not assertive enough.
15:37 Speaker 03 To be able to use these new administrative procedures to get money restored through Zelle. That's why I call it big bad Zelle. It has the enhanced danger of being embedded in your account that makes it more risky than you're going to have with the third-party payment apps that put strict limits generally on what can be moved out. Where Zelle is pretty easy for the money, every dollar in your account, plus if you have overdraft, to put you into a credit line as well when you have Zelle active.
16:16 Speaker 03 And until and unless there are true, clear, unequivocal protections with Zelle, it remains big bad Zelle and is too dangerous for you to have and for you to use, even for family and friends, because that's not where the danger exists in your case. It's this problem of it being embedded in your banking relationship in the account itself. Coming up ahead, you take supplements? I take supplements. How do you know if they're A-OK? How do you avoid risk? We're going to talk about that straight ahead.
16:56 Speaker 00 Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change. Your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5, only at McDonald's for a limited time.
17:10 Speaker 01 Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.
17:12 Speaker 02 They're running a cover two defense. But you're running to get game day deals on Uber Eats. Keep everyone at tonight's watch party fed with deals from your go-to restaurants. Or stock up with deals on your favorite snacks and groceries. Whatever the occasion, get game day deals on Uber Eats all season long. It's not football without food. Uber Eats. Order now. Terms apply. Product availability varies by region. See app for details.
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18:43 Speaker 03 So I take dietary supplements. I take melatonin occasionally to fall asleep. Don't know if it's psychological or actually works. It seems to be of help to me many times when I take it. And I take vitamins and I take a thing called generic version of something called CoQ10 that my primary care doctor recommended I take because of some other prescription medicines I take. It's very, very common. In fact, overwhelmingly, Americans take herbal remedies and dietary supplements.
19:24 Speaker 03 Now, there was a decision that the Congress made 30 years ago to make these completely unregulated free market. So what happens? There's a lot of characters in the dietary supplements, herbal remedies market that are not on the up and up. And they will put stuff in them that's not on the label. They'll put things on the label that aren't actually in them. They will be in different dosages than what they say. I think about when you go to a smoothie place now.
20:02 Speaker 03 One of the big profit centers for them is selling add-on powders that are added in to your smoothie. And who's knowing what's in those? What brand they are? Have they been properly tested? The answer most of the time is, who knows? And no. So I want you to be really thoughtful about this. And when you're out and about thinking you're doing something good for yourself by adding some kind of powder, the stats show you're not. Because so often, when they are tested, they've got dangerous levels of this, that, or the other in them.
20:44 Speaker 03 Something that I've been reading about is that it really is a problem for teens and pre-teens to take these powders that are put into smoothies at the various smoothie chains. That you should not do that. And again, they think they're doing something good when they're doing something that could be harmful. And for those of us as adults, taking dietary supplements and herbal remedies, doctors are not as judgmental about those anymore. They're not as judgy. So a lot of times, people wouldn't tell a doctor when you were in a visit with a primary
21:25 Speaker 03 care doctor or a specialist, because they'd be embarrassed, because they feel like they're going to get an eye roll. Tell them. Tell them what you're taking, because they may prescribe a regular prescription that could interact with it. I've got a guide at Clark.com on what certifications you want to be on the container when you go to buy a herbal remedy dietary supplement. There's USP, and there's others as well, where they've actually, the manufacturers of those items have actually voluntarily submitted to independent testing to make sure that the items are what they say they are.
22:08 Speaker 03 The melatonin I take, I used to take these melatonin gummy kind of things.
22:14 Speaker 03 But they had no third-party certification on them. So now I take one I don't like that that is kind of like a strawberry thing that dissolves in your mouth.
22:24 Speaker 04 It dissolves under your tongue, yep.
22:25 Speaker 03 But it has been certified, in that case by USP. And so I know you take 62 different.
22:34 Speaker 04 No, I don't take that many a day, for sure.
22:36 Speaker 03 14.
22:37 Speaker 04 But I do take supplements, yes. And I make sure they're all, I actually get most of them through my doctor. Well, they're brands that my doctor sells and I get them cheaper online, but they are certified by the proper places. But you know what I'm sick of?
22:51 Speaker 03 What's that?
22:51 Speaker 04 Oh, my gosh. Every podcast I listen to, every person I follow on Instagram that's like well-known, or a doctor or a chef, everybody's got a powder. But like, these are real MDs or other people that everybody's got a powder or a gummy or something that they're peddling. It is everywhere. Like, I mean.
23:10 Speaker 03 Because the profit margins are off the charts.
23:14 Speaker 04 Yeah.
23:14 Speaker 03 I mean, they are unreal. So you can have people who are either influencers who are just making commissions, cuts of what they promote through social media, podcasts, whatever, or those that are actually acting as the merchant and making these gigantic markups on these things. And so that's why this is an area, even if you really enjoy listening to somebody, you really love following them on social media, be aware with anything somebody's pitching, that they're no longer operating on a basis of arms length.
23:55 Speaker 03 Because this is a big revenue producer and profit generator for them. Doesn't mean it's not okay for you, but it means that you should have a healthy dose of skepticism before you take a dose of the powder or supplement.
24:13 Speaker 04 I mean, I've actually been working on, I want to spend less money on supplements. Like, I take a vitamin B supplement, for example.
24:19 Speaker 03 B isn't Bravo?
24:20 Speaker 04 Right. It has different B vitamins in it. I take a D supplement. But I'm trying to cut down by like looking up what foods I can eat to get more of those vitamins, you know, you can be out in the sunshine 15 minutes a day, I think is what they say, can give you a great amount of vitamin D. So there's things you can do too, to try to spend less money on it if you're worried about that, which I am worried about that.
24:41 Speaker 03 So I spend so much time outside, you know, walking every day and all that, and I still have an extreme vitamin D deficiency.
24:49 Speaker 04 Oh, yeah, and that's important to take care of.
24:51 Speaker 03 I have to take my 4,000 units a day, I think is what I have to take.
24:54 Speaker 04 I take five.
24:55 Speaker 03 5,000?
24:56 Speaker 04 Yeah. Okay, we'll go to questions, because we are not doctors and we're not peddling any supplements. Marcus in New York wrote in and says, thanks for your help over the years. I'm feeling like a personal finance and anti-fraud expert thanks to your help and your team. I have a situation and I am stumped. My energy company has recently launched a community choice aggregation, and he links to the website for that, and I can't make heads or tail of this program. Certainly, I'm feeling the stress of higher energy bills, but I don't know if this program is the best solution, or even what the program is. Hopefully, I'm not the only one confused by all of this, because it gets pretty cold in upstate New York.
25:35 Speaker 03 So.
25:36 Speaker 04 Yes, it does.
25:36 Speaker 03 Yeah, I mean, Krista spent extensive time in upstate New York, and I just, I'm a wimp. I don't handle a deep winter well and cold environment. So you're a much tougher person than I am, Marcus. All right. So this is very common. This is a co-op kind of effort, and these co-op efforts are generally done for propane or natural gas, depending on the state and what the laws and rules permit in a jurisdiction. And so you are using the
26:15 Speaker 03 group buying power of the energy company, the co-op, to be able to buy natural gas at a negotiated fixed price for a period of time based on the volume of customers. So when the marketplace is open, you have the opportunity to do this with group buying power. And I, for years, had a home, for 10 years, had a home in a very rural area.
26:45 Speaker 03 And we ran on propane. And so we joined a propane buying co-op and it saved us a great deal of money. When prices spiked, it ended up being a negative when prices fell because we were locked in at a set price. But most of the time it gave certainty and it is a common thing to use that group buying power, that co-op for you to have that certainty and most of the time, lower prices.
27:17 Speaker 04 So you recommend that Marcus?
27:19 Speaker 03 I think it's, I think it's fine for you to do it, especially because if there is a big spike and you've locked in, you're not going to have to worry about that. This is different than when power companies try to sell you budget billing. All budget billing is, is they charge you the same amount every month and then later they say, oh man, the joke's on you. Here's what you actually owe and here's how much more you're going to have to pay us. This is different. You're locking in a clear set price.
27:53 Speaker 04 Brent in Ohio says, my wife had a universal life policy created for her when she was born. The death benefit is 32K with a cash surrender value of nine and a half K. Last year, we opened a term policy, a 20-year term, $500,000 policy that covers her. We were thinking of cashing out the universal life policy and putting it towards our daughter's 529 account. She's currently seven and her 529 has a value of around 18,000. The other option would be to add it to our retirement savings, which combined value is around 500K.
28:26 Speaker 03 Fantastic.
28:27 Speaker 04 We are both age 40.
28:29 Speaker 03 Wow, Brent, great news about what you've saved for the future. So you obviously know with your 20-year level term, you've got half a million in it, that a policy with the death benefit of 32 grand, that you have to pay, universal life policies have these huge premiums you have to pay and the policy may still hollow out on you, value under 10 grand after all these years. Your wife's 40 years old and it's still only worth 9,000 from birth. So dump it or not, that's unclear. So there's a service I recommend from a nonprofit organization called the Consumer
29:11 Speaker 03 Federation of America, where you can pay a fee, it's about $150, I think, to have an insurance industry expert evaluate the policy and recommend to you whether you should keep it, if your wife should actually keep it, if she should do a conversion of it of some kind, maybe to some form of term insurance, or cash it in, which may have tax implications. And the website that you go to for the Consumer Federation of America insurance evaluation is evaluate lifeinsurance.org. And was I right about 150?
29:54 Speaker 04 Yeah, it's 150 for the first policy and 100 for each addition.
29:58 Speaker 03 Absolutely, a well-spent $150. And there'll be specific documents that Consumer Federation of America will ask you to get from the insurer. You get, your wife gets those documents, sends them off, and you'll have a clear answer that without equivocation will tell you, do exactly this, and you can trust it and follow it.
30:24 Speaker 04 Sean in North Carolina says, I read about finding missing money on your website. My mother-in-law has missing money available on some of the sites you suggested. How do I know this is legitimate and not a scam? Mainly because they require sensitive information like her social security number. I don't want to steer her wrong and compromise her identity. Some of these sites are not .gov sites, and it has me skeptical.
30:46 Speaker 03 The state sites should end .gov. So when you go to missingmoney.com or unclaimed.org, ultimately you end up at a state website, or it could be money that is held by some part of the federal government or something like that. So these should be clear. Transparent government websites of different government agencies at different levels. I want you to file at those, not through a third party. I want you to file at those sites. So then you're giving the information of the social security number and other key
31:26 Speaker 03 personal information, not to any third party, but directly to the unclaimed property office of a state or a federal agency. And that's where I want it done. Also, coming up ahead, I want to tell you, it is time for a Clarky. We have Clarkys from time to time. This is where there's something that's happened in your life, you feel like you want to share with your fellow listener or viewer. You can call 404-981-2071 and leave your Clarky. So what do we have today, Krista?
32:06 Speaker 07 Hi, Clark. This is Bridgette in Pittsburgh. I just wanted to say thank you. My husband and I have just officially paid off $275,000 worth of debt. The majority of that being student loans. I called into your show about three years ago, looking for advice. I followed that advice and took it to heart. And we are officially debt-free, except for mortgage. So, thank you so much for all that you do. We appreciate you.
32:31 Speaker 03 Wow, I appreciate you. That's so fantastic. 275,000?
32:37 Speaker 04 Amazing.
32:38 Speaker 03 That's incredible. I mean, the freedom you now have in your life, it must feel so great. The discipline that was involved, making it happen, being debt-free, except for your mortgage, just a wonderful inspiration for you to share with others who feel overwhelmed by debts that have accumulated in their lives from all different ways, all different purposes. It's all about building that roadmap to figure out how to get it paid off. You've got to set that map in place, follow that route, and get it done, just like you did. And thank you for taking the time to share. I'm really excited for you.
33:22 Speaker 03 And I hope you have a great rest of your day. Tomorrow, Clark Stinks, where people are not excited with me. They're aggravated or annoyed or angry with me about advice I've shared or answers I've given on the podcast. It's a great way we all learn together from Clark Stinks. And we'll bring that to you tomorrow. Remember what we're about: you, learning ways to save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off.
33:59 Speaker 00 Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change. Your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5. Only at McDonald's for a limited time.
34:11 Speaker 01 Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.
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