McDonald's Halloween Pails Are Going Fast but Employees Aren't Loving the Rush for the Limited Buckets The Halloween pails are back after a six-year hiatus.
By Sam Silverman •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
McDonald's Halloween Pails are back — and with fans rushing to get their hands on one, the mad dash is wreaking havoc for employees.
The fast food chain announced they were bringing back its once-signature Halloween gift with a Happy Meal purchase after a six-year hiatus for a limited time beginning October 18 while supplies last until October 31, according to a press release from the brand. The buckets are available in three designs and characters - white McBoo, orange McPunk'n, and green McGoblin.
The pails were first introduced in 1986 and have been used for trick-or-treating on Halloween for decades.
But ever since McDonald's dropped the 2022 Halloween Pails earlier this month, demand has been through the roof, causing some employees to take to social media to complain.
One worker detailed the behind-the-scenes preparation for the drop and the mayhem that followed in a viral TikTok which has since been viewed over 83,000 times.
@ghostyfx yall crazy over a happymeal #mcdonalds original sound - smokinaftereat
Showing clips of the eatery full of customers — and revealing he spent most of his shift organizing the buckets for them just to sell out in two hours — his fellow McDonald's workers sounded off in the comments about their workload and customers' behavior.
"We had 9 boxes, each with 108 [pails] and only had 2 boxes left by the end of the day," one person commented.
Another said, "it's so annoying when people come at the [second window] and is like 'i actually wanted the green bucket" like [girl] you don't get to choose,'" adding, "the bucket. and we will already have it done and we'll have to switch them just because they want a [different] bucket."
"We're always keeping our crew in mind with these promotions, and have prepped them with training and resources they need to manage higher traffic in restaurants," McDonald's explained to Entrepreneur via email. "We're also staying in close touch with our franchisees and restaurants while the Halloween Pails are available. Our restaurant crew members are the best in the business, and we appreciate everything they're doing to serve customers during this limited-time promotion."
