Poll of the Day > Wendy's testing an Uber like "surge pricing" digital menu

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/27/food/wendys-test-surge-pricing/index.html

LMFAO

unless every fast food chain does this, this just means losing customers at peak hours lol

which is a strategy in itself but not one money hungry businesses are likely to choose

This infinite growth model corporations are slurping is so unsustainable. I can't wait til they all fucking collapse.

This could just mean that they lower prices during slower hours, as a way to create more traffic, resulting in more sales.

lowering prices during off hours sounds good, but even if they only implement that on the surface, they'll just raise base prices to compensate

i can't in any situation see this being consumer-friendly in the long run

The worst part is that this isn't linked to supply. They just want to charge more for the lunch rush.

it feels like they're selling us AI tech. shit sounds good but the actual application of it is gonna turn out bad

Digital boards on the drive-thru? So once you're in the driveway you're already stuffed by the time you get to see the prices.

I don't eat fast food, but if I did, this would be the quickest way for a store to lose my business.

That's so dumb. So your going to look at the menu, see huge prices, close and never look again because how are you supposed to know the price is just randomly higher?
And the prices will be based on demand, so if you want to eat lunch or supper with everyone else, you pay more? Umm, I will just order from somewhere else in that case.

Maybe Wendy's had too many customers and they just want to get rid of some? That's the only way this plan makes sense.

SinisterSlay posted...

That's so dumb. So your going to look at the menu, see huge prices, close and never look again because how are you supposed to know the price is just randomly higher?
And the prices will be based on demand, so if you want to eat lunch or supper with everyone else, you pay more? Umm, I will just order from somewhere else in that case.

that's why i think they'll sell all price fluctuations as a discount from the "regular" price (which will match what the highest fluctuation price would be). people fucking love getting deals, even if they're fake

this is just shitty marketing...

just offer "discounts" during down times (e.g., happy hour deals, late night deals)

TomNook posted...

This could just mean that they lower prices during slower hours, as a way to create more traffic, resulting in more sales.

Y-yeah, s-surely that's what they mean...

agesboy posted...

unless every fast food chain does this, this just means losing customers at peak hours lol

Probably what will end up happening lol. The big chains will probably all coordinate

what happens if you're literally looking AT the menu ordering it at one price and the price flips while you're ordering??? which price do you get then?? like this is so stupid

Maybe like a 5 minute time window to order your food for them to honor the price

OhhhJa posted...

Maybe like a 5 minute time window to order your food for them to honor the price

"locked in pricing" when your wheels are registered at the intercom

They might encourage ordering on the app before pickup so they can collect even more data on you

Lol

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f1683100.png

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/6f32cdd5.jpg

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/49d2ccbb.jpg

The automated voice thing seems like it might suck

Also, did they not have digital boards before? Even McDonalds have those

SNL did a sketch on just this subject a few months ago, with a couple at a restaurant getting shafted because the restaurant was using "dynamic pricing". In the end the couple tried to leave but the restaurant charged them for making the reservation and leaving (peak price of course); so they were basically forced to stay and pay for their higher than normal priced meal. Seems to me like a good way to keep everyone other than the rich from visiting any restaurant.

It COULD reduce food waste by lowering prices during non-peak hours and encourage people to buy up the extra food before it goes bad. Similar to how some grocery stores reduce the price of meat that is going to expire in a couple of days.

But we all know that is not how this is going to go.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/c2a94698.jpg

LinkPizza posted...

The automated voice thing seems like it might suck

Also, did they not have digital boards before? Even McDonalds have those

The Panera near me did the AI for ordering thing when they don't have enough staff. It actually works suprisingly well as long as you don't treat it like an actual human and more like a robot with voice recognition.

Dikitain posted...

The Panera near me did the AI for ordering thing when they don't have enough staff. It actually works suprisingly well as long as you don't treat it like an actual human and more like a robot with voice recognition.

I have trouble with them due to my accent Like, its not really something most people would hear. But I have had some words sound weird or whatever due to it, I guess That and, depending on the restaurant, it can be hard to get what I want if I want something a little different than normal

agesboy posted...

that's why i think they'll sell all price fluctuations as a discount from the "regular" price (which will match what the highest fluctuation price would be). people fucking love getting deals, even if they're fake

Indeed. When WoW was in its early beta stages, they had a system where you could only get a certain amount of experience at a time before you'd suffer a 50% debuff to exp gains, a debuff that would go away after being offline for a while. Players hated it. In response to that feedback, they instead called the 50% debuffed exp rate the standard and offered a 2x "rested" bonus that you could accumulate by being offline for a while. Players loved it, despite it being functionally identical to the original system and just being framed as a bonus for not playing instead of a penalty for playing too much. As far as I know, the Rested system is still in the game today, almost 20 years later.

It's really quite easy to manipulate people into thinking they're getting something good without actually giving them something good.

dave thomas is rolling in his grave.

Nade_Duck posted...

dave thomas is rolling in his grave.

Seriously

This is end-stage techno capitalism. Everyone who isn't already deeply entrenched in exploiting their workforce/customers is just shit out of luck.

https://imgur.com/4EnWl3B

They've backtracked.

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/wendys-will-not-implement-surge-pricing-ceo-comment-causes-online-stir-2024-02-28/

TomNook posted...

This could just mean that they lower prices during slower hours

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8fda0e73.jpg

Joke's on them, corpos made me so poor that I only eat potatoes. My place of work took $5 off my paycheck and reset my seniority because of a changed union contract.

They have since walked the claim back.
Surprising exactly nobody.

LMAO no one believes they were going to lower prices during non peak times. These business management idiots really think we are ignorant.

God these CEOs are huffing their own farts

Jen0125 posted...

LMAO no one believes they were going to lower prices during non peak times. These business management idiots really think we are ignorant.

I mean, I'm sure they would lower prices during slow times... if measured relative to peak prices and not to what we're paying now.