Raise prices at peak times? ✅💰
Lower prices ever? ❌📈Properly done dynamic pricing rewards customers with cheap prices for going at off-peak times, and the opposite on-peak. However this other form of “surge pricing” is really just price gouging under another label
It’s not like Wendy’s exists on an island, there are replacement products, and usually extremely close by. It will start to become a function of the value of people’s time, stand in a short line to pay exorbitant costs at Wendy’s or stand in a long line to pay cheaper at Burgerking or whatever. (Honestly I don’t know why these places are frequented at all when you can usually find a pub burger that’s way higher quality for the same price or cheaper)
Because in that scenario you need to think about where to eat, and you need to wait a few minutes for the burger. People go to fast food places because they immediately recognize the logos and know they can eat there without having to think about it, and they’ll happily pay more money for a worse product if they can get it right now without having to leave their car. And they’ll happily pay this higher price for the same reason. And they’ll view the normal price as being the “cheaper” price and probably go more often during the off-peak hours to “save money” as well. It’s a win-win-win for Wendy’s.
America has been emphasizing convenience over all else for decades for this exact reason. It’s cheaper and more lucrative for a company to provide a quick, easy product than a better quality one, so they just shoved advertisements into our faces until we were collectively convinced that that’s what we want, too.
There’s also the large long-distance traveler market which they have sewn up. You could bring two days’ worth of meals with you or you could stop at the Wendy’s at the next interstate exit and not have to bother with that.
Enshittification goes offline
The other totally bizarre part of this is:
Tanner stated, “Beginning as early as 2025, we will begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing and daypart offerings along with AI-enabled menu changes and suggestive selling.”
I realize AI is just a corporate buzzword now, but I would love to hear him try to explain what the fuck that means.
It’s going to bilndly pile all the best selling ingredients together and suggest some monstrosity lol
You know, I’d fuck with it. It would be kind of incredible to watch a cook improv insane suggestions from an AI, if they’re on-board and compensated, etc, etc.
It’s pretty obvious that he intends to leverage AI to synergize their backwards overflow. How was that not clear? /s
It’s all cromulent now.
Dave Thomas is rolling over in his square shaped grave.
Wendy’s is not in a position to do this, they will try it but the locations will die. McDonald’s could pull it off but they know better.
This won’t end well.
Perhaps this will end well with people realizing there are better options and force them to reconsider
It’s really too bad I don’t go there.
because now they will never know that I’m boycotting them.
Pretty dystopian to not even be able to believe a sign board anymore.
Fuck capitalism.
Even now when you try to study the menu screens at McDonalds they change while you’re trying to read them.
thats insane! I’d walk out. I so rarely eat that crap I’d never notice from the drive-through.
Well, I’m never going to Wendy’s at lunchtime again
