Wendy's announces Uber-like surge pricing model…

[Ingomike]

And you know damn good and well those kids arent getting paid more during the surge.

But they might be twiddling their thumbs at 3:30 pm?

 

[Cameramonkey]

It was just a thought man. Sheesh. My bad.

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Sorry. That was rather brutal.

Maybe we are looking at the wrong supply/demand component. What if the scarcity is labor? if you eat lunch at 12:30 pm you pay more than at 3:30 pm? Just trying to think through why they might do this.

Stop trying to make LOGICAL sense of it.

The only thing that makes any sense to me is that I think they are hoping others like CP notice other TOTALLY unrelated industries do it and accept it without actually thinking it through. This happens a LOT in society.

Like I mentioned the tipping fast food counter-only workers. They saw the full service workers getting tips FOR GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND SELF SERVICE and failed to understand WHY those folks got the tips for FULL service; the tips are for bringing the food, refilling your drink, etc. Nobody at McDonalds ever came around to ask if I wanted them to take my cup to the fountain and refill it for me, bring me ketchup, etc. Why should I tip them then?

 

[ChristianPatriot]

The only thing that makes any sense to me is that I think they are hoping others like CP notice other TOTALLY unrelated industries do it and accept it without actually thinking it through. This happens a LOT in society.

No need to insult me. I’m not stupid enough to pay their ridiculous inflated prices.

 

[Cameramonkey]

No need to insult me. I’m not stupid enough to pay their ridiculous inflated prices.

My apologies. I didn’t mean to insult.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Maybe we are looking at the wrong supply/demand component. What if the scarcity is labor? if you eat lunch at 12:30 pm you pay more than at 3:30 pm? Just trying to think through why they might do this.

If that were the case, there would be no need for 'surge pricing' and 'AI enabled menu changes.' They would just do what various sit down restaurants have done for years, a lunch menu and a dinner menu. Since beef isn't subject to blue laws, they could do hamburger happy hours and advertise lower prices between 3p and 5p to attempt to drive more foot traffic.

This is one of two things, IMO:

1) A headline grab for free publicity with no expectation of implementing it

2) Somebody with an MBA thought "AI is sooo hot right now, how can Wendy's get in on that?" and nobody from marketing was there to strangle zem.

 

[miguel]

Go to Rallys

 

[Brandon]

Go to Rallys

Where are they located now?

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

I agree with the comment(s) about Wendy’s going down hill since Dave left the scene. The one in Mitchell…I’m not sure why that district manager hasn’t been fired yet.

 

[foszoe]

They want you to lock in price using app before you get there

 

[Peacekeeper3073]

Fast food is getting crazy. Bought lunch for myself and an employee at McDonalds last week. . $27.00. And I did not even get a drink.

And its a crap shoot if they get the order right if you use the drive through.

 

[femurphy77]

Maybe we are looking at the wrong supply/demand component. What if the scarcity is labor? if you eat lunch at 12:30 pm you pay more than at 3:30 pm? Just trying to think through why they might do this.

Hell, they've got us taking our own orders for them; how long will it be before we're building our own burgers? I'd be more interested to see how long before they install burger building robots.

 

[femurphy77]

And its a crap shoot if they get the order right if you use the drive through.

Insert Joe Pesci vid here.

 

[radar8756]

... I'd be more interested to see how long before they install burger building robots.

they did that last year

Mcdonald's Robot Texas

 

[Ziggidy]

Possibly reflects minimum wages? High traffic times requires more staffing, increase costs. I bet if the minimum wages hit $50like the crazy california lady wants, you may even see $100 Big Macs!

 

[Ark]

Spoiler: They've been playing on the fly price games since the electronic menu.

 

[firecadet613]

Hell, they've got us taking our own orders for them; how long will it be before we're building our own burgers? I'd be more interested to see how long before they install burger building robots.

The tech is out there, it's just to expensive to be put in mass use.

 

[bgcatty]

This stuff is really, really getting ridiculous. The idiots that run these companies must really stay up at night thinking of new and ingenious ways of screwing up their business operations.
Amazing!

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

I'm sure somebody got paid for a comprehensive study on the mathematical probabilities of people, with limited time for lunch, getting to the restaurant, waiting in line, hearing the price of the meal that they thought they wanted, looking at their watch, and deciding the price is too high, and actually leaving.

 

[COOPADUP]

The answer to this "nothing burger" news is don't eat that crap anymore.

 

[snapping turtle]

So the local steak and shake closed
.
The McDonald's shake machine is constantly out of service.

And now I don't know if Wendy frosty will be 2.50 or 5 dollars.

Sounds like the blender will get a workout this summer. Maybe I develop a frozen version of the White Russian in shake format and then I can't drive anyway to get food.

My fast food budget is near zero anyway but I do like a good frozen shake in the summer.