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New in Capitalism: Uber-like Surge Pricing for Food

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Wendy’s Wants to Start Uber-like Surge Pricing in 2025​

Wendy's will use new digital menu boards to change your burger's price based on overall demand.​

By Maxwell Zeff

Wendy’s will start experimenting with surge pricing, much like Uber and Lyft, as the company rolls out digital menus to all its United States restaurants by 2025, according to the company’s February earnings call. Under the test, burgers, Frosties, and other menu items will have “dynamic prices,” costing more during times of increased demand.

“Beginning as early as 2025, we will begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing,” said Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner on Feb. 15’s earnings call. “We are planning to invest approximately $20 million to roll out digital menu boards to all US company-operated restaurants by the end of 2025.”

Part of the benefit of these digital menu boards is you can change prices as much as you’d like. Consumers are familiar with surge pricing through rideshare services like Uber and Lyft, where prices fluctuate significantly depending on demand. Dynamic pricing is a relatively new concept in the fast-food world, with little precedent. The fluid prices change given supply, demand, competitor pricing, and other external factors that can be algorithmically calculated.

A Wendy’s Baconator costs $12.24 in New York City, but under dynamic pricing, that price could fluctuate throughout the day. The burger could increase in price around lunchtime or go down during a slow afternoon. Wendy’s did not provide details as to how severely prices could fluctuate.

Tanner expects dynamic pricing will result in immediate sales growth, but it’s a risky approach. A majority of consumers (52%) say dynamic pricing is equivalent to price gouging, and 65% say it makes the decision of where to eat more difficult, according to a Capterra survey.

This is hardly the first time Wendy’s has tried to stuff tech into your biggie bag. The company had plans to unveil an AI chatbot powered drive-thru back in May. However, it later came out that the secret technology behind some of these experiences was really just humans. The company also announced a fleet of tunnel-dwelling, self-driving robots to help deliver your order in 2023.

Wendy’s is hoping that we’re all used to surge pricing from ridesharing services, and won’t mind when it hits the dinner plate. The company notes that this will just be a test to start, made possible by their digital menus.

gizmodo.com

Wendy’s Wants to Start Uber-like Surge Pricing in 2025

Wendy's will use new digital menu boards to change your burger's price based on overall demand.
gizmodo.com gizmodo.com
 
Costanza said:
Wendy’s Baconator costs $12.24
Click to expand...
tenor.gif
 
Amajorfucup said:
The level of pervasive greed in astounding. People will revolt at some point.
Click to expand...
Yes indeed.
I wonder if this will push up more sale at mexican and mom n pops joints!! Cause what's the use in me paying more for convenience when I could just stop by mom n pops and grab something from them! Hell if Wendy's coming up with this shit many other will as well they just won't talk about it!!
 
Wendy's hasn't been that go to spot in some years. Last time I went there the Dave Triple was $3.45 it's damn near $10 :smh: Might have to look into shorting that stock.:idea:
 
Said it in the other thread, but as long as I know the pricing in the app I don't care. I won't be fucking with them whenever they do crack prices.
 
Glad I don't eat fast food any more. :smh:



No, Wendy's says it isn't planning to introduce surge pricing​

UPDATED FEBRUARY 28, 202412:31 PM ET


gettyimages-1414065777_custom-aba3a6a30a91f6c6084f8a573a9368c87588a77c-s1100-c50.jpg


A sign is posted in front of a Wendy's restaurant on Aug. 10, 2022, in Petaluma, Calif. The company said Tuesday that it's planning to experiment with dynamic pricing.

You may have seen news stories this week suggesting that Wendy's was planning to implement a practice known as surge pricing, which is when companies increase the price of products and services in real-time as demand goes up.
In other words, if you found yourself standing in line at a Wendy's during the busy lunchtime rush, you might be sold a more costly Frosty.

The hubbub came in response to comments made by Kirk Tanner, the fast food chain's president and CEO, during a Feb. 15 earnings call.
"Beginning as early as 2025, we will begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing and day-part offerings," he said.
Inflation has cooled a lot. So why do things still feel so expensive?

ECONOMY​

Inflation has cooled a lot. So why do things still feel so expensive?​

Tanner was talking about the company's $20 million investment in new digital menu boards, and said the technology would empower Wendy's to experiment with a few novel strategies, including so-called dynamic pricing.
But after news outlets ran stories warning that Wendy's was planning to hike prices during the busier times of day, company executives tried to better explain what Tanner meant.

"To clarify, Wendy's will not implement surge pricing, which is the practice of raising prices when demand is highest," Wendy's Vice President Heidi Schauer said in an email to NPR. "We didn't use that phrase, nor do we plan to implement that practice."
Wendy's didn't provide many additional details, but it said in a separate statement that the digital menus could allow the company to offer discounts to customers during slower times of day.
Online pricing algorithms are gaming the system, and could mean you pay more

TECHNOLOGY​

Online pricing algorithms are gaming the system, and could mean you pay more​

Rob Shumsky, a professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, suggested it could actually mean lower prices for Wendy's patrons.

"They talked about, for example, getting more breakfast customers in," Shumsky said. "They might actually reduce breakfast prices at certain times in order to encourage people to come during what they currently have as relatively low-demand periods."
Wendy's said it wouldn't begin to introduce dynamic pricing until 2025 at the earliest.

Wendy's might not adopt surge pricing, but other industries are​

Dynamic pricing — or surge pricing — isn't a new idea.
Airlines began varying ticket prices in the 1980s, Shumsky said, noting that customers grumbled about it at first but eventually came to accept it.

Today, the practice of announcing price hikes during peak times is still commonplace. Think higher-priced theme park tickets on weekends.
CosMc's lands in Illinois, as McDonald's tests its new coffee-centered concept

FOOD​

CosMc's lands in Illinois, as McDonald's tests its new coffee-centered concept​

More recently, though, technological advancements have made it easier for companies to make minute-to-minute price changes in real-time based on fluctuating demand.

The ride hailing app Uber famously uses surge pricing, hiking prices on rides when weather or other factors cause demand to skyrocket.
But Shumsky says these kinds of unpredictable price changes can confuse and annoy customers, who expect to pay a certain price for a good or service. It can erode the trust customers have with a company and drive them to competitors.

"The problem with that approach is that it's very opaque to customers and very hard for them to plan," Shumsky said. "If you can't depend on a price being at a certain level, you're going to hesitate to go back."
High-End London Restaurant Launches Uber-Style Pricing Model

THE SALT​

High-End London Restaurant Launches Uber-Style Pricing Model​

Nonetheless, businesses in various sectors of the economy from hotels to movie theaters and more have been implementing surge pricing in recent years.

"If [the] price is the same throughout the entire day, they are actually losing revenue during those peak period times," Shumsky said.
Still, he added that surge pricing has some benefits for consumers. It can result in lower prices during non-peak periods, and industries that rely on the relationship between a company and its customers — such as health care — likely won't embrace surge pricing.
 
djpolo said:
Glad I don't eat fast food any more. :smh:



No, Wendy's says it isn't planning to introduce surge pricing​

UPDATED FEBRUARY 28, 202412:31 PM ET


gettyimages-1414065777_custom-aba3a6a30a91f6c6084f8a573a9368c87588a77c-s1100-c50.jpg


A sign is posted in front of a Wendy's restaurant on Aug. 10, 2022, in Petaluma, Calif. The company said Tuesday that it's planning to experiment with dynamic pricing.

You may have seen news stories this week suggesting that Wendy's was planning to implement a practice known as surge pricing, which is when companies increase the price of products and services in real-time as demand goes up.
In other words, if you found yourself standing in line at a Wendy's during the busy lunchtime rush, you might be sold a more costly Frosty.

The hubbub came in response to comments made by Kirk Tanner, the fast food chain's president and CEO, during a Feb. 15 earnings call.
"Beginning as early as 2025, we will begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing and day-part offerings," he said.
Inflation has cooled a lot. So why do things still feel so expensive?

ECONOMY​

Inflation has cooled a lot. So why do things still feel so expensive?​

Tanner was talking about the company's $20 million investment in new digital menu boards, and said the technology would empower Wendy's to experiment with a few novel strategies, including so-called dynamic pricing.
But after news outlets ran stories warning that Wendy's was planning to hike prices during the busier times of day, company executives tried to better explain what Tanner meant.

"To clarify, Wendy's will not implement surge pricing, which is the practice of raising prices when demand is highest," Wendy's Vice President Heidi Schauer said in an email to NPR. "We didn't use that phrase, nor do we plan to implement that practice."
Wendy's didn't provide many additional details, but it said in a separate statement that the digital menus could allow the company to offer discounts to customers during slower times of day.
Online pricing algorithms are gaming the system, and could mean you pay more

TECHNOLOGY​

Online pricing algorithms are gaming the system, and could mean you pay more​

Rob Shumsky, a professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, suggested it could actually mean lower prices for Wendy's patrons.

"They talked about, for example, getting more breakfast customers in," Shumsky said. "They might actually reduce breakfast prices at certain times in order to encourage people to come during what they currently have as relatively low-demand periods."
Wendy's said it wouldn't begin to introduce dynamic pricing until 2025 at the earliest.

Wendy's might not adopt surge pricing, but other industries are​

Dynamic pricing — or surge pricing — isn't a new idea.
Airlines began varying ticket prices in the 1980s, Shumsky said, noting that customers grumbled about it at first but eventually came to accept it.

Today, the practice of announcing price hikes during peak times is still commonplace. Think higher-priced theme park tickets on weekends.
CosMc's lands in Illinois, as McDonald's tests its new coffee-centered concept's lands in Illinois, as McDonald's tests its new coffee-centered concept

FOOD​

CosMc's lands in Illinois, as McDonald's tests its new coffee-centered concept​

More recently, though, technological advancements have made it easier for companies to make minute-to-minute price changes in real-time based on fluctuating demand.

The ride hailing app Uber famously uses surge pricing, hiking prices on rides when weather or other factors cause demand to skyrocket.
But Shumsky says these kinds of unpredictable price changes can confuse and annoy customers, who expect to pay a certain price for a good or service. It can erode the trust customers have with a company and drive them to competitors.

"The problem with that approach is that it's very opaque to customers and very hard for them to plan," Shumsky said. "If you can't depend on a price being at a certain level, you're going to hesitate to go back."
High-End London Restaurant Launches Uber-Style Pricing Model

THE SALT​

High-End London Restaurant Launches Uber-Style Pricing Model​

Nonetheless, businesses in various sectors of the economy from hotels to movie theaters and more have been implementing surge pricing in recent years.

"If [the] price is the same throughout the entire day, they are actually losing revenue during those peak period times," Shumsky said.
Still, he added that surge pricing has some benefits for consumers. It can result in lower prices during non-peak periods, and industries that rely on the relationship between a company and its customers — such as health care — likely won't embrace surge pricing.
Click to expand...

If this takes, it will always be surge pricing because everybody would order at the low points spiking sales, I would think.
 
Boycott them for a month and watch this bullshit....
tenor.gif


...but greedy, unhealthy eating Americans gone think its the thing to do, and still buy it :smh:

jmo
 
blackbull1970 said:
Wendy’s Is Offering $1 Cheeseburgers All Month for March Madness After Announcing 'Dynamic Pricing'

Customers can get a $1 Dave's Single or $2 Dave's Double through April 10

By Sabrina Weiss
March 4, 2024

people.com

Wendy’s Is Offering $1 Cheeseburgers All Month for March Madness After Announcing 'Dynamic Pricing'

Wendy's customers can get a $1 Dave's Single or $2 Dave's Double through April 10
people.com people.com

wendys-daves-single-020524-tout2-c946f809a45947a2a4722d58638ce80d.jpg

Wendy's is giving out $1 Dave's Singles for March Madness.​
Click to expand...
It's on some wack arse app....though. Why can't they have normal savings rather than through a phone....?
 

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