3 ms·

> Which is what happens, many restaurants now close earlier, open later, close during the afternoon, or otherwise reduce hours. And the hours that they remain

> Which is what happens, many restaurants now close earlier, open later, close during the afternoon, or otherwise reduce hours. And the hours that they remain open are not being subsidized, so your initial assertion that off peak customers are being subsidized was not true. > Yes, that is called business. Since you so accept acting purely in your own self interest, then surely you feel the same righteousness on behalf of customers responding inline with their own self interest, right? You continue to conflate this announcement of time of day pricing with just about every other influence on pricing, even those working in the opposite direction. Prices already change all the time, the new thing is just the surge pricing. There are many ways to deal with surges, from dynamic staffing to streamlined kitchens to additional locations to what’s presumably the current strategy, all of those plus sometimes making people wait. Wendy’s seems to believe surge pricing might sometimes be the most profitable option, whether that’s true depends entirely on specifics that we don’t have and customer response.

lotsofpulp 3y ago
>And the hours that they remain open are not being subsidized, so your initial assertion that off peak customers are being subsidized was not true. Some off peak customers may be subsidized, for example those who want food at 2AM when volume is low and labor costs are high. Some off peak customers may not be, for example 2PM when the staff still needs to be there and have downtime. >Since you so accept acting purely in your own self interest, then surely you feel the same righteousness on behalf of customers responding inline with their own self interest, right? I cannot parse this statement. Everyone should do what is best for them, and try to avoid getting the short end of the stick. Obviously, the seller is going to try to sell to each individual at the highest price they are willing to pay, and the buyer is going to want to buy at the lowest price the seller is willing to accept. >You continue to conflate this announcement of time of day pricing with just about every other influence on pricing, even those working in the opposite direction. Prices already change all the time, the new thing is just the surge pricing. My point was that spot pricing can allow costs to be allocated more accurately to ensure the most efficient allocation of resources, including money to hire workers. >There are many ways to deal with surges, from dynamic staffing to streamlined kitchens to additional locations to what’s presumably the current strategy, all of those plus sometimes making people wait. I agree. >Wendy’s seems to believe surge pricing might sometimes be the most profitable option, whether that’s true depends entirely on specifics that we don’t have and customer response. Yes, it is certainly a gamble like every business decision. The pricing experiment could turn sufficient people off that it costs them more than it benefits them. The difference these days is that technology allows variable pricing to be implemented in a much more granular and economical way than in previous decades.

lotsofpulp 3y ago

>And the hours that they remain open are not being subsidized, so your initial assertion that off peak customers are being subsidized was not true. Some off peak customers may be subsidized, for example those who want food at 2AM when volume is low and labor costs are high. Some off peak customers may not be, for example 2PM when the staff still needs to be there and have downtime. >Since you so accept acting purely in your own self interest, then surely you feel the same righteousness on behalf of customers responding inline with their own self interest, right? I cannot parse this statement. Everyone should do what is best for them, and try to avoid getting the short end of the stick. Obviously, the seller is going to try to sell to each individual at the highest price they are willing to pay, and the buyer is going to want to buy at the lowest price the seller is willing to accept. >You continue to conflate this announcement of time of day pricing with just about every other influence on pricing, even those working in the opposite direction. Prices already change all the time, the new thing is just the surge pricing. My point was that spot pricing can allow costs to be allocated more accurately to ensure the most efficient allocation of resources, including money to hire workers. >There are many ways to deal with surges, from dynamic staffing to streamlined kitchens to additional locations to what’s presumably the current strategy, all of those plus sometimes making people wait. I agree. >Wendy’s seems to believe surge pricing might sometimes be the most profitable option, whether that’s true depends entirely on specifics that we don’t have and customer response. Yes, it is certainly a gamble like every business decision. The pricing experiment could turn sufficient people off that it costs them more than it benefits them. The difference these days is that technology allows variable pricing to be implemented in a much more granular and economical way than in previous decades.