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Wendy's Wants to Start Uber-Like Surge Pricing in 2025
- lupire 3y agoWendy's refutes the claim of "surge" pricing, which mediais bandying about without defining. https://apnews.com/article/wendys-burger-pricing-ef75fa9214beddbd0d9d459f37722638 https://apnews.com/article/wendys-burger-pricing-ef75fa9214b...
- mlinhares 3y agoDo people really eat at these places because they find the food "special" or is it just the price?
- jacknews 3y agoI don't know about special, but it's not just the price, especially in emerging markets, where these places are often priced more toward the luxury or at least mid-range. There's possibly a niche opening up for actually-cheap convenience food, but I don't know how good a business that would be.
- mlinhares 3y agoThis is specific to US stores.
- jacknews 3y agoSure, I'm just saying in other markets these places are already at mid-tier prices, and the US market looks like it's heading that way too.
- dragonwriter 3y agoOther eating-out prices are also going up; its not just fast-food.
- basil-rash 3y agoIt’s not exactly special, and it’s not exactly cheap, but it’s almost always fast and food, which oftentimes is all I’m looking for.
- mlinhares 3y agoIt is insanely cheap, getting that much calories in less than 10 USD would be a dream in any developed or poor nation. Might not be the best calories but will keep you (under) fed for a long time.
- renewiltord 3y agoDeveloped, yes, but developing countries are very different https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amma_Unavagam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amma_Unavagam
- gremlinsinc 3y agoIt used to be cheap.. but feeding myself, my wife, and 2 boys under 7 cost $34 last time, that was for 1 meal for my wife, a double - sandwich only for me, and 2 happy meals, and jr frosties... Lately I've been simply eating jimmy dean breakfast sandwiches pretty much every meal, they're tasty, and 1 sandwich per meal fills me up, so I get like 4 days worth of meals for $10. (I had gastric sleeve surgery, so I fill up kinda easier than I used to). Not sure how healthy, but convenience -- it's 60 seconds in the microwave. I'm currently going through a separation so I'm definitely not having the energy to cook anything, plus I'm moving into a motel temporarily until I can get a lease, which only has fridge/microwave.
- dumbo-octopus 3y agoNot really, I've gotten full plates of delicious chicken and rice in Colombian slums for ~2 USD.
- dragonwriter 3y ago> It is insanely cheap, getting that much calories in less than 10 USD would be a dream in any developed or poor nation. Maybe in cost relative to local median income ($10 is about 1/11 of a one day share of US median personal income), but definitely not 10 actual USD or the equivalent in straight currency conversion. Proof: people actually live and do physically-demanding jobs with in much of the developing world, with wages which your statement would make impossible because every single person doing it would be dead of starvation within a few months.
- dragonwriter 3y agoThey eat because the food hits a particular combination of cheap, being ready quickly on demand (hence "fast food") with minimal interaction, and acceptable quality. Its not optimized on any one of those axes.
- bluedevil2k 3y agoFast food prices have already gotten exhorbitent and they think people would be willing to pay more? McDonald’s just released a statement that they’ve pushed prices up too far and as a result are seeing declining revenues. And another wild card…as more people start using Ozempic, fewer people will eat these health destructive meals.
- catchnear4321 3y agothe threat isn’t so much “more” as “mystery.” you can plan for four fries instead of five if the cost goes from a buck to a buck and a quarter. but what if you don’t know how much it will cost? it doesn’t matter if you can afford a baconator right now. it matters if you can afford it in line, and you may not know until you get there. as if that’s not enough manipulation, maybe you can get a deal if you change your schedule for the local franchise. in fact, you better plug in for those ticker updates on side prices. this is where the owl bites the tootsie roll pop. there are so many more layers, but time is up.
- atomicfiredoll 3y agoIt's worth calling out the price also will never get lower (unless shrinkflation is involved,) so it will never be plan to get 4 fries and get 5.
- popularonion 3y agoIt’s to push you into using the app. The fast food conglomerates really, really, REALLY want to shut down dine-in service for good and transition drive thru to an app-only business model. It’s their #1 strategic imperative. I would go so far as to say they don’t care about profit here and in fact they’re happy to lose quite a few customers, as long as the “percentage of orders made in app” KPI keeps going up.
- electriclove 3y agoMaybe that’s a good thing
- 3y ago
- drewg123 3y agoIt would be less aggravating to consumers if they framed it as off-peak discounts, rather than letting it be compared to surge pricing. Eg, they'd have a list price as their max price, and they could vary the discount throughout the day..
- michaelmrose 3y agoThis actually means something different. Notably its obviously a lie if your price floats up from your present baseline. People are stupid but they aren't that stupid.
- basil-rash 3y agoThey aren’t stupid but they are forgetful. There’d be a couple weeks of sharp bitterness then a low grumble, just as always happens when fast food prices get raised.
- goda90 3y agoI remember several fast food restaurants were trying afternoon "happy hour" deals a few years ago. Pretty much a simpler version of that.
- a_e_k 3y agoThe Taco Bell near me still does that. The difference is that they have large printed signs advertising the discounted prices and the times they apply (2p-5p). The posted prices are dependable as long as one checks a clock.
- DerekL 3y agoMany, many restaurants have had lunch specials for a long time.
- chrismcb 3y ago"Dynamic pricing is a relatively new concept in the fast-food world, with little precedent" Yes, because they're are lots of options. You charge too much and I'll just go next door.
- catchnear4321 3y agoright, but check back tomorrow. it might be cheaper than next door then. no promises on the next day.
- gremlinsinc 3y agowho has the attention span for that? After 1-2 times I'd just give up and default to the competitor - and Wendy's is by far my favorite fast food restaurant.
- catchnear4321 3y agowhat if competitors all adopt the model? less fear of doing so if w takes the l.
- throwitaway222 3y agorealpage for fast food is probably coming and the execs probably don't even understand the legal implications of that. The fact that the realpage domain name even resolves right now suggests to me that collusion won.
- red-iron-pine 3y agothey offer made to order sandwiches at the grocery store now. hot food, too. fast food is, well, fast, and deisgned to really hit that fat/salt/sugar creaving, but if I can't predict what it will cost me I'll head to places that will give me that promise. it's a big market and none of it is exclusive.
- ramesh31 3y ago>Yes, because they're are lots of options. You charge too much and I'll just go next door. Sure, but thats how all markets work. When I want a Spicy Chicken Sandwich™, I want a Spicy Chicken Sandwich™. And there are no substitutes. The whole point of this would be that Wendy's dynamically accounts for this to an acceptable degree I don't cancel altogether. People who want a cheaper meal can go elsewhere, and I can get my Spicy Chicken in a reasonable amount of time. I can honestly see this catching on as crews are blown out to the max with mobile orders these days.
- atomicfiredoll 3y agoThere's no universe where I go to a restaurant pulling something like this. That said, the employees at the Wendy's near me seem to have been pretending the place was closed the last couple times I've tried to go, so maybe it will sort itself out. I'm not exactly planning on wasting time going back regardless.
- add-sub-mul-div 3y agoThe basic contract of fast food has already been broken, before whatever price hike this turns out to be. You're getting bottom tier food but no longer the discount that makes it a defensible tradeoff.
- 1letterunixname 3y agoThis is true. For food deserts, sometimes lacking grocery stores, fast food is sometimes the only practical option. Convenience stores, bodegas, dollar stores, and fast food chains charge high unit prices and the majority of residents have little choice except to commute long distances to big box stores if they had the time, money, and transportation to do so which they probably don't. In these cases, demand for fast food becomes more inelastic where there are fewer or no other options. This is in contrast to areas with very high residential property values and lower BMIs where fast food shops are distant and uncommon.
- michaelmrose 3y agoWho wants to go into business selling bricks near their HQ to angry consumers. I'm going to beat the rush and stop eating there now.
- bitbang 3y agoI foresee surge pricing for bricks...
- 1letterunixname 3y agoLumber pricing after hurricanes. Maybe there ought to be regulation and enforcement of price gouging. Price gouging is legal at all times including during emergencies and disasters in 12 states specifically: Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Washington, Wyoming. Libertarian paradise!
- Triphibian 3y agoThe Wendy's by me is always empty. What's the opposite of surge pricing? Clearance?
- mp05 3y agoYou sure that's not a Burger King? I've never seen a Wendy's near me that wasn't slammed around normal eating times.
- 1letterunixname 3y agoTri-City Sporting Goods' perpetual going out of business sales.
- DonsDiscountGas 3y agoI think I'm in the minority of people who don't have a problem with surge pricing in principle. But this seems dumb. Varying prices like this pisses people off, and doing so for $2 (at most) hardly seems worth it.
- esafak 3y agoDynamic pricing makes it hard to know what you're going to pay. If they don't let consumers observe the price remotely they might just opt out instead of rolling the dice. Tesla's supercharging pricing is about to get me to that point. I know that I can go to select charging points at specific times of the week, else it is cheaper to charge at home. I can live with that, as long as it is predictable. What I won't do is constantly check the price to see if it is reasonable. With fast food I would not even bother.
- tanseydavid 3y ago[flagged]
- jedberg 3y agoYou joke but Subway did that last summer. It was great. You paid them $15/mo and you could get all your sandwiches 1/2 off. You only had to buy three in the month to make it worthwhile. My wife and I did it (we each had to get a subscription because you could only use one discount a day) and we ended up getting 15 sandwiches each.
- andy99 3y agoVariable pricing on uber or flights makes sense because people value their time or schedule flexibility differently and there is finite or slow to change capacity. An executive cares more about minimizing travel time than a student so they will pay more for the most convenient flight. For restaurants, a "happy hour" might make sense to bring people in off-peak. But trying to charge more during peak hours only works if I can get my meal faster because all the price sensitive customers are gone. Maybe I don't eat enough fast food at peak hours, but that's not a pain point for me.
- datavirtue 3y ago....because Wendy's is looking for that last key move that puts them out of business.
- 1letterunixname 3y agoNawh, it's innovation in ways to be the biggest assholes by saying FU to employees and customers in new, short-term profitable ways that completely trash customer loyalty, goodwill, and brand value.
- forgetfreeman 3y agoDo this and I'll simply refuse to eat there.
- cameldrv 3y agoI predict this won't end well. People will pull up to the drive-thru, find that the prices are much higher than usual, and get mad, because they may not be able to back up out of the drive-thru or pull forward to exit. They'll either have to pay the high prices or wait to leave. Once someone gets burned by this a couple of times they'll just stop going to Wendy's.
- 1letterunixname 3y agoThis was tried with vending machines. It's just another way to shake down the masses with gotcha capitalism.
- throwitaway222 3y agoIts kind of like when I predicted what would happen when $20/hour min wage wouldn't go well - everyone in CA is suffering now, including the ones making $20/hour (actually especially them).
- unethical_ban 3y agoHow does unpredictable pricing for food, for hungry people, have to do with planned increases in wages (labor costs)?
- ks2048 3y agoHow long before technology that detects very drunk people and charges them 10x knowing they won’t notice? (Of course if they do notice they are more likely to cause a disturbance and break things - more things to consider for The Algorithm!)
- gremlinsinc 3y agoyou gave me a great app/startup idea... /jk
- derwiki 3y agoHopefully a different course if action if they’re going through the drive thru
- vgeek 3y agoWhy is it always surge pricing for consumers, but not employee compensation? (in a non-exploitative manner like the gig companies employee) Yes, there have been cash-flow improvements like daily payments, and maybe other improvements to scheduling apps-- why not a solution for surge pricing for employees? E.g., Wendy's is busy for the Tuesday afternoon shift, wages +30% for workers who want to come in for X hours (if order throughput is +300% from 11am-1pm, why wouldn't they want extra hands, even if the marginal cost is much higher, albeit more transient). Or Amazon/DHL/UPS sees an increase over a weekend and offers $X bonus per shift for standby/off shift employees, increasing the amount until enough people volunteer. Given that labor is viewed as fungible by most employers, why not enable more promiscuity by employees to help with wages and/or security? Things like background checks seem fairly transitive. Maybe do some sort of skill set certifications like food handling, warehousing, basic labor, etc.?
- deprecative 3y agoSo many people seem to forget that we live under capitalism. Why is it always for customers and rarely employee compensation? The latter costs money and the former increases already obscene profits. It's capitalism. That's why.
- vgeek 3y agoYes, you are stating the obvious assumptions that altruism is absent and there is an adversarial relationship between capital and labor with frequently diametric objectives. If companies are constantly complaining about "nobody wants to work" then they could move further up the labor supply curve by offering better wages-- but would it actually improve employer profits (via higher revenue) if they give up margin? If a McDonalds could serve 300 customers instead of 200 over a lunch rush, wouldn't it be beneficial to the employer? From the employee side, they would get paid more, could pick up shifts at varying businesses based on their schedules. Then maybe at scale, such a platform would be incredibly useful for organizing labor. This obviously would terrify employers. I'm not really debating, more of just sharing random ideas and complaining online, because this is basic game theory as to why employers wouldn't want such a tool (potentially higher labor costs short/long term, increased labor mobility, unionization risk, other issues like training/liability/insurance/taxes/etc.), but employees/labor could be greatly served by such a platform.
- geor9e 3y agoThey seem to completely miss the why of Uber surge pricing. It gets some customers to delay their ride, and gets some drivers to start their shift early. What does it do at Wendys, convince some more frozen hamburger patties to leave the freezer?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- iamleppert 3y agoMaking fast food drive thru customers angry with unprotected flat screen TV’s a few feet away…can’t wait to see how this all ends.
- ChrisArchitect 3y ago[dupe] More discussion earlier over here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39514464 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39514464
- radar1310 3y agoThat’s a great way to start losing business. Brilliant just brilliant Wendy’s.
- havaloc 3y agoWendy's would make more money by focusing on their operations - indeed, as would most restaurants. If I'm fast fooding that day, I'm choosing Chick-fil-A over a Wendy's not because I like chicken more, but because I know it's never a shit show at Chick-fil-A, and it's always a shit show at Wendy's. They would be better served in running a tight operation. Their restaurants are mostly tired old buildings, but sure, let's throw in surge pricing. It's so short sighted and stupid.
- mhh__ 3y agoFortnum and Masons surge price their millionaire shortbreads to £2.50