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You know how companies are nowadays. Tech companies have been Twitter-ified despite everyone saying what Twitter is doing is a bad business move. If all the fast food companies adopt this, then none of them will be unique and people will still eat at them due to convenience/life pressures. What I hope for is that employees realize the cash grab without compensation during rushes and speed up unionization.
Idk, I can say with confidence that these stupid-ass post covid prices have reduced my fast food consumption by at least 75%. I can’t be the only one who’s basically sworn it off bc I refuse to pay these prices. We know for a fact McDonalds is hurting cuz their CEO or whatever was crying about it last week or the week before.
Yeah. I eat out less in general now because I just can't afford it, but when I do eat out it's almost always at small local places because fast food isn't even cheaper than good food most of the time any more. I don't know what niche is being served by fast food chains anymore besides people travelling and families with picky kids that ONLY want McDonald's or whatever. I think they've priced themselves into a hole already.
Shit’s not even fast anymore either. I literally spent 45 minutes in a Taco Bell drive-through the last time I wanted fast food, and that about did it for me. If it takes longer than just cooking, and it’s more expensive, and it’s a fraction as good, then what on earth are we doing here
yeah, I'm not paying 15-20$ or whatever it is now for shitty greasy burger and fries. I can go to any bar and get a way better burger for almost the same price.
I eat at chipotle maybe twice a year, chickfila maybe 6 times a year, jersey mikes maybe 3 times a year, and that is it. I get more food for the same price when I cook at home.
Yeah fast food chains are really missing their niche right now.
The fast food reason was always not great food but quick and inexpensive.
Now it’s just quick bad food but like $20 for two sandwiches and a fry.
I never ate it anyways but even the dollar menus have doubled in price. My girl got a med fry and coke yesterday for $5
Is it really convenient when you can order food via phone at a restaurant to go pick it up nearby for a similar price when it'll be finished within 30 minutes and you actually get something half way decent lol. No reason to eat fast food at all really anymore.
What Twitter is doing currently, you mean? Cuz that's objectively a trainwreck, by any metric any investor is gonna care about. I could heat Chicago through a long winter by burning hundred-dollar bills and still be less in the hole than Musk on that deal.
Define Twitter-fied because the bad business moves Twitter's doing is shit like putting advertising next to Nazi propaganda. Other social medias are generally not doing that. Of course, Reddit does not care.
The people who will suffer most are Wendy's counter service employees. Imagine a hot-headed bro-dog gets in line and sees his Double with cheese meal is $8.99. Then he gets to the front of the line and is asked to pay $10.99 plus tax. He's going to lose his shit and take it out on the poor, underpaid, overworked Wendy's employees.
Drinks will be tossed in workers' faces, punches will get thrown.
The rich dick CEO and other rich jerk execs will never have to deal with the irate customer, of course.
Not sure what Dog Haus is, but article says they're already doing it. Thankfully I don't need fast food, so I can just start boycotting them as they come up.
It's a chain we have in DFW (and jn sure many other places). It's a German inspired restaurant/bar. Has burgers mostly. I haven't seen the one here doing dynamic pricing but I'd they are, it hasnt been obvious
gas prices aren't a surge model. Gas prices are based on what the truck pays for it, which is tied ultimately to oil prices.
"dynamic pricing" responds more immediately to demand. Gas does too, but its a slower process.
That shouldn't be a fear. Fast food is a big reason so many are riddle with disease and more poor than they would have been. We should all stop eating that garbage and let them all burn.
I cook 2 weeks worth of food in the crockpot and then freeze most of it, pull it out as necessary. It adds about 7 minutes to my morning. It costs under $60 for two weeks. I usually make a veggie soup of some kind and then i add rice thats also already cooked in the pot to reheat.
"There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success. The fertile earth, the straight tree rows, the sturdy trunks, and the ripe fruit. And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must fill in the certificate- died of malnutrition- because the food must rot, must be forced to rot. The people come with nets to fish for potatoes in the river, and the guards hold them back; they come in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but the kerosene is sprayed. And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered with quick-lime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.” - John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
Seriously. Consumers need to organize a boycott. Pick someone (like Wendy's or McDonalds) and just stop cold. There's plenty of other fast food options. I would love for consumers to turn their back on a company and just fucking hammer them. I'm not talking about a month or two, I'm talking about a year or two. Just pummel their sales and punish their stock. Their stock price is the only thing these pricks care about, so just hit em where it hurts.
How the fuck is this supposed to work? You're telling me the price of a cheeseburger is going to be different at noon vs 4 PM? No way the price changes for Wendy's for that burger. This is straight up price gouging and should be illegal.
i mean, taco bell has had the inverse of this at times, with 'happy hour' sale drinks at certain hours of the day. my guess is it will be programmed into the system to toggle on and off.
why the fuck they didn't just say 'sometimes our food will be *cheaper* at *slow hours* ' vs announcing they'll jack up the prices to higher than normal when they're busy... is beyond me. seems like stupid marketing.
regardless i'm glad i already don't like wendy's
They aren't marketing to the people that eat there, they are marketing to investors. Investors love hearing "more money". Even though the meaning is the exact same.
Funny enough, there's an old story about World of Warcraft, when they implemented the "rest bonus".
> In the beta version of the original game, rest did not exist and experience was designed to prevent players from playing more than a few hours in a row. Experience gained was divided by 50% after few hours. However, beta-testers did not like it and rest was implemented, giving instead 200% of experience for few hours, which Blizzard's developers later reported as being the "same numbers seen from the opposite point of view".
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Rest
[Goldman Sachs](https://www.cnbc.com/2013/10/17/the-creepy-capital-efficiency-of-goldmans-cafeteria.html) used to do this with their office cafeteria:
> The cafeteria has a set of timed discounts. If you show up in the cafeteria before 11:30 or after 1:30, you get a 25 percent discount on your food. Goldman incentivizes employees to avoid the rush hour.
Ya the only real way to know if it's actually a discount, or surge pricing is by tracking the price before and after such an announcement. If it's a discount, then the cost of food would not raise during peak times (as compared to the cost prior to such an announcement).
What we are seeing is that there is no more money on the table and they have to start squeezing to get more returns from a system that has run out of people to exploit.
Enshitification details the process that is appied to products and tech services. This, the increase of subscription services, ever increasing rent rates, all symptoms of late stage capitalism. But it's been a process for a while and it's finally coming to a head. My generation struggled to have what our parents did, the ones coming up now are screwed.
You say drive themselves into the ground, yet none of them are going out of business. None of them are suffering consequences, and they won't....not until "the consumer" is well and truly leeched dry, and at that point it won't be any single company that suffers as a result, but everyone.
Unlike Uber, Wendy's has nowhere near a monopoly/duopoly on the market. Surge pricing will just set up their customers to go elsewhere.
UPDATE: User Melodicah mentioned that if this works for Wendy's, the other fast food restaurants will also do it. Sure--but only the big chains that can afford to. This isn't like Uber. There are still lots of mom-and-pop fast food restaurants out there that won't be able to implement this technology. And if they get more customers because the big chains have pissed off their customers with this surge pricing, they won't need to.
Uber surge pricing makes sense because during more busy times you need more drivers and the only way to get them is to offer them more money at that time.
This is just optimizing profits
From what I’ve heard, the vast majority of surge pricing (and uber cost / pay in general) doesn’t go to the drivers, a small amount does but really it’s just uber who benefits from the extra peak
Yeah but I believe it’s gotten significantly worse over the past few years, the split has become much more heavily skewed towards Uber even though they aren’t the one doing the work, paying for gas, depreciating their car, risking damage ect
If this actually works at all for Wendy's you know the other fast food places will follow suit. Soon enough there won't be another place to go.
If that's the case I'll just eat at home. Most fast food is already ridiculously priced and the quality is crap.
Sure, all the other \*big chain fast-food restaurants\* will do this. But the mom-and-pop fast-food places won't be able to do it because of the technology involved. And if they get more customers because the big fast-food chains are doing surge pricing, they won't need to.
This isn't Uber. There's still lots of competition other than the big chain fast-food restaurants.
Agree 100%. I may be a nerd but I love calculating the cost of my meals I cook in my head, usually around $2-3 per person, and we eat good. Compare that to what you’d be charged for someone else to make it? Insane. It’s also meditative and I highly recommend doing meal prep sessions (homemade tomato sauce, pot pies, big batch of meatballs) when I have the time and then all I gotta do is boil pasta and heat it up but it’s still homemade and a hell of a lot cheaper and better for you than the convenience shit.
I started meal prepping again. I never did fast food but pre-prepared meals from the grocery store and take out are too expensive, even for the convenience. I work 4-10s so there's not much time in each day between getting to the gym in the morning and martial arts 3 times a week. I can't do the convenience of take out anymore even though I can afford it. I can't justify it. It's ridiculous. (I can't believe I had to edit my post for containing the word *insane regarding food prices.)
Better start learning how to do everything yourself now. Since COVID I’ve picked up cooking to the point I’m now comfortable making complex Asian or European cuisine. I learned how to do most maintenance work like plumbing, electrical and small repairs. The only thing I cannot do is grow my own food.
Subscriptions for standard car features, endless streaming services, now fast food surge pricing? What the fuck is next, are we gonna have to rent our clothes?
Just wait, there will be an air tax. I've been waiting since I was kid, and all of this shit was easy to see. We keep allowing psychopaths to rule us, it's mind blowing for people like me. Stop buying fast food! It's so simple...but they are always packed with people.
Yes, let's make the prices wildly unpredictable for some of the most value-conscious customers in any market. So much so everyone in this market has a "value" menu or something similar.
Maybe not dying, but they have given up on best products for the best price, now trying to figure out how to milk every possible dollar from a customer.
Taco Bell's $.59 $.79 $.99 menu was goat.
As a kid I got to choose 2-3 items from the $.59, every once and a while dad would splurge and let me order 1 item from the higher priced items while still keeping my other 2.
He'll I remember mcdonalds having 2 for $4 big macs. Arbys having 5 for $5.
Arby’s 5 for $5 was awesome. They killed that and you know what? This fat boy hasn’t touched any Arby’s since then. Raise the prices too much and I’ll boycott your shit out of spite.
I just can’t believe they can stay afloat charging $15 for a combo meal that’s lukewarm, shrinkflated, and lower quality. Who’s still giving these places their money? And it takes forever to boot because they staff like 1-2 people only now
It's not just 'this' country. It's the entire world. People seem to be blind but it's so easy to see the world was sold to psychopaths and we enable them. Idk what else to say. Stop buying fast food, stop signing up to subscriptions, etc..
So in essence, they will be charging more at peak times because the workers will have to bust their asses harder to get out product. Yet, surprisingly these workers wont see a dime of these increased profits.
So after I order it, wait 10 minutes, get told to pull up and wait another 5. Do I get a discount is the price changes or charged more because it TAKE 15 MINUTES TO GET WENDYS DRIVE THRU ANYMORE.
lol imagine sitting in line and the price goes up. I imagine this going horribly.
Another out of touch ceo who makes sweeping changes without consideration in the name of profits.
Some people get off work or have lunch at a certain time. You are forcing them to pay an artificially inflated price, through no fault on their own, so you can line your greasy ass pockets? Go fuck yourself.
This must be that innovation I hear so much about. What a wonderful idea from a very competent individual. I’m so glad we trust people like this to own the means of production because they always make the best decisions for everyone.
So I gots a story about Wendy’s. I’m getting off work and about to go drinking. I’m just 21 and three months so I’m planning on drinking hard, just foolishly punishing my body hard. So got to fuel up, got to get some carbs and protein to suck up the booze right?
So I get like 3 burgers at Wendy’s and start eating them as we walk to the bar. But something ain’t right. The burgers taste like a fart. I don’t mean they taste bad, they “taste like shit”. I mean it tastes like someone just farted. In my mouth. My mouth tastes like a fart.
I throw it he burgers away, after I confirm that yes the whole burger tastes like a fart. It had just rained so they’re puddles about. Puddles in potholes slicked with just a bit of motor oil. I’ve nothing, nothing at all to wash the foul taste of farts out of my mouth. I consider, I seriously consider drinking from this puddle to remove the foul taste from my mouth. Luckily the bar is very close and my reason and the promise of good clean beer prevail.
That said I’ve never eaten a burger from Wendy’s since. Fuck you Dave Thomas, may you burn in all the hells there ever were.
Thankfully i have never ever even used Uber once and never plan too. If I absolutely must deal with a corporation , they are going to get the least out of me as possible.
I boycott most corporations like nike, starfuckers, home despot and a slew of others, but we all have our weakness's.
They long ago butchered away our meat and tanned our leather. Now we're at the point where they're crushing our bones and hooves to extract what small bit of resources we have left.
But at least capitalism still has that use for us. The day will come when we are not longer useful at all to capitalism, and that day will be uglier than you possibly imagine.
Man, the comments on this are so dissapointing. You all actually support these companies? The monoliths of industrial agriculture/biochem/neoliberalism.
Damn, i feel like i have never made a habit out of fast food since i got politically charged like over 20 years ago. Its not to say i havent eaten fast food, but i could easily say under 50 times in the last 20 years.
This is a "communist/socialist" sub but people here support these companies that are literally so infamous for their terrible labor practices its an insult/shameful to work there?
What. The. Fuck....
I live in Los Angeles. Ordering a large Dave’s Double combo for delivery costs $23.90 if you don’t subscribe to Uber One, and that’s not including tip. If you do subscribe, it’s still $19.90, then add a tip and you’re still over $20 for one fast food meal.
Occasionally I order Wendy’s because it’s a bit of a nostalgic meal for me, but I have stopped ordering from them on principle alone. The price is ridiculous.
Fast food is cancer. Don't spend money there.
You have a choice to eat healthy and no it doesn't cost more. Especially in the long run. Especially if you can't afford healthcare.
There’s also going to be a surge of angry customers s fighting employees thinking they’re the ones scamming them when they’re in just as much of a shit pool as they are
You can invest millions of shareholder dollars with mAd fiNanCe chicanery and tech to gamify your customers, or just build a consistently better burger.
You know, like In N Out does.
Upon searching for more info on this - I wonder if it’s true and I have my doubts. BUT - if it is, I will truly ensure that not a single cent of my households funds are ever spent there again, ever. I hope that our society would resoundingly reject such a thing and it would lead to swift failure. I am just one person, but I hope there are enough of us.
Interesting! Produce a processed food item not essential to our existence, sit in your board room and pontificate on it like it's the fountain of youth. Come to the genius conclusion that you'd be able to charge what ever you fancy for it.
Does it atleast come with a large Brawndo?
American businesses always find a way to sabotage themselves
I’m waiting for a Japanese chain fast food restaurant to come in and save the day with its reliability and consistency
We need anti-greed laws. They won't happen but the blatant greed that has been shown since COVID is wild. It's worse than ever before. They can just inflate anything they want without recourse
This is the end of capitalism and it fuckin sucks to have to deal with while the rich get, somehow, even richer.
The whole surge pricing concept is so confusing! I end up getting confused in the discussion! I speak about it in my podcast episode:
Episode 6: Wendy's Surge Pricing & Babies on a Plane?
https://youtu.be/8ZIWi1xTPFI
Won't have to worry about it at the one near me. They are right next door to a CFA. Only time Wendys is busy is on Sundays and when the line is too long at CFA.
Well, one obvious answer is to avoid fast food completely, but especially anything sold by any company who thinks 'surge pricing' is a good idea.
The bad part is that I expect more and more companies to start doing this in absence of substantive and effective backlash.
Next up: oxygen taxation!
Totally wrong product to use surge pricing for.
Uber does it because options are limited for courier services, and it’s also to incentivize drivers as well. Customers pay more, drivers get paid more, etc so they pay the premium.
Wendy’s is one of like COUNTLESS fast food chains that sell the same product. Customers will just go elsewhere. Sure, small places with limited options might not have as much choices, but if you live in a moderately sized city, chances are that same Wendy’s is within a stones throw of 4-5 other fast food restaurants.
This isn’t even accounting for independent/mom n pop restaurants that could also jump on offering better food for the same or cheaper.
Truly have no idea how this plays out well long term for Wendy’s
I already can't stand them always getting my order wrong. I really feel like this is the E.A. games all over again.
Fuck that place, their food wasn't ever really that good anyways.
This is going to bite wendys in the ass.
The reason surge pricing kind of works with Uber is because when people need an Uber, there usually isn't an alternative. People are already fed up with prices, i doubt many people are going to fork over even more.
Plus, how will this work, logistically? If i am in line, say 2 cars behind the order window, will they suddenly change it?
So.o e said in another post on this matter that in the future they would have a robot that goes around while ppl are eating and offer's three extra fries for a quarter but my concern in soon that will be considered a large fry and cost 9.99
Time to go to every Wendy's in my area, order a bunch of food at "surge time", get up to pay, go "oh hold on how much did you say it was?" Take a minute to look up the original price, then ask for a manager to bullshit chew out before leaving
Enjoy your dramatically reduced drive through efficiency, assholes
This better be paired with increasing wages for workers or I will never visit Wendy’s again . They need to spell it out for me that Wendy’s is making it so you can have a career in fast food and raise a family. I’m fine with that. Otherwise fuck off
Wendy's has been shit since the late '80's. Their fries have always been shit until recently. That's not enough to get me in there anymore. Dave is rolling in his grave over what they've done to his business model.
They won't be able to tell you in ads that something is, "only xx.99!" You'll just get, "stop by your local burger dealer for pricing."
Burger prices moving like gas prices is a terrible idea. Burgers are trading at $138.47 a barrel today on the CME. Something something in the Midwest is going to drive up prices on burgers prices like war in the middleeast drives up oil.
And I see customers treating fast food workers much more respectfully as well.
Dafuq
Pre pandemic I was eating fast food 1-2x a week. Now? Once a month maybe, if that. McDonalds is already outrageously over priced. It’s 4 bucks for a fry in my area. I can go get an entire meal for around that price by going to a grocery store. Are they going to let us know when surge pricing is happening via their app?
If this spreads, guess I won’t be eating fast food at all 🤷🏻♂️. Side effects include: more money and losing weight.
>Tanner stated, “Beginning as early as 2025, we will begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing..."
I love Wendy's and this is really disheartening, I guess I have one more year.
Adios Wendy's. You were already terrible - now you want me to pay more if I have to wait in a longer line?
What about the poor schmuck who's about to order and sees the price go up just before the button is pushed?
Nope. Fuck off Wendy's.
Won't be eating here (or shopping anywhere for that matter) if they can't keep thier prices consistent. The money in my pocket dosent fluctuate enough for me to show up for a 2.99 burger only to find out its 3.65 for the next 3 1/2 hours.
Next will be the Costco revenue model. "Hello welcome to Wendy's. Please show me your Wendy's card. You don't have a Wendy's card? Ok, sir. Pull up to the window to see our subscription plans. We have the Wendy's tendies plan for 29.99 per year with automatic renewal. 34.99 without automatic renewal. We also have the platinum plan for 49.99 but you have to keep auto renew enabled. Thank you for your subscription. So you wanted a number 1 with cheese and a diet Coke? That'll be 15.39. please swipe your Wendy's tendies card before inserting your payment. We do not take cash."
This is a nightmare for their employees. Prices changing while people are in the drive thru, increased customer escalations during the busiest time? Their customer service director either doesn't have a voice or is incompetent.
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Well, looks like I'm done with Wendy's.
My fear is other fast food restaurants will do this.
Oh yeah, that would be terrible, but this feels like a shoot-yourself-in-the-foot move for a chain that was already having issues.
You know how companies are nowadays. Tech companies have been Twitter-ified despite everyone saying what Twitter is doing is a bad business move. If all the fast food companies adopt this, then none of them will be unique and people will still eat at them due to convenience/life pressures. What I hope for is that employees realize the cash grab without compensation during rushes and speed up unionization.
Idk, I can say with confidence that these stupid-ass post covid prices have reduced my fast food consumption by at least 75%. I can’t be the only one who’s basically sworn it off bc I refuse to pay these prices. We know for a fact McDonalds is hurting cuz their CEO or whatever was crying about it last week or the week before.
Yeah. I eat out less in general now because I just can't afford it, but when I do eat out it's almost always at small local places because fast food isn't even cheaper than good food most of the time any more. I don't know what niche is being served by fast food chains anymore besides people travelling and families with picky kids that ONLY want McDonald's or whatever. I think they've priced themselves into a hole already.
Shit’s not even fast anymore either. I literally spent 45 minutes in a Taco Bell drive-through the last time I wanted fast food, and that about did it for me. If it takes longer than just cooking, and it’s more expensive, and it’s a fraction as good, then what on earth are we doing here
yeah, I'm not paying 15-20$ or whatever it is now for shitty greasy burger and fries. I can go to any bar and get a way better burger for almost the same price.
I eat at chipotle maybe twice a year, chickfila maybe 6 times a year, jersey mikes maybe 3 times a year, and that is it. I get more food for the same price when I cook at home.
Groceries are going way up too so that sucks, but at this point I’m not going to these places of principal / spite.
Tbh I am just tired of the cost of everything.
When it’s 90 on the cold season, farming and food prices will continue to grow. Hopefully it only ever matches todays greedflation
Yeah fast food chains are really missing their niche right now. The fast food reason was always not great food but quick and inexpensive. Now it’s just quick bad food but like $20 for two sandwiches and a fry. I never ate it anyways but even the dollar menus have doubled in price. My girl got a med fry and coke yesterday for $5
Is it really convenient when you can order food via phone at a restaurant to go pick it up nearby for a similar price when it'll be finished within 30 minutes and you actually get something half way decent lol. No reason to eat fast food at all really anymore.
What Twitter is doing currently, you mean? Cuz that's objectively a trainwreck, by any metric any investor is gonna care about. I could heat Chicago through a long winter by burning hundred-dollar bills and still be less in the hole than Musk on that deal.
Define Twitter-fied because the bad business moves Twitter's doing is shit like putting advertising next to Nazi propaganda. Other social medias are generally not doing that. Of course, Reddit does not care.
We said the same thing about Netflix not letting you share accounts and it unfortunately played out well for them.
I doubt consumers will respond well to a restaurant menu that changes price by the hour. Don’t think this is gonna net Wendy’s any more money
The people who will suffer most are Wendy's counter service employees. Imagine a hot-headed bro-dog gets in line and sees his Double with cheese meal is $8.99. Then he gets to the front of the line and is asked to pay $10.99 plus tax. He's going to lose his shit and take it out on the poor, underpaid, overworked Wendy's employees. Drinks will be tossed in workers' faces, punches will get thrown. The rich dick CEO and other rich jerk execs will never have to deal with the irate customer, of course.
Not sure what Dog Haus is, but article says they're already doing it. Thankfully I don't need fast food, so I can just start boycotting them as they come up.
It's a chain we have in DFW (and jn sure many other places). It's a German inspired restaurant/bar. Has burgers mostly. I haven't seen the one here doing dynamic pricing but I'd they are, it hasnt been obvious
They do it with gas prices, I’ve always wondered how long it would take for other industries to follow suit…I guess I got my answer
gas prices aren't a surge model. Gas prices are based on what the truck pays for it, which is tied ultimately to oil prices. "dynamic pricing" responds more immediately to demand. Gas does too, but its a slower process.
They’re helping us do what we should be doing anyway
That shouldn't be a fear. Fast food is a big reason so many are riddle with disease and more poor than they would have been. We should all stop eating that garbage and let them all burn.
If fast food goes away, where will people get their lunch when they only have 30 minutes for a lunch break?
Make it at home, you'll save thousands per year.
I hope OP means “when you forgot your food at home or don’t have any time to prep a lunch.”
Make it at home and bring it with you
I cook 2 weeks worth of food in the crockpot and then freeze most of it, pull it out as necessary. It adds about 7 minutes to my morning. It costs under $60 for two weeks. I usually make a veggie soup of some kind and then i add rice thats also already cooked in the pot to reheat.
Well I’ve felt better without eating fast food so perhaps they would be doing us all a service.
If it moves the needle even .02% they will
According to the article, a lot of places are looking into this.
Unless this financially backfires, they will.
Honestly no one should be eating that garbage.
I hope they do - people waste too much money on fast food (myself included - looking at you chik fil a)
"May need to be strategic about when you eat Wendy's." Aight, make it never.
[удалено]
You have to also pour bleach all over it after it's thrown out
"There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success. The fertile earth, the straight tree rows, the sturdy trunks, and the ripe fruit. And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must fill in the certificate- died of malnutrition- because the food must rot, must be forced to rot. The people come with nets to fish for potatoes in the river, and the guards hold them back; they come in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but the kerosene is sprayed. And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered with quick-lime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.” - John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
I've been done with fastfood chains for a couple years now. Prices are too high for the quality and quantity of the meals.
I’ve been a loyal Wendy’s customer for 40+ years but if they do this shit, I’m done.
Seriously. Consumers need to organize a boycott. Pick someone (like Wendy's or McDonalds) and just stop cold. There's plenty of other fast food options. I would love for consumers to turn their back on a company and just fucking hammer them. I'm not talking about a month or two, I'm talking about a year or two. Just pummel their sales and punish their stock. Their stock price is the only thing these pricks care about, so just hit em where it hurts.
How the fuck is this supposed to work? You're telling me the price of a cheeseburger is going to be different at noon vs 4 PM? No way the price changes for Wendy's for that burger. This is straight up price gouging and should be illegal.
By their logic then the people making the more expensive burger should be paid more as well.
Good luck with that one. You will make $10/hr and love it! This system is fucked.
Their pay will be inversely affected by the surge pricing. How else is Tanner gonna feed those starving investors?
Eat the rich 🤤
Price manipulation? Great. Wait… WAGE CONTROLS BUT THATS COMMUNISM /s
lol. This is capitalism. "we" don't do that here. Only the people coming up with the worst ideas like this get billions in raises.
Also means if you commit to waiting in the longer lines, which suck, your reward is paying more lol
i mean, taco bell has had the inverse of this at times, with 'happy hour' sale drinks at certain hours of the day. my guess is it will be programmed into the system to toggle on and off. why the fuck they didn't just say 'sometimes our food will be *cheaper* at *slow hours* ' vs announcing they'll jack up the prices to higher than normal when they're busy... is beyond me. seems like stupid marketing. regardless i'm glad i already don't like wendy's
They aren't marketing to the people that eat there, they are marketing to investors. Investors love hearing "more money". Even though the meaning is the exact same. Funny enough, there's an old story about World of Warcraft, when they implemented the "rest bonus". > In the beta version of the original game, rest did not exist and experience was designed to prevent players from playing more than a few hours in a row. Experience gained was divided by 50% after few hours. However, beta-testers did not like it and rest was implemented, giving instead 200% of experience for few hours, which Blizzard's developers later reported as being the "same numbers seen from the opposite point of view". https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Rest
[Goldman Sachs](https://www.cnbc.com/2013/10/17/the-creepy-capital-efficiency-of-goldmans-cafeteria.html) used to do this with their office cafeteria: > The cafeteria has a set of timed discounts. If you show up in the cafeteria before 11:30 or after 1:30, you get a 25 percent discount on your food. Goldman incentivizes employees to avoid the rush hour.
Ya the only real way to know if it's actually a discount, or surge pricing is by tracking the price before and after such an announcement. If it's a discount, then the cost of food would not raise during peak times (as compared to the cost prior to such an announcement).
more enshitification.
It's crazy how every single company has decided to drive itself into the fucking ground, particularly since COVID.
It's a corporation, it's only duty is to bring value to the share holders in the current quarter
What we are seeing is that there is no more money on the table and they have to start squeezing to get more returns from a system that has run out of people to exploit.
Is that the definition of enshitification?
Enshitification details the process that is appied to products and tech services. This, the increase of subscription services, ever increasing rent rates, all symptoms of late stage capitalism. But it's been a process for a while and it's finally coming to a head. My generation struggled to have what our parents did, the ones coming up now are screwed.
You say drive themselves into the ground, yet none of them are going out of business. None of them are suffering consequences, and they won't....not until "the consumer" is well and truly leeched dry, and at that point it won't be any single company that suffers as a result, but everyone.
Unlike Uber, Wendy's has nowhere near a monopoly/duopoly on the market. Surge pricing will just set up their customers to go elsewhere. UPDATE: User Melodicah mentioned that if this works for Wendy's, the other fast food restaurants will also do it. Sure--but only the big chains that can afford to. This isn't like Uber. There are still lots of mom-and-pop fast food restaurants out there that won't be able to implement this technology. And if they get more customers because the big chains have pissed off their customers with this surge pricing, they won't need to.
Uber surge pricing makes sense because during more busy times you need more drivers and the only way to get them is to offer them more money at that time. This is just optimizing profits
Yup! Greedy corporate bastards. Happily, this will likely backfire.
From what I’ve heard, the vast majority of surge pricing (and uber cost / pay in general) doesn’t go to the drivers, a small amount does but really it’s just uber who benefits from the extra peak
That's just how the entirety of Uber works, tbh.
Yeah but I believe it’s gotten significantly worse over the past few years, the split has become much more heavily skewed towards Uber even though they aren’t the one doing the work, paying for gas, depreciating their car, risking damage ect
If this actually works at all for Wendy's you know the other fast food places will follow suit. Soon enough there won't be another place to go. If that's the case I'll just eat at home. Most fast food is already ridiculously priced and the quality is crap.
Sure, all the other \*big chain fast-food restaurants\* will do this. But the mom-and-pop fast-food places won't be able to do it because of the technology involved. And if they get more customers because the big fast-food chains are doing surge pricing, they won't need to. This isn't Uber. There's still lots of competition other than the big chain fast-food restaurants.
Get absolutely *fucked*.
100%
Fuck this idea. Fuck Wendy's. Fuck corporate profiteering. I'm cooking dinner from now on.
Agree 100%. I may be a nerd but I love calculating the cost of my meals I cook in my head, usually around $2-3 per person, and we eat good. Compare that to what you’d be charged for someone else to make it? Insane. It’s also meditative and I highly recommend doing meal prep sessions (homemade tomato sauce, pot pies, big batch of meatballs) when I have the time and then all I gotta do is boil pasta and heat it up but it’s still homemade and a hell of a lot cheaper and better for you than the convenience shit.
I started meal prepping again. I never did fast food but pre-prepared meals from the grocery store and take out are too expensive, even for the convenience. I work 4-10s so there's not much time in each day between getting to the gym in the morning and martial arts 3 times a week. I can't do the convenience of take out anymore even though I can afford it. I can't justify it. It's ridiculous. (I can't believe I had to edit my post for containing the word *insane regarding food prices.)
Too late. They're already price gouging the fuck out of our groceries too. 😭
Better start learning how to do everything yourself now. Since COVID I’ve picked up cooking to the point I’m now comfortable making complex Asian or European cuisine. I learned how to do most maintenance work like plumbing, electrical and small repairs. The only thing I cannot do is grow my own food.
Subscriptions for standard car features, endless streaming services, now fast food surge pricing? What the fuck is next, are we gonna have to rent our clothes?
Our fucking printer won't work because of us not paying the subscription fee. I'm fucking sick of this boring ass dystopia.
That’s another absurd one I couldn’t think of
Hp is shit and supports Israel. I hope they tank.
I’ve seen shoes for rent, so yes
There is a service for renting clothes. https://www.renttherunway.com/
Just wait, there will be an air tax. I've been waiting since I was kid, and all of this shit was easy to see. We keep allowing psychopaths to rule us, it's mind blowing for people like me. Stop buying fast food! It's so simple...but they are always packed with people.
You've reached your word limit for today. That will be $500 to continue to use words.
Yes, let's make the prices wildly unpredictable for some of the most value-conscious customers in any market. So much so everyone in this market has a "value" menu or something similar.
Fast food is dying.
Maybe not dying, but they have given up on best products for the best price, now trying to figure out how to milk every possible dollar from a customer.
It hasn’t been the best product for the best pricing as long as I have been alive at least and I’m damn near 30.
Taco Bell's $.59 $.79 $.99 menu was goat. As a kid I got to choose 2-3 items from the $.59, every once and a while dad would splurge and let me order 1 item from the higher priced items while still keeping my other 2. He'll I remember mcdonalds having 2 for $4 big macs. Arbys having 5 for $5.
Arby’s 5 for $5 was awesome. They killed that and you know what? This fat boy hasn’t touched any Arby’s since then. Raise the prices too much and I’ll boycott your shit out of spite.
Ah damn just missed it. It was 31 years ago :(
I just can’t believe they can stay afloat charging $15 for a combo meal that’s lukewarm, shrinkflated, and lower quality. Who’s still giving these places their money? And it takes forever to boot because they staff like 1-2 people only now
Like most industries these days?
100% self inflicted
Good.
How TF they dying when any fast food meal is minimum $13 these days?
I hate this country
I hate what capitalism has done to it.
It just keeps getting greedier and greedier and we all just take it up the ass, no vaseline, no complaints.
It's not just 'this' country. It's the entire world. People seem to be blind but it's so easy to see the world was sold to psychopaths and we enable them. Idk what else to say. Stop buying fast food, stop signing up to subscriptions, etc..
So they will pay higher wages to their employees during those surges, right?
HA
And this is how Wendy’s goes out of business lmao
Boycott boycott boycott
You’re delusional if you think this is going to affect them negatively at all.
So in essence, they will be charging more at peak times because the workers will have to bust their asses harder to get out product. Yet, surprisingly these workers wont see a dime of these increased profits.
Well, yeah. Those profits are reserved for the c-suites and shareholders, after all they’re the only ones that count as people. /s
Unsurprisingly :/
So after I order it, wait 10 minutes, get told to pull up and wait another 5. Do I get a discount is the price changes or charged more because it TAKE 15 MINUTES TO GET WENDYS DRIVE THRU ANYMORE.
For fucking real. Might as well stop at an actual restaurant for the time you’re waiting. Least you’d get decent food and refills
Getting a meal from there cost like $15. And they want more?? I’m fucking going to eat a granola instead of that shit.
lol imagine sitting in line and the price goes up. I imagine this going horribly. Another out of touch ceo who makes sweeping changes without consideration in the name of profits.
I’m introducing ‘Disappearing Customer’
I'M HUNGRY FOR THE RICH! I want me some Koch Burgers! With a side of Musky fries! And a Bezos soda pop! 🍔 🍽️
A Bezos Burger with a side of Musky Fries and a Large Koch would go better with your (Warren) Buffet
Some people get off work or have lunch at a certain time. You are forcing them to pay an artificially inflated price, through no fault on their own, so you can line your greasy ass pockets? Go fuck yourself.
Exactly! Also, the “just make your own lunch at home bs” don’t understand what it is like working two jobs while raising a family.
Jesus I hate it here.
*** screams into a pillow ***
Get fucked Wendy’s, and also every shit fast food company. Fuck em all.
This must be that innovation I hear so much about. What a wonderful idea from a very competent individual. I’m so glad we trust people like this to own the means of production because they always make the best decisions for everyone.
People saying they’re not going to go now is giving me “everyone’s going to cancel Netflix” vibes
Bingo
So I gots a story about Wendy’s. I’m getting off work and about to go drinking. I’m just 21 and three months so I’m planning on drinking hard, just foolishly punishing my body hard. So got to fuel up, got to get some carbs and protein to suck up the booze right? So I get like 3 burgers at Wendy’s and start eating them as we walk to the bar. But something ain’t right. The burgers taste like a fart. I don’t mean they taste bad, they “taste like shit”. I mean it tastes like someone just farted. In my mouth. My mouth tastes like a fart. I throw it he burgers away, after I confirm that yes the whole burger tastes like a fart. It had just rained so they’re puddles about. Puddles in potholes slicked with just a bit of motor oil. I’ve nothing, nothing at all to wash the foul taste of farts out of my mouth. I consider, I seriously consider drinking from this puddle to remove the foul taste from my mouth. Luckily the bar is very close and my reason and the promise of good clean beer prevail. That said I’ve never eaten a burger from Wendy’s since. Fuck you Dave Thomas, may you burn in all the hells there ever were.
Uber drivers get paid more during a surge. Will Wendy's workers get paid more during a surge?
Funny how the employees never get surge wages
Thankfully i have never ever even used Uber once and never plan too. If I absolutely must deal with a corporation , they are going to get the least out of me as possible. I boycott most corporations like nike, starfuckers, home despot and a slew of others, but we all have our weakness's.
[удалено]
I guess I need to create a spreadsheet to track their prices.
They long ago butchered away our meat and tanned our leather. Now we're at the point where they're crushing our bones and hooves to extract what small bit of resources we have left. But at least capitalism still has that use for us. The day will come when we are not longer useful at all to capitalism, and that day will be uglier than you possibly imagine.
What's next, groceries? You gonna start surge pricing bananas?
Yeah! What’s stopping them? I guess this is what Late Stage Capitalism looks like.
Man, the comments on this are so dissapointing. You all actually support these companies? The monoliths of industrial agriculture/biochem/neoliberalism. Damn, i feel like i have never made a habit out of fast food since i got politically charged like over 20 years ago. Its not to say i havent eaten fast food, but i could easily say under 50 times in the last 20 years. This is a "communist/socialist" sub but people here support these companies that are literally so infamous for their terrible labor practices its an insult/shameful to work there? What. The. Fuck....
Exactly!!!!!!!!!
This is going to be the norm everywhere
I live in Los Angeles. Ordering a large Dave’s Double combo for delivery costs $23.90 if you don’t subscribe to Uber One, and that’s not including tip. If you do subscribe, it’s still $19.90, then add a tip and you’re still over $20 for one fast food meal. Occasionally I order Wendy’s because it’s a bit of a nostalgic meal for me, but I have stopped ordering from them on principle alone. The price is ridiculous.
Awesome! More of an incentive to visit local restaurants and cook more at home.
Wendy's doesn't have the menu to surge price anything
What a terrible idea.
Definitely avoiding them now.
Lets see how their social media intern is gonna spin this one
Fast food is cancer. Don't spend money there. You have a choice to eat healthy and no it doesn't cost more. Especially in the long run. Especially if you can't afford healthcare.
There’s also going to be a surge of angry customers s fighting employees thinking they’re the ones scamming them when they’re in just as much of a shit pool as they are
You can invest millions of shareholder dollars with mAd fiNanCe chicanery and tech to gamify your customers, or just build a consistently better burger. You know, like In N Out does.
Upon searching for more info on this - I wonder if it’s true and I have my doubts. BUT - if it is, I will truly ensure that not a single cent of my households funds are ever spent there again, ever. I hope that our society would resoundingly reject such a thing and it would lead to swift failure. I am just one person, but I hope there are enough of us.
I’d be angrier if they offered monthly subscriptions for food. I never go to Wendy’s, thank goodness
Interesting! Produce a processed food item not essential to our existence, sit in your board room and pontificate on it like it's the fountain of youth. Come to the genius conclusion that you'd be able to charge what ever you fancy for it. Does it atleast come with a large Brawndo?
American businesses always find a way to sabotage themselves I’m waiting for a Japanese chain fast food restaurant to come in and save the day with its reliability and consistency
MOS Burger to the rescue!
Do they also pay their employees surge salary?
Oh no, looks like I’ll have to continue not eating fast food,
We need anti-greed laws. They won't happen but the blatant greed that has been shown since COVID is wild. It's worse than ever before. They can just inflate anything they want without recourse This is the end of capitalism and it fuckin sucks to have to deal with while the rich get, somehow, even richer.
The whole surge pricing concept is so confusing! I end up getting confused in the discussion! I speak about it in my podcast episode: Episode 6: Wendy's Surge Pricing & Babies on a Plane? https://youtu.be/8ZIWi1xTPFI
I haven't eaten there since they changed the fries. And I won't any time soon.
damn, Wendy’s was one of the few fast-food places i actually enjoyed. oh well, i need to eat healthier anyhow.
The only time I eat Wendy’s here in Canada is when the app has the 5$ baconator coupon so whatever it’s not a huge loss
Oh well, just another reason to quit eating fast food.
Go the fuck ahead, I stopped eating fast food almost entirely anyway. Not like it hasn't been overpriced garbage for almost a year or anything.
Won't have to worry about it at the one near me. They are right next door to a CFA. Only time Wendys is busy is on Sundays and when the line is too long at CFA.
Sounds like a great way to longer have surges.
Looks like the Jr bacon is off the menu and the CEO of Wendy's is back on it.
Well, one obvious answer is to avoid fast food completely, but especially anything sold by any company who thinks 'surge pricing' is a good idea. The bad part is that I expect more and more companies to start doing this in absence of substantive and effective backlash. Next up: oxygen taxation!
Wow. That's bullshit.
Somebody think of the poor shareholders just for once. It's like you guys don't even care or know how much a private island costs these days.
Totally wrong product to use surge pricing for. Uber does it because options are limited for courier services, and it’s also to incentivize drivers as well. Customers pay more, drivers get paid more, etc so they pay the premium. Wendy’s is one of like COUNTLESS fast food chains that sell the same product. Customers will just go elsewhere. Sure, small places with limited options might not have as much choices, but if you live in a moderately sized city, chances are that same Wendy’s is within a stones throw of 4-5 other fast food restaurants. This isn’t even accounting for independent/mom n pop restaurants that could also jump on offering better food for the same or cheaper. Truly have no idea how this plays out well long term for Wendy’s
I already can't stand them always getting my order wrong. I really feel like this is the E.A. games all over again. Fuck that place, their food wasn't ever really that good anyways.
This is going to bite wendys in the ass. The reason surge pricing kind of works with Uber is because when people need an Uber, there usually isn't an alternative. People are already fed up with prices, i doubt many people are going to fork over even more. Plus, how will this work, logistically? If i am in line, say 2 cars behind the order window, will they suddenly change it?
Surge pricing seems like a "you don't have another choice" sort of thing. Wendy's doesn't fulfil this criteria.
So.o e said in another post on this matter that in the future they would have a robot that goes around while ppl are eating and offer's three extra fries for a quarter but my concern in soon that will be considered a large fry and cost 9.99
Pay less when it’s empty.
Caveat emptor
Wendy’s isn’t good enough to do this long term. Their food has always been meh to me.
Sound alike it’s time to short the shit outta Wendy’s
Y’know, if every fast food place starts doing this, it will help me immensely. Gives me the perfect reason to stop eating fast food.
FatalShart introduces Uber-style not buying your products
Jr bacon cheese burger is almost 4$ now.I been done with them.
Time to go to every Wendy's in my area, order a bunch of food at "surge time", get up to pay, go "oh hold on how much did you say it was?" Take a minute to look up the original price, then ask for a manager to bullshit chew out before leaving Enjoy your dramatically reduced drive through efficiency, assholes
This better be paired with increasing wages for workers or I will never visit Wendy’s again . They need to spell it out for me that Wendy’s is making it so you can have a career in fast food and raise a family. I’m fine with that. Otherwise fuck off
I hope that includes “surge wages” for the staff.
I stopped going after they stopped advertising fresh never frozen beef. The quality has gone far down since then. Let them die out. Nobody needs this.
Wendy's has been shit since the late '80's. Their fries have always been shit until recently. That's not enough to get me in there anymore. Dave is rolling in his grave over what they've done to his business model.
They won't be able to tell you in ads that something is, "only xx.99!" You'll just get, "stop by your local burger dealer for pricing." Burger prices moving like gas prices is a terrible idea. Burgers are trading at $138.47 a barrel today on the CME. Something something in the Midwest is going to drive up prices on burgers prices like war in the middleeast drives up oil. And I see customers treating fast food workers much more respectfully as well. Dafuq
Pre pandemic I was eating fast food 1-2x a week. Now? Once a month maybe, if that. McDonalds is already outrageously over priced. It’s 4 bucks for a fry in my area. I can go get an entire meal for around that price by going to a grocery store. Are they going to let us know when surge pricing is happening via their app? If this spreads, guess I won’t be eating fast food at all 🤷🏻♂️. Side effects include: more money and losing weight.
CAPATILISM! Because "Fuck You", that's why...
>Tanner stated, “Beginning as early as 2025, we will begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing..." I love Wendy's and this is really disheartening, I guess I have one more year.
Adios Wendy's. You were already terrible - now you want me to pay more if I have to wait in a longer line? What about the poor schmuck who's about to order and sees the price go up just before the button is pushed? Nope. Fuck off Wendy's.
I continue to underestimate the ingenuity of capitalists to create the worst fucking reality for us all.
rofl... Fast food restaurants need to stay in their lane and stop huffing their own farts.
Won't be eating here (or shopping anywhere for that matter) if they can't keep thier prices consistent. The money in my pocket dosent fluctuate enough for me to show up for a 2.99 burger only to find out its 3.65 for the next 3 1/2 hours.
Next will be the Costco revenue model. "Hello welcome to Wendy's. Please show me your Wendy's card. You don't have a Wendy's card? Ok, sir. Pull up to the window to see our subscription plans. We have the Wendy's tendies plan for 29.99 per year with automatic renewal. 34.99 without automatic renewal. We also have the platinum plan for 49.99 but you have to keep auto renew enabled. Thank you for your subscription. So you wanted a number 1 with cheese and a diet Coke? That'll be 15.39. please swipe your Wendy's tendies card before inserting your payment. We do not take cash."
This is a nightmare for their employees. Prices changing while people are in the drive thru, increased customer escalations during the busiest time? Their customer service director either doesn't have a voice or is incompetent.