Did you see the news recently about Wendy’s adding “surge pricing” also called “dynamic pricing” to their menus? It’s an experiment they may start next year.
I can understand if prices go down at quiet times of the day, but will they go up, too? You know that once Wendy’s starts this and then the other food places will follow, and the what’s next — supermarkets? movie theaters? Mass transit?
I know Uber and other car services do this. I’ve actually seen people at the airport keep refreshing their phones in order to get better pricing, which seems to change minute by minute. I’ve never tried that, I just want to get in the car and get to my destination, but I guess if I remember, I may try it on my next Uber trip, but of course the price can go up, so it might be better to just leave well enough alone.
But I’m imagining the menus at Wendy’s changing every few minutes depending on the store traffic. And what about the drive thru — once you are at the window, that’s it, you can’t just sit there and hope for better pricing in the next minute or two. It might make lunch cheaper to eat after lunch time. It could change the whole concept of our day, instead of noon lunch, we might have lunch at 3 pm.
Anyway, it makes for a good cartoon.
Originally published at http://tomversation.com on February 28, 2024.
