McDonald’s has been using artificial intelligence to dynamically price menu items in the US and some global markets, according to a report by Reuters. This involves finding the “optimal price” to match what a particular store’s patrons would be willing to pay.
This fluctuates according to location, and even stores in the same city can have different cost amounts for the same exact items, according to information reviewed by Reuters. This is basically surge pricing, like with ride-share platforms, but for hockey puck burgers that have been sitting under a hot lamp.
Reuters got a look at the interface that franchisees use to access this technology and it’s pretty creepy. Messages show stuff like “your restaurant is showing MEDIUM SENSITIVITY to price” based on “customer willingness to pay in your area.” Cost differences at nearby locations can be stark. Researchers found that a Bic Mac at a Fresno, California store cost $5.69, but the same burger cost $6.89 at another branch two miles down the road. That’s a 21 percent difference.
Yet another reason to avoid McDonald’s, as if the lousy food wasn’t enough.
Millions given to trump plus the ridiculous free pr bullshit they gave him should be enough to turn anyone with two brain cells to rub together away.
I’m gonna start logging onto the app, filling in a cart and then not checking out.
Might stop into the kiosks and do that too when I’m passing one.
Drive down the costs for the people who need it.
Dynamic pricing nudges the price to the maximum a customer can afford which temporarily maximises profits but creates in the mind of the customer a feeling of being relentlessly over charged and eventually and long-term they won’t come back.
You’ll profit early though. Usually people don’t leave when they see high prices. They just pay it once and are much more reluctant to ever return.
that’s where the app deals for free french fries every 3rd tuesday in February comes in. now you really got em!
Those app deals are customised per customer as well. Basically a gacha but for McDonald’s.
That and the food.
I don’t like vendors who think they can take advantage of me for a few extra bucks because of what they see (isn’t that a form of prejudice?)
Same with haggles at flea markets or garage sales. If you don’t label your prices I’m immediately not interested. I’m a demographic that looks “put together” and thus “wealthy” when in reality I’m basically broke and would file for bankruptcy if it’d clear my debt.
So when I come across a haggler (usually an old guy or a foreigner from a country that has a culture of haggling) I tend to avoid them because I don’t enjoy that process. Thats why America came up with price tags and fixed pricing for stuff. Way less hassle. Only idiots really savor the process of haggling. It sucks.
Only idiots really savor the process
Strong “I don’t like a thing, therefore nobody should” vibes there buddy…
Cool. Glad I’m on an opinion forum and not a member of a legislative body that makes laws that apply to everyone.
Opinion and insulting other people are not the same thing.
Nah dude, haggling rules. I get and respect your attitude that you don’t like it, because you’re coming from a place of fairness and transparency. But haggling isn’t about ripping people off—quite the opposite, it’s about finding a deal that both parties are happy with. It’s also more important in some cultures than others, e.g. to some people not haggling is actually rude.
The secret is that you can still haggle when there are price tags and fixed prices. You can ask for discounts, etc. I’ve successfully haggled my rent down! There are no rules! It’s basically a socially acceptable form of social hacking.
If haggling is idiotic, then I’m saving too much money to not be idiotic.
There are no rules!
That isn’t great when it cuts both ways. I’ll stick with fixed pricing and enforceable tenant protection laws. Rules are there for a reason.
I mean yeah, I basically got sick of landlords arbitrarily raising rents, and so I eventually started negotiating back with them, and it worked way better than I expected.
I would dramatically prefer a system of transparent rent control, but sadly there are no rules like that where I live.
The bargain with fast food was that it was shitty for you, but it was quick, cheap, and tasted good. Now it’s even WORSE for you, costs as much as an actual meal, and increasingly tastes like garbage. What exactly are people trading off now?
It isn’t quick anymore either.
there was ONE McDonald’s that I used to still go to on road trips.
then the US threatened to take over my country, so ofc I stopped going to McDonald’s. I tried to make an exception for it last year because I had to pee and I figured it would be the one place actually open at 1am for me to pee and get a coffee, but nope, closed. guess they want people to piss in the drive thru
McDonald’s doesn’t even offer washrooms anymore, they have literally nothing to offer me
A burger-fries-drink is the same cost as the most amazing local shawarma and drink or the freshest ban-mi from the local Vietnamese resto.
More reasons to not eat McDonalds. It sure seems like they are trying to shift from being a hamburger chain into full real estate company and are trying to sabotage their weaker franchises so they can cash out the properities PE style.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they had some super addictive drug in there
For the price of one decently sized McDonald’s meal here in Australia (about $16) I can comfortably feed myself for a week of healthy, filling dinners, and maybe lunches too, using staple foods and in-season veg.
So if I have no income, dynamic pricing will set the price to free, right?
The AI will determine there are a few generous people on the parking lot to whom you can beg for the money.
Never! Corporations only use technology for evil.
The dynamics is unidirectional.
When I’m bored, I get price quotes from Lyft and Uber to the airport. I’ll click around and look at the different tiers of service. Then I choose not to actually request a fare, and close the app.
I fly enough to where both apps probably have me as a regular airport customer, but that I’m price sensitive enough where I just won’t use their service sometimes.
I do the same with Doordash and other food apps, where I just put together potential orders to get a sense of how much something would cost if I ordered it, and then just never order it, letting that cart expire. I’m hoping this poisons their data or adds something to the price sensitivity metrics.
I also look at airfares, hotel prices, etc., a lot. It’s not for the purpose of manipulating their algorithms, as I just like to get a sense for how prices move over time. But if there’s a side effect that these variable pricing algorithms take into account people who window shop and walk away, maybe I’m helping push prices down.
If they’re gonna create a panopticon, we should fuck with their data.
Yeah, my first thought was that such a system was likely gameable.
But then my second thought was that idgaf what any of the McDonald burgers cost. The price they’d need to set to get me to “buy” them wouldn’t be economically viable for the company because I have no clue how a “pay customers to take our burgers” scheme could work out favorably for them.
At least where I live, what they cost is ‘way too much’. You can get a meal from a decent restaurant for the same price, and their burgers have shrunk considerably.
I remember even when I still thought I liked them, I’d never feel satisfied after finishing a meal. For a while I mistook that for meaning I liked the food. Like “oh I just had one but want another already, must be good”. But no, I think now that it was just a sign of my body being well aware that it didn’t have enough nutritional value to meet its needs.
I’ve had other occasions where I’ll finish a combo and wish I had more with other fastfood places, but it’s not a constant experience like it was with McDonald’s.
Hell, that time they did that 2 big macs for $2 (just the burgers) deal, I bought 4 of them. I was full by the end of the 3rd and gave the 4th away but still wasn’t satisfied, I just couldn’t physically fit any more in my stomach.
Anyways, all that to say that any price is “too much” for those empty calories. But yeah, it used to be ok for “something quick and cheap to put in your stomach on a long drive” but even that is no longer the case.
Yum Brands, which owns KFC and Taco Bell… [is] developing AI platforms for just about everything, including a dynamic drive-thru menu that changes based on the car approaching the window.
Bet you didn’t algorithm this portly fuck in a tricked out ‘93 Del Sol wanting 55 enchritos until tonight.
On the plus side, surveillance pricing legislation has already been introduced in (IIRC) four states just this year, and if I had to guess, we could eventually see state-level bans in at least half of the states.
This, like the electronic tags at Walmart, or Uber charging more when your phone battery is low, or Target mining your loyalty club data to surge price you, is something that they’re speedrunning to try and normalize before the law catches up.
The issue is that these are black boxes. No one but the authors of the system know what’s happening. Law prevents Uber from increasing the price on a nearly flat mobile-computer? They didn’t. That’s just the normal price. Who has all the data? Only Uber. No one else. How then can you enforce such laws?
Regular audits have to be a necessary part of any such law.
How then can you enforce such laws?
The same way everything is enforced in billionaire-owned America: fines that, at the end of the day, are likely a minute fraction of a corporation’s profits, though some states will be heavier-handed than others. The Federal Government does not lead on any issue that is of crucial importance to the consumer anymore, so the states are where the power of regulation lies. It’s not ideal but something is better than nothing in this case.
Ultimately, how you fare in this ecosystem depends on your own digital hygiene. The best thing you can do for yourself is simply not consume these products in the first place, but that’s not really an option for many who may live in food deserts or have no options for shopping but Walmart or Target, which is why some measure of regulation is inevitable in most of the states, I think.
My recommendation is to avoid pieces of software that mine your data, like Windows, apps, and certain Internet browsers, use a VPN on any device you use to access the Internet, and 100% avoid loyalty clubs. Old-school methods are best, like making a reservation over the phone for example.
Tech hygene is necessary in the short term as damage mitigation, but this situation cannot be normalized.
Agreed.
The law is working slowly but deliberately. These bills, while new for now, will spread for sure.
Only allow flatrate pricing per distance and time?
No government is going to enforce a universal flat-rate. However that doesn’t prevent what I’m talking about. Uber can give everyone a different flat-rate. How would you know? You wouldn’t. That’s the problem. A friend gets charged a different flat-rate? Ok, now you know, but when the government goes to investigate Uber says, “well the flat-rate had to increase. It’s now XXX.” Again, the imbalance is enormous between the businesses that have the data and any external regulatory body that has to do footwork to get any data.
The same item sells for two different prices at separate stores? “Oh, that store just had a sale.”
How would you know? You wouldn’t.
That’s not necessarily true. It’s ridiculously easy to find, especially in this example. Simply change your pickup address to the house next door.
People are much more perceptive about this activity than you give them credit for, and in fact, there’s a whole sub-genre of content creator that focuses on it. There are also leakers. That documentation will find its way to local authorities and become actionable when the amount of it passes a certain threshold, not unlike the number of dead kids translating to FB having to go to court.
That’s not necessarily true. It’s ridiculously easy to find, especially in this example. Simply change your pickup address to the house next door.
Do you think that fools Uber into believing that the user using the same mobile-computer, the same account, the same data-connection and within the same travel patterns is now a completely different person?
It’s immaterial. Surveillance pricing algorithms aren’t without their flaws, and in this case, it’s relying too heavily on established patterns.
Except you know, all the cities that already do for taxis, which is what Uber is, regardless of how it tries to skirt around it. Get a taxi, the rate is literally posted on the side of the vehicle. Yes, taxis certainly have their own issues, but it’s a sure whole lot more honest than Uber pricing, and that’s the bottom of the barrel.
Yep. I’ve been saying for years that if ubers were regulated like taxis, they would cost the same amount as taxis, and the company would have no reason to exist. It’s not about using new tech to provide new services, it’s about using new tech to skirt regulation—and also the regulations existed for great reasons, and we get to rediscover why.
How do I manipulate it to lowball
WTF is even Grimace? The turd after a supersize meal?
Start stealing burgers so they know you’re not willing to pay the current price
They will just close up shop or lock things down.
Don’t steal their products. Reject them entirely. Invite friends over and cook at home instead.
Not go there
Anyone with any sense and other options stopped eating there a long time ago. I feel bad for those who literally live where there’s no other viable option, mostly because it will rapidly make the last possible option non-viable.
I have zero sympathy for those with good alternatives that don’t walk away. The company ran its course. Let it burn.
no other viable option
Are there people who can’t prepare the most basic foods themselves? I’d always prefer to prepare or cook something myself over getting fast food. Even a slice of bread with some cheese or meat plus some carrots or such is better than fast food in my eyes (and much cheaper anyways).
You can go to the grocery store and buy frozen French fries and frozen patties and heat them in a toaster oven and it will be cheaper and better than McDonald’s.
Granted for that you need a freezer and a toaster oven and a grocery store, and many people don’t have those.
Are there people who can’t prepare the most basic foods themselves?
Sadly yes, either because they were never taught or never learned the basic skills, or live in food deserts that basically prevent them from access to groceries they can purchase and cook.
This guy gets it. There’s legitimately people who couldn’t get the food, don’t have the facilities to prepare it in their shoebox apartment, don’t have the skills to prepare it, have next to nothing for food storage capacity, and/or are on too much of a time crunch to actually prep their own food.
Does that describe everyone? No. Do they exist? Absolutely, and sadly more common than people realize. I’m extremely blessed to have a comfortable suburban house and all the access in the world to the resources I need, but I came up in less favourable circumstances and have old acquaintances who are still there. A grocery store was hard enough to get to it may as well have been on the moon for all the time and transportation I had to get there, my access to tools and appliances to cook were effectively non-existent and the fridge and freezer I had access to couldn’t hold a full week of food to begin with. Living on convenience store taquitos and fast food wasn’t a choice, it was that or starve, and you ate what was open when you had time.
For where I live, the last time I looked into this (in 2024), if you wanted to make a burger with the same amount of meat and toppings as a basic mcdouble, you’re looking at spending almost $50 upfront for ingredients (meat, bun, cheese, onion, and ketchup) and even by weight you’re barely breaking even.
Glad I haven’t eaten their trash microplastic food in like 5 years since I found out it was our pedophile and Chief’s favorite restaurant
Normally my knee jerk reaction would be against this. But if it helps to drive McDonalds to lose customers in the long run, well…🤔
I don’t know who is going there any more. I know there are people, I have one a few blocks away and the drive through is always full but you can go to local places and get good food for so much cheaper.
Kids who want happy meals drag their parents there. However once they hit 5th grade the allure of the happy meal fades and they usually don’t come back.
Kids who want happy meals drag their parents there.
Not my kids. It’s called parenting.
Not that I needed another reason to avoid McDonald’s. Tastes nice, but the burgers have become tiny, and their food gives me the shits.
Does it taste nice? I quit fast food 3 years ago but of all the things they serve, I don’t miss their burgers. Their fries and nuggets maybe, but I never want a McDonald’s burger. They just aren’t good at all, not by any metric.
About once a year I’ll convince myself fast food is a good idea. I always feel ill for a day after. Idk if it’s the mega sodium or the ultra processed grease, but I just feel queezy.
What’s even more weird is that going somewhere that isn’t a chain, like a local burger joint, doesn’t make me feel as bad. Maybe it’s all in my head or maybe the food is that much better.
I kinda miss ordering a double quarter pounder big mac, but otherwise not worth it for many reasons
I mostly miss the fries tbh. Fortunately a brewery near me has the bombest fries I’ve ever had, but sometimes you do just want those garbage McDonald’s fries.
Stopped at a Mcyds on a road trip and ordered a hamburger. Took a while and it sounded like they were not real sure how to assemble it. Not a big selling item anymore.
The prices they charge in Allentown PA is ridiculous. I rather go to Texas roadhouse and get steak
I’d rather go to Texas Roadhouse
Eww. I’d rather neither, thanks.
I cannot get over the fact that McDonalds charged me $7.50 for a sausage egg biscuit with cheese the other day.
Just priced out a pack of biscuits, breakfast sausages, carton of eggs, and cheese at my local store… $9.97
Damn.
I don’t buy McDonal’s because the price/value equation is off. Whether it is off because they think I’m rich or because they think I’m addicted doesn’t really matter. The result is that I just don’t buy.
But if I was a regular customer, I would see unstable prices as a negative because it means, I have to research current prices first before going there. That’s inconvenient. I prefer reasonable and stable prices.Maybe, McDonald’s introduces haggling next so customers can feel like they are buying a used car when they buy a burger…
