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Just refuse to go anywhere that does dynamic pricing (if possible.) Steal from places that do it (if possible.)
Yeah, because boycotts are well known to be super-effective and are definitely a great replacement for consumer-protection legislation.
No it's obviously no replacement for proper legislation. However in the meantime it is a step you can take in the right direction as an individual. When Wendy's started throwing around this bullshit I stopped going. Do they care? No probably not. But I know I'm trying
It should be protected against. But, you know if a business changes to dynamic pricing and their next quarterly numbers shows that the vast majority of people didn't swallow it, and revenue is hugely down, they would undo it in a second.
The fact is, though. They know enough people WILL let them them get away with it. From their point of view, why would they turn down free money?
But, you know if a business changes to dynamic pricing and their next quarterly numbers shows that the vast majority of people didn't swallow it, and revenue is hugely down, they would undo it in a second.
You would be right if we assume that
- The people leading these companies are making informed data driven decisions.
- Companies majorly made money through selling goods/services
However once a company is a certain size or in the correct position it's more about showing a growth potential to investors, then actually proffiting from selling goods/services. Investors is really how these companies make money now. I'm not an economist so I'm not sure if this is still technically capitalism when the majority of profits come straight from investors but to me it sounds much more like a ponzi scheme.
My point being is that in a best case scenario, a nationwide boycott could take place and a company makes $0 gross income. But they can still profit if they can convince their investors that they are taking the right steps to position themselves in "this new economy". Now realistically someone is still going to buy their products and any boycott effort will just have minor effects. The absolute worst case scenario for anyone actually in charge of making decisions like this at a large company is they get a golden parachute and hop over to another place.
Just like you said, why would they turn down free money?
Seems to be working, see all the news about fast food places lowering their prices because profits are down.
My personal boycotts are stupid effective as I haven't given HP or McDonalds or a whole lot of cunts any money in decades.
Why do you care if the place you don't go does something you don't like?
Are happy hours and lunch specials not dynamic pricing? It's just a different way of framing it as a discount rather than surge price, but it's basically the same idea as far as I'm concerned. I'm happy to vote with my wallet on this, if Wendy's decides they want dynamic prices then I'll just go elsewhere. Fast food certainly isn't an essential.
It is known in advance which item is in special and at what price during a determined period of time.
With dynamic pricing, the price could change between you choosing what you want and actually order, without any notice.
This is two different beasts.
I think what they're going to do is to change the price based on how much they think you can afford.
Say "I got a bonus today" while your phone is listening? Guess eggs just went up 20%.
Not familiar with the implementation, so maybe this is incorrect, but does Wendy's tell you when you're paying more or less? If not, my primary issue would be transparency. I know to show up for happy hour or lunch and I know what the prices will be.
I don't want to have to memorize the prices because they quietly bump up everything on the menu by $0.50 at peak meal times everyday for an hour and don't indicate that anywhere.
Lunch menus everywhere I've gone give smaller portions vs. the dinner menu to justify the
lotterylower price. I'd love some lunch portions (and prices) for dinner as an option.Happy hour is a good analogy though, except that they publish the prices and times 24/7 so it's not a surprise like surge pricing is turning into.
As the other guy said, lunch specials aren't dynamic insofar as any pricing can be dynamic when the restaurant just changes prices willy-nilly. Which is what surge pricing is.
Lunch specials are a separate, generally static part of the menu. Like how using a coupon isn't considered dynamic pricing for the times when you have a coupon on you.
So, no traveling? Airlines are well known for already doing this.
No more online shopping? All online shopping has at least the potential, plus you’d never really know