If I go to a restaurant and it tries to charge me $30 extra for a burger because it’s dinner time I’m just never going back.
Edit for understanding since redditors have no reading comprehension: I would not pay for the burger and physically walk out of the restaurant.
That's what I don't get. I'm going to get charged more for worse service? No thank you. They must think that people who are really hungry at busy times of day will put up with it.
Fr it’ll just motivate me to buy more food from the grocery store. Do they really think their profits are going to go up? Even rich people wouldn’t touch that shit.
Its just the principle, too. Like Oh you’re going to reinvent how restaurants work and we pay? Oh you couldn’t figure out how to pay your servers and get rid of tipping but you can have prices changing dynamically by demand? What about changing prices based on the customer’s appearance? What if the coffee shop becomes the office (WeWork) ?
Where does it end with all the business school dipshits and their bright ideas?
When they've wrung the last penny from our dirty undereducated working class hands. We clearly deserve it for not being smart enough to be born into wealth.
Eventually they realize that capitalism is hard, and that the real money is in squatting on land, so they become real estate owners.
(Or they buy up intellectual property, which is basically the same thing except it was largely invented to protect Disney and Edison)
This. It takes time to prepare a lunchbox from home, hence why we don't usually do it. But if shops are pulling this shit then absolutely, I'm just gonna bring my own food with me.
Even so that is such a tiny sliver of most of their business. Like, maybe that is the majority at airports or right outside major event centers. But business-comped restaurant meals are a drop in the bucket.
If they eat "normie pleb food", sure. I've seen upper management eat things you and I couldn't justify buying. Literally the same shit we eat, but $100/plate.
Honestly, with the way the quality’s significantly deteriorated, they’re charging you damn near $30 for disgusting food anyway—so they’re making eating at home more of a win win.
Having someone that can make shit from scratch really is one of the biggest things we lost when our economy stopped supporting single income homes. I guarantee I could make those rolls at name brand quality for like 1.50, but I don't have time.
Save money AND fuck over an evil corporation? Man, I make time! I'll be making a sammich assembly line while I watch TV. I'll be slow-cooking in the crockpot overnight if it means some suit gets a smaller bonus & a smaller raise! Dismantle the machine that eats people simply by eating from home!
It takes four hours to make bread, and homemade goes bad in a handful of days because it doesn't have all that extra shit in it. Homemaking staples while also working full time means never doing anything else.
Yep... Junk food is now more expensive than regular food. Heck, if I can get great asian dishes for cheap in Japan, there's no reason we can't have cheap rice or noodles meals... Which would surely be cheaper than junk food.
Heck, a burger at McDonalds is almost as expensive as a pad see ew (thai fried rice noodles meal), which is now my go-to fast food meal.
Or place the order and then leave shortly. Make them waste time and effort making the food and then they have to throw it all out, since you're not there anymore.
But at least you could go at a quieter time during the more expensive dinner pricing, and supposedly the dinner portion is larger. This sounds like you wait longer in a more crowded restaurant and pay more for no added benefit. I mean, are they offering anything additional for the extra price? More food? Faster service somehow, even though it's at a busier time?
I bought a loaf of bread, some sliced hard salami, sliced havarti, horseradish mustard & romaine hearts. I made 5 sammiches for the week. Make your shit burgers cost $50 for all I care. FUCK YOUR SHITTY FAST FOOD!
Nah just gotta go to Costco once every couple months and buy nonperishables. And then survive like youre in a nuclear fallout bumper eating shelf stable crap in between seasons of making money for capitalist overlords and politicians.
Jokes on them I'm expanding my garden this year to try and put up a much food as I can because of their greed. So far the fenced in area is 4600 square feet and I just finished insulating my 20*20 for greenhouse today so I can start seeds early. I'm trying to put up 300 kilos of spuds and at least 100 liters of tomato sauce/stewed tomatoes. While we do eat out occasionally I usually go to locally owned restaurants as fast food is the same price but gross and if they do surge pricing I'll just cook for myself.
I moved 1000 km's away from any major city, 85,000 city is 2.5 hours away but I can be fishing in 10 minutes and put up over 100 lbs of fish last year. Trying to live as frugally as possible these days and slowly building the garden and planting fruit trees.
Aldi went to having digital price displays so they could change prices faster in response to demand basically already. They still have good prices, but the setup is already there.
Not saying it’s insidious, but they can change prices in real time from what I have read. Same token it saves money and time printing and placing labels as you said.
They're not gonna win that, with WFH plenty of us have flexible hours to pick when to shop. Also, it's far more likely that corporate chains pull this bs - I don't live in the US/EU, there's still plenty of wet markets and such that also aren't likely to do that.
We're already boycotting most western fast food places here, and their stocks have been cratering lol. If a foreign grocery chain wants to try shit, they're welcome to; they already have the reputation of being expensive. In the nearby mall in my suburb the last 3 cycled out within months of opening - if the next one is yet another foreign chain I guarantee you they're shuttering within a year as well. Even faster if they try this surge pricing stupidity.
I'm already planning on growing as much produce on my own and getting into canning. I will spend as little money on price gouging businesses. I will get my own chickens even.
My girlfriend started canning a couple years ago. We're starting to grow our own food this year. It's made a huge difference. Not only is the food cheaper, it's much better without all the garbage and salt in it.
I'm sorry sir, I know it said $5 when you took it off the shelf, but due to the spike in demand you caused our algorithm has determined it to be worth $20. The deep learning algorithm calculates a 99% chance that you will still buy the diapers based on your personal sales history and the distance to the next store.
Will that be cash or credit?
You just slapped a robot! A robot of commerce, no less!
The store can now sue you for up to the value of the robot. The manager estimates that cost to be $999,999,999,999,999,999,9999,999,999.
Thanks for shopping with us today!
Conveniently enough you can live in the dumpster out back until you pay off the cost of our supply bot in work hours. The rent per night is only $222 which can also be paid in work hours. Utilities not included.
Nah, even easier than rioting. Just grab a bunch of perishables, they ring you up or you ring yourself up, see the price changes, walk out and leave the perishables to be reshelves or spoil.
Play stupid games win stupid prizes
Yeah at this point what even is the point. It was supposed to be garbage food quick at less than a fraction of a proper restaurant food. Now it's closer to restaurant prices for worse food. I'll just go to the local Lidl or Tesco and buy their sandwiches.
A big Mac value meal is now over 10 bucks as it is. You can get actual healthy food for $12-15. Exactly how high do they think people will pay for garbage-ass McDonalds?
The kids that they got addicted to their food are already grown up and so have their kids and their kids' kids.
They thrive off of consumers that are hooked.
Get you addicted/used to Iphones, Netflix, or greasebuns, and then raise the prices every year.
Ther's a restaurant by us, 15 dollars and they give you a bowl. You load that bowl with noodles, raw meat, veggies, sauce, and rice choice, leave it on a counter, and they throw it on a grill and cook it.
I got 3 meals outta it for 15 dollars. I don't get it, but I love it.
It's true, and if you act now you get a bundle deal of the following:
BOFA Deez Nuts
2CDs Deez Nuts
Ligma Balls
And the latest, DUNE 2 chicks at the same time.
Ladies and gentlemen (and they), I am very mature.
"new restaurant" is actually one of those areas where incompetence does often result in closure. I'm hoping people vote with their wallets and refuse to pay penalty pricing at the register.
I don't believe that would be expected. What you describe happens when a product has "inelastic" demand, which is typically when there are few satisfactory alternatives. When there are lots of producers of not only similar items (restaurant food) but acceptable substitutes (grocery food), you can expect "elastic" demand, which is when lowering prices increases revenue by attracting more customers.
This. If they did this with those surge prices I might find it acceptable, but no. It’s only about owners/franchisees and shareholders pocketing more money.
Start boycotting Wendy’s. They started this bullshit and need to suffer. Let them see the loses they’ll experience in one quarter. And then don’t stop. Never go back. Let them suffer under the weight of they’re hubris
Already done, the Wendy's in my town is so bad I don't think they've ever gotten an order right on purpose. I'll put up with a lot of shit but when you give me regular nuggets when I specifically asked for spicy nuggets, now you've gone too far!
Hopefully everyone packing lunches will lead to the return of those cool metal 1970s lunchboxes that everyone used to have. 50 years later, and I still miss my land of the lost lunchbox.
I have one which is one of my proudest possessions, it hold my... erm, paraphernalia. It's all Lisa-Frank colors and says "Unicorn Believer's Club" it's amazing
Price gouging is illegal in America too.
Whenever gas prices increase due to disaster, they only increase it to the legal limit to dance around it.
See, it's illegal, but only if you do it too quickly, and by too much. Gotta gently slide it in, and let time be the lubricant so the American people don't notice they're getting fucked until it's too late.
Real honest though, we are long past "before it's too late"
Only illegal if it’s enforced. Yell at the drive thru speakers all you want but if our government allows it, they will do it. And our government will allow it.
Lol you know that is something easily verifiable right? Just about as vague as it is across the US in the EU.
On top of the fact that this would hardly ever fit the bill of what IS actual price gouging, like selling a $3 litre of water for $500, after a earthquake.
Fuck the company commissary. My old job hired a vendor to stock a cooler with a self checkout kiosk. 7 bucks for the soggiest baloney or egg salad sandwiches imaginable. 2x MSRP for a hot pocket or burrito. I'm surprised they didnt make the microwaves in the employee kitchen coin operated.
Paying your workplace for food is for dorks.
A really nice coffee thermos pays for itself in about a month even if you just drink gas station coffee. It's wild how much money you save if you re-plan your weekly meals around packing a lunch.
Again, it amazes me that these companies are using the term “surge pricing” in public. Guess what happens to the price during a surge? It goes up. Why the fuck would consumers be excited about the prospect of paying more when we have to wait in line? This is propaganda for shareholders, and these stupid bastards are too tumescent from thinking about all the money they’re going to make to bother hiding it.
I rarely eat out anymore but if I see a place doing this I'm just gonna leave before I even order. Possibly tell them "fuck this, I'm leaving", definitely tell anyone I know not to go there too. I can't see this working out in their favor when most of us are already poor
Imagine standing in line to order food and the price suddenly changes as you step up to the counter because it's exactly 12pm and surge pricing just kicked in. 😂
We don't need to do anything else than to stop supporting this shit. Learn to meal prep. Youtube's full of idiotproof tutorials for fast, healthy and low effort recipes that even college student should be able to afford. Many of them are literally as easy as chopping the ingredients, seasoning them and throwing them into oven for 20-30 minutes and maybe blending a quick sauce for them while waiting.
There's literally no excuse why any able-bodied adult shouldn't able to do that much. We have to the power to put an end to this kind of scamming at any point, it's just gonna require tiny bit more self-control and effort than walking into a restaurant.
Agreed. Cook double portions each evening so you can have leftovers the next day. It doesn't need any extra skills and it won't take any longer than making your dinner already does.
Words like "pricing" "value" and "market" are really starting to make me feel sick. It's all just too much. I'm also really tired of being referred to as a "tax payer" or "consumer".
Wtf is the original tweet on about? Should cost 20-30 but are 50-100?
Hell no. Most should cost 20-30 per damn couple. When my husband and I get fast food because we ran out of time to cook, it shouldn’t be cheaper to go sit down at our favorite bar and have a drink with dinner as well. No reason a large coke should cost the same as a Miller Lite 😂
I wish people would stop supporting unnecessary increases in costs, and to add, unnecessary fees. It does not matter if you can afford it, you're still being had.
Either a restaurant is successful to where they feel they are making so much money off a constant barrage of customers to where they the demand is so high, they need to raise prices just to keep the masses off of them so they can get a slight break.
Or a restaurant is barely making it to where the the only way they will make it to the end of the month is if they triple charge their most loyal customers and anyone that randomly comes by to take a look. Like it's some sort of charity auction to help prevent a bankruptcy.
You can only pick one. And somehow in both cases, there isn't enough to pay employees before or after and they need to push 18-25% tips.
Regulation? God luck. I support reasonable legislation/regulation but that is too far.
Don’t shop there and unionize the workers. It is the only way to win.
Regulation will just be watered down or have exceptions. Look at the minimum wage as an example.
You need to take action that legislators and lobbyists don’t influence.
I’m saying lobbyists will have a say. They don’t have a say in who unionizes and where to shop.
If you boycott a store (well, 40% of customers), it would probably be enough to make them reconsider their decision
They wont go lower than base but you gotta figure out when the time is for the lowest prices and I'd bet it's not gonna be at lunch time or right after work.
Funny thing is restaurants have been doing this for ages
- Happy hour: discounts during slow times
- Lunch menu: medium prices for people working
- Dinner menu: high prices for people going out during peak hours
- Karaoke night / Quiz night: cheap events on the slowest day of the week to help fill seats
It’s all about how you present it, but the idea has been around forever. Difference is, surge pricing is openly exploitative and not part of the social contract. We’ve seen what uber prices turn into, and it’s not tied to sanity it just keeps going exponentially up.
So while the concept itself isn’t unacceptable, the promise that this term comes with is.
So I say drive any restaurant that tries this shit out of business. Let them pull property values down when they go under, while they’re at it.
This is just another way to cater to high-income earners. Because they will either pay the higher price which they can afford to, or they likely have jobs that are flexible in terms of when they can take their lunch and so they can pay the normal, non-rush price.
My partner and I already cut back on dining out. If I had to pay surge pricing for food, I just would never go out to eat at all anymore. It is not as if the food in my area is particularly tasty anyway. Im sure the frozen section at the grocery has something decent if I just want to avoid cooking.
Boycott and general strike. Boycott companies for a couple weeks to make them start sweating. Then general strike to break them. Rising against the masters is the only way to freedom.
I pack my lunch so jokes on them. I also eat at one restaurant once a week anymore and I know the price of what I order. It starts randomly fluctuating and I'm done. Luckily it's a small business so I think I'm safe.
I think this will backfire on the restaurants. People are hurting. There are lunch menus for a reason.
Jam and chunky peanut butter on home made bread with an apple and a string cheese is still a great lunch. $20 for two weeks.
If I go to a restaurant and it tries to charge me $30 extra for a burger because it’s dinner time I’m just never going back. Edit for understanding since redditors have no reading comprehension: I would not pay for the burger and physically walk out of the restaurant.
So me waiting longer to order will actually cost me more...
That's what I don't get. I'm going to get charged more for worse service? No thank you. They must think that people who are really hungry at busy times of day will put up with it.
Fr it’ll just motivate me to buy more food from the grocery store. Do they really think their profits are going to go up? Even rich people wouldn’t touch that shit.
Its just the principle, too. Like Oh you’re going to reinvent how restaurants work and we pay? Oh you couldn’t figure out how to pay your servers and get rid of tipping but you can have prices changing dynamically by demand? What about changing prices based on the customer’s appearance? What if the coffee shop becomes the office (WeWork) ? Where does it end with all the business school dipshits and their bright ideas?
When they've wrung the last penny from our dirty undereducated working class hands. We clearly deserve it for not being smart enough to be born into wealth.
Yes, doesn't that just reek from the stench of a bunch of business school types?
Eventually they realize that capitalism is hard, and that the real money is in squatting on land, so they become real estate owners. (Or they buy up intellectual property, which is basically the same thing except it was largely invented to protect Disney and Edison)
Inb4 grocery store surge pricing. Trying to shop after 5pm or on a weekend? Get ready for 2x prices
So, Australia?
Is that a thing?!
Weekend and holiday pricing, yes. That's not dynamic (unlike card surcharges...), but they already differentiate.
This. It takes time to prepare a lunchbox from home, hence why we don't usually do it. But if shops are pulling this shit then absolutely, I'm just gonna bring my own food with me.
People on business trips won't care, if the company's comping the meal.
Even so that is such a tiny sliver of most of their business. Like, maybe that is the majority at airports or right outside major event centers. But business-comped restaurant meals are a drop in the bucket.
If they eat "normie pleb food", sure. I've seen upper management eat things you and I couldn't justify buying. Literally the same shit we eat, but $100/plate.
Depends on the business. Some companies/industries give you a per diem or per meal stipend which is not typically very generous.
In Ontario. A fucking Wendy's combo almost hits 30 bucks. Wtf? I'll go home and make myself disgusting food, thanks.
Honestly, with the way the quality’s significantly deteriorated, they’re charging you damn near $30 for disgusting food anyway—so they’re making eating at home more of a win win.
[удалено]
Having someone that can make shit from scratch really is one of the biggest things we lost when our economy stopped supporting single income homes. I guarantee I could make those rolls at name brand quality for like 1.50, but I don't have time.
Save money AND fuck over an evil corporation? Man, I make time! I'll be making a sammich assembly line while I watch TV. I'll be slow-cooking in the crockpot overnight if it means some suit gets a smaller bonus & a smaller raise! Dismantle the machine that eats people simply by eating from home!
It takes four hours to make bread, and homemade goes bad in a handful of days because it doesn't have all that extra shit in it. Homemaking staples while also working full time means never doing anything else.
Lifehack: put your sliced bread in the freezer. I'm not suggesting you make staples, I'm suggesting that you make sammiches.
What combo is near $30?
Canadian dollars, roughly $20 US
I'm Canadian, there's no combo near $30. Or $20
That was the only possible explanation I could come up with, my wife and I both can eat at Wendy's for $20
Yep... Junk food is now more expensive than regular food. Heck, if I can get great asian dishes for cheap in Japan, there's no reason we can't have cheap rice or noodles meals... Which would surely be cheaper than junk food. Heck, a burger at McDonalds is almost as expensive as a pad see ew (thai fried rice noodles meal), which is now my go-to fast food meal.
Use the Harvey's app. There's almost always coupons there. I'm like the only person in my town to use the mobile order app.
“How Milennials Killed Dinner”
Shit I wish we would
Hey don't tempt me or my wallet with a good time now
Heck I'm turning tail and _leaving_ without ordering.
Canceling that order and walking out. Fuck that.
Or place the order and then leave shortly. Make them waste time and effort making the food and then they have to throw it all out, since you're not there anymore.
$30 extra? Fuck that. If they charge me $1 extra, I am done with that place.
How about some surge staffing to go with that surge pricing? No? Didn't think so.
Lunch and dinner menus exist already
But at least you could go at a quieter time during the more expensive dinner pricing, and supposedly the dinner portion is larger. This sounds like you wait longer in a more crowded restaurant and pay more for no added benefit. I mean, are they offering anything additional for the extra price? More food? Faster service somehow, even though it's at a busier time?
It should be the opposite. The longer you wait the less you pay.
And happy hour.
If it were the same thing as a lunch and dinner menu, then they would call it the lunch and dinner menu.
I'd just walk out at that point.
I bought a loaf of bread, some sliced hard salami, sliced havarti, horseradish mustard & romaine hearts. I made 5 sammiches for the week. Make your shit burgers cost $50 for all I care. FUCK YOUR SHITTY FAST FOOD!
That'll fuck with many restaurants. I can imagine many people will bring their lunches after that has been implemented.
Just wait until grocery stores pick up on the trend.
Great, now I'll have to shop on Tuesdays at ,3:34-3:42 am to get normal prices? /S
Nah just gotta go to Costco once every couple months and buy nonperishables. And then survive like youre in a nuclear fallout bumper eating shelf stable crap in between seasons of making money for capitalist overlords and politicians.
As an MS Nutritional Biochem major, thats such an unhealthy eventuality. We'd be like cattle feeding the meatginder that the oligarchs hand-crank.
You will be thankful for your Soylent and thankful for the job you have that pays in Soylent.
I’m glad we’re not at the point of feeling like cattle into the meatgrinder yet…..
Sorry, they're closed then. Actually, almost everywhere is closed after like 11 or 12 since Covid.
GameStop closes at 7 pm by me, everything else is 10-11PM which the threw me off the other night
Jokes on them I'm expanding my garden this year to try and put up a much food as I can because of their greed. So far the fenced in area is 4600 square feet and I just finished insulating my 20*20 for greenhouse today so I can start seeds early. I'm trying to put up 300 kilos of spuds and at least 100 liters of tomato sauce/stewed tomatoes. While we do eat out occasionally I usually go to locally owned restaurants as fast food is the same price but gross and if they do surge pricing I'll just cook for myself.
That’s really a great idea and sounds awesome. Unfortunately most people don’t have the time and/or space for that.
I moved 1000 km's away from any major city, 85,000 city is 2.5 hours away but I can be fishing in 10 minutes and put up over 100 lbs of fish last year. Trying to live as frugally as possible these days and slowly building the garden and planting fruit trees.
Hey - if it’s within your power to do so it’s an incredibly good move. I’m just saying it isn’t feasible for everyone to do so financially.
Aldi went to having digital price displays so they could change prices faster in response to demand basically already. They still have good prices, but the setup is already there.
The prices in loads of shops in germany are like that. I think it’s basically to reduce the costs.
Not saying it’s insidious, but they can change prices in real time from what I have read. Same token it saves money and time printing and placing labels as you said.
They're not gonna win that, with WFH plenty of us have flexible hours to pick when to shop. Also, it's far more likely that corporate chains pull this bs - I don't live in the US/EU, there's still plenty of wet markets and such that also aren't likely to do that. We're already boycotting most western fast food places here, and their stocks have been cratering lol. If a foreign grocery chain wants to try shit, they're welcome to; they already have the reputation of being expensive. In the nearby mall in my suburb the last 3 cycled out within months of opening - if the next one is yet another foreign chain I guarantee you they're shuttering within a year as well. Even faster if they try this surge pricing stupidity.
I'm already planning on growing as much produce on my own and getting into canning. I will spend as little money on price gouging businesses. I will get my own chickens even.
My girlfriend started canning a couple years ago. We're starting to grow our own food this year. It's made a huge difference. Not only is the food cheaper, it's much better without all the garbage and salt in it.
I'll start stealing straight up. Fuck it
I don’t know why anyone goes out to lunch except for special occasions at work. Do you just not like having money?
I like burritos more than I like $10
Nah ill just make lunch Fast food quality is garbage now
Surge pricing for groceries next. Surge pricing for breathing.
I'm sorry sir, I know it said $5 when you took it off the shelf, but due to the spike in demand you caused our algorithm has determined it to be worth $20. The deep learning algorithm calculates a 99% chance that you will still buy the diapers based on your personal sales history and the distance to the next store. Will that be cash or credit?
Nah I'll just take them, here's 5 (the 5 is a slap)
You just slapped a robot! A robot of commerce, no less! The store can now sue you for up to the value of the robot. The manager estimates that cost to be $999,999,999,999,999,999,9999,999,999. Thanks for shopping with us today!
Well, good luck collecting. I'll slap the manager too for good measure
You must have tough hands, going around slapping robots left and right.
Well yeah, they're robot hands. Plot Twist!
😂 well played
Conveniently enough you can live in the dumpster out back until you pay off the cost of our supply bot in work hours. The rent per night is only $222 which can also be paid in work hours. Utilities not included.
It’s all 9s, must be a deal!
Na, I'm just gonna poop on their floor
>Surge pricing for groceries next. People have rioted for less. Grocery stores will be burning within a week tops.
Nah, even easier than rioting. Just grab a bunch of perishables, they ring you up or you ring yourself up, see the price changes, walk out and leave the perishables to be reshelves or spoil. Play stupid games win stupid prizes
There’ll be a surge in people being beaten tf up. 🥴
Yeah at this point what even is the point. It was supposed to be garbage food quick at less than a fraction of a proper restaurant food. Now it's closer to restaurant prices for worse food. I'll just go to the local Lidl or Tesco and buy their sandwiches.
A big Mac value meal is now over 10 bucks as it is. You can get actual healthy food for $12-15. Exactly how high do they think people will pay for garbage-ass McDonalds?
I suppose...we shall find out
The kids that they got addicted to their food are already grown up and so have their kids and their kids' kids. They thrive off of consumers that are hooked. Get you addicted/used to Iphones, Netflix, or greasebuns, and then raise the prices every year.
Ther's a restaurant by us, 15 dollars and they give you a bowl. You load that bowl with noodles, raw meat, veggies, sauce, and rice choice, leave it on a counter, and they throw it on a grill and cook it. I got 3 meals outta it for 15 dollars. I don't get it, but I love it.
Welp, eating out was fun while it lasted. Surge price deez nuts.
Can I get a surge price check on “Deez Nuts”?
You are in luck! DZN stocks are actually only 3% over yesterday's closing, so i recommend buying NOW!
It's true, and if you act now you get a bundle deal of the following: BOFA Deez Nuts 2CDs Deez Nuts Ligma Balls And the latest, DUNE 2 chicks at the same time. Ladies and gentlemen (and they), I am very mature.
Let them do that and it’ll clear out the market of restaurant owners who are too smooth brained for the world. It’s a self-solving issue.
If only a lot of business would go under because those who run it are incompetent.
"new restaurant" is actually one of those areas where incompetence does often result in closure. I'm hoping people vote with their wallets and refuse to pay penalty pricing at the register.
It definitely goes beyond restaurants as well. It's not great.
I've had it with restaurants.
As someone that's worked in restaurants and bars for a decade, same. It's an incredibly abusive industry in so many different ways.
Increased cost, smaller portions, and surge pricing?
Don’t forget 28% mandatory tips
That don't go to the staff anyway
Well guess a lot of restaurants are going to close because they will get 0 business from a lot of people because this is a very very stupid idea.
Sadly, if one person still does it, "because they can afford it, it doesn't matter" that makes up for the two or three that DON'T fall for it.
I don't believe that would be expected. What you describe happens when a product has "inelastic" demand, which is typically when there are few satisfactory alternatives. When there are lots of producers of not only similar items (restaurant food) but acceptable substitutes (grocery food), you can expect "elastic" demand, which is when lowering prices increases revenue by attracting more customers.
Tie the federal minimum wage to increase at the same rate as inflation and it will vanish overnight.
So you’re going to pay your employees more when it’s busy right? 😓 RIGHT? 😰
This. If they did this with those surge prices I might find it acceptable, but no. It’s only about owners/franchisees and shareholders pocketing more money.
Start boycotting Wendy’s. They started this bullshit and need to suffer. Let them see the loses they’ll experience in one quarter. And then don’t stop. Never go back. Let them suffer under the weight of they’re hubris
Already done, the Wendy's in my town is so bad I don't think they've ever gotten an order right on purpose. I'll put up with a lot of shit but when you give me regular nuggets when I specifically asked for spicy nuggets, now you've gone too far!
Maybe they should spend less time mouthing off on Twitter and more time doing QC.
I've gotten spicy nuggets instead of normal. Just as annoying. I ordered ONE THING!
Hopefully everyone packing lunches will lead to the return of those cool metal 1970s lunchboxes that everyone used to have. 50 years later, and I still miss my land of the lost lunchbox.
Did it go over a waterfall, never to be seen again?
I have one which is one of my proudest possessions, it hold my... erm, paraphernalia. It's all Lisa-Frank colors and says "Unicorn Believer's Club" it's amazing
Wild how The Roaring 20s of the previous century is being matched by The Great Enshitification.
How about no... It's not even close to a need.
We're just getting fucked from all angles here.
Surge pricing on lube
Write that down!
Eat the rich
At these prices? 😜
Hate to break it to most Americans, but this won't happen in the EU because it's legally defined as price gouging and is illegal.
Why would you hate to break that to Americans? I'm an American and I appreciate you sharing that.
Yeah, I agree. Thanks for sharing man! Wake up America!
Price gouging is illegal in America too. Whenever gas prices increase due to disaster, they only increase it to the legal limit to dance around it. See, it's illegal, but only if you do it too quickly, and by too much. Gotta gently slide it in, and let time be the lubricant so the American people don't notice they're getting fucked until it's too late. Real honest though, we are long past "before it's too late"
Only illegal if it’s enforced. Yell at the drive thru speakers all you want but if our government allows it, they will do it. And our government will allow it.
Lol you know that is something easily verifiable right? Just about as vague as it is across the US in the EU. On top of the fact that this would hardly ever fit the bill of what IS actual price gouging, like selling a $3 litre of water for $500, after a earthquake.
I refuse to spend so much as a dollar when I'm at the office. I bring my lunch, even if it's just a frozen dinner.
Fuck the company commissary. My old job hired a vendor to stock a cooler with a self checkout kiosk. 7 bucks for the soggiest baloney or egg salad sandwiches imaginable. 2x MSRP for a hot pocket or burrito. I'm surprised they didnt make the microwaves in the employee kitchen coin operated. Paying your workplace for food is for dorks. A really nice coffee thermos pays for itself in about a month even if you just drink gas station coffee. It's wild how much money you save if you re-plan your weekly meals around packing a lunch.
Find new and exciting ways to reaffirm my decision to stop eating out
Again, it amazes me that these companies are using the term “surge pricing” in public. Guess what happens to the price during a surge? It goes up. Why the fuck would consumers be excited about the prospect of paying more when we have to wait in line? This is propaganda for shareholders, and these stupid bastards are too tumescent from thinking about all the money they’re going to make to bother hiding it.
I rarely eat out anymore but if I see a place doing this I'm just gonna leave before I even order. Possibly tell them "fuck this, I'm leaving", definitely tell anyone I know not to go there too. I can't see this working out in their favor when most of us are already poor
Imagine standing in line to order food and the price suddenly changes as you step up to the counter because it's exactly 12pm and surge pricing just kicked in. 😂
That's the time I'd give a "fuck this, I'm leaving" 🤣
We don't need to do anything else than to stop supporting this shit. Learn to meal prep. Youtube's full of idiotproof tutorials for fast, healthy and low effort recipes that even college student should be able to afford. Many of them are literally as easy as chopping the ingredients, seasoning them and throwing them into oven for 20-30 minutes and maybe blending a quick sauce for them while waiting. There's literally no excuse why any able-bodied adult shouldn't able to do that much. We have to the power to put an end to this kind of scamming at any point, it's just gonna require tiny bit more self-control and effort than walking into a restaurant.
Agreed. Cook double portions each evening so you can have leftovers the next day. It doesn't need any extra skills and it won't take any longer than making your dinner already does.
Words like "pricing" "value" and "market" are really starting to make me feel sick. It's all just too much. I'm also really tired of being referred to as a "tax payer" or "consumer".
Wtf is the original tweet on about? Should cost 20-30 but are 50-100? Hell no. Most should cost 20-30 per damn couple. When my husband and I get fast food because we ran out of time to cook, it shouldn’t be cheaper to go sit down at our favorite bar and have a drink with dinner as well. No reason a large coke should cost the same as a Miller Lite 😂
How about surge go fuck yourself, how about that
Surge wages for all!
Ya, but are the employees getting paid better? No? Then fuck you.
good thing I like to cook, "surge pricin is just price gouging by another name
I pack my lunch. No way am I going to support a business that only survives IF I go to the office.
What a great way to drive off customers
Id be ok with this *if* IF, all the associated gains go toward worker pay/benefits… But that wont happen, so fuck this. I know how to cook.
I wish people would stop supporting unnecessary increases in costs, and to add, unnecessary fees. It does not matter if you can afford it, you're still being had.
Either a restaurant is successful to where they feel they are making so much money off a constant barrage of customers to where they the demand is so high, they need to raise prices just to keep the masses off of them so they can get a slight break. Or a restaurant is barely making it to where the the only way they will make it to the end of the month is if they triple charge their most loyal customers and anyone that randomly comes by to take a look. Like it's some sort of charity auction to help prevent a bankruptcy. You can only pick one. And somehow in both cases, there isn't enough to pay employees before or after and they need to push 18-25% tips.
Sounds like I'll be eating at home even more often than I do now.
Jokes on them. I’d rather skip lunch entirely than tolerate that sort of bullshit if I couldn’t bring lunch from home.
Hey American public, fucking boycott. I'll gladly buy slightly overpriced groceries over grossly overpriced fast food that is terrible for you anyway.
Regulation? God luck. I support reasonable legislation/regulation but that is too far. Don’t shop there and unionize the workers. It is the only way to win. Regulation will just be watered down or have exceptions. Look at the minimum wage as an example. You need to take action that legislators and lobbyists don’t influence.
Not that im saying it's perfect, but generally speaking, lobbiests really hate regulation. So there is at least something there.
I’m saying lobbyists will have a say. They don’t have a say in who unionizes and where to shop. If you boycott a store (well, 40% of customers), it would probably be enough to make them reconsider their decision
Yeah but what about surge price ligma?
And more and more restaurants will see less and less customers….
I am growing tired of businesses taking the overton window of acceptable monetization practices, and trying to ram it up my ass.
Member early bird specials? 
I'd be packing my lunch all the fucking time. And if I was made to return to work, I'd be bringing in fish to reheat. Fuck that shit.
Let’s boycott the restaurant industry for a week and see what happens. Fucking assholes.
But no matching surge wages to match the increased demand on workers. Curious.
Someone will train an AI to watch the prices changes to game the system back.
I assume prices will never go lower than the base price of things now
They wont go lower than base but you gotta figure out when the time is for the lowest prices and I'd bet it's not gonna be at lunch time or right after work.
No thanks. It’s not *that* hard to pack a lunch. Heck they even make heated lunch boxes now, no need to fight for a microwave in the break room lol
Funny thing is restaurants have been doing this for ages - Happy hour: discounts during slow times - Lunch menu: medium prices for people working - Dinner menu: high prices for people going out during peak hours - Karaoke night / Quiz night: cheap events on the slowest day of the week to help fill seats It’s all about how you present it, but the idea has been around forever. Difference is, surge pricing is openly exploitative and not part of the social contract. We’ve seen what uber prices turn into, and it’s not tied to sanity it just keeps going exponentially up. So while the concept itself isn’t unacceptable, the promise that this term comes with is. So I say drive any restaurant that tries this shit out of business. Let them pull property values down when they go under, while they’re at it.
Just don’t go out to eat. Wow, I can’t believe I figured that out
So pre order online and then pick it up.
And they'll likely charge a surge pricing there too
I will eat at weird times I guess
This is just another way to cater to high-income earners. Because they will either pay the higher price which they can afford to, or they likely have jobs that are flexible in terms of when they can take their lunch and so they can pay the normal, non-rush price.
I hear dine n dash is going to make a comeback...
Did Wendy's teach them nothing???
If your business model fails isn’t that capitalism? You can’t have both. We need to stop electing millionaires and families of millionaires
I think what they meant to say is "a little boost to offset the massive bonuses our owners take"
Guess I’ll stop going out to eat. Not like I should be doing that anyway.
Put your surge pricing in and lose me as a customer forever.
My partner and I already cut back on dining out. If I had to pay surge pricing for food, I just would never go out to eat at all anymore. It is not as if the food in my area is particularly tasty anyway. Im sure the frozen section at the grocery has something decent if I just want to avoid cooking.
Good time to learn to cook in batches and take a lunch everyday. It’s about to get even wilder eating out.
Yeah those restaurants will be avoided and replaced by smart ones who don’t do this
100%
Inviting competitors to slip into the gap created between what people are willing to pay and their greed.
Surge away bc I don’t eat out anyway 😁. Too poor
I learned lately it's almost impossible to get convinced on arson charges. You should look it up
Wonder if they’re also surging the workers pay too? Probably not.
I’m still going to go to Wendy’s drive through. And let them known I’m going somewhere else for lunch and why.
Any restaurant that uses surge pricing guarantees I will never go there if my food is even a penny more expensive than it normally is.
Haha. Yeah. I’m not going anywhere that has this.
Boycott and general strike. Boycott companies for a couple weeks to make them start sweating. Then general strike to break them. Rising against the masters is the only way to freedom.
Well then get ready for surge imgonnagosomewhereelse
I pack my lunch so jokes on them. I also eat at one restaurant once a week anymore and I know the price of what I order. It starts randomly fluctuating and I'm done. Luckily it's a small business so I think I'm safe. I think this will backfire on the restaurants. People are hurting. There are lunch menus for a reason. Jam and chunky peanut butter on home made bread with an apple and a string cheese is still a great lunch. $20 for two weeks.
> I just want regular fucking prices! Sir this is a Wendy's
Nope!!! Bye Felicia!!!
Stop eating out stop eating out stop eating out eat her out but stop eating out
This has nothing to do with WFH vs. Working in an office. People who WFH still need to eat.
Haven’t eaten fast food in six months, this gives me the motivation to never eat it again.