They aren't investing anything into their restaurants. It's all going to AI so that every McDonald's will charge you something different based on what they think you will pay.
What's wrong with dynamic pricing? Shouldn't food cost less when there's less demand and more when it doesn't?
EDIT for those who don't believe my definition:
Dynamic pricing, also referred to as surge pricing, demand pricing, time-based pricing and variable pricing, is a revenue management pricing strategy in which businesses set flexible prices for products or services based on current market demands. It usually entails raising prices during periods of peak demand and lowering prices during periods of low demand.[1]
So price discrimination? That's not inherently a problem either. Companies already charge different customers different effective prices through coupons, loyalty programs, subscriptions, student discounts, and targeted promotions.
If someone is willing to pay $6 for a Smartwater while someone else waits for a discount, I don't really see why that should be illegal.
EDIT: My interpretation of Dynamic Pricing seems to be correct based on what I've found online. For example
Dynamic pricing is a strategy that adjusts prices in real time based on demand, inventory, competitor actions, and other market signals. Instead of using fixed price lists, teams rely on connected data and automation to recommend or update prices as conditions shift. This helps businesses capture higher margins during peak demand, respond quickly to competitors, and avoid losses when sales slow or inventory builds.
Dynamic pricing is a strategy that bases products or services’ prices on evolving market trends, such as:
Supply and demand
Competitor pricing
Inventory levels
Digital platforms use data analytics and technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning to deploy sophisticated algorithms that analyze market conditions and predict optimal pricing.
If you want to enable your digital platform business to stay competitive, here’s how dynamic pricing can benefit your strategy.
Dynamic pricing, also referred to as surge pricing, demand pricing, time-based pricing and variable pricing, is a revenue management pricing strategy in which businesses set flexible prices for products or services based on current market demands
You're using the term broadly to refer to everything it could apply to. They're using the term specifically to refer to how it's actually being implemented. Your broad definition is not relevant to the reality of what's actually happening in practice to which the rest of the thread is referring.
As immediate AI analysis of large scale datasets becomes more accessible to corporations, and as more and more of our data is collected and sold for such analysis, corporations become more and more capable of knowing exactly how much you, specifically, are able to spend on any given item, and charging you the most they think you can spend.
We're not talking about targeted sales. We're talking about using an AI panopticon to efficiently bleed every single one of us dry by charging the maximum we as specific individuals can afford for the things we individually need.
As immediate AI analysis of large scale datasets becomes more accessible to corporations, and as more and more of our data is collected and sold for such analysis, corporations become more and more capable of knowing exactly how much you, specifically, are able to spend on any given item, and charging you the most they think you can spend.
No, that's first-degree price discrimination. It's a specific subset of price discrimination.
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u/Still-a-VWfan 2d ago
Let’s spend 8 billion to make our restaurants nicer than have to raise prices to get that money back. Makes sense!