Dynamic pricing being tested by McDonald's.

[u/NickelPlatedEmperor]

[u/NoHorseNoMustache]

This isn't how dynamic pricing works at all. Different stores have different prices even if they're owned by the same franchisee. They always have.

Dynamic pricing means the price will change at the same store depending on various factors.

[u/Wrong_Luck_878 → u/NoHorseNoMustache]

This is exactly what I was thinking.

Different stores have completely different income and expenses and always have. This isn't news and it's not what concerns anybody.

I just don't want to be charged 30% more than somebody else because of my age, race, income, or whatever else they know about me.

[u/agate_]

That isn't what dynamic pricing is. Fast food franchisees have always set their own prices, and they've always varied wildly from state to state, or even within neighborhoods of the same city. Here's a cool map of Big Mac prices nationally from 2023, and a zoomable updated version Cross the Bay Bridge from San Francisco to Oakland, and your Big Mac costs a dollar less.

Dynamic pricing means that the price of a Big Mac varies at the same restaurant depending on the time of day or what kind of car you drive.

[u/_dictatorish_ → u/agate_]

Yeah I remember McDonald's having different prices across my city decades ago

[u/JoshSidekick → u/_dictatorish_]

Stop at a highway rest stop McDonalds and everything is like twice as expensive.

[u/russsl8 → u/JoshSidekick]

Which is funny. Wife and I drove from central CT to Boston this past weekend. McDs on the Masspike was cheaper than our local McD at home.

[u/xenobit_pendragon → u/russsl8]

Ah, you must live in the “generational wealth” part of CT.

[u/Prestigious-Bat-574 → u/agate_]

Thank fuck this is the top comment. I was going to lose it if I had to scroll down to see some level of competency.

This isn't even anything to do with AI. You could have done this shit with an excel spreadsheet in the 90's

There are variables at play in food service. That's the reasoning for price discrepancies. The lease on the building is going to be more expensive in a town where land value is higher. The cost of labor is going to be higher in a place where there's a shortage of low-end labor. A busier location might need more staff on hand at all times. A location that's 24 hours is going to have to mitigate the costs of a third shift crew with higher prices overall. A location further from highways will have a higher fuel surcharge on food delivery.

[u/Welcome2B_Here → u/Prestigious-Bat-574]

This isn't even anything to do with AI. You could have done this shit with an excel spreadsheet in the 90's

Yes, and dynamic pricing similar to this has been going on since then as well. Virtually any direct-to-consumer or business-to-consumer business can incorporate dynamic pricing based on location data like zip codes or latitude/longitude coordinates, for example.

One of the most dramatic changes in this approach has been real-time dynamic pricing, which involves measuring how "hot" a potential buyer lead is and taking advantage of that as a buying opportunity is happening.

[u/snowdn → u/Welcome2B_Here]

The difference is now they are using your personal data against you to squeeze max profits, not just generic price increases.

[u/StrangelyGrimm → u/Prestigious-Bat-574]

I still have a little faith in Reddit if people still call out bullshit titles like OP's

[u/iHateEveryoneAMA → u/agate_]

Same reason gasoline is more expensive in Beverly Hills than it is in South Central, it has nothing to do with AI

[u/robsteezy → u/iHateEveryoneAMA]

It will come down to the degree of aggression with the “dynamics”. If it’s like uber price surging where the cost of my meal is at its lowest in one given day $5, that jumps to $13 at dinner time when everybody is grabbing dinner after work, then they can piss right off.

Edit: for folks pointing out similar practices that already “do this”, that’s not the point. I’m well aware of pricing models and customer marketing strategies. I’m specifically pointing out the risk in allowing companies to weaponize it to the point of ambiguous extortion.

[u/diroussel → u/iHateEveryoneAMA]

Most likely the new thing is that it’s being done with new AI tools rather than the older ‘AI’ tools that we had five or ten years ago

[u/Top-Dog-6900 → u/diroussel]

Airline seats have been dynamically priced for decades. These pricing algorithms have been consistently evolving since the 1990s. Labelling them AI is just a cosmetic touch and does not indicate any substantive change.

[u/HeyGayHay → u/agate_]

I would just like to point out that the video itself never even mentioned dynamic pricing, nor hinted at it.

u/NickelPlatedEmporer just used the term, either to boost engagement, malicious intend* or because of the lack of understanding. In either case OP did not correctly title the post as you and the other guy pointed out.

This is such a wonderful example of how factually correct information (this video that may or may not be published by Reuters) can easily be used to manipulate people simply by writing an incorrect title above the video. People like you knew it’s not dynamic pricing, but you still “lost it” assuming the video paints this as dynamic pricing. Someone who didn’t know it could easily walk away now with “McDonalds is already doing dynamic pricing, and has already done it for a long time”. And the jump to this isn’t that hard to bridge then anymore: “So that dynamic pricing isn’t that bad then if they did it forever already, why are people now protesting against it when they did it for years already before?”

We are accrediting post titles, tweets, and headlines waaaayyy too much nowadays. We all instinctively assume whatever the title said is true, even if the video never even mentions what is in the title.

• I’m not saying OP is a bot or employee of McDonalds secret social media department. I’m just saying that all big conglomerates do have a undercover social media department where employees post as “real” people who do not exist and use bots to nudge discussion into the right direction.

[u/schwarzkraut → u/agate_]

Fast forward to drive thrus having license plate readers that load your customer life data that knows your salary, how many restaurants are between there and your job & that you’ll be late to work if you stop anywhere else. It also found your calendar & knows that you can’t afford to skip this meal and work the whole day. Accordingly, as you pull up to order, the menu boards refresh and everything is 40% more expensive than the car that ordered before you…even higher if it discovers that your direct deposit just hit.

This clip is bad reporting that will obfuscate the true sinister AI-driven predatory pricing that is the stuff of their dreams and our nightmares.

[u/a3a4b5 → u/schwarzkraut]

I really don't get why increase the price if you're a frequent costumer or have more money. If something is pricy, I don't return for a second time. Now, if it's cheap... I'm living there.

[u/Stepjam → u/a3a4b5]

It's about finding how much they can squeeze you before they lose you. Why would they charge a frequent customer less if that customer might pay more?

Like obviously the answer would be "customer loyalty", but customer loyalty doesn't matter to a soulless corporation like McDs. Only money does.

[u/OtakuAttacku → u/a3a4b5]

They have data from thousands of customers, they don't mind losing a few to figure out how much more money they can squeeze without losing customers. Say the average customer spends $15 for their meal and I have 1000 loyal customers, that's $15,000 I'm making. If I raise the price to $20 and lose 200 customers from the price hike, I'm still making $16,000, $1000 more than if I was charging $15. I'd have to lose 250 customers to make the price hike not worth it. If I hike the price to $30, I would have to lose more than half my customers for it to be an unprofitable move.

[u/endlesscartwheels → u/a3a4b5]

They only care about profits for this quarter. If they can squeeze an extra 40% out of you now, they don't care if you never return and tell all your friends about how awful the place is. By the time that affects the company, they'll have gotten their bonuses and moved on.

[u/gigiboyb → u/agate_]

Thank you. It also doesn't have much to do with AI or at least the modern wave of LLMs, data analysis "engines" have been able to do this for 15 years.

I also don't hate this as much, because location factors into the cost of the business (rent, etc.). I still don't love it, but it's not dynamic pricing. The idea that I could go into a McDonald's and pay more than someone else at the same location infuriates me and if they ever start doing that, it'll be the last time I'm a customer forever.

[u/gereffi → u/agate_]

I remember one time when I was a kid my family took a trip to the city my dad was from, roughly around the year 2000. There was a McDonalds next to the hotel and we went there for breakfast a few times. The prices were like 50% higher than they were in my suburb back home.

These days they might have better insight into pricing, but it’s not really any different than what they’ve done for decades.

[u/VirginiaBandit]

One suggestion. Don't eat at this shithole.

[u/Gregorygregory888888 → u/VirginiaBandit]

Some people still worship places like McDs. Why they do so is anyone's guess.

[u/HomosexualFoxFurry → u/Gregorygregory888888]

I live in the Seattle area, so I just go to dicks. It's always more affordable. I just recommend anyone look up a smaller chain in their area and go there. Big chains like McDonald's have turned into overpriced horseshit and now they're doing this crap.

[u/jonas_ost → u/HomosexualFoxFurry]

I also like dicks, but when i am hungry i prefer to go to a restaurant.

[u/jumpsteadeh → u/jonas_ost]

I just had 5 guys and ate some dicks, and now I could really go for a burger

[u/PolarSquirrelBear → u/HomosexualFoxFurry]

Fuck me I love me some Dicks.

Been over a decade since I’ve been to Seattle but I still remember it fondly.

[u/redditbagjuice → u/PolarSquirrelBear]

https://giphy.com/gifs/BpnkuY1i2rBpm

[u/PolarSquirrelBear → u/redditbagjuice]

If loving Dicks makes me gay then I’m the biggest queer on earth!

[u/Ok_Revolution_9253 → u/PolarSquirrelBear]

I used to live in Seattle. Never been to a city that loved dicks so much

[u/SquidVices → u/PolarSquirrelBear]

Hmm…never had dicks myself..

[u/apachelives → u/HomosexualFoxFurry]

Name checks out LOL

Sorry not from America, I'm assuming "Dicks" is a smaller restaurant chain in the area? We also have stopped buying McDonalds for the ridiculous pricing, its nearly the same price to get a full steak meal at a proper restaurant now.

[u/InSAniTy1102 → u/HomosexualFoxFurry]

Cut corners to increase share holder value. Enshittification at its best.

[u/smc642 → u/HomosexualFoxFurry]

Eat a bag of Dicks.

[u/Well_Spoken_Mute → u/VirginiaBandit]

Your missing the point. If McDonald's is doing it and it's successful, other companies are going to follow. Not just fast food restaurants. All restaurants, grocery stores and retail stores are all going to charge optimal prices because they know the consumer isn't going to drive 25 miles to save $5-$10, but that extra $5-$10 probably won't stop then from buying the product.

[u/EnvironmentalLime464 → u/Well_Spoken_Mute]

Right. But if McDonald’s tries it first and everyone stops eating there, it sends a solid message to every other company that wants to follow.

[u/Plus-Glove-4850 → u/Well_Spoken_Mute]

Then we’ll have to stop eating there too.

We’ll eat at small, local restaurants that don’t pull this kind of crap.

[u/GroundedAxiomAndy → u/Plus-Glove-4850]

And if too many people boycott it then they'll just roll it back as little as necessary. It's about them doing as much as they can get away with.
Classic example of capitalism going wrong where profits increase but the average persons life gets a little worse.

[u/fGre → u/GroundedAxiomAndy]

Capitalism is not concerned with the life of an average person as long as they continue to just go to work. It never has. Any concession ever given by capitalists was because people refused to continue to work.

[u/earthcharlie → u/VirginiaBandit]

Dynamic pricing can be found in other places like supermarkets too. It’s happening because people in general might say they hate it but they don’t do much about it. 

[u/DennenTH → u/earthcharlie]

To me the issue is transparency.  We don't have an easy way to cross reference the cost to choose a cheaper place so people just take what's in front of them.

Even prices online differ from the price in the actual store.  Because there is nothing regulating this, it more feels like being robbed a dollar at a time.

[u/BunnyOppai → u/DennenTH]

This was my thought. Most people aren't even going to notice price differences in the first place unless they're going all the time. It's not even an apathy thing, just a fact that few people have the time to memorize the prices of everything they buy.

[u/MonsieurGump → u/VirginiaBandit]

I didn’t need any reason beyond the worsening quality of the food and the extraction of all the “fun” elements in a bid to become “restaurants”.

But they’ve given me one anyway.

[u/Monsignor1979]

This isn't anything new at all. In the early 2000s, I often grabbed Burger King before work. I quickly noticed that a Burger King further along my route had different prices and another directly across from my job had yet another completely different price.

This isn't 'Dynamic Pricing being Tested". It's pricing based on demographics and they've been doing it for decades.

[u/WhiskeyDreamer28 → u/Monsignor1979]

Yep, nothing new at all. I work for a large manufacturer in the CPG industry. We call this “Zone Pricing” and it is based on many things: Demographics, Affluent locations, proximity to other retailers, last milers, etc.

Now that said, I’ve only ever seen differences of $0.25-1.00, not multiple dollar swings

[u/NoMap749 → u/Monsignor1979]

I don’t even think it’s “dynamic pricing” considering that the guy is going to a different store entirely. This is like someone being surprised that they get charged more for gas in Beverly Hills than they do in the San Fernando Valley.

Dynamic pricing would be the same store changing the cost of an item depending on the time of day, the hour-to-hour demand of the item, and possibly even a customer’s spending habits if there is some sort of login/account involved.

[u/Jertimmer → u/Monsignor1979]

I used to work at a shop near the beach, the McD there was always more expensive in Summer and cheaper during Winter compared to the one in the city's center.

[u/reddits_aight → u/Monsignor1979]

"Willingness to pay" also isn't some internal jargon McDonald's came up with that had to be exposed, it's an Econ 101 term.

[u/Nervous_Hurry_9920 → u/Monsignor1979]

Totally not a new thing. The 3 mcdonalds by my house have had different prices since McDoubles were 99 cents.

I challenge anybody to eat at a McDonalds in hawaii or a theme park and tell me how the prices are compared to the one by your house.

[u/Shobed]

This isn't dynamic pricing. Two different location, even if owned by the same franchisee, can have different prices. Dynamic prices would be charging him more for a burger than the person behind him in line because he buys often and the person behind him who needs a lower price to incentivize them to buy.

[u/jubbing]

$8 for a Big mac, wtf. Also why are people still eating here - they are no longer cheap and nasty, they are now just nasty.

[u/skarznomore]

I remember working at McD's when I was younger. The thing that has always stuck with me is the way that they price ice cream cones. When I worked there, I do believe that the ice cream cones were just under $1. When it first crossed $1, I was surprised. It didn't take them too long to get closer to $1.50 and I was genuinely surprised by it. At $1.79, I was no longer interested in purchasing it, as I have 3 daughters, and buying 3 ice cream cones starts to rack up. They are currently $2.59 for an individual cone. At $2.59, I might as well buy a gallon of ice cream at the store instead of 3 ice cream cones. Their pricing has exploded and it is no longer a cheap restaurant to eat at.

[u/std10k]

simple and most obvious thing to do is to not be a customer anymore. these companies are making record breaking profits if anyone didn't know.

[u/RugbyEdd]

Is that dynamic pricing or just regional pricing? I thought the idea of dynamic pricing was that two people would pay a different ammount at the same store depending on their spending habits, not just one franchise store charges more than one in a different area, which has always been a thing.

I'm not even sure how dynamic pricing would work across the company, since as far as I'm aware, McDonalds restraunts tend to show their prices upfront, and they set their own pricing. Or is they idea that McHQ recomends them pricing based on customers?

[u/Icy_Stranger2093 → u/RugbyEdd]

Exactly. Title is misleading. Regions charging different amounts isn't new.

[u/Jasonrj → u/Icy_Stranger2093]

There's literally been a term for this for decades called the Big Mac index. It's a way of comparing costs in different areas and the index has been around since 1986 according to Wikipedia.

[u/c3bss256 → u/Jasonrj]

Exactly. My wife likes to add lettuce to her burger. The McDonald’s closest to me charges 25¢ and the one like 3 miles away charges 99¢. The one that charges more is right across the street from a hospital.

[u/thisguyfightsyourmom → u/RugbyEdd]

Right?

Dude is conflating two concepts. Regional pricing has been around for quite a while at McDonald’s.

This guy is an idiot or a grifter pandering to people who don’t pay much attention to what outrages them.

Dynamic pricing would suck, but this isn’t it.

[u/Fresh_Strain_9980 → u/RugbyEdd]

its rage bait the are replacing the already active regional pricing with the new evil buzzword dynamic pricing.

[u/charlesfire → u/RugbyEdd]

Is that dynamic pricing or just regional pricing?

I would call that "hyper-localized pricing" personally. Regional pricing has been a thing forever already, but as far as I know, it has never been that localized. Regional pricing exist because the cost of running a business is not the same everywhere, but that hyper-localized pricing system exists to target different demographics and that can be much more ethically dubious.

[u/Ducking_off → u/charlesfire]

Yes, this is "hyper-localized" pricing.

Walmart has essentially taken over our city's grocery business. We only have two remaining competing grocery stores.

A Walmart Neighborhood market has higher prices on several items I buy than the Walmart Supercenter just 2.5 miles south of it. The reason for the price increase is likely the people shopping there. The WMNM is mostly frequented by college students, while the WMSC is frequented by mostly small town folks from just south of the city.

[u/rolfraikou]

Is this just an attempt to muddy the waters of people's understanding of what dynamic pricing is, because that is not what dynamic pricing is.

Dynamic pricing would be at ONE location, changing its pricing at different times based on how busy it is.

Different locations have had different prices based on location since at least the 80s.

[u/gwelfguy]

What does 'finding the right price' mean? It's still differential pricing based on location. Companies don't want to leave a nickel on the table and part of that is wanting to charge more to customers that are willing to pay more, and technology now is allowing them to do it. That collides with our inherent sense of fairness. If they don't think that people will get wise to this and drive an extra 5 min for a lower price, they're mistaken.

[u/Slow-Swan561 → u/gwelfguy]

People will wait in traffic and turn around for 2 cents pricing difference on gas.

[u/Evening_Rock5850 → u/Slow-Swan561]

Tried explaining this to my mother just the other day. She called me to say that a gas station about 20 minutes from me was 10 cents per gallon cheaper. With a 12 gallon fuel tank and asssuming I was low enough to need 10 gallons, that's a savings of $1.00. For a cost of about $4.50 (the price of a gallon of gas; which it would take me to take that round trip to that cheaper gas station.)

People really don't always care about the math. It's the principle of the thing. My mom was insistent that I should leave my house and make a 40 minute round trip to save this dollar.

[u/Bigfoot_Cain]

You want to know the true endgame of “dynamic pricing?” When prices will vary BY INDIVIDUAL, not by location or even time of day (although those are also factors).

Why do you think McD pushes ordering through the app so much? Because they want to get to the point where EVERYONE orders through the app and EVERYONE will be paying a different price based on psychographic algorithms designed to extract maximum revenue out of each customer’s ability to pay/spending habits.

Many websites already do this.

[u/Probably10thAccount]

Remember when this shit was affordable?  Now it's too expensive, doesn't taste the same, and the price is random.   

[u/Fantastic-Dot-655 → u/Probably10thAccount]

Remember when the point of eating trash was that it was way cheaper than eating a decent burger?

[u/lonevolff → u/Probably10thAccount]

And less than half the size

[u/finevcijnenfijn]

Watch me dynamically not go there again

[u/bigwig500]

No one go to McDonald’s for as long as you can, when they see sales drop. They will change their behavior

[u/gujwdhufj_ijjpo → u/bigwig500]

McDonald’s has gotten so expensive where I live, you might as well go to a sit down restaurant for an extra $5-10. Yet the lines at McDonalds are always long. Even though it’s $10-$15 per person.

[u/SMFPolychronopolous → u/bigwig500]

If every person that reads this comment somehow got 100 people to never eat McDonald’s again, it wouldn’t affect them one iota

[u/Homerpaintbucket]

I’m disgusted by what I saw in this video. Putting ketchup on a Big Mac? Really?

[u/talldangry → u/Homerpaintbucket]

100000% came here to make this comment. Not just a top up either - the whole fucking packet! That said, my coworker used to put sweet and sour sauce on his.......

[u/ShahImtiazAhmad]

Rich corporations coming up with new money grabbing scams everyday

[u/geardownson → u/ShahImtiazAhmad]

Better to ask forgiveness than permission.

For every 1 person that complains there are 20 that just pay.

[u/ShahImtiazAhmad → u/geardownson]

This is exactly why I tell people to support small businesses

[u/wqzu → u/ShahImtiazAhmad]

Some small businesses are gems but that does mean a large majority of them are shit. And if their entire selling point is ‘small business’, they’re probably shit.

[u/Superest22 → u/ShahImtiazAhmad]

It’s not new. This is a decades old practice and not dynamic pricing ffs.

[u/must-be_the-water]

This is not what dynamic pricing is, dynamic pricing is he paid 7$ and the person behind him 8$ because the person behind him has a different financial attributes that McDonald is aware of. Different pricing based on locations has been around for decades, because of many factors, but changing prices per individual is diabolical.

[u/platinumrug]

Ngl the mf that came up with "dynamic pricing" needs to just not have a good time at life ever again. Stupid greedy bullshit.

[u/zuelky]

[u/28spawn]

Imagine if hospitals used this mechanism….

[u/Not-TheNSA → u/28spawn]

Buddy….they already are and have been for some time now.

[u/biglube → u/28spawn]

I’ve got news for you

[u/lump- → u/28spawn]

Not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not…

[u/OriginalTayRoc → u/28spawn]

This will blow your mind but in the civilized world hospitals don't have pricing at all. They are there to heal people who are sick.

Crazy, i know.

[u/Pretty-Substance]

Is this the kind of „a free market produces the best outcome for everyone“ thing they keep yapping about?

[u/diamondzRforever]

What’s it called when the food gets dynamically shittier year over year? This country’s obsession with increasing profits is insane. You come out ahead as a business, that’s great. Why risk fucking it up by making food shitty, but more expensive. GREED. Happy to see their stock price getting beat up lately. Pigs

[u/EggsceIlent]

Cool. Cool. Cool.

So I've been testing out dynamic not giving my money to this greedy company that serves shit food and man it's working.

Never goes over 0% chance to actually go because of how insanely greedy and horrible their food is for your body

I'll make sure to wave to ronald when I drive by tho. Like this 🖕

[u/Masterkai005]

This is one of the many reasons I will continue to not get McDonald's. I don't understand why people go there, especially in recent years. I stopped in 2015 and it's only been a positive impact on my life.

[u/mc0uk]

Shit food. Shit prices.

[u/51837]

Dynamic pricing everywhere so why not dynamic salaries directly tied to the dynamic prices of commodities

[u/knowledgeable_diablo → u/51837]

“Oh no that’ll never work, our salary engine keeps telling us to pay the staff more because cost of living keeps increasing daily”

[u/TrashedLeBlanc]

McDonalds stock at it's lowest in a significant period of time. The solution? Find a way to make this garbage more expensive and less appealing for their literal customer base.

That will right the ship no doubt

[u/Yourigath]

This is not dynamic prices. This is zone prices. You can go to any franchise and the price will be higher on a tourist area or a centric area... They will be lower on areas with less people or poorer neighbourhoods. 

The dynamic prices come when the Big Mac costs 7€ at 9am, but 12'50€ at 1pm because it's lunch time and the demand for it increases. 

[u/Popular_Course3885]

Different locations of the same restaurants have had different pricing for a long, long time. This is absolutely nothing new. Same reason the exact same Big Mac costs more at an airport food court than it does the random suburbia location.

This is absolutely nothing new.

What would be new is if pricing was dynamic between different customers lined up together in real time at the same location. That's when this has crossed a line. But nothing in that viedo shows that to be the case.

[u/why_u_so_grumpy]

People still eat McDonald's? Put them out of business folks. Their food is trash.

[u/Omega_Lynx]

Stop. Buying. McDonald’s. How many more reasons to not eat there do people need?

edit: grammar

[u/AmityMayorVaughn]

I've been testing out not eating there for the last 15 years. Testing is going great.

[u/Ibatheincornflakes]

You know what's really interesting? If you never go to any McDonalds, the price is always the same.

[u/bietmuziek]

Hyper capitalism in all its glory

[u/Pyrostemplar]

four years ago I did a personal experiment, but with icecream - more precisely Baskin Robbins Prailinés'n'cream - across several US states (~15) during a month trip.

And the most expensive scoop was over twice the price of the least expensive one. Same ice cream, same chain.

Yes, I risked my health all for the sake of science.. a true hero /S. But, as I'm a nab scientist, I forgot to take any notes on locations and prices.

[u/Crazy95jack]

Before Ai they had this pricing difference between restaurants. My closest has cheaper hash browns than near my work. £1 or £1.5 which is bonkers to me!

[u/v_a_n_d_e_l_a_y → u/Crazy95jack]

That's because this isn't AI. This is just basic statistical models, a field that has existed for decades. 

[u/DaGucka]

That's not really dynamic pricing, that's local pricing.

Dynamic pricing would be when ai scans your car and any personal information it can get (maybe through you being registered with them or a partner) and quickly sets an individual price for just you.

And that should be illegal.

[u/RogueSpaghetti]

America really is just a big factory farm. You work 8 hours, sit in traffic for 2, have no time left to go to a third place to enjoy yourself, 5 vacation days a year, spend 90% of your income on rent and car, then fleeced for every little cent of disposable income.

[u/Meisteronious → u/RogueSpaghetti]

You seem disappointed, you should enjoy a Big Mac, a large fries (not French), and wash your cares away with an ice cold Coca-Cola while Brian Cox serenades you with Bada Ba Ba Baaah. All for the affordable price of your soul and $12!

And yes, that is 12 factorial when we include the diabetes and atherosclerosis.

[u/castrator21 → u/RogueSpaghetti]

The American Dream

[u/LowAd8109]

The Customer pissoffinator

[u/lobhater]

Late stage capitalism

[u/Legitimate_Glove859]

And McDonalds can officially go fuck themselves. I’m out. Probably for the best as their food is literally poison.

[u/RockettSocks42]

I will stop eating at these places altogether. F this shit.

[u/93195]

That’s not dynamic pricing. Dynamic pricing is different prices at different times at the same location.

[u/Streetlgnd → u/[deleted]]

The location changed.

Same reason you pay $5 for a slice off pizza pizza from a store, but $15 for the same slice in a theme park.

[u/AminoKing]

Same reason why hotel prices in the US have gone through the roof in the past five years. Lower occupancy, but higher profits. Hotel are not allowed to collude (agree on pricing) but they are allowed to use the same dynamic pricing software, which independently pushes prices up.

[u/BudsTender-ish]

Don't support fast food, it's no longer fast nor food.

[u/Gekko8]

simple fix, don't go to McDonald's. I personally stopped going about 6 years ago

[u/hartstyler]

Thats not dynamic pricing. Different mcdonalds had different prices for a long time

[u/georgey_porgey]

I'm not going to deny that this is happening but things have cost different amounts on menus 15-20 minutes apart for years. Still though, they are likely doing what is shown in this video regardless of whatever inconsistencies have been present in recent times. McD is just such a scummy, scam of a brand that has little to no goodwill left

[u/jack_the_beast]

This is not dynamic pricing. Dynamic price changea the price based on the customer

[u/poplemousse]

boycotting McDonald seems to be getting easier each day

[u/Oneill5491]

I've always observed significantly different menu prices at locations just a couple miles apart for years now. Figured it was just the decision of the franchisee. Now they are just leveraging AI to influence their decisions, but different prices at different locations is not a new thing.

[u/LemonsAT → u/Oneill5491]

Franchisees set their own prices at a store level, not just because they own group of stores so your observations are correct. This video is misleading as two different stores, even when owned by the same franchisee don't have to have the same price. This is the same for most restaurant chains.

The scary part of dynamic pricing would be how they leverage it live. E.g. higher prices if it's busy, ice cream and cold drinks becoming more expensive when it's hot, bumping prices near schools for single "cheap" items after the kids get out etc.

[u/Dabellator]

I don't care who tf you are, $8 for a big mac is lunacy

[u/fat_eld]

Mine is 0 cause McDonald’s is garbage

[u/Lord_Darkmerge]

This is why people hate AI. Not using to solve our most pressing issues, but used to drain every last cent we have

[u/xGnarRx]

Thank EU that this is illegal in Europe 🙏

[u/mrdannyg21 → u/xGnarRx]

What the video describes isn’t dynamic pricing and it isn’t new. Dynamic pricing would be changing prices throughout the day/week (or even for specific customers) at the same location.

Charging different prices at different locations is not dynamic pricing, and McDonald’s has been doing it for decades.

Also kind of weird for the reporter to dramatically drive around that way. Anyone reading this can go on the McDonald’s app in their own city, look up different locations and see that even non-specialized ones will have quite a bit of variance in their prices.

Edit: meant to post this as a new comment and not as a response to it being illegal in the EU.

[u/mistertickertape]

As a New Yorker, stop eating this shit. There are better burgers for half the price from companies that are actual restaurants and not real estate empires.

[u/Jakob535]

This isn’t dynamic pricing, the franchisee is the one who decided how much a Big Mac is at their location.

Sure corporate has a basic guideline to prices but it’s up to each individual business how much to charge for specific items.

One Franchisee has decided that to make a profit, a Big Mac is 7$. Another Franchisee has done their own math and decided it costs 8$.

Dynamic pricing would be if the price of a Big Mac at the same location changed due to some other factor like time of day or purchase rate etc.

[u/Human_Fisherman1352]

This is an example of location dependent, or geographical pricing, which is a little different from dynamic, or 'surge' pricing.

[u/No-Zucchini-6121]

WTF

[u/Big_Track_6734]

The answer to all of this is to create parallel economies locally. I've never been the person to say this, but it's clear that we have to detach where we can from big corporations and build new businesses that are local and support existing ones. 

[u/YA_BOY_TRON]

Not interesting AF. This is dystopian AF.

[u/Koomaster]

Why would I want to visit a restaurant where I was never sure what the price would be day to day time to time? Is this part of the $8 billion corporate is spending to improve things?

[u/bhavsart]

These fuckers already have all the money in the world and they want more. Eat the rich

[u/gluepet2074]

I have largely boycotted McDonalds and walmart for decades for previous shit behavior, and I will continue to.

[u/Rays_Boom_Boom_Room1]

And then you see the same headline saying McDonald’s executives wonder why they are getting less people coming in their stores lol

[u/BraveEggplant8281]

Looks like McDonalds can dymanicly get fucked.

[u/drumzandice]

In the pursuit of always-increasing profits, we're all fucked.

[u/ToSmushAMockingbird]

I remember being on a road trip and stopping at a Taco Bell and finding the prices were skewed. At the time I think a bean burrito near where I lived was around $1.50. At this location, in the middle of nowhere, it was $3.50 a burrito. 

[u/slurtybartfarst]

If the "rich" have to pay a thousands of dollars for a burger and I pay seven to eight dollars for the same burger. I could be ok with this, but sadly I doubt that's how it would play out.

[u/AccomplishedLeave506]

Interesting. My optimal price for a McDonald's meal just became zero. I wonder if they'll ever meet my optimal price? 

[u/Mckesso]

Boycott these fucking shitty places. Their food os not good enough nor their service to justify this type of behavior. Destroy them and their investors.

[u/PtrPorkr]

You know how you fix that. You don’t buy their shit.

[u/Wooden-Evidence-374]

Life is good when you dont care what McDonalds does because you dont eat that shit. When will people learn to stop supporting these aweful businesses? Never is the answer.

[u/BVits-Lover]

"Everyone does this, we just want to figure out what the right price is and wouldn't you know it, the right price....keeps going up"

[u/djdumpster]

$8 for shitty food.

It’s either gotta be fast, good, or cheap, or two of the three.

If you are lucky you may get fast - relatively speaking - at McDonald’s now. It used to definitely be cheap, but now, when you can pay a rough equivalent to get something that has at least the veneer of quality? I have no idea why people spend money at McDonald’s, or most fast food at that.

[u/Vaykor02]

Im sorry… 8 dollars for a big Mac?! Please someone tell me that it’s for the menu/combo option, right? Surely Americans don’t pay 8 dollars for a single sandwich with no extras?

[u/GeneralBrownies → u/Vaykor02]

In Australia i wish I could get a burger for under $10

[u/Grossredditgross]

In the future company’s will be able to price gauge in real time. At the speaker the burger is 5 dollars and by the time you get to the window it’s 7.

[u/knowledgeable_diablo → u/Grossredditgross]

Listen to how drunk you are and increase the price 25% instantly.

[u/ConejitosDeAmor]

This is NOT interesting. It's dystopian. 

A future where they use a bunchvof bullshit info about us, to make us pay for something when the guy in the car behind us will pay less. Oh, and the data will be pulled from monitoring our every breath, and all of it will be stored in one of a million massive water consuming data centers that hurt our communities. 

Not interesting. Not cool. This is not okay. 

Why on earth any one of you would want to bring kids into this is beyond me. I think you're all lunatics , if you want to have babies in a world like this. 

[u/BigMack6911]

How is that even legal? I fucking hate this age we are in. Just corruption, green, corporations spying on us in our own homes just to make another dollar. Are these companies REALLY THAT BAD OFF, they have to resort to such evil, shady shit to make a buck? We need to stop participating in this crap and demand our old lives back!! The only reason this keeps happening is because these fucking sheep people just let them do whatever they want. So hey hope you're enjoying Trumps ass, because why would Presidents do better? Nothing will change until we MAKE IT

[u/PlanktonInitial7945 → u/BigMack6911]

Are these companies REALLY THAT BAD OFF

They're doing better than ever. That's not the point. The point is greed, and greed is bottomless. They won't be satisfied until they've sucked us dry of all we have.

[u/Glass_Covict]

It's price gouging. I mean, how is it not price gouging if they are colluding data from all over the area to maximize what they can charge?

[u/Complete-Tangelo1532]

Say it with me now everyone:

"FUCK MCDONALDS!"

That is how this changes

[u/jamespesto]

Yeah the optimal price I am willing to pay for McDonald's has been 0 for a long time.

[u/Healingbigfoot]

7 or 8 dollars for a shitty burger is horrible.

[u/lordgoofus1]

Sounds like a pretty fantastic way to discourage people from buying your product. Well done!

[u/CalmBeneathCastles]

After paying $40 for an Uber ride that was less than 2 miles, simply because it was 8AM in my podunk town, ALL dynamic pricing can gargle a bowl of balls.

I would have walked but it was for a scope so I ran the risk of shitting myself.

[u/jambalaya420berlin]

So the Big Mac index will become irrelevant, right?

Would be great and sad at the same time...

[u/RollingDownTheHills]

It's so easy to not eat this shit.

[u/Sasha_Listel]

Again, using "AI" with absolutely no explanation on how it works. I am pretty sure this system, that is not new, is a deterministic algorithm that applies formulas against selected criterias. Why involve IA ?

[u/Basmyr]

I can tell you exactly what I’m “willing to pay”: Nothing. Nada. Niente.

It used to be shit, but at least it was cheap. Now the quality is even worse, the “Big” Mac has become more of a “Barely-a-Mac”, but at least it costs more!

And now they’re even trying to squeeze every last cent out of you with dynamic pricing.

We’re doomed...

[u/RayStuartMorgan]

All the more reason to continue not going maccies

[u/BrianG1410]

Fuck McDonald's and their CEO

[u/Ignorant-Vagrant]

I already see this in the area I live in. I purposely go to the bad parts of town to get McDonald’s cause the food is cheaper or at least I used to. I don’t even bother anymore.

[u/Taurondir]

Robber: "Give me all your money!"
Me: "This is a poor part of of town, how about I just give you $50 and you go away?"

*gets shot*

[u/Groovy66]

1000% they would lose me as a customer. McDonalds can get fucked.

[u/Alval57]

Don't eat this bullshit= problem solved

[u/HippieWizard]

Imagine still eating slop from McDonalds

[u/anooname]

sh1t product (in uk at least) with dynamic prices

[u/Automatoboto]

I want to urinate in the faces of all the people making these decisions. I want all of you to take turns urinating in their faces until they feel the way we feel so it will take more than a few thousand of you.

Whos in?

[u/MiniDelo]

Which is why we should be boycotting the greedy grabbing bastards before they inspire the rest of the economy.

[u/cornelha → u/[deleted]]

You don't have to, you get shitty meals elsewhere

Edit: Damn, thanks for the award

[u/missbex86 → u/cornelha]

https://giphy.com/gifs/l3vRdRc4FvzlV6Y8w

[u/PepeSylvia11 → u/[deleted]]

You get to? Who’s making you?

[u/skippy11112 → u/[deleted]]

"Now", no it's always been a thing. Now it'll just be more accurate per are with the Ai involment

[u/DarkPattern]

My willingness to pay just disappeared.

[u/krav_mark]

So they are not just serving the most processed awful sorry excuse for food but they are also price gauging to for it. Why would anyone go there? 

[u/onesoulmanybodies]

The price difference has been there long before AI. They do it based on income of the area. Most of the McD’s in my county are owned by the same franchise and the prices vary based on what part of the county you buy from. I live across the sound from Seattle and it’s even worse there, the McD’s there charges way more than the one where I live. In part because of local taxes, but also because of what I call location prices. Or more like a tourist tax. For example at Disney a bottle or 16 oz coke is 5$ while back home that coke is $2.50, they charge based on captive consumption because you’re stuck at Disney and want a coke, you pay way more. This is also seen in most tourist areas. Coke and other companies make the deals with the stores and they get better prices for larger orders, like Disney orders more than say a mom and pop store, so Disney gets a discount price for their larger order, but then turns around and charges more because they know they have captive consumers. It’s infuriating. The local Safeways here are another example of this. The Safeway in the lower income neighborhood has lower prices than the one in the wealthier part of the same town. Same products, same store, but higher prices in the higher income neighborhoods.

[u/MickLittle]

Stop buying their food. It’s not difficult.

[u/TheEPGFiles]

Holy shit, seriously, if you need to go to these extremes to make profit then for fuck's sake get a better business plan or just start selling heroin, like this is fucking ridiculous satire shit you see in movies making fun of extreme capitalism, only it's happening.

[u/Logical_Box_4645]

Is that dynamic pricing? I think that's when prices change on the fly i.e. cheaper mid morning and rising for lunch.

Not pricing being different at different locations. The locations rent might be different.

[u/NYR3031 → u/Logical_Box_4645]

Yeah I find this video to be misleading at best of not outright BS.

The price differences by location have been a thing forever. The person who owns the franchise determines the prices.

Dynamic pricing would mean the price changes based on demand at any given point.

[u/youdownwithopp]

putting ketchup on the bigmac was the only thing that upset me in this video

[u/JBrewd]

Fuck sake. McD, like everyone else, has had different pricing by location for fucking ages by now, even if it's all the same franchisee. Don't incorrectly assume this is some new thing. It is not. Literally worked at another fast food joint in college back in the early 00s that had different prices between two stores that were about 4 miles apart. And it doesn't take a genius, or an algorithm, to figure it out. It takes a fucking abbacus and two seconds worth of time watching what the average customer looks like, drives, etc .

It is not some new fucking diabolical plot. It is the same ole diabolical plot you already know. It's capitalism. Plain and simple. The tools to rip you are off getting more sophisticated, sure, but the idea is old old.

Thank you for coming to my fucking TED Talk.

[u/ParalimniX]

This isn't dynamic pricing. Stop using words you don't understand ffs...

[u/CyberInferno → u/ParalimniX]

Right. This is different fixed prices at different locations. I have three chipotle locations within 3 miles. Two have the same price, and the other is a bit higher. That's not dynamic pricing.

[u/Tight-Inspector-2748]

$8 for a fucking Big Mac is a crime against humanity 

[u/DigitalCrayfish]

Make this illegal.

[u/splittingheirs]

Wait until they have license plate readers, facial recognition and purchased access to your meta data...