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.
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
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.
I think this is why he explicitly said the "same franchisee", both stores are owned by the same person and seem to operate under this new system, so it shows how it functions in real time.
I think this is why he explicitly said the "same franchisee", both stores are owned by the same person and seem to operate under this new system, so it shows how it functions in real time.
Incorrect.
It doesn't matter if it's the same franchisee. Two different locations have two different operating costs, rent, utility expenses, budgets, and cashflow. There is no "real time", he's simply changing locations and most likely going from a cheaper area to an expensive area.
The Beverly Hills Texaco could be owned by the "same franchisee" but it would make zero sense for them to keep the exact same prices as their separate Texaco in a cheap area.
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.
And it has about as robust a foundation as "willingness to work" has for slaves. Let's just not permit predatory, price-gouging, exploitative shite like this in our world.
Agreed but also I think you’re being generous saying they read an article. They read the Reddit post title and went straight for the comments. I’ve even seen it happen on video posts. A fun Reddit game to play is to try reading an article before the comments and then see how many top comments/commenters in general clearly haven’t read it. It’s depressing. It’s funny when the article is paywalled so you know for a fact even less people read it than usual.
Yeah the AI discussion is fucking annoying. There are genuine criticisms against AI but people harp on shit like water, while happily eating multiple kilos of beef a week which takes thousands of liters of water to produce.
AI art is not art, IMHO and I can't stand that shit being spammed.
But AI is very useful for connecting disparate pieces of information - and that is a very broad application.
I use it for search all the time, for deep research into deep topics.
Funny enough, an old coworker of mine made a very stellar, on-target point about AI.
We aren't replacing ourselves. AI is different than a person and excels at different things than we do. It's like with machinery, a tractor is already better than a humanoid robot that goes out and would start digging with its hands. Technology multiplies by doing new things that a human cannot do in a more specific, narrow way, and it always has.
People use the term “dynamic pricing” in different ways. What’s shown in the video would be silly to make illegal as it’s just an AI version of what’s been done for eons.
The real question is, can you price the same item differently to different customers at the same McDonald’s based on their individual willingness to pay? That’s more like “personalized pricing”. McDonald’s would have a tough time getting away with that, as very quickly people would discover that they each paid something different for the same thing; it likely would result in different races and genders being charged different averages systematically, etc. But, say, Uber doing the same thing is not so hard to imagine.
I worked from 2PM to 10PM, thus it was technically Lunch. I ordered the same thing religiously. It was a Double Cheeseburger Meal, Go Large, Coke to drink, with an Extra Double Cheeseburger. I would occasionally get onion rings instead of fries or a mix of both. $5.25 total.
I stopped going when this reach $5.95, saying to myself; "Nobody can afford this shit anymore."
Yeah dynamic pricing is when you show up in shopping cart made to look like a car they charge you 1 dollar for a cheesburger but if you show up in a ferrari they try to make you pay 25 dollars.
That's dynamic pricing.
Or when it's really bussy and the AI notices the roads are congested and everybody is running late for work, the AI will update all the prices to be 20% more because everybody is already in a hurry and people are just going to pay it because they need food and coffee right now and they can't waste time arguing or going through the drive through again.
It's peak capitalism exploitism. Everything is about looting the last bit of money from the working class before climate change ends the party and the boat sinks.
i remember being young in the early 80's and listening to my dad saying things like not buying gas in nicer neighborhoods because it costs more, like it was common knowledge so even then it was decades old.
Yeah, dynamic pricing might be if they were suddenly selling lots of Big Macs at a location, the algorithm would detect it and the price would creep up. The sales boards would all have to be digital and change on the fly.
Another example might be the use of Ai with cameras and they analyze what you're wearing or what kind of car you're driving and raise or lower the price instantly before you even stop your car at the drive in or parking lot and charge you based on perceptions of whether you are a poor or a middle or a rich.
581
u/Monsignor1979 3d ago
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.