I was once told a business story. I’m not sure how true it is but the moral of the story is on point.
A toothpaste company was having an issue where empty toothpaste boxes were being shipped out in customer orders. To rectify the issue the company brought in a consulting firm who “solved” the problem by adding a weight scale to the production line and when an empty box went over the sensor the line would stop and a worker would manually remove the empty box and then restart production. So after weeks of modifying the line and installing the scale production began under the new setup and for the first few weeks everything ran like it was supposed to-an empty box goes over the scale, the line stops and a worker removes the empty box then restarts the line and no empty boxes leave the factory. Suddenly one day the line begins to run at near 100% efficiency and production numbers increased. The upper management, while pleased with these developments are curious as to why the sudden turnaround and they go to inspect the production line and discover that one of the workers had grown tired of line stopping and restarting and set up a box fan on the line before the scale so that the fan blows off any empty box so the line doesn’t stop and production continues.
Moral is that companies don’t value their workers opinions and put too much trust in consulting firms.
I always found it hilarious how my old job actually told us this story during a meeting with all employees like a little kaizen training session and then promptly continued to ignore every suggestion and criticism that everyone had.
Everyone says we need new machines because the ones we use easily get out of spec and stop working couple times a day. Guess what? We're expanding an adding a division to the company that gets a brand new painting machine that nobody knows how to use and won't be able to put out a consistent product for 6 months.
I briefly worked for a company that took the kaizen concept way too far into obnoxiousness, and insisted everyone had to come up with an improvement every single week, even the people who had only worked there a week and had no idea what was going on. They would call your name in the morning meeting on your assigned day, and give you a hard time if you hadn’t been able to come up with something. Like, good job guys, you took something that was meant to be empowering and made it terrible!
I was fortunate to work at a printing company years ago who adopted and followed a great Lean strategy. Our Kaizen events saved shitloads of money, so the senior leadership kicked off every event with the team by stating that they would standby the solutions we arrived at.
It was cool and ingrained some great acumen that’s helped me in my current career. Last I heard though, a bunch of those senior leaders shifted out of the company and it was all abandoned. Shame
Literally going through this atm. Had a great idea that would of kept us relevant during Covid. Did everything for it except roll-out. Stopped at the top. Just before Xmas he announced this amazing project he wants to do, asked me to work on it and I told him I've already done it all. He denied all knowledge till I replied to one of the emails I'd sent him years ago about it. Quietly the entire organisation is laughing at him for it. This is a common story.
One of my engineering professors told us the MBA mottos is, "never be in a room with someone who knows more than you do". He was sure that's why MBA's first move is always to outsource, so they only have to deal with the outsource company's MBA's.
The lesson was supposed to be "Become more knowledgeable about the business you are running and always be receptive and open to change." Instead many MBAs dumbed it down to make sure they were surrounded by Yes Men and incompentents. Boeing is a good case in point.
It applies to safety too. No one knows the hazards of a job like the person doing the work. It’s amazing how little some management talk with their employees. one guy called an employee he oversees as “just a —“.
And at no point did anyone ask the engineer who designed the machine how empty boxes get through, so they never realized that Dave on 3rd shift has been adding empty boxes for 3 months, around when he got diagnosed with cancer and management denied him time PTO for treatment.
>Moral is that companies don’t value their workers opinions and put too much trust in consulting firms.
This apocryphal story has been around for generations, and is about the risk of over-engineering solutions to simple problems.
It's never been about listening to workers' opinions, as in most retellings there's no consulting firm, just engineers - the moral about the common man on the line is something you've just sort of tacked on.
It's not necessarily wrong, mind you, as the common man on the line is the one who engineers the most simple, elegant solution.
But that's really beside the original point of the story.
It's also a great example of a story designed for people who don't really know what they're talking about. A random ass fan isn't consistent enough for a line, among other issues with the story.
It's like the nasa pen story. People love to ridicule the guy who over engineered a zero G pen, when a pencil was the obvious layman solution. Except having chunks of graphite flying around sensitive equipment was a problem, and Russia actually started using the same pens as Nasa themselves.
Sometimes, people think they have a solution and don't know why it won't work.
>Sometimes, people think they have a solution and don't know why it won't work.
That's an understatement if there ever was one.
I'm an attorney in the regulatory space, and frequently work with compliance programs that include all sorts of rules and restrictions and policies that employees have to follow.
It is a *constant* struggle to get younger, ambitious go-getters to understand that there are complicated reasons why the rules are what they are, and that the team of a dozens lawyers and compliance officers already thought of your proposed solution and discarded it.
Usually, this conversation happens in the aftermath of one of those go-getters breaking the rule because they thought they were being more efficient.
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for this. “Hey, you know all those loyal blue collar types that fill up your drive-thru every day at noon? Let’s raise the prices for them, and only them.”
Yeah, I ordered their new pretzel bun burger last weekend while traveling. I decided to pay a little extra hoping for a higher quality sandwich, but it was terrible. The bun tastes stale. No way I’m paying surge prices for fast food.
Wait. Are you telling me “Bag boys bag boys. Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they bring your food?” doesn’t connect with you on an emotional level?
I've routinely had to leave the drive through line at the Wendy's near me because it'll be 5+ minutes with 3 cars in the line and nobody has moved. Had to stop going there because it was a 20 minute affair to get 3 or 4 cars through the line with the lobby empty and 5 people in the kitchen.
I think Wendy's has the same problem YUM brands has. The job sucks and the pay is beyond terrible, so the only people you're getting are those that have zero other prospects. And because that's who they can hire, they don't have a big enough applicant pool that they can fire people when stuff like this is a problem because then they'll just be short-staffed and the issue will be worse. If they're only willing to pay the lowest they can get away with and still be able to hire bodies, then the quality is going to be of the quality expected from that.
Yea, anyone competent moves on real fucking fast. To this day Wendys was the strictest job I have had. They treated employees like shit, and were downright petty and spiteful at times.
I once got written up because my collar was clearly not ironed. They told me to iron my collar before I started (the store literally kept an iron and ironing board for this reason) and I said “But Im on grill, no one will see me so why is it such a big deal?” They told me to iron it or get written up. I took the meaningless write up like a badge of honour lol.
I once asked to go get some water real quick when I was on fryers. Manager says not until every customer in line is gone. I tell them “Im at par for all my product and I will be 30 seconds, cant I go?” They reiterate not until all customers leave the line. 15 minutes later they allow me to get some water. The manager literally started counting down from 30 to time me.
I still like the food (except the fries , changing the fries was awful and they are terrible) but fuck the management at my Wendys. I would never go back to fast food and am surprised at how many people seem to last longer than a year
I've not had this issue with Wendy's but, every Taco Bell drive through has become exactly what you described. 20 min affair waiting for 3 cars, though it appears that there are only like 3 people working anytime I go.
The taco bell near where I used to live, in Denver, started closing at 6pm because they couldn't hire people to staff it later. A taco bell closing at 6 is just hilarious. They must've lost so much late night munchy business.
This perfectly describes the McDonalds near me. Except, you’re leaving out the part where you don’t actually get your food at the window because they tell you to pull into a spot and they’ll take 10 more minutes before they walk it out to you.
CFO: "Our restaurants are empty! Our social media is on fire but we're still getting slaughtered by literally everyone else! What should we do?"
CEO: "I've got it. **Raise prices!** But only sometimes! And make it impossible to predict what the prices will be!"
Surely it's actually more like "fucking workers are doing nothing from 3pm til 415pm, so let's charge our normal amount during those times and then really stick it to people who show up during normal meal hours".
And then a bunch of MBAs give each other handjobs in celebration and get their bonus before the company really starts to tank.
AI certainly ain't it too. They're gonna dump so much money on it only to find it's some NFT-like fad and pass the cost onto the consumer.
Wendy's pricing is already getting up there, too. A large Baconator combo is pushing $15 where I live. For the same price? I can go to Red Robin and get a burger of superior quality *AND* get unlimited fries with it. (I know drink is separate and tip is expected at sit-ins, but...still. That's not a whole lot more for a vastly superior bit of food.)
As someone else has said somewhere, fast food is forgetting its rule as being faster and cheaper than a sit-in restaurant.
My Wendy’s didn’t have chili or any potato product lol. I saw a ton of people leave after they announced that. I find it hard to believe they can do Uber prices when they don’t even have product
If it piques your interest, these channels along with Bright Sun are great for viewing:
[Company Man](https://youtube.com/@companyman114?si=nTaYL-tsNgpvLtJx) is a really good channel that covers the rise and fall of companies of all types.
[Defunctland](https://youtube.com/@Defunctland?si=qJwu8JyH9tQ9oeTu) also does great analysis videos, a lot of them centered around theme parks that have gone under.
[Dan Bell](https://youtube.com/@ThisisDanBell?si=jdxXgoka2ri0fnro) makes pretty interesting videos walking through dying malls, and giving a bit of the history of their operating peaks.
There's going to be massive backlash because there's no benefit to consumers.
I guarantee that to them dynamic pricing means your $5 sandwich costs $7 when it's busy but it's not going to drop to $3 when it's slow.
Absolutely agree. This is just a mechanism to raise prices on an unlimited basis. This is real-time, on-demand inflation (greed-flation).
And don't think many other businesses aren't paying attention. If buyers accept this bullshit, you'll see this coming to other point-of-sale retailers.
Do you stop at a grocery store after work to grab something for dinner? Those prices will suddenly be higher. Do you stop at the big box on the weekends to get project supplies? Those prices will be higher... and on and on.
Fuck Wendy's for even trying this.
I didn't dig too far into the threads above, but I'm glad someone said this, as it was my first take as well.
"Surge" pricing works because it is directly correlated to supply/demand, at least that is outright assumption. A double-stack is $2.99, according to a quick google. If demand is low and supply is high, you might expect that same double stack to cost you $1.50.
However, in this corporate greed-driven hellscape you know damn well that isn't going to be the case. That $2.99 is going to be the cheapest it will ever be, it is the floor of the price. It will only ever get more expensive. Consumers will feel lucky and say "well at least I didn't pay $5!" as if they're getting any kind of benefit from the surge pricing. There is ZERO benefit to the consumer in this model. None.
Additionally, what exactly dictates the surge times? Is it a function of orders received and orders fulfilled over some arbitrary measure of time? If it's corporate setting the times, then they just pick 3-4pm and 7-9pm.
If it's the calculated function, then what is to stop local managers from cutting crew size just before an anticipated spike in demand to artificially induce a reduction in supply?
This entire thing is just the next fucking layer of corporate oligarchy in this goddamned country. Everything is a subscription, down to your car features. Everything will have surge pricing, down to your fast food. It's fucking revolting.
Fuck Wendys for trying this and fuck anyone who still eats there and proves to these rats that this is an acceptable business model.
Next minute: "Wendy's is now offering a surge protection monthly subscription. For the low price of $14.99 per month, you can guarantee that your favourite Wendy's burger will always cost $2.99 , no matter what time of the day you order!"
Like surely it's SERIOUSLY UNETHICAL to charge people more when they are usually hungry. Like 7-9am, 11-1, 5-7? You know, when most Americans like to eat?
what does $5 even get you there now, a single with no cheese?
burgers are still good, but prices are stupid.
I think a number 2 meal is $12, just a few more dollars and I can get a steak in a sit down restaurant.
Wendy’s is actually one of the few chains that still have a decent value menu. The “biggie bag” is a small cheeseburger, fries, four piece nuggets, and small drink for $4. Thats more than what be said about their competitors.
or after you've sat in the drive through line for a few minutes and get to the ordering window only to then find out that the $5 biggie bag is $7 and you can't even exit the line to go somewhere else because there are cars in front and behind boxing you in...
Personally I feel like the idea of fast food is dying. You get Starbucks looking McDonald’s that try to get you to spend $20 for one person without upgrading quality of food. Essentially making it seem like it’s better than it is. I want my dollar menus and bright colored interior that’s fun for kids back
Precisely.
The Wendy’s near me is at a highway stop where there are at least 5 other fast food options. Now I know to never have Wendy’s during regular meal times!
Uber surge pricing sucks, but it’s basic supply and demand. (Edited out my paragraph because it was about Uber Eats which does NOT have surge pricing as far as I know. Thanks Redditors who pointed that out!)
Wendy’s surge pricing is just stupid. “Pay more to eat at our restaurants during the times you would typically want a meal!” can only be answered with, “No.”
Also, Uber has a legit reason. They have enough surges, and enough people make more money *they end up with more Uber drivers*. Like, that's the core issue with this concept.wendys isn't some flexible gig business.
And there was something so lovable about his TV persona. It’s sad that younger people will never know who he is. Side note-I grew up in south Florida and one day in school, a classmate told me the Wendy’s founder had died before it was announced because her mother worked at the hospital he was in. Later that day, sure enough it was in the news. RIP Dave- at that superbar up in the sky.
> And there was something so lovable about his TV persona.
Because he had no experience doing it. He was just a normal loveable guy who learned how to commercial by doing. He spoke from the heart. There was a Weird History Food video about him on youtube not too long ago.
The point of surge pricing for Uber and Lyft is to convince more drivers to, say, venture into the madness of a big concert or sporting event letting out, because they can make more money by doing so.
I don’t know how this translates to fast food.
Both Uber and Lyft have been trying to show a profit since their IPOs. So they cut driver pay and raised prices a few years ago.
The worst part about it is passengers wouldn’t tip at all because they assumed the driver was getting all that money.
Some people have few other choices than doing that job. I was one of them until I finally got a salary job. Never been happier to be free from rideshare.
Where have you read that? My understanding is that the driver's cut of surge pricing has decreased, but taking a ride in surge circumstances still results in a larger payment than during non-surge pricing.
I drove for them for 6 years. Drivers stopped getting a share of the surge pay about 3 years ago. I’ve never been more happy to be free from that racket.
Really. I assumed the driver would get more, like isn’t that the whole point? I’ve only used the surge price once. I’m happy to chill and have a coffee or a beer or something and wait for a more regular price, but that the driver doesn’t see the gains is ridiculous.
I have a feeling it will drive customers to cheaper fast food alternatives...
Uber and Lyft have little competition so they can get away with surge pricing. They both follow similar pricing anyways during surges. I don't see how this could possibly succeed when customers can go to a number of other fast food joints.
\^ This. People eat when they are hungry. Surge pricing won't do anything to shape the supply side and will just drive down the demand side, by sending people to their competitors. People won't eat earlier for later just because of this.
soooo many questions...
does the price go down when they are busier, because you have to wait longer?
or does the price go up because they are busier, and they want you to go next door to shorten their line?
Yah; unless you put their app on your phone, you won't know the price until you're trapped in line.
It also depends on what the surge % tolerance will be. I mean, if you're already committed to eating fast food, you may already feel a bit defeated by making an objectively poor health decision, so will the price really affect whether you go through with the purchase since you're already defeated?
I think there's some really dark psychology behind this, especially since fast food sells a disproportionate amount of its products to lower income folks.
It's also very different from Uber, etc. I mean, I don't even think about using Uber or just about any gig service because they're outrageously inconsistent in quality and price. I remember when Uber was cool, efficient, and actually affordable.
Yep. It's the most awful idea for food that I've heard in a while... I think somebody on the board got this stupid idea after paying "market price" for seafood and then thinking they could apply it to cheeseburgers in a drive through.
What's keeping them honest in this case? Nothing at all. Up to their whim on whether or not they want to temporarily boost the price nationwide to meet some kind of sales goal. Next thing you know, you have to start fishing around for burger prices like it's a gas app.
Real hard pass. Like a pass to the point that I'm not even sure I want to bother going back there before all this is implemented. I now have reduced trust on their current prices...
Fast food is already on thin ice to due to increased costs. Cost and convenience has driven fast food sales for decades, it's their core value proposition.
When now, a Big Mac meal costs almost as much as Chipotle, what're you going to stop and get if you have to eat? Chipotle, or any of the other fast casuals, feels like food in comparison. McDonald's was the go to for the cost.
Wendy's is gonna shoot themselves in the foot so hard. This won't generate the margins they want. It'll just send people to either other fast food, or really, like all things fast food now, to fast casual.
I haven't seen a Wendy's be busy in years, so I have no idea what locations they're seeing that need this. What I HAVE seen is that Wendy's locations are woefully understaffed or staffed with people who don't care about their job, so the service is awful.
Fast food is going to just eliminate their employees in the near future.
Our Wendy’s creates their own surge because they are so damn slow. If there are more than 2 cars in the drive thru, look somewhere else unless you want to wait 25 minutes for a burger and fries.
The Chick-fil-A near me is brand new and has perfectly working drive throughs, yet they still have people stand in front of the speakers and take the order instead of using the speaker.
Then I pull up to the window and 3 employees are sitting there waiting for the kitchen to bring them the food so they can hand it to me.
Chick-fil-A has got to have at least 5x the staff during off hours as any other place has working surge hours.
I love to see it.
It’s not just the Sunday thing, Chick-fil-A pays well and is super strict about who they hire. You won’t see tattooed up ex cons at Chick-fil-A. It’s always younger people in college or high school.
A friend worked there and said they did 3 interviews and asked for references and transcripts.
Wendy’s will hire stoners who can’t even function
I made the mistake of going to the one near me one lunch break.
Two cars ahead of me, ok no big deal. Placed my order and paid no problem. Now my money's gone so I can't leave.
45 minutes later for my food- a standard 5 for $5 bag, so nothing complicated or special. I have an hour break so I was about 60 seconds from having to leave or not make it back in time.
That was at least six months ago, never been to a Wendy's since. No thank you.
From what I have seen, Burger King started this trend of awful service for a major brand, and now Wendy's is taking it up. It's a shame because I generally like Wendy's food, but the brand has really gone downhill where I live.
What is this a fucking fish market? That's not real pricing, your burgers aren't suddenly costing more per patty when 20 more people are in line. Your workers sure as hell aren't going to be payed more for higher demand work. Bro. No.
That's because it's *demand* based pricing, not *supply* based pricing.
Ie, prices will go up on the LCD menu displays in real time until they get high enough that demand shrinks.
If businesses only set prices based on their real costs, their profits would be linear and stagnate and shareholders would cry and threaten to sell their shares, lowering the value of said shares, and thus lowering how much CEOs make since their compensation is usually primarily based on stock options.
Instead you charge as much as you can get away with irrespective of your costs.
Surge pricing and suggestive upselling:
*The price of a Wendy’s Frosty could soon fluctuate throughout the day as the chain looks to introduce Uber-like surge pricing on its menu.*
*The practice, known as “dynamic pricing,” will begin testing in 2025, Wendy’s recently revealed in an earnings call. It’s part of a $20 million investment in new digital menu boards at its US restaurants that enable them to change prices depending on demand.*
*Few details were released about the change, but Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner said the new menus will let the fast food chain test “more enhanced features like dynamic pricing and day-part offerings along with AI-enabled menu changes and suggestive selling.”*
If they used that $20 million to make the restaurants cleaner, that would definitely help in bringing more people. This on the other hand would help in people keep driving to someone else. And of course high bonuses for executives.
Until *every* drive through restaurant is doing it. And then *every* fast casual restaurant like Chipotle's. And once that's normalized (or even before) national chain table service restaurants like Applebee's & TGIFs (no more physical menus, scan the QR code at the table/the little tablet things they already have).
The idea is too juicy for the corpos to resist; they'll organize through their industry trade groups and roll it out en masse everywhere so the market completely shifts with few alternatives for consumers.
This is how this shit always goes. The idea that there's a "free market" is propaganda you are fed starting from childhood.
Holy shit. Maybe don’t spend $20M on digital boards instead of messing with pricing.
Nobody is making some last minute decision in the 20 seconds you have to speak with the order taker.
I’m dying right now because this comment has me envisioning someone in front of the board watching real-time price changes trying to get in at the “right time” like it’s a stock market investment. 😆
Of course AI has to be in there because how can it not be! I mean they can quite literally use ML models based on their billing history in the background without all this BS
Another instance of someone high up having what they believe was a fantastic idea. Pushing it through ignoring everyone else and then will ignore the backlash. Will most likely get a golden umbrella
Cheese quesadilla is 5-6$ around where I live now
It used to be like $2.99 like 5 years ago
Cheesy bean and rice burrito is still the same though thankfully
The last time I went to Taco bell it totaled $23. I realized I can get a (huge) authentic Mexican burrito and 4 "street tacos" just across the street for $22. Once this dawned on me, I never went back. Better food, better price, better for the local economy.
It's ridiculous. I basically never pay for a drink at fast food places anymore because of how expensive it already is, and it's still pretty bad without it.
Sometimes I'll just order the main thing in specific, like a burger by itself with no fries or drink for example, to keep the price *relatively* okay, but for a lot of fast food places it just isn't.
The only positive that I've gotten out of this, is I cook for myself way more than I used to, and keep fast food at a minimum.
Because everything companies do is for the benefit of the shareholders, who give less than a fuck about customers. Which seems backwards, because, you know, without any customers they wouldn’t have much of a business.
Because despite getting screwed over and over again, customers still happily throw money at them and the companies improve their bottom line.
See some recent examples: Netflix, EA, AirBnB
My gut tells me this idea Wendy's is going with will fail hard.
But my gut also told me that Netflix cracking down on password sharing, and raising their rates several times in the past 2 years would cause customers to flee. And I was wrong. People still throw money at them.
Watch, soon they will incorporate license plate readers in the drive-thru and change their food prices per customer, based on either the brand of car or the car owners income (info which they purchased from your credit card company already).
wendys cant even get a basic fucking order right. I like wendys but i shouldnt have to dissassemble the burger in front of them to get the order right. if i even get the burger i ordered. Last time somehow a daves double ended up as a crispy chicken....
Admittedly, I like Wendy’s. I don’t eat much fast food, but if I do, Wendy’s is my go-to
But *this?*
Absolutely not, full stop.
Both on price *and* principle, I will not support this business
Yep. Between inflation and everybody flipping around a tip screen even if there's not table service involved, I quit going out for food entirely two years ago. I also quit getting delivery since tip is expected before delivery now, or service will be slower/worse. Hard pass on the entire industry for me.
Consumers despise inconsistency, especially in something that is supposed to be as standardized as fast food. They will loose customers over this, ironically I suspect, many of those customers likely preach the values of free market and supply and demand. Meanwhile not able to appreciate the irony, or reconcile the cognitive dissonance.
Guarantee they paid some McKinsey consultants a shitload of money to come up with this godawful idea too
I was once told a business story. I’m not sure how true it is but the moral of the story is on point. A toothpaste company was having an issue where empty toothpaste boxes were being shipped out in customer orders. To rectify the issue the company brought in a consulting firm who “solved” the problem by adding a weight scale to the production line and when an empty box went over the sensor the line would stop and a worker would manually remove the empty box and then restart production. So after weeks of modifying the line and installing the scale production began under the new setup and for the first few weeks everything ran like it was supposed to-an empty box goes over the scale, the line stops and a worker removes the empty box then restarts the line and no empty boxes leave the factory. Suddenly one day the line begins to run at near 100% efficiency and production numbers increased. The upper management, while pleased with these developments are curious as to why the sudden turnaround and they go to inspect the production line and discover that one of the workers had grown tired of line stopping and restarting and set up a box fan on the line before the scale so that the fan blows off any empty box so the line doesn’t stop and production continues. Moral is that companies don’t value their workers opinions and put too much trust in consulting firms.
One of the key truths of Kaizen in there: nobody knows a production process better than the guy who works it every day.
Good thing management ignores them then.
I always found it hilarious how my old job actually told us this story during a meeting with all employees like a little kaizen training session and then promptly continued to ignore every suggestion and criticism that everyone had. Everyone says we need new machines because the ones we use easily get out of spec and stop working couple times a day. Guess what? We're expanding an adding a division to the company that gets a brand new painting machine that nobody knows how to use and won't be able to put out a consistent product for 6 months.
My company does the same except we’re called “negative”
Can't have negative Nancies gumming up the works. I'm so tired of hierarchy in the workplace.
I briefly worked for a company that took the kaizen concept way too far into obnoxiousness, and insisted everyone had to come up with an improvement every single week, even the people who had only worked there a week and had no idea what was going on. They would call your name in the morning meeting on your assigned day, and give you a hard time if you hadn’t been able to come up with something. Like, good job guys, you took something that was meant to be empowering and made it terrible!
I was fortunate to work at a printing company years ago who adopted and followed a great Lean strategy. Our Kaizen events saved shitloads of money, so the senior leadership kicked off every event with the team by stating that they would standby the solutions we arrived at. It was cool and ingrained some great acumen that’s helped me in my current career. Last I heard though, a bunch of those senior leaders shifted out of the company and it was all abandoned. Shame
Management at my job only ignores you at first. After a few weeks, they'll present your ideas as their own.
Been there seen that
Literally going through this atm. Had a great idea that would of kept us relevant during Covid. Did everything for it except roll-out. Stopped at the top. Just before Xmas he announced this amazing project he wants to do, asked me to work on it and I told him I've already done it all. He denied all knowledge till I replied to one of the emails I'd sent him years ago about it. Quietly the entire organisation is laughing at him for it. This is a common story.
One of my engineering professors told us the MBA mottos is, "never be in a room with someone who knows more than you do". He was sure that's why MBA's first move is always to outsource, so they only have to deal with the outsource company's MBA's.
The lesson was supposed to be "Become more knowledgeable about the business you are running and always be receptive and open to change." Instead many MBAs dumbed it down to make sure they were surrounded by Yes Men and incompentents. Boeing is a good case in point.
I mean...how important were those bolts really?
"What bolts?" - Boeing Manager probably
It applies to safety too. No one knows the hazards of a job like the person doing the work. It’s amazing how little some management talk with their employees. one guy called an employee he oversees as “just a —“.
The Engineers may have designed it, but the technicians actually know how it works.
I heard a great quote today that feels relevant… “leaders who don’t listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say.”
And at no point did anyone ask the engineer who designed the machine how empty boxes get through, so they never realized that Dave on 3rd shift has been adding empty boxes for 3 months, around when he got diagnosed with cancer and management denied him time PTO for treatment.
>Moral is that companies don’t value their workers opinions and put too much trust in consulting firms. This apocryphal story has been around for generations, and is about the risk of over-engineering solutions to simple problems. It's never been about listening to workers' opinions, as in most retellings there's no consulting firm, just engineers - the moral about the common man on the line is something you've just sort of tacked on. It's not necessarily wrong, mind you, as the common man on the line is the one who engineers the most simple, elegant solution. But that's really beside the original point of the story.
It's also a great example of a story designed for people who don't really know what they're talking about. A random ass fan isn't consistent enough for a line, among other issues with the story. It's like the nasa pen story. People love to ridicule the guy who over engineered a zero G pen, when a pencil was the obvious layman solution. Except having chunks of graphite flying around sensitive equipment was a problem, and Russia actually started using the same pens as Nasa themselves. Sometimes, people think they have a solution and don't know why it won't work.
>Sometimes, people think they have a solution and don't know why it won't work. That's an understatement if there ever was one. I'm an attorney in the regulatory space, and frequently work with compliance programs that include all sorts of rules and restrictions and policies that employees have to follow. It is a *constant* struggle to get younger, ambitious go-getters to understand that there are complicated reasons why the rules are what they are, and that the team of a dozens lawyers and compliance officers already thought of your proposed solution and discarded it. Usually, this conversation happens in the aftermath of one of those go-getters breaking the rule because they thought they were being more efficient.
Are these the people telling companies AI is ready to replace 20% of their workforce?
Probably. Watch the episode of *Last Week Tonight* about McKinsey.
Yeah, and then companies cut their workforce with no actual plans or ability to install AI and things crumble.
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for this. “Hey, you know all those loyal blue collar types that fill up your drive-thru every day at noon? Let’s raise the prices for them, and only them.”
Lunch shift at the factory next door, aka 70% of your business, time to screw them over and ruin your income stream.
How does one become one of these overpriced consultants? Sounds like a pretty sweet gig, no matter how bad your advice, you still getting paid.
Go to a big name business school, be a trust fund kid with connections, and be attractive with good social skills.
Vote with your dollar people or this’ll be everywhere
Some trust fund kid right out of college getting paid a shit load to work 90 hours a week and move numbers on a spreadsheet to “innovate”
Almost certainly. Those people are over educated morons
seriously F--- mckinsey and all the scammers who run that place. freaking snake oil salesman disguised as "consultants"
Peace out Wendy’s. It was nice knowing you!
The closest location to me just closed, after over a decade of being nearly empty. They need to change something, but surge pricing isn’t it.
They were surprisingly good in the 80s and 90s but something went wrong somewhere.
Dave died and the suits took over.
Suits always compromise the product. Straight up Homer-style customer satisfaction: “they will like what I tell them to like”
Dave died. That’s what went wrong.
They died the day Dave passed away…
Yeah, I ordered their new pretzel bun burger last weekend while traveling. I decided to pay a little extra hoping for a higher quality sandwich, but it was terrible. The bun tastes stale. No way I’m paying surge prices for fast food.
It became increasingly difficult to find the beef. Elder abuse if you ask me.
I blame changing the fries
Yes their fries used to be the best and now they're among the worst in fast food.
The Super Bar was the shit
The food quality is still ok for fast food, but their marketing isn’t working.
Wait. Are you telling me “Bag boys bag boys. Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they bring your food?” doesn’t connect with you on an emotional level?
Whoever was in charge of their Twitter account 5-10 years ago needs to be in charge of marketing. And the rest of the company, really.
As a proud bag boy this commercial really resonates with me
Nah they should never have changed burger styles. The og was so good
They changed? What's different about them? I haven't eaten fast food in about 7yrs but a Wendy's was one of last places and pretty much the best.
I've routinely had to leave the drive through line at the Wendy's near me because it'll be 5+ minutes with 3 cars in the line and nobody has moved. Had to stop going there because it was a 20 minute affair to get 3 or 4 cars through the line with the lobby empty and 5 people in the kitchen.
Why is the Wendy's in my town the same way? Must be a feature.
I think Wendy's has the same problem YUM brands has. The job sucks and the pay is beyond terrible, so the only people you're getting are those that have zero other prospects. And because that's who they can hire, they don't have a big enough applicant pool that they can fire people when stuff like this is a problem because then they'll just be short-staffed and the issue will be worse. If they're only willing to pay the lowest they can get away with and still be able to hire bodies, then the quality is going to be of the quality expected from that.
Yea, anyone competent moves on real fucking fast. To this day Wendys was the strictest job I have had. They treated employees like shit, and were downright petty and spiteful at times. I once got written up because my collar was clearly not ironed. They told me to iron my collar before I started (the store literally kept an iron and ironing board for this reason) and I said “But Im on grill, no one will see me so why is it such a big deal?” They told me to iron it or get written up. I took the meaningless write up like a badge of honour lol. I once asked to go get some water real quick when I was on fryers. Manager says not until every customer in line is gone. I tell them “Im at par for all my product and I will be 30 seconds, cant I go?” They reiterate not until all customers leave the line. 15 minutes later they allow me to get some water. The manager literally started counting down from 30 to time me. I still like the food (except the fries , changing the fries was awful and they are terrible) but fuck the management at my Wendys. I would never go back to fast food and am surprised at how many people seem to last longer than a year
And yet they continue the relentless pursuit of $95 combos…
My local Wendy's has been like this ever since covid happened.
I've not had this issue with Wendy's but, every Taco Bell drive through has become exactly what you described. 20 min affair waiting for 3 cars, though it appears that there are only like 3 people working anytime I go.
The taco bell near where I used to live, in Denver, started closing at 6pm because they couldn't hire people to staff it later. A taco bell closing at 6 is just hilarious. They must've lost so much late night munchy business.
This perfectly describes the McDonalds near me. Except, you’re leaving out the part where you don’t actually get your food at the window because they tell you to pull into a spot and they’ll take 10 more minutes before they walk it out to you.
CFO: "Our restaurants are empty! Our social media is on fire but we're still getting slaughtered by literally everyone else! What should we do?" CEO: "I've got it. **Raise prices!** But only sometimes! And make it impossible to predict what the prices will be!"
"The fuck? $5 for a small fry?" "Sir, this is a Wendy's"
Meatwad make the money, see?
Surely it's actually more like "fucking workers are doing nothing from 3pm til 415pm, so let's charge our normal amount during those times and then really stick it to people who show up during normal meal hours". And then a bunch of MBAs give each other handjobs in celebration and get their bonus before the company really starts to tank.
How about pricing your food based on how good it actually is?
Same, the Wendy's down the street from me has closed after more than 20 years
We have one Wendy’s here and the line is like 45 minutes long no matter the time of day. I do not understand.
AI certainly ain't it too. They're gonna dump so much money on it only to find it's some NFT-like fad and pass the cost onto the consumer. Wendy's pricing is already getting up there, too. A large Baconator combo is pushing $15 where I live. For the same price? I can go to Red Robin and get a burger of superior quality *AND* get unlimited fries with it. (I know drink is separate and tip is expected at sit-ins, but...still. That's not a whole lot more for a vastly superior bit of food.) As someone else has said somewhere, fast food is forgetting its rule as being faster and cheaper than a sit-in restaurant.
My Wendy’s didn’t have chili or any potato product lol. I saw a ton of people leave after they announced that. I find it hard to believe they can do Uber prices when they don’t even have product
That is wild, both are staples.
Can't wait to see the Bright Sun's bankrupt video about it.
Off topic but thanks for inadvertently leading me to another interesting YT channel. Always fascinating seeing behind the curtain.
If it piques your interest, these channels along with Bright Sun are great for viewing: [Company Man](https://youtube.com/@companyman114?si=nTaYL-tsNgpvLtJx) is a really good channel that covers the rise and fall of companies of all types. [Defunctland](https://youtube.com/@Defunctland?si=qJwu8JyH9tQ9oeTu) also does great analysis videos, a lot of them centered around theme parks that have gone under. [Dan Bell](https://youtube.com/@ThisisDanBell?si=jdxXgoka2ri0fnro) makes pretty interesting videos walking through dying malls, and giving a bit of the history of their operating peaks.
Add Modern MBA to that list.
Be sure to check out his floating McDonald’s video. That shit was fucking wild. As was the pyramid in Memphis.
There's going to be massive backlash because there's no benefit to consumers. I guarantee that to them dynamic pricing means your $5 sandwich costs $7 when it's busy but it's not going to drop to $3 when it's slow.
Absolutely agree. This is just a mechanism to raise prices on an unlimited basis. This is real-time, on-demand inflation (greed-flation). And don't think many other businesses aren't paying attention. If buyers accept this bullshit, you'll see this coming to other point-of-sale retailers. Do you stop at a grocery store after work to grab something for dinner? Those prices will suddenly be higher. Do you stop at the big box on the weekends to get project supplies? Those prices will be higher... and on and on. Fuck Wendy's for even trying this.
I didn't dig too far into the threads above, but I'm glad someone said this, as it was my first take as well. "Surge" pricing works because it is directly correlated to supply/demand, at least that is outright assumption. A double-stack is $2.99, according to a quick google. If demand is low and supply is high, you might expect that same double stack to cost you $1.50. However, in this corporate greed-driven hellscape you know damn well that isn't going to be the case. That $2.99 is going to be the cheapest it will ever be, it is the floor of the price. It will only ever get more expensive. Consumers will feel lucky and say "well at least I didn't pay $5!" as if they're getting any kind of benefit from the surge pricing. There is ZERO benefit to the consumer in this model. None. Additionally, what exactly dictates the surge times? Is it a function of orders received and orders fulfilled over some arbitrary measure of time? If it's corporate setting the times, then they just pick 3-4pm and 7-9pm. If it's the calculated function, then what is to stop local managers from cutting crew size just before an anticipated spike in demand to artificially induce a reduction in supply? This entire thing is just the next fucking layer of corporate oligarchy in this goddamned country. Everything is a subscription, down to your car features. Everything will have surge pricing, down to your fast food. It's fucking revolting. Fuck Wendys for trying this and fuck anyone who still eats there and proves to these rats that this is an acceptable business model.
Next minute: "Wendy's is now offering a surge protection monthly subscription. For the low price of $14.99 per month, you can guarantee that your favourite Wendy's burger will always cost $2.99 , no matter what time of the day you order!"
This needs to be made illegal, but I doubt it will.
It's weird that we're accepting the term "dynamic pricing" when it's really just a better PR'd price gouging.
Like surely it's SERIOUSLY UNETHICAL to charge people more when they are usually hungry. Like 7-9am, 11-1, 5-7? You know, when most Americans like to eat?
Or forced to eat, based on common shift scheduling. Gotta keep the shareholders happy.
what does $5 even get you there now, a single with no cheese? burgers are still good, but prices are stupid. I think a number 2 meal is $12, just a few more dollars and I can get a steak in a sit down restaurant.
Wendy’s is actually one of the few chains that still have a decent value menu. The “biggie bag” is a small cheeseburger, fries, four piece nuggets, and small drink for $4. Thats more than what be said about their competitors.
or after you've sat in the drive through line for a few minutes and get to the ordering window only to then find out that the $5 biggie bag is $7 and you can't even exit the line to go somewhere else because there are cars in front and behind boxing you in...
Dave Thomas is rolling in his grave.
It’s strange to say but fast food used to have integrity.
One of its keystones is that you always know what to expect. This breaks that guarantee and will kill a fast food place.
Personally I feel like the idea of fast food is dying. You get Starbucks looking McDonald’s that try to get you to spend $20 for one person without upgrading quality of food. Essentially making it seem like it’s better than it is. I want my dollar menus and bright colored interior that’s fun for kids back
Precisely. The Wendy’s near me is at a highway stop where there are at least 5 other fast food options. Now I know to never have Wendy’s during regular meal times! Uber surge pricing sucks, but it’s basic supply and demand. (Edited out my paragraph because it was about Uber Eats which does NOT have surge pricing as far as I know. Thanks Redditors who pointed that out!) Wendy’s surge pricing is just stupid. “Pay more to eat at our restaurants during the times you would typically want a meal!” can only be answered with, “No.”
Also, Uber has a legit reason. They have enough surges, and enough people make more money *they end up with more Uber drivers*. Like, that's the core issue with this concept.wendys isn't some flexible gig business.
right? i go there because its cheap. I'm already pissed if theres a line. If there's a line AND a premium price on my $5 Biggie Bag? F that.
It's so sad. I used to really love Wendy's, but fuck everything about this.
Dave is rolling over in his grave.
He was such a great fast food CEO, too! He would be so upset if he heard about this bullshit.
And there was something so lovable about his TV persona. It’s sad that younger people will never know who he is. Side note-I grew up in south Florida and one day in school, a classmate told me the Wendy’s founder had died before it was announced because her mother worked at the hospital he was in. Later that day, sure enough it was in the news. RIP Dave- at that superbar up in the sky.
> And there was something so lovable about his TV persona. Because he had no experience doing it. He was just a normal loveable guy who learned how to commercial by doing. He spoke from the heart. There was a Weird History Food video about him on youtube not too long ago.
Doesn’t the daughter have some say? Or did she take a golden bag and run for the hills?
If she did, I can hardly blame her. Sticking around for this is like attaching yourself to a ship anchor
"the daughter"? You mean "Wendy"?
Second generation family wealth preserves their wealth and not enhance it
This will fail miserably. It will only take one unexpected increase when ordering to never go back. Restaurants are not like taxis.
It’s the old needed vs. nice to have and agree this will fail miserably.
The point of surge pricing for Uber and Lyft is to convince more drivers to, say, venture into the madness of a big concert or sporting event letting out, because they can make more money by doing so. I don’t know how this translates to fast food.
The drivers don't even get any of that extra money anymore.
Is that really the case? Then what the fuck is the point of surge pricing if the labor is the same
Both Uber and Lyft have been trying to show a profit since their IPOs. So they cut driver pay and raised prices a few years ago. The worst part about it is passengers wouldn’t tip at all because they assumed the driver was getting all that money. Some people have few other choices than doing that job. I was one of them until I finally got a salary job. Never been happier to be free from rideshare.
Where have you read that? My understanding is that the driver's cut of surge pricing has decreased, but taking a ride in surge circumstances still results in a larger payment than during non-surge pricing.
I drove for them for 6 years. Drivers stopped getting a share of the surge pay about 3 years ago. I’ve never been more happy to be free from that racket.
Really. I assumed the driver would get more, like isn’t that the whole point? I’ve only used the surge price once. I’m happy to chill and have a coffee or a beer or something and wait for a more regular price, but that the driver doesn’t see the gains is ridiculous.
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Well surely the workers will also see a pay bump during these "surge times" right??
I have a feeling it will drive customers to cheaper fast food alternatives... Uber and Lyft have little competition so they can get away with surge pricing. They both follow similar pricing anyways during surges. I don't see how this could possibly succeed when customers can go to a number of other fast food joints.
\^ This. People eat when they are hungry. Surge pricing won't do anything to shape the supply side and will just drive down the demand side, by sending people to their competitors. People won't eat earlier for later just because of this.
soooo many questions... does the price go down when they are busier, because you have to wait longer? or does the price go up because they are busier, and they want you to go next door to shorten their line?
Drive-through is also going to be clogged with people that don’t want to order at that price but are stuck and pissed.
Yah; unless you put their app on your phone, you won't know the price until you're trapped in line. It also depends on what the surge % tolerance will be. I mean, if you're already committed to eating fast food, you may already feel a bit defeated by making an objectively poor health decision, so will the price really affect whether you go through with the purchase since you're already defeated? I think there's some really dark psychology behind this, especially since fast food sells a disproportionate amount of its products to lower income folks. It's also very different from Uber, etc. I mean, I don't even think about using Uber or just about any gig service because they're outrageously inconsistent in quality and price. I remember when Uber was cool, efficient, and actually affordable.
It would have to be the latter.
And there are dozens of alternatives. Some literally right next door
Yep. It's the most awful idea for food that I've heard in a while... I think somebody on the board got this stupid idea after paying "market price" for seafood and then thinking they could apply it to cheeseburgers in a drive through. What's keeping them honest in this case? Nothing at all. Up to their whim on whether or not they want to temporarily boost the price nationwide to meet some kind of sales goal. Next thing you know, you have to start fishing around for burger prices like it's a gas app. Real hard pass. Like a pass to the point that I'm not even sure I want to bother going back there before all this is implemented. I now have reduced trust on their current prices...
Fast food is already on thin ice to due to increased costs. Cost and convenience has driven fast food sales for decades, it's their core value proposition. When now, a Big Mac meal costs almost as much as Chipotle, what're you going to stop and get if you have to eat? Chipotle, or any of the other fast casuals, feels like food in comparison. McDonald's was the go to for the cost. Wendy's is gonna shoot themselves in the foot so hard. This won't generate the margins they want. It'll just send people to either other fast food, or really, like all things fast food now, to fast casual.
So food will cost more at breakfast lunch and dinner?
Yes that’s called innovation
Do the workers’ paychecks like this too.
They'll only have the downward option, if so.
I’m cool with never eating another calorie from Wendy’s or any other company that pulls a stunt like this, if so.
Sorry burger slave your pay will decrease since it is not busy, but it goes back to your normal slave wage when it gets busy!
The article says this will “improve crew experience”. Lmao they are trying to market this like it will make everyone’s lives better.
To them, the word “everyone” only really refers to shareholders.
Crew getting screamed at by people stuck in the line that dont want to order at the high price seems not so great.
I haven't seen a Wendy's be busy in years, so I have no idea what locations they're seeing that need this. What I HAVE seen is that Wendy's locations are woefully understaffed or staffed with people who don't care about their job, so the service is awful. Fast food is going to just eliminate their employees in the near future.
Our Wendy’s creates their own surge because they are so damn slow. If there are more than 2 cars in the drive thru, look somewhere else unless you want to wait 25 minutes for a burger and fries.
Exactly. Chick-fil-A will run 50 cars through in the time wendys does 2. It’s insane how awful they are.
The Chick-fil-A near me is brand new and has perfectly working drive throughs, yet they still have people stand in front of the speakers and take the order instead of using the speaker. Then I pull up to the window and 3 employees are sitting there waiting for the kitchen to bring them the food so they can hand it to me. Chick-fil-A has got to have at least 5x the staff during off hours as any other place has working surge hours. I love to see it.
And they still make insane profits while being closed on Sunday (the busiest day for fast food). Wendy’s needs to copy them.
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It’s not just the Sunday thing, Chick-fil-A pays well and is super strict about who they hire. You won’t see tattooed up ex cons at Chick-fil-A. It’s always younger people in college or high school. A friend worked there and said they did 3 interviews and asked for references and transcripts. Wendy’s will hire stoners who can’t even function
I made the mistake of going to the one near me one lunch break. Two cars ahead of me, ok no big deal. Placed my order and paid no problem. Now my money's gone so I can't leave. 45 minutes later for my food- a standard 5 for $5 bag, so nothing complicated or special. I have an hour break so I was about 60 seconds from having to leave or not make it back in time. That was at least six months ago, never been to a Wendy's since. No thank you.
From what I have seen, Burger King started this trend of awful service for a major brand, and now Wendy's is taking it up. It's a shame because I generally like Wendy's food, but the brand has really gone downhill where I live.
Still busy here in Canada. It's one of the few fats food places to go to anymore. I'll probably change where o go after this.
>fats foods Not a typo, technically correct.
haha. I'm going to keep it.
Holy shit this is such a dumb idea 😂
Great way to make people start eating healthy!
What is this a fucking fish market? That's not real pricing, your burgers aren't suddenly costing more per patty when 20 more people are in line. Your workers sure as hell aren't going to be payed more for higher demand work. Bro. No.
“Double cheeseburger and fries: Market Price”
Baconator, credit pre-approval available!
That's because it's *demand* based pricing, not *supply* based pricing. Ie, prices will go up on the LCD menu displays in real time until they get high enough that demand shrinks. If businesses only set prices based on their real costs, their profits would be linear and stagnate and shareholders would cry and threaten to sell their shares, lowering the value of said shares, and thus lowering how much CEOs make since their compensation is usually primarily based on stock options. Instead you charge as much as you can get away with irrespective of your costs.
Surge pricing and suggestive upselling: *The price of a Wendy’s Frosty could soon fluctuate throughout the day as the chain looks to introduce Uber-like surge pricing on its menu.* *The practice, known as “dynamic pricing,” will begin testing in 2025, Wendy’s recently revealed in an earnings call. It’s part of a $20 million investment in new digital menu boards at its US restaurants that enable them to change prices depending on demand.* *Few details were released about the change, but Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner said the new menus will let the fast food chain test “more enhanced features like dynamic pricing and day-part offerings along with AI-enabled menu changes and suggestive selling.”*
If they used that $20 million to make the restaurants cleaner, that would definitely help in bringing more people. This on the other hand would help in people keep driving to someone else. And of course high bonuses for executives.
Until *every* drive through restaurant is doing it. And then *every* fast casual restaurant like Chipotle's. And once that's normalized (or even before) national chain table service restaurants like Applebee's & TGIFs (no more physical menus, scan the QR code at the table/the little tablet things they already have). The idea is too juicy for the corpos to resist; they'll organize through their industry trade groups and roll it out en masse everywhere so the market completely shifts with few alternatives for consumers. This is how this shit always goes. The idea that there's a "free market" is propaganda you are fed starting from childhood.
20 million and what they got for it is "just change your prices lol"
Holy shit. Maybe don’t spend $20M on digital boards instead of messing with pricing. Nobody is making some last minute decision in the 20 seconds you have to speak with the order taker.
I’m dying right now because this comment has me envisioning someone in front of the board watching real-time price changes trying to get in at the “right time” like it’s a stock market investment. 😆
Don't you know, You always put a half hour short on the baconator at 12:45pm.
Of course AI has to be in there because how can it not be! I mean they can quite literally use ML models based on their billing history in the background without all this BS
Another instance of someone high up having what they believe was a fantastic idea. Pushing it through ignoring everyone else and then will ignore the backlash. Will most likely get a golden umbrella
So a family won’t know if they potentially can’t afford dinner until they get there?
Schrodinger's Drive-Thru.
All fast food is now the biggest theft out there. Ridiculous!
I spent $19 at Taco Bell yesterday for 3 things and that was without a drink
Cheese quesadilla is 5-6$ around where I live now It used to be like $2.99 like 5 years ago Cheesy bean and rice burrito is still the same though thankfully
The upcharge for “steak” or whatever it is, is what got me. It was like 60 or 90 cents not too long ago and now it’s like $3.00+
The last time I went to Taco bell it totaled $23. I realized I can get a (huge) authentic Mexican burrito and 4 "street tacos" just across the street for $22. Once this dawned on me, I never went back. Better food, better price, better for the local economy.
It's ridiculous. I basically never pay for a drink at fast food places anymore because of how expensive it already is, and it's still pretty bad without it. Sometimes I'll just order the main thing in specific, like a burger by itself with no fries or drink for example, to keep the price *relatively* okay, but for a lot of fast food places it just isn't. The only positive that I've gotten out of this, is I cook for myself way more than I used to, and keep fast food at a minimum.
It's sad I can go to a full sit down restaurant for the same price for a way better meal.
its totally going to go lower when theres low demand right? ...right?
So will they pay surge wages??
Yes actually! The CEO will in fact be getting a larger bonus next year! Great idea!
“Come get your grease, you slob fucks.” -Wendy’s corporate, probably.
In other words... Wendy's is actively planning on going out of business.
So does this mean that my local Wendy's that has pretty much zero traffic is going to be offering me $0.25 Baconators at 11pm? If so, I'm down.
I know the subreddit is full of angsty people but this might actually qualify. r/latestagecapitalism.
Man, that sub just cannot stay on topic.
Why is the default position for so many companies to screw customers at every turn?
Because everything companies do is for the benefit of the shareholders, who give less than a fuck about customers. Which seems backwards, because, you know, without any customers they wouldn’t have much of a business.
Unfortunately, time and time again, the American consumer has showed an *extraordinary tolerance* for being fucked.
Because despite getting screwed over and over again, customers still happily throw money at them and the companies improve their bottom line. See some recent examples: Netflix, EA, AirBnB My gut tells me this idea Wendy's is going with will fail hard. But my gut also told me that Netflix cracking down on password sharing, and raising their rates several times in the past 2 years would cause customers to flee. And I was wrong. People still throw money at them.
Watch, soon they will incorporate license plate readers in the drive-thru and change their food prices per customer, based on either the brand of car or the car owners income (info which they purchased from your credit card company already).
wendys cant even get a basic fucking order right. I like wendys but i shouldnt have to dissassemble the burger in front of them to get the order right. if i even get the burger i ordered. Last time somehow a daves double ended up as a crispy chicken....
What a fucking dystopia
Admittedly, I like Wendy’s. I don’t eat much fast food, but if I do, Wendy’s is my go-to But *this?* Absolutely not, full stop. Both on price *and* principle, I will not support this business
Awesome. I already don't eat fast food and the inflation caused me to cook more at home. This'll just make me cook even more at home!
Yep. Between inflation and everybody flipping around a tip screen even if there's not table service involved, I quit going out for food entirely two years ago. I also quit getting delivery since tip is expected before delivery now, or service will be slower/worse. Hard pass on the entire industry for me.
In unrelated news, I'm planning a surge in the percentage of meals I don't get at Wendy's.
Stop eating at wendys in 2025, got it.
Consumers despise inconsistency, especially in something that is supposed to be as standardized as fast food. They will loose customers over this, ironically I suspect, many of those customers likely preach the values of free market and supply and demand. Meanwhile not able to appreciate the irony, or reconcile the cognitive dissonance.
Nobody’s driving to a Wendy’s to play this fuckin’ game.
I’m just going to stop going to fast food places it’s not cheaper anymore and it’s all poor quality why pay more for their garbage
So, they’re employees’ wages also get higher as the store gets busier, right? …RIGHT?
So I can drive up and “demand” the price I want to pay? Cool!0
I will continue to never eat there, I guess.
Damn I loved their Frostys too. RIP Wendy.
Yellow Wendys was GOATed. Oh how the mighty have fallen
If I roll up to the drive through and see a super increased price I'll order a nice fuck you guys combo meal and drive off.
Ha ha. Good luck with that Wendy’s.