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McDonald’s has been using artificial intelligence to dynamically price menu items in the US and some global markets, according to a report by Reuters. This involves finding the “optimal price” to match what a particular store’s patrons would be willing to pay.
This fluctuates according to location, and even stores in the same city can have different cost amounts for the same exact items, according to information reviewed by Reuters. This is basically surge pricing, like with ride-share platforms, but for hockey puck burgers that have been sitting under a hot lamp.
Reuters got a look at the interface that franchisees use to access this technology and it’s pretty creepy. Messages show stuff like “your restaurant is showing MEDIUM SENSITIVITY to price” based on “customer willingness to pay in your area.” Cost differences at nearby locations can be stark. Researchers found that a Bic Mac at a Fresno, California store cost $5.69, but the same burger cost $6.89 at another branch two miles down the road. That’s a 21 percent difference.
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The bargain with fast food was that it was shitty for you, but it was quick, cheap, and tasted good. Now it’s even WORSE for you, costs as much as an actual meal, and increasingly tastes like garbage. What exactly are people trading off now?
It isn’t quick anymore either.
I keep being amazed when we go out once a month for a sit down dinner and it’s only $5 more a head than fast food.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they had some super addictive drug in there
Fat, sugar and salt can totally be addictive.
It was a late 20th century novelty symbolizing the heights of American culture and capitalism. By now much of the world has experienced McDonalds and generally fast food. Most of the developed world at least.
And soon someone will have the “Where is The Cheapest” mcdonalds app that guides them to the location that is hurting for business and has lowered their price, effectively negating the process.
Personally, I don’t see a problem with McDonalds doing this, as I am not the kind of person who would eat that crap. I had gone probably decades without going into one, but happened to on a road trip. Big ugly kiosks? Nope. I left.
I can’t see how this could be illegal. They should be able to adjust their prices any time they want. Well except after you order I guess.
Gathering data about the customers that persists, is personally identifiable, and not discoverable, now THAT should be illegal.
I don’t see a problem with McDonald’s doing this, as I am not the kind of person who would eat that crap
Okay, great, this specific case doesn’t apply to you. Thank goodness no other business will be encouraged to adopt this model and suddenly make groceries more expensive during the post-work/pre-dinner rush and on weekends.
I don’t care if they do, frankly.
Restaurants already do this: Lunch is one price, Happy Hour another, Dinner another, and then late night often yet another menu.
A business can charge whatever they want, and hopefully it will empower more food coops and consumer owned businesses.
Edit: Most of the places I like to go to, I know who works there, I know who owns it.
I wonder if touristy places will eventually get facial recognition, so that prices are much higher for tourists?
Which leads me to the part that actually bothers me, the data collection and identification. Its not the pricing itself that bothers me, its the data required to do it.
It is a lot too, like the reuters guy was charged like 6 and 8 dollars for one of these garbage sandwhiches. I would get real food for that money.
Using slop to rate yor slop. Great.
I am using my brain to avoid going there if I can.
There are better places for less.On the plus side, surveillance pricing legislation has already been introduced in (IIRC) four states just this year, and if I had to guess, we could eventually see state-level bans in at least half of the states.
This, like the electronic tags at Walmart, or Uber charging more when your phone battery is low, or Target mining your loyalty club data to surge price you, is something that they’re speedrunning to try and normalize before the law catches up.
The issue is that these are black boxes. No one but the authors of the system know what’s happening. Law prevents Uber from increasing the price on a nearly flat mobile-computer? They didn’t. That’s just the normal price. Who has all the data? Only Uber. No one else. How then can you enforce such laws?
This is the one aspect of “Tech” that is turning me from an enthusiast into an honest Luddite. Our systems of regulation are so weak and ineffective at catching up to these sorts of exploitative practices and by design that I don’t see much being done to help people get ahead of this
How then can you enforce such laws?
The same way everything is enforced in billionaire-owned America: fines that, at the end of the day, are likely a minute fraction of a corporation’s profits, though some states will be heavier-handed than others. The Federal Government does not lead on any issue that is of crucial importance to the consumer anymore, so the states are where the power of regulation lies. It’s not ideal but something is better than nothing in this case.
Ultimately, how you fare in this ecosystem depends on your own digital hygiene. The best thing you can do for yourself is simply not consume these products in the first place, but that’s not really an option for many who may live in food deserts or have no options for shopping but Walmart or Target, which is why some measure of regulation is inevitable in most of the states, I think.
My recommendation is to avoid pieces of software that mine your data, like Windows, apps, and certain Internet browsers, use a VPN on any device you use to access the Internet, and 100% avoid loyalty clubs. Old-school methods are best, like making a reservation over the phone for example.
Tech hygene is necessary in the short term as damage mitigation, but this situation cannot be normalized.
Agreed.
The law is working slowly but deliberately. These bills, while new for now, will spread for sure.
Only allow flatrate pricing per distance and time?
No government is going to enforce a universal flat-rate. However that doesn’t prevent what I’m talking about. Uber can give everyone a different flat-rate. How would you know? You wouldn’t. That’s the problem. A friend gets charged a different flat-rate? Ok, now you know, but when the government goes to investigate Uber says, “well the flat-rate had to increase. It’s now XXX.” Again, the imbalance is enormous between the businesses that have the data and any external regulatory body that has to do footwork to get any data.
The same item sells for two different prices at separate stores? “Oh, that store just had a sale.”
How would you know? You wouldn’t.
That’s not necessarily true. It’s ridiculously easy to find, especially in this example. Simply change your pickup address to the house next door.
People are much more perceptive about this activity than you give them credit for, and in fact, there’s a whole sub-genre of content creator that focuses on it. There are also leakers. That documentation will find its way to local authorities and become actionable when the amount of it passes a certain threshold, not unlike the number of dead kids translating to FB having to go to court.
That’s not necessarily true. It’s ridiculously easy to find, especially in this example. Simply change your pickup address to the house next door.
Do you think that fools Uber into believing that the user using the same mobile-computer, the same account, the same data-connection and within the same travel patterns is now a completely different person?
Oh no a socialist ‘planned’ economy via computers. Argentina don’t you dare! … I’m sure glad we have capitalist ‘planned’ economies now. Their plan is to fuck you till you die. More surveillance please! Surveillance-capitalism demands it!
Maccies has a very high opinion of something that makes me chuck up half an hour after I’ve eaten it…
The prices they charge in Allentown PA is ridiculous. I rather go to Texas roadhouse and get steak
I’d rather go to Texas Roadhouse
Eww. I’d rather neither, thanks.
Normally my knee jerk reaction would be against this. But if it helps to drive McDonalds to lose customers in the long run, well…🤔
I don’t know who is going there any more. I know there are people, I have one a few blocks away and the drive through is always full but you can go to local places and get good food for so much cheaper.
So. Say what you want about Russian racketeer government’s practices, the former local franchise called “Vkusno i tochka” doesn’t do this.
Does feel bland other than their fish burger though.
I’ve read Burger King is considered bad in the USA, in Russia it’s kinda fine.
Dairy Queen is the only good fast food burger in the corporate space in the US.
So glad Washington state was the first state to ban AI “Surveillance Pricing” at Grocery Stores. Hopefully it expands to dynamic pricing and for all business soon.
Glad I haven’t eaten their trash microplastic food in like 5 years since I found out it was our pedophile and Chief’s favorite restaurant
I suspect the president is just lying about that being his favorite to seem normal and not the silver spoon trust fund baby he is that eats fancy food cooked by personal chefs.
I suspect that “you are what you eat,” and McDonalds is trash wrapped in marketing.
“How much can you afford? Do you want a payment plan?”
Hey there, it looks like you’re short the money needed for your purchase. Five 4 hour shifts will get you your meal you need. Get to work and you’ll get our 🤡 token in exchange for the food. Don’t forget to smile to greeting customers! You’ll get a nice bonus"
