Call your house representatives, have them legislate on and forbid this practice, be explicit about not voting for them if they don’t make it part of their platform.
My general assemblyman has run unopposed since I’ve been old enough to vote; my congressman’s district is so jerrymandered he’s got better job security than a licensed plumber.
Dude I’m from a Red State, we don’t have a government of, for and by the people here. Writing my congressman has less of an effect on society than pissing in my own mouth.
What I’m actually doing about it is not eating at my local Wendy’s ever again.
Then volunteer to phone bank for someone in a swing state where a vote may make the difference, and write other representatives. It’s not illegal to tell other reps that you feel under-represented and the issues you are concerned about
Additionally, that dude is a human super computer (“mentat” in the fiction). In the movie, they chose to portray him doing hard math by having his eyes roll back in his head.
I don’t think that that’s true. Mentats themselves work alright without spice or that Sapho juice, though I think that both of these substances expand their abilities. It is Guild Navigators that are immersed in spice tanks for much of their lives.
They get their powers literally from drinking a substance made with spice. It’s explained in the books, and it’s why their lips are stained red (something only the 1984 film actually showed on screen). The bene jesuit (the female witches; probably fucked the spelling up lol) also get powers from a spice-based beverage (the same one Paul consumes). Pretty much any expanded mind powers come directly from the spice, it’s just a matter of degree of how much they take.
No it’s obviously no replacement for proper legislation. However in the meantime it is a step you can take in the right direction as an individual. When Wendy’s started throwing around this bullshit I stopped going. Do they care? No probably not. But I know I’m trying
It should be protected against. But, you know if a business changes to dynamic pricing and their next quarterly numbers shows that the vast majority of people didn't swallow it, and revenue is hugely down, they would undo it in a second.
The fact is, though. They know enough people WILL let them them get away with it. From their point of view, why would they turn down free money?
But, you know if a business changes to dynamic pricing and their next quarterly numbers shows that the vast majority of people didn’t swallow it, and revenue is hugely down, they would undo it in a second.
You would be right if we assume that
The people leading these companies are making informed data driven decisions.
Companies majorly made money through selling goods/services
However once a company is a certain size or in the correct position it’s more about showing a growth potential to investors, then actually proffiting from selling goods/services. Investors is really how these companies make money now. I’m not an economist so I’m not sure if this is still technically capitalism when the majority of profits come straight from investors but to me it sounds much more like a ponzi scheme.
My point being is that in a best case scenario, a nationwide boycott could take place and a company makes $0 gross income. But they can still profit if they can convince their investors that they are taking the right steps to position themselves in “this new economy”. Now realistically someone is still going to buy their products and any boycott effort will just have minor effects. The absolute worst case scenario for anyone actually in charge of making decisions like this at a large company is they get a golden parachute and hop over to another place.
Just like you said, why would they turn down free money?
The difference is that prices change in a predictable manner, with dynamic prices, especially if they go for max greed, will be impossible to figure out.
The one in front of you gets a Big Mac for $5 your price is $15, and they can’t say why, the algorithm has spoken!
Are happy hours and lunch specials not dynamic pricing? It’s just a different way of framing it as a discount rather than surge price, but it’s basically the same idea as far as I’m concerned. I’m happy to vote with my wallet on this, if Wendy’s decides they want dynamic prices then I’ll just go elsewhere. Fast food certainly isn’t an essential.
Lunch menus everywhere I’ve gone give smaller portions vs. the dinner menu to justify the lottery price. If love some lunch portions (and prices) fire dinner as an option.
Happy hour is a good analogy though, except that they publish the prices and times 24/7 so it’s not a surprise like surge pricing is turning into.
As the other guy said, lunch specials aren’t dynamic insofar as any pricing can be dynamic when the restaurant just changes prices willy-nilly. Which is what surge pricing is.
Lunch specials are a separate, generally static part of the menu. Like how using a coupon isn’t considered dynamic pricing for the times when you have a coupon on you.
Not familiar with the implementation, so maybe this is incorrect, but does Wendy’s tell you when you’re paying more or less? If not, my primary issue would be transparency. I know to show up for happy hour or lunch and I know what the prices will be.
I don’t want to have to memorize the prices because they quietly bump up everything on the menu by $0.50 at peak meal times everyday for an hour and don’t indicate that anywhere.