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ZeroCool OP , (edited )

That’s a pretty fast turn around on walking it back. I guess the backlash was intense. Too little too late though, I’m done with Wendy’s. I don’t care how they spin it now, we all know this wasn’t ever going to benefit customers or reduce strain on staff, it was just a scheme to price gouge during lunch/dinner rush. The fact that they even considered doing this is enough reason to never give them my business again.

Kirk Tanner’s only been CEO for 3 weeks and immediately started in with this fuckery. It’ll be interesting to see how many more Mooches he lasts.

octopus_ink , (edited )

This was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. I considered them an upper tier fast food place for decades. Past few years or so they have shit on all that.

They’ve been nearly dead to me for awhile, but they are fully dead to me now.

Edited to add: Arby’s is expensive as hell, but at least their food is consistently good - at least has been every time I’ve had it. But even arby’s is really close to the “I could get that from a bar cheaper and better” line for the stuff I really enjoy from them (like their surprisingly good gyro). At least there you can fall back on the good old roast beef sandwich and it’s not too too bad price-wise.

STOMPYI ,

When a company says its investing millions to offer value they really mean to extract value, hoping us dum dums beleive them.

Anon819450514 ,

Yeah, adjusting prices each hour or each days is kind of stupid. But when you’re looking at price adjusting in weeks or months to follow the seasons…it makes more sense but stupid nonetheless.

LostWon ,

Good call. As with every other industry where bullshit rent-seeking has taken hold, the attempted fee tack-on and walkback are an experiment in how far they can go before appeasing customers. It’s about testing waters before wearing people down. Rest assured, the one CEO’s peers have taken note of this noble effort. Eventually, as they see it, one of them will succeed in making it stick, paving the way for them all to do the same. The first CEO to make it stick will get additional bonuses, praise, and a higher level of notoriety within their rarefied circles.

xyguy ,

That was absolutely their plan all along.

If they wanted to do time-based discounts, they could just blast a 10% off coupon to every app user in a specific geographic area.

Plus they get the bonus of user data when people sign up for the app that they can sell to the government leverage for non-industry profit streams.

True disgusting profiteering.

MammyWhammy ,

Coming soon a quiet price hike followed by timed “discounts” at every Wendy’s location.

ma11en ,

I can’t understand why they didn’t start it this way in the 1st place.

In the UK most pub chains do 2 for 1 main meals Monday to Friday in late afternoon - early evening.

MammyWhammy ,

It’s probably what it would’ve been, but the marketing guys weren’t able to get ahold of this message before it leaked out.

yggstyle ,

It basically suggests as much in the closing statements. That’s exactly what they’d do.

RotatingParts ,

They will slowly ease their customers into this new pricing idea and then slowly raise the prices higher and higher.

yggstyle ,

It turns out that “we want to charge you more for eating at a normal time” was a poor choice for the fast food restaurant. Who knew?

DudeImMacGyver ,

Still not going to eat there lol

Ensign_Crab ,

Uh huh. I have no plans to ever eat anywhere that does. There needs to be a fucking line.

_haha_oh_wow_ ,
@_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works avatar

I’ll go ahead and file that one under Lies Wendy’s Has Told Me.

Tango ,
@Tango@lemmy.ml avatar

This was all just a marketing ploy (source: trust me, bro)

Ghostalmedia ,
@Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world avatar

I’m going to wager that the plan was never to raise prices at busy times, it was always to use dynamic pricing to put things on sale and bundle stuff. Hear me out…

This is how dynamic pricing is often used in retail. The sales and bundles dupe you into buying more shit, and that raises your order total.

Wendy’s is not Uber or Lyft. There are MANY options that people have for lunch. If they just raise prices at peak times, people will eat elsewhere.

copymyjalopy ,

Yeah corporations suck but I think you’re right. This plan was just poorly worded. Congestion pricing does not make sense for a market with so much competition.

LopensLeftArm ,
@LopensLeftArm@sh.itjust.works avatar

You’re absolutely right there but I can definitely see some out-of-touch millionaire executive in an office somewhere having the brilliant idea, “We’re gonna be the Uber of restaurants!”

Ghostalmedia ,
@Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world avatar

True, but all they said was “dynamic pricing.”

Everyone assumed this was the surge pricing model, but milking a wallet via a promo engine model is what is more common in retail.

Their PR talked about saving money and luring customers in. I’ll wager that an algorithmic promotion engine was the real play. It would pull customers away from the competition during peak hours, and it would make people buy more by thinking they’re getting a deal.

_haha_oh_wow_ ,
@_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works avatar

Nah, I think they were really going to try and introduce surge pricing until they saw how intense the backlash was, then decided to try and walk it back.

Maybe you are right, but I have a tough time giving these giant companies the benefit of doubt when it’s already been shown there was price gouging across the board in the middle of a pandemic.

Ghostalmedia ,
@Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world avatar

Oh, I’m not giving them the benefit of the doubt. I 100% think this was a greedy way for them to milk as much money as possible out of their customers.

My guess is that a promo strategy would be the easiest way for them to bleed a wallet. I say that because I’ve worked for some big shitty ecommerce companies that have tested this stuff, and their PR materials all seemed to talk about “saving” money.

lolcatnip ,

What evidence are you basing your conclusion on?

_haha_oh_wow_ ,
@_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works avatar

The very long, very well established history of corporations fucking people over for more profit every time they thought they might be able to get away with it. Did you forget or are you just asking in bad faith?

lolcatnip ,

So why get pissed at Wendy’s in particular?

_haha_oh_wow_ ,
@_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works avatar

I can be pissed at more than one thing, it’s one of my many talents!

Uranium3006 ,
@Uranium3006@kbin.social avatar

food is a very price sensitive industry

lolcatnip ,

Being suspicious of corporations is great, but it does seem like a lot of people to take any announcement by a big company, interpret it in the least charitable way possible (even if it doesn’t make sense), and then get mad based on the interpretation they came up with.

If people were really against variable prices as a concept, they’d already be boycott every business with a happy hour, but they’re not. They’re just assuming Wendy’s plans to dramatically raise prices and was dumb enough to draw attention to it. And really, even without an announcement, raising prices beyond the rate of inflation doesn’t make sense, because if they’re remotely competent, they’re already charging as much as people are willing to pay. Wendy’s has every reason to believe that just arbitrarily raising prices faster then the industry as a whole will hurt their bottom line.

Ghostalmedia ,
@Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world avatar

I feel like Lemmy started out as a place to have nuanced conversations, which was a refreshing change from Reddit. But I feel like the confirmation bias in many communities is pretty aggressive now. Nuanced and pragmatic comments are not what bubble up to the top.

NuclearZeitgeist ,

Ah yes, Wendy's is using the silicon valley method of enshittifying:

  1. Make an announcement so grotesquely bad it gets a huge backlash
  2. Roll the announcement back saying you were mistaken or there were no plans to actually do it
  3. Wait a bit
  4. Announce the less awful but still awful thing you actually wanted to do and let the public think "Well it could be worse!"
VelvetStorm ,

Like I said yesterday it’s too late for me. I know me never eating there again won’t make much of a difference, but it’s all I can do.

Bishma ,
@Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

This panic story doesn’t even make sense. So as soon as it starts to get busy and they start to make good money they’ll raise prices to drive people away?

Bishma ,
@Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Thinking about it more; I guess it all comes down to their marketing of it, as long as their “full” price is still competitive. Limited time offers are good motivators.

doc ,

So, not surge pricing but slump pricing. I agree the marketing value, but I think the urge to offset the revenue reduction by raising the "standard" or non-discounted price will prove irresistible to the bean counters.

MammyWhammy ,

What I think they meant to have rollout is to potentially raise their prices across the board and then offer discounts at off-peak times.

Functionally it’s the exact same thing as what leaked but is way easier to sell as value added to potential customers.

MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown ,

Yes. Theoretically they can drive people away and make more money if the people they haven’t driven away spend more for less goods.

Let’s imagine on a normal lunch hour I sell 100 burgers at lunch for $4. If I raised my price to $4.50, I’d only sell 80 burgers. If I raised the price to $5 then I’d only sell 50 burgers If a burger costs me $3 then I normally make $1 a burger, but at the middle price I make $1.50, and $2 at the high price.

100 burger x $1 = $100 profit
80 burgers x $1.5 = $120 profit
50 burgers x $2 = $100 profit

The trick is figuring out how changing price will affect demand without pissing all your potential customers off. Restaurants already do dynamic pricing with Happy Hour and Taco Tuesdays etc. They give a “discount” to entice more people to come in when they are less busy.

fuckwit_mcbumcrumble ,

If they make the same amount by selling less units that makes a hell of a lot more sense.

The average person probably wouldn’t notice besides “damn inflation making stuff expensive”, and they may lose a small percentage of their customers, but if the price difference makes up for it then they’re golden.

Ghostalmedia ,
@Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world avatar

People heard “dynamic pricing” and immediately assumed “surge pricing.”

Dynamic pricing, especially in retail, is often used to milk your wallet another way - sales, promos, and bundles. You’re incentivized to buy more.

Given that the press release talked about providing value and incentives to come back, I will be money that this was an algorithmic promo engine. Wendy’s will still get more money from you, but that’s because they want to manipulate your purchasing behavior, not raise prices at noon.

kadu ,
@kadu@lemmy.world avatar

Just out of curiosity, as this chain doesn’t exist where I live, what kind of foods does a Wendy sell? And is it better or worse than similar chains?

AreaKode ,

Similar to McDonald’s. Burgers and chicken nuggets for the most part.

Ensign_Crab ,

They sell burgers. They’re better than McDonald’s and Burger King. Maybe a bit better than Sonic or Dairy Queen. Not as good as Five Guys.

MammyWhammy ,

Five Guys isn’t in the same category as other fast food chains at all IMHO.

Five Guys provides a different quality of food at a much higher price than McD’s, Burger King, In N Out, etc. If the taste/quality is even close between Five Guys and the others listed, no one should ever consider going to Five Guys it’d be overpriced.

Wendy’s is in the ‘lower cost fast food’ category, not the ‘over the counter burger’ category.

Ensign_Crab ,

Fine, let’s talk regional chains then. Better than white castle, not as good as in-n-out or whataburger. Unless we’re talking about fries, because in-n-out’s fries are soggy fried disappointment.

MammyWhammy ,

God I hate In 'N Out’s fries. Just cut up the Styrofoam cup and eat that instead.

Swervish ,

5 guys is like $20 for a burger lol, they are extremely overpriced, and not really fast now that I think of it either. But yea, I’d agree Wendy’s is better than most “drive thru fast food”, but not quite as good as 5 guys.

Riven ,
@Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

That’s probably the reason they chuck so many fries and peanuts at you. I do like 5 guys but it definitely is a bit overpriced.

dezmd ,
@dezmd@lemmy.world avatar

Wendys hasn’t been “better” than McD’s for at least 15 years. 80s and 90s Wendys was next level. 00s was the decline, 10s were the bottom out years and they’ve never recovered.

LopensLeftArm ,
@LopensLeftArm@sh.itjust.works avatar

They’re top tier fast food burger chain in terms of quality, way better than McDonald’s or Jack in the Box. This is a super asshole business idea though.

fuckwit_mcbumcrumble ,

Same tier as McDonald’s and Burger King, but at the top while McDonald’s is the floor.

That said I don’t think Wendy’s is all that great. If I had to choose a left turn for Wendy’s or a right turn for McDonald’s I’ll pick mc dicks 10/10 times. Their “fresh never frozen” and “cooked to order” translates to takes 10 times longer than Mcky Ds.

lolcatnip ,

In my experience Wendy’s is just as fast as McDonald’s. My main complaint is that they’ll often forget to include part of what you ordered. For instance, their taco salad comes with a bag of corn chips in the side, but last time I got one they left it out. That’s just the most recent example, but the pattern has been fairly consistent over 20+ years and many different locations.

The way I think of it that that when you order from Wendy’s, you’ll get something fast, but you can never be sure what you’re going to get.

LifeOfChance ,

Prices are going to be going up to compensate this failure. They were going to try a slow roll out of higher prices anyways then add surge on top of it to make the higher prices feel like a deal outside of a surge.

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