It’s been in the news this week that Wendy’s may roll out surge pricing next year. They will utilize dynamic menu pricing based upon the time of day and demand. I don’t use Uber that often, but apparently they use the same model in some cities.
I can’t say I’ve experienced it, but I’m guessing strip clubs already do this - at least informally, in clubs where dancers can get away with setting their own price.
Wendy's clarified that what they are considering they are calling "dynamic pricing" as opposed to surge pricing, and that it would lower prices off-peak, but that prices would not be raised when they are busy, so it would result only in lowered prices at some times, but not raised prices. If this is true and accurate, then it should be a win for everyone.
I've been told by dancers that they settle for less during slow times, and push for more when there are more guys. They may charge $10/song when it is slow, or you are a reliable regular, and $20 when there are more guys, or if they decide they don't like dancing for a guy, so they charge more to offset the undesirable experience. In summary, supply and demand.
For the Wendy's initiative, it seems they are attempting to encourage people to visit dueijg off hours, so they are able to flat-line demand. Perhaps it is in response to the inability to hire and retain adequate headcount. Perhaps instead of penalizing customers for eating during normal meal times, they could offer surge pay to employees for working certain shifts. Wendy's customer service (speed and friendliness) is already horrible. This will further push away customers.
In response to crosschecks, point, the distinction between surge pricing and dynamic pricing is silly.
Whether they say prices are lower during certain times vs higher during busy time, the fact remains that they charge more when they are busy.
Unless they will lower the current burger price from $5 to $4 during slow time, retaining the $5 price during busy times, I call BS.
I bet the low rate will be $5, and surge price will be $7. They apparently hired the fired Bud Light marketing talent for botching this release.
Restaurants and bars already have "dynamic pricing" so Wendy's is not doing anything new. Restaurants have "early bird" specials and bars have "happy hours." Also they can have daily and weekly "specials" featuring different menu items.
The Wendys social media team has been known to make snarky posts about other companies.....imagine if it were another dollar that tried this nonsense....the social media team would be firing out critical posts.
I wonder how long until the PR team sends "we apologize for any concerns this has created for our valued guests" messaging.
At Club 390 in Chicago Heights, dance prices are reduced in the afternoon. Dances are usually $30 nude or $20 topless, but at times in the afternoon, there's a small sign outside the lap dance area that says $20 nude / $10 topless. I think it's generally before 5 p.m., although I'm not sure they have a set time every day for the reduced prices.
Happy Hour is the classic example of "dynamic pricing" being marketed correctly in hospitality. It's been used at restaurants, bars, strip clubs, hell I've even seen fast food places do it before. Taco Bell used to have a late night menu with discounted options. I've seen it at I think Steak & Shake or Habit Burger or one of those smaller chains too. In an economic sense, price discrimination is an effective tool. Particularly for goods with high fixed costs. Hotels and Airlines have been doing it for years. I think Wendy's mistake here was in marketing it, what they released was more suitable to shareholders than customers. The customer facing release should have started with something similar to the happy hour concept, with discounts between 2-4pm and/or 11pm-1am or similar times. Then they could quietly tooled up their signage and moved to the end state surge pricing model with much less bad publicity.
As far as strippers and strip clubs go, absa-fucking-lutlely they do. Every club I've been to has day/night prices. Cover charges are another example, they're always higher during popular times. Even the girls, in and out of the club, prices are much lower for off peak times. If I ask a girl to see me OTC on a Sat night, she's gonna want a lot more than on a Tue night. I don't know how anyone who has been to a strip club more than a few times hasn't experienced this first hand.
In business schools, Marketing seems to be the major that is viewed as the area for those of lowest intelligence. The recent Wendy's, Bud Light, and Target missteps are good examples of this perhaps deserved perception of marketing folks.
It's all part of the raise your profits to hell with the customer that has been around for years but increased since covid. I predict we'll see more and more of it as time goes on.
Surge pricing is second only to the new tipping systems, both of these are among my main to not patronize a business.
Prices going up over time with inflation is natural - This has happened form Grandpa's time to dad's time to our time to our kids time and forever in future.
Businesses have been evolving, and so would these new ideas. Washington and some other states have dynamic speed limits on roads. Some entrances to highways have signals to limit the number of cars entering simultaneously. Miami (I have heard) has reduced prices on Monday nights and may be Tuesday nights at SCs.
It is worthwhile that Wendy's wants to try these out, and so can strip clubs, gambling, sports,.... Both essentials and entertainment alike.
Some clubs already have higher VIP room prices for nightshift.