(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Beyond "ShrinkFlation:" Wendy's Prepares to Try "SneakFlation" [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-02-27 Next week Joe Biden will address the perfidy of “shrinkflation” in his State of the Union Address. It’s clumsy word, but you all know it: the “pound” of bacon that’s only seven ounces, the box of cereal or the jar of peanut butter that’s still the same size and price but holds a few ounces less; even the dairy butter that no longer whips up for making baked goods because — most likely — it contains more water than it used to. And on and on. I went shopping online this weekend for a couple of all-cotton sweatshirts from my favorite brand. The price was the same; the product name was the same, or close. But they weren’t all-cotton anymore: 20 percent synthetic. The write-up called it a “cotton-rich blend.” In a way, that’s shrinkflation, too. The sweatshirt’s the same size, but it’s… lesser. But shrinkflation was just the beginning. .”Sneakflation” is on the way: a fast food giant is developing new ways to raise the price of your burger without you even noticing. It’s Wendy’s, red pigtails and all, according to articles I read from two different sources: Axios an online news source whose reporters write only in bullet-lists for people too impatient to read much; And the Washington Post, which is owned by Jeff Bezos. It’s an imperfect world. Both stories were in large part the same, even to the word in some places: most likely mined from the same press release. By next year, Wendy’s will begin implementing dynamic pricing at its 450 company-owned stores. Dynamic pricing, or surge pricing, means that you’ll pay more for your burger at high-demand times of the day. Anybody who’s used an Uber knows how that works. And has complained about it. But Wendy’s is hoping that you won’t complain — because, again, they’re hoping you won’t notice. Digital menu signs will soon be installed in all the corporate Wendy’s: prices can be changed in an instant, as often as they like. They’ll test an AI to decide which times are “high demand:” good weather, for example, as well as the usual lunch and dinner rushes. And also to decide — perhaps based on your record in the system — which menu items to push. Now, why won’t people notice? Wendy’s is still mum on their reasoning, but industry analysts interviewed in the articles had their thoughts. The common conclusion: increases in price will be small — on the order of a quarter for a burger — and might be lost among all the tax items and delivery charge items on the receipt. Or perhaps the price increase will be concealed in “combo” menu items that appear or disappear throughout the day. That’s sneakflation. Think about it. Even an extra quarter or fifty centers a transaction at high value times? That adds up. Wapo’s analyst said that the additional take might amount to $50/hour. And if you have six high demand hours a day, that’s several hundred dollar. And multiplied by 450 stores, that’s $150K a day. And if the thousands of Wendy’s franchisees come on board, how much is THAT? And it all starts with an extra quarter or 50 cents. That you probably won’t notice. They hope. Wendy’s statement says that the improvements will help their workers do an even better job at serving customers. Meanwhile, the Axios article adds, Wendy’s has been working with Google to develop AI order agents. No humans required. Fewer jobs. More profit. I’ve worked fast food and didn’t enjoy it. Few do, in my experience. The work is hard and low-paid, management is low-paid and often low-quality, and customers can be impatient or irrational or bullying. I could imagine, down the line, an entire fast-food restaurant run by a few people and a number of advanced AI-compatible machines. Why not let the machines do it? The only problem is:: the same problem we’ve had for 50 years. Most of the wealt c reated by high tech is sucked up by the very few at the top who buy it, control it, limit it, and charge as much as possible for it. Jobs are erased or exported, cities and universities crumble for lack of money, children are raised in hopelessness and elderly people who’ve worked all their lives fear for their future. Meanwhile, tech builds an ever growing mountain of money for our American oligarchs to sit upon and look down upon us and deride us. They were in the right place at the right time with the money to steer all the wealth in their direction and then acknowledge no allegiance to anyone or anything except each other. They’ve set up a system that won’t stop, that is only incented to make as much money as possible to send upstairs, no matter what. As long as the people don’t realize that they’re being taken. But they are beginning to realize. The oligarchs don’t know, perhaps but their CEO lackeys and investment managers on the front lines are beginning to sense it. Hence, shrinkflation, sneakflation: “It’s not us, it’s INFLATION.” No, it’s you. And your system has to go. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2024/2/27/2226282/-Beyond-ShrinkFlation-Wendy-s-Prepares-to-Try-SneakFlation Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/