McDonalds sinister pricing scheme is sizing up your wallet with California customers forking over a premium
Think that Big Mac is the same price at every McDonald’s? Think again.California customers are discovering that the price of their favorite fast-food fix can change from one location to the next — sometimes by a buck or more — as McDonald’s increasingly turns to AI to help franchisees decide what customers may be willing to pay.The world’s largest fast-food chain has been pushing franchisees to use an AI-powered algorithm that analyzes data from McDonald’s roughly 14,000 restaurants to estimate “customer willingness to pay in your area,” according to Reuters.And Fresno customers don’t have to go far to find the price differences.At the McDonald’s at 4505 E.Cesar Chavez Blvd., a Big Mac was listed at $5.69 on the company’s mobile app in September.Drive just 1.3 miles to the location at 4898 E.
Kings Canyon Road, and that same burger costs $6.69.That’s a $1 difference for the exact same sandwich.The price gaps extend beyond the Big Mac.An M&M McFlurry was listed at $4.69 at the cheaper location versus $5.19 at the other restaurant.The Deluxe McCrispy was $5.99 at 5645 E.Kings Canyon Road compared with $6.49 at the 4898 E.
Kings Canyon Road location.The Deluxe Spicy McCrispy also carried different prices, at $6.79 at the Cesar Chavez location and $6.99 at the Kings Canyon restaurant a little over a mile away.Exactly how much of the difference comes from the AI recommendations versus individual franchisee decisions is unclear.McDonald’s franchisees have the final say on their menu prices.For Fresno resident Adam Ramos, the answer is simple: check the app and drive a little farther.Ramos lives farther from the Cesar Chavez location but said he noticed the price difference and decided the extra drive was worth it.“And when you order the same thing, there’s sometimes a dollar difference, and sometimes just a couple cents more,” Ramos said on Wednesday.Gabriel Corral-Cardenas, who stopped at the Chavez Boulevard restaurant because it w...