Customer service seems to be eroding everywhere I turn. There are millions of examples, but one growing fad is grinding my gears. According to Marketplace, some restaurants are moving toward Uber-style pricing or surge pricing.
That means your bacon egg and cheese on a bagel as I like him would cost five bucks one hour and could be eight bucks the next, all depending on supply and demand.
Or as Ashwin Kamalani, the CEO of Juicer, a service who helps restaurants do this, told Marketplace,
“It's akin to raising the price of wings because it's Super Bowl Sunday,” Kamalani said, “As a company, we avoid using the word surge.”
And of course, they would. And of course, they're wrong.
First, it was fewer menus on tables.
Then it was QR codes and no menus.
In some places, it's a tablet where they use soft power to pressure us to tip more.
With economic pressures mounting everywhere, no matter how wonderful I'm told our economy is, it seems like the little guy is losing here.
This is another example of that.
We're headed to a place where dining out is an elite activity.
And boy, that sucks.
What do you think?
Does dining out cost too damn much? And are you okay with surge Pricing?
Tell me in the comments at jamesbrowntv.substack.com or email me at jamesbrowntv@gmail.com.
You can also leave me a message at 585-484-0339.
On that note, I'm James Brown, and as always, be well.
Are we entering a world of surge dining?https://www.marketplace.org/2024/01/11/are-we-entering-a-world-of-surge-dining
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