YHK - yet another hacker news clone

Your Big Mac might cost more if McDonald's AI thinks people nearby can afford it

30 points bundie 2 hours ago 25 comments

Levitating 1 hour ago | parent

Has always been the case.

brianwawok 39 minutes ago | parent

Getting AI boost though. Like watch traffic patterns and sporting events, crank it as much as they can!

Please ban all on demand pricing government. Limit it to 1 price a day or something

verdverm 35 minutes ago | parent

Seattle leading the way

https://wilson.seattle.gov/2026/09/23/seattle-becomes-first-...

HDThoreaun 34 minutes ago | parent

Price discrimination on monopoly goods doesnt seem so bad to me. A lot of people who arent willing to pay so much would likely be able to get stuff that otherwise would be limited to the wealthy. Drug prices should definitely have price discrimination as far as Im concerned.

mysterydip 29 minutes ago | parent

For some skeptical reason, I only see this raising prices when demand increases, not lowering it beyond a base “regular” amount.

valleyer 8 minutes ago | parent

That just means the "regular" amount is higher than you think.

john_strinlai 27 minutes ago | parent

it will be $x + $y, never $x - $y.

doublerabbit 34 minutes ago | parent

Why stop there, why not pipe all the towns water through the store and serve it at a premium on hot days?

Let Ai decide if you need a drink.

thesmtsolver2 24 minutes ago | parent

Water is a basic need. McDonald’s and Uber are not basic needs.

SoftTalker 36 minutes ago | parent

The answer to this one is simple: Don't eat at McDonald's. The food is garbage, the service is awful, and the prices are insane.

MiroslavPokorny 32 minutes ago | parent

Another nail in the coffin.

AnimalMuppet 12 minutes ago | parent

Mind specifying which coffin?

walrus01 28 minutes ago | parent

Breaking news, big mac might cost more in midtown manhattan than in topeka kansas, film at 11.

<snore>

loufe 25 minutes ago | parent

This is a poor take and reads like a strawman. The post is mentioning locations 2 miles from one another varying by almost $2USD for the same product.

walrus01 22 minutes ago | parent

Individual franchise fast food restaurants in the same city can be owned by two totally different groups of people and have very different cost structures for the real estate acquisition cost and build cost, and very different debt loads.

McDonalds restaurants are required to conform to a monolithic corporate identity as part of their franchise agreement but many are individually owned.

I'm not trying to excuse dynamic algorithm based pricing (and personal opinion, McD is crap ultraprocessed pseudo-food), but I'm pretty sure there's a $2 difference between the price of two totally unrelated shawarma vendors for approximately the same product that are within 800 meters of each other in my city as well.

beebmam 25 minutes ago | parent

Price discrimination is a good thing for markets. I hate McDonalds and all fast food though.

wahern 4 minutes ago | parent

It's not that simple because the it's asymmetric. The companies track you (via firms that can see your purchases across different retailers) but how can you track the companies to find a bargain? Historically you might follow Consumer Reports, your neighbor advice's, or just look at advertised prices, but if everybody is offered a personalized price, now it becomes very difficult for you to do price discovery.

Fair price discrimination would involve some kind of bidding system, but that has high transaction costs. And naturally sellers aren't interested in maximizing global efficiency or competitiveness. Like any company they prefer "solutions" that give them an advantage over the consumer.

cush 22 minutes ago | parent

They just banned algorithmic pricing in seattle grocery stores. What that means and how they can possibly enforce it, I have no idea.

senectus1 17 minutes ago | parent

oof.

Thats a lot of overreach.

fcarraldo 10 minutes ago | parent

Regulation of predatory pricing practices is a primary function of government.

devinplatt 19 minutes ago | parent

The article points out that they also might charge you more than the person next to you if you make more money than them, which (ignoring the privacy concerns momentarily) actually seems progressive?

It's kind of funny seeing unabashed capitalism attempting to achieve similar equalization goals to progressive tax policy. But I guess this has always been the case with market segmentation anyways (e.g. paying ridiculous amounts extra for 1st class on the airplane, or a special paint job or trim for your car).

I think the main difference is what people consider fair, transparent, and respectful of privacy. Additionally, people want to feel like they have a choice.

handoflixue 12 minutes ago | parent

"price food items differently depending on where they are bought"

Everyone is aware that they have been doing this since forever, right?

Like, you've traveled to a different location, and discovered prices are different in different cities?

Or how prices downtown are usually higher?

Some of the other companies discussed go beyond this, yes, but the headline is just absurd