Howard Weighs in on Fast-Food Surge Pricing

Here’s the beef. The news that fast-food giant Wendy’s is considering surge pricing — raising the cost of menu items during peak times — has many people up in arms, including Howard.

“It’s a disgrace,” he said Wednesday morning before joking he would start eating breakfast at three in the morning to avoid the change. “Just set a price … don’t punish me for going at a certain time.”

Stern Show staffer and fast food expert Jon Hein is equally incensed. “I was really upset … it’s completely unfair to people,” the “Fast Food Nation” author complained. “A lot of people who don’t have a lot of money go to these places, and now you’re going to be punished because a bunch of people are going at the same time to order the same exact meal? It’s ridiculous.”

Hein also took issue with the chain’s marketing approach. “If I was Wendy’s, I would say, ‘Hey, we’ve got this digital menu thing, we’re going to lower our prices at times where we don’t have as much [business],” he suggested. “And then you can do the corporate snake thing of increasing it afterwards … people will be up in arms if this actually happens.”