Corporations Behaving Badly

[RTH10260]

KARE 11 Investigates: State investigating addiction recovery company Kyros
After KARE 11 reports about questionable billing, the Human Services Inspector General confirmed an investigation of Kyros and Refocus Recovery.

Author: A.J. Lagoe, Steve Eckert
Published: 8:04 PM CST February 14, 2024
Updated: 10:18 PM CST February 14, 2024

ST PAUL, Minn. — The Inspector General for the Minnesota Department of Human Services told state lawmakers Wednesday there’s an active investigation into the for-profit addiction recovery company Kyros and its non-profit partner Refocus Recovery.

Since December, KARE 11 has been reporting about questionable billing practices by the two firms.

Records reviewed by KARE 11 show Refocus has billed taxpayer-funded Medicaid millions of dollars to provide peer services to help people recovering from addiction.

Refocus Recovery and Kyros were both founded by Daniel Larson. Records reveal that non-profit Refocus then hires for-profit Kyros to actually provide the peer services.

In an investment overview obtained by KARE 11, Kyros told investors it projected to make nearly $30 million in gross profits by the end of this year by providing Medicaid-funded peer services.

Under questioning by GOP Senator Jim Abeler, DHS Inspector General Kulani Moti said, “DHS can confirm an ongoing investigation regarding Kyros and Refocus Recovery.” Because it is an active investigation, she said she could not provide additional details.




https://www.kare11.com/article/news/inv ... dc2f197e71

[RTH10260]

[RTH10260]

Sheriff calls out Bridgestone over employees driving to work in snow and ice

NewsChannel 5
23 Jan 2024

Coffee County Sheriff Chad Partin posted an open letter to Bridgestone frustrated over their employees needing a note from him to get an excused absence for not driving in to work in the snow and ice.

[MN-Skeptic]

I'll put this here just because I think it's a monumentally stupid idea on the part of Wendy's -

Wendy’s will soon begin testing Uber-like surge pricing

The price of a Wendy’s Frosty could soon fluctuate throughout the day as the chain looks to introduce Uber-like surge pricing on its menu.

The practice, known as “dynamic pricing,” will begin testing in 2025, Wendy’s recently revealed in an earnings call. It’s part of a $20 million investment in new digital menu boards at its US restaurants that enable them to change prices depending on demand.

Few details were released about the change, but Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner said the new menus will let the fast food chain test “more enhanced features like dynamic pricing and day-part offerings along with AI-enabled menu changes and suggestive selling.”

“We expect our digital menu boards will drive immediate benefits to order accuracy, improve crew experience and sales growth from upselling and consistent merchandising execution,” Tanner said on the call.

Maze adds that there’s risk, especially in light of the fluctuating prices of fast food. “The idea that a restaurant chain would potentially raise prices during busy times of day, even if consumers think they’re raising prices, then it could lead to a backlash,” he told CNN. “They’ll have to tread carefully. This is why we haven’t seen a lot of it.”

There's lots of competition for your fast food dollars and the restaurants are very busy during workday lunch times. It would piss me off no end to have my lunchtime budget blown by a greedy corporation.

[AndyinPA]

I just watched that on the local news. Stupid idea. I do not remember the last time I was at a fast-food joint, let alone Wendy's, but I would be furious, and I can't imagine going back there if that happened to me.

[sugar magnolia]

Wendy's has NEVER gotten my order right, no matter how many times I tried, and that's why it's been well over 10 years since I've eaten there. No amount of dicking around with prices and fancy menu boards will change that. I'm happy with Sonic when I crave a burger.

[johnpcapitalist]

I'll put this here just because I think it's a monumentally stupid idea on the part of Wendy's -

Wendy’s will soon begin testing Uber-like surge pricing

The price of a Wendy’s Frosty could soon fluctuate throughout the day as the chain looks to introduce Uber-like surge pricing on its menu.

The practice, known as “dynamic pricing,” will begin testing in 2025, Wendy’s recently revealed in an earnings call. It’s part of a $20 million investment in new digital menu boards at its US restaurants that enable them to change prices depending on demand.

It would have been much smarter to offer time-based discounts to their frequent customers quietly, via the app. IOW, save 7% if you dine before 11:00 or after 2:00. Using the app for order entry speeds up drive-through lines and also allows the kitchen to pre-cook some stuff a few minutes ahead, boosting the all-important throughput of the drive-through lane. But now, they have announced that their intent is to screw customers who are on fixed schedules for money that's basically pure profit. This'll be a "New Coke" level of marketing disaster. I bet they walk it back or cancel it within 3 months after running it in a couple of test markets.

Uber's surge pricing makes sense if you've ever tried to get a cab in Manhattan (pre-Uber) when it starts to rain. The perceived added value of being able to get a ride at an extremely valuable time offsets the $$, and it does flush enough marginal buyers out of the market to work out well. But marginal utility of a burger between 12:00 and 1:00 is not that high.

[northland10]

I'll put this here just because I think it's a monumentally stupid idea on the part of Wendy's -

Wendy’s will soon begin testing Uber-like surge pricing

The price of a Wendy’s Frosty could soon fluctuate throughout the day as the chain looks to introduce Uber-like surge pricing on its menu.

The practice, known as “dynamic pricing,” will begin testing in 2025, Wendy’s recently revealed in an earnings call. It’s part of a $20 million investment in new digital menu boards at its US restaurants that enable them to change prices depending on demand.

It would have been much smarter to offer time-based discounts to their frequent customers quietly, via the app. IOW, save 7% if you dine before 11:00 or after 2:00. Using the app for order entry speeds up drive-through lines and also allows the kitchen to pre-cook some stuff a few minutes ahead, boosting the all-important throughput of the drive-through lane. But now, they have announced that their intent is to screw customers who are on fixed schedules for money that's basically pure profit. This'll be a "New Coke" level of marketing disaster. I bet they walk it back or cancel it within 3 months after running it in a couple of test markets.

Uber's surge pricing makes sense if you've ever tried to get a cab in Manhattan (pre-Uber) when it starts to rain. The perceived added value of being able to get a ride at an extremely valuable time offsets the $$, and it does flush enough marginal buyers out of the market to work out well. But marginal utility of a burger between 12:00 and 1:00 is not that high.

I think 50% of Wendy's is owned by hedge fund managers and their own hedge fund. Did some hedge fund folks miss the memo that says, screw your customers out of money but don't let them realize it you are doing it?

As for Uber, yeah, that is an apples-to-snowblower comparison. With Uber, the first step is to use an app so you know your price before spending any more extra time. For Wendy's, you are making a trip to get there and are generally expecting the prices to not change too often.

Will they dynamic price the "biggie bag"? Maybe they should do like airlines and charge a premium fee for the Biggie Bag. YOu get the bag but have to pay extra fees for the food in the bag.

[Volkonski]

Not much different from a bar having a happy hour.

[Volkonski]

Come to think of it our favorite North Fork Italian restaurant has a lower priced menu in the dining room on weekdays from 4 to 7.

Quite a few restaurants have a lower priced lunch menu on weekdays but not on weekends.

[Ben-Prime]

I'll put this here just because I think it's a monumentally stupid idea on the part of Wendy's -

This makes me especially sad because I am about to take an R&R from my current country of assignment on the far side of the world to a somewhat nearby Pacific Rim country that actually has a Wendy's, and I was looking forward to my first Frosty in several years.

I think I jinxed things. Can you all forgive me?

[Ben-Prime]

Wendy's has NEVER gotten my order right, no matter how many times I tried, and that's why it's been well over 10 years since I've eaten there. No amount of dicking around with prices and fancy menu boards will change that. I'm happy with Sonic when I crave a burger.

I used to have that problem with Checkers. There was one down the road from my condo that, literally 20 years later, my friends still joke about because of the day it took them *FOUR* tries to get my order right (as in, yeah, I got handed my order, looked it over, and went 'Um....so...' four times).

[sugar magnolia]

Not much different from a bar having a happy hour.

Happy hours are a discount, not an upcharge, though.

[northland10]

I think the issue is more about any lack of regularity to the cost changes. Happy hours, or even off-hour discounts (which sound better than saying busy hour extra charges) are pre-determined, in part, to get folks to come at different times to save money (and thus, hopefully spread out the workload). Wendy's surge pricing does not appear to be a pre-scheduled cost change that they advertise to get folks to move to other times (which might also provide more capacity at busy times when they charge more).

[Slim Cognito]

Steak ‘n Shake has a happy hour on drinks every afternoon. You can bet that’s when I time my visits, right Portia?

[MN-Skeptic]

Wendy's is scrambling now -

Wendy's addresses 'dynamic pricing' comments, says it won't raise menu prices

Wendy's is pushing back on reports that the restaurant chain will increase menu prices.

Wendy's issued a statement Tuesday saying that it is investing $20 million into high-tech digital menu boards that would have the capability to update prices in real time.

"We said these menuboards would give us more flexibility to change the display of featured items. This was misconstrued in some media reports as an intent to raise prices when demand is highest at our restaurants," the nation's second-largest burger chain said in its statement Tuesday. "We have no plans to do that and would not raise prices when our customers are visiting us most."

Wendy's added that any changes "would be designed to benefit our customers and restaurant crew members."

"Digital menuboards could allow us to change the menu offerings at different times of day and offer discounts and value offers to our customers more easily, particularly in the slower times of day," the fast food chain continued. "Wendy's has always been about providing high-quality food at a great value, and customers can continue to expect that from our brand."

The statement came a little less than two weeks after Wendy's CEO and president Kirk Tanner said in an earnings call with analysts that the chain could begin testing new features including "dynamic pricing" in 2025, following the rollout of "digital menu board enhancements," according to Nation's Restaurant News.

[johnpcapitalist]

Not much different from a bar having a happy hour.

I think it's a fairly significant difference: a happy hour has a posted discount rate at a specific point in time. You know how much you're going to save before you decide to take a trip to go to the bar.

But dynamic pricing makes it so you don't know in advance what the price will be until you get to the restaurant. Given the notion of sunk-cost bias, a lot of people will just go along with the price increase if surge pricing is in effect when they get there. Yes, some will go away, but some will still go along with it. It's very manipulative because you don't have full price information.

I would suggest that the proposed Wendy's scheme is the most pernicious of all dynamic pricing models. Airlines also use dynamic pricing to quote you a fare, but once you buy the ticket, the fare is locked in. The Wendy's scheme is analogous to an airline ticket where the price can change when you buy it and you have to make up any increase at the airport before getting on the plane.

Unsurprisingly, they're aggressively claiming that they never intended to do any surge pricing the day after: https://www.thedailybeast.com/wendys-im ... e-backlash

[John Thomas8]

Self inflicted wound:

[p0rtia]

Steak ‘n Shake has a happy hour on drinks every afternoon. You can bet that’s when I time my visits, right Portia?

Oh, yeah. Come to think of it, I'm in the mood for a large diet cherry coke!

[Ben-Prime]

Off Topic

Steak ‘n Shake has a happy hour on drinks every afternoon. You can bet that’s when I time my visits, right Portia?

Oh, yeah. Come to think of it, I'm in the mood for a large diet cherry coke!

Alas that I am on the far side of the world, for I do miss me some Steak & Shake. Been a fan since grad school in Gainesville in the early 90s, when the local UF-campus-adjacent location had been robbed so many times it was known as 'Steak & Shoot', entirely unironically.

After my divorce, on nights I couldn't sleep but didn't want to spend *ALL* my insomniac moments haunting the Denny's down the block, I'd make the slightly further drive to the S&S, and drown my sorrows in cheesy, meaty goodness.

Dangit, I won't be back in the U.S. until July and now I'm craving a Steak & Shake burger.

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

Off Topic

Just be aware that their menu has been greatly reduced since the pandemic (at least at my local Steak&Shakedown)

[johnpcapitalist]

After my divorce, on nights I couldn't sleep but didn't want to spend *ALL* my insomniac moments haunting the Denny's down the block, I'd make the slightly further drive to the S&S, and drown my sorrows in cheesy, meaty goodness.

Must have been boring to hang out at the local Denny's waiting for a Citizen's Grand Slam Grand Jury to convene and, night after night, nothing...

[Ben-Prime]

Off Topic

After my divorce, on nights I couldn't sleep but didn't want to spend *ALL* my insomniac moments haunting the Denny's down the block, I'd make the slightly further drive to the S&S, and drown my sorrows in cheesy, meaty goodness.

Must have been boring to hang out at the local Denny's waiting for a Citizen's Grand Slam Grand Jury to convene and, night after night, nothing...

Fortunately, at the time, even the retirement condos in my stretch of South Florida were mostly Democrats and D-leaning independents. More from the centrist-to-conservative wing of the party at that time -- the Joe Manchin (D) that would have been happy voting for Republican legislation but, By Gum, were not crazy enough to go off the deep end of conspiracy theories beyond a generalized sense that The Big Guys always want to screw The Little Guys.

[John Thomas8]

Commercial real estate, an unseen scam rarely reported about and a ticking time bomb:

[raison de arizona]

I always get blow black from these, but this is bullshit.