By Donovan Baldwin
In the 1980's an American fast food restaurant chain, A&W, offered a new product, a 1/3 lb (0.15 kg) hamburger at a price competitive to McDonald's 1/4 lb (0.11 kg) burger.
It failed in the market, and, eventually pulled from distribution.
Now, it was a tasty product, as such things go, and, as stated, competitively priced, offered by a lesser-known, yet well-established chain. Yet, in head-to-head sales, the A&W 1/3 lb. burger failed, and failed badly.
Hence a focus group.
Long story short, and skipping snide remarks, the focus group exposed the product's fatal flaw... it was a fraction.
Oh, it was customary to sell fractions, 1/4 lb. burgers, 1/2 lb. burgers, but the 1/3 lb. burger failed.
However, the buying public, the consumer making the optimum decision for return on investment, fractured the math and reached the conclusion that a 1/4 lb. burger (0.11 kg. of meat) was a better investment than a 1/3 lb. burger (0.15 kg. of meat) for the same price.
The common reasoning seemed to be that "4" was greater than "3", therefore, ergo, and to wit, the McDonald's 1/4 lb. burger was more for the dollar than the A&W product.
Keep that in mind the next time that weird guy who used to sit at the desk next to you at a job 20 years ago, the one with the foil hat, sends you a potentially questionable claim about the relative value of some politician or program.
Just some early morning meanderings.
Copyright January 12, 2024 by Donovan Baldwin
Labels: A&W, donovan baldwin, fast food, fractions, hamburger, McDonald's
By Donovan Baldwin
I admit it. I'm a dinosaur.
To mix metaphors a bit, like Howard the Duck, I'm trapped in a world I never made.
In keeping with something I posted on another site this morning, we all are "stuck here", to some extent. We must learn how to survive, and thrive in the world which was given us.
I tend to live in the 50's, and 60's..
I get in trouble at drive-up windows quite often, because I ask for something simple, such as "an ice cream cone", or, "a hamburger", and then have to answer 20 questions...or more.
I walked into a donut shop the other day and asked for a Kolache, which is, essentially, a "pig in a blanket", a hot dog in a roll or croissant. I stormed out after dueling for several minutes with the guy who could not understand WHICH kolache, out of the nearly 20 available, I REALLY wanted.
Me at the Dairy Queen...
"I want a chocolate ice cream cone, please."
"What KIND of cone?"
"An ice cream cone."
"We have five different cones and umpty-ump flavors."
Or...
"Do you want cheese on that hamburger?"
"No. That would be a cheeseburger. I ordered a hamburger."
Life used to be simpler, but, science, and marketing, has managed to make life more complicated sometimes.
Ask yourself; "Have computers REALLY made my life that much easier...or free of paper?"
C'mon. Tell the truth.
Anyway, it's no wonder teenage kids can't even get a simple fast food order right.
Life's just not that simple any more...even ice cream's complicated.
Labels: computers, Dairy Queen, donovan baldwin, hamburger, ice cream, simple life
