The Price And The Phone Line

Reuters reported on 29 September that McDonald's runs a pricing engine that analyzes millions of daily transactions across nearly 14,000 restaurants and generates what the company calls "the optimal price" for each item at each location, using among other things an estimate of how much local customers are willing to pay. Two company-run stores in Fresno, two miles apart, sell the Big Mac at $5.69 and $6.89. Five franchisees described pressure to follow the recommendations, a June document shows deviations are tracked, and the portal warns owners they "may be competitors." McDonald's calls it "a tool, not a mandate."

The same week, California signed AB 1609: companies over $500 million in revenue must disclose when customer service is a chatbot and connect a human within 15 minutes, with penalties of $5,000 and $10,000. And CarMax told investors that AI voice now answers 100 percent of its inbound calls while its pricing algorithms are retuned monthly, both under one executive. The two things a customer meets first, the price and the phone, are now machines, and the rules arrived in the same week.

In this episode, Stephen Forte covers:

• The pricing engine. How McDonald's machine sets "the optimal price," what the owner's portal shows, the Fresno gap as an observed difference, and how recommendations are tracked and followed up.
• Both sides. A former owner: "You don't really have much of a choice anymore." McDonald's: "a tool, not a mandate." A former FTC commissioner on the antitrust warning in the portal's terms.
• The regulators. The FTC's proposed enforcement policy on personalized pricing (comments closed 25 September) and New York's on-screen disclosure line.
• The phone gets a clock. California AB 1609: who it covers, the disclosure, the 15-minute human, the hold caps, the penalties, effective in January. Why the number will follow companies under the threshold.
• SB 947. The governor's deadline on automated decisions in discipline and firing.
• CarMax. AI voice on every inbound call since May, pricing algorithms evolved monthly, and strategy, data science, AI and pricing under one senior vice president. "Every vehicle is an individual SKU."
• The close. Who sets the price the customer sees, who decides when the machine hands the call to a person, and whether those two people have met. The law caught up with the phone first. The price is next.

Sources:

• Reuters, "Inside McDonald's push to have AI price your Big Mac," 29 September 2026 (via Investing.com): https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/inside-mcdonalds-push-to-have-ai-price-your-big-mac-4921983
• California AB 1609 text and the Governor's signing release of 28 September 2026: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/28/governor-newsom-signs-commonsense-legislation-to-make-your-life-easier/ ; SB 947 status at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
• CarMax Q2 fiscal 2027 results and call, 29 September 2026: https://investors.carmax.com/news-and-events/news/news-details/2026/CarMax-Reports-Second-Quarter-Fiscal-2027-Results/default.aspx ; CarMax and Sierra, 6 August 2026
• FTC, Proposed Enforcement Policy Statement Regarding Personalized Pricing, 19 August 2026; New York Algorithmic Pricing Disclosure Act

The AI Brief from the YPO Technology Network is a daily executive briefing on the AI developments that matter to business leaders. Hosted by Stephen Forte.