The Algorithm Running Up French Fry Prices

Video written by Amy Muller

[casey]

Using bread as an example and then not mentioning the fact that Canada had a very real bread price fixing cartel was a lost opportunity

[alexbrewer]

“Just because something is illegal doesn’t mean companies won’t do it” hoo boy ain’t that the truth.

[mobilizedpanda]

We need to create a cartel to price fix employee wages so they can keep up with the price fixing of consumer goods.

[kizi]

french fries in iceland are super expensive, because there are super high tariffs put on french fries that are not made in Iceland, to protect the Icelandic french fries producers.... but the thing is... there are no producers of french fries in iceland left... but the tariff is still there...

[Tanktanium]

Ah, the old antitrust workaround. Paying a third party to commit antitrust violations and blaming "the algorithm" is the most American thing I've ever heard.

[willp]

The story behind the Phoebus Cartel is actually a lot more complex than the short mention does justice to, Technology Connections had a great video that touches on it.

[Maplegladio]

You missed that the realpage CEO was successfully prosecuted in 90s for airline tickets price fixing

[highbread]

Fun fact : JR Simplot, bankrupted the New York Mercantile exchange by delivering Idaho potatos instead of the futures contracts specified potato (Maine). This set off an unlikely chain of events that created the New York Mercantile's crude oil futures.

[letslanaway]

It feels like in the last 30 years, we've had a rapid increase in technology that's made things like TV's, entertainment, travel, music, media, movies, information, etc, far far cheaper. But instead of us pocketing the savings, the companies that still exist and provide essentials (IE housing, medical, and food) have jacked up their prices in return.

[KhaosN]

For anyone curious:

Godel's Loophole is something proposed by Kurt Godel, an Austrian-American who discovered this supposed loophole while studying for his US Citizenship Test. Supposedly, it is an "inner contradiction" in the constitution that would allow the US to be legally turned from a democracy into a facist dictatorship, should the loophole be exploited.

However, the exact nature of the loophole has never actually been disclosed. Godel never wrote it down, and only ever spoke with Oskar Mogenstern about it, who then supposedly spoke with Albert Einstien about it. Both Einstein and Morgenstern were extremely skeptical about this loophole, however. The loophole has been described as "one of the great unsolved problems of constitutional law."

[boredphysicist]

My friend works in a pricing algorithm company, theyre actually very simple algorithms deep down.

They essentially try and determine the point at which increasing price will stop too many people buying the product.

The issue comes with scenarios such as the following: The algorithm determined that Black hair products sold the same quantity regardless of price, it therefore determined that they should increase price drastically meaning in 2 or 3 years they would be around 10x more expensive

[TheStrawberryduck]

Misread the title and thought it was about fries in France

[riggs]

5:19 - “I’m about to explain why you’re never going to own a house!”
Dang, I felt that.

[hallrecords]

The thing I love about this video is that Sam can deliver this totally effed up info in 6 funny minutes and one day John Oliver will do the same in like 25 minutes. And they will both be hilarious while also being a sign of how much rich people make just trying to live a normal life awful.

[burridi]

Love how there was no extra information. It just ended like that. “This is happening, oh well!”

[glujaz]

HAI talking about Phoebus cartel -> Technology connection having a heart attack 😅

[ryanschwartz]

Yeah, I remember an Adam Ruins Everything episode noting that something similar happened with internet providers in the US; they're not required to share connection lines, and they all pretty much agreed not to compete with each other. As a result, most of us have to settle for only one or two unreasonably expensive providers available for our addresses.

[PoggersAndy]

This is genuinely one of the best videos in a while! You felt extremely passionate at the end and it absolutely made me lock in and even watch the sponsor at the end <3

[albear]

French fries are now more expensive that a mid-sized hamburger in our local fast food restaurants. And yet, they are the cheapest but highest profit margin items on the menu, that and sweetened carbonated water.

[bxaltz]

I honestly thought I was going crazy when my local Lowes hardware ONLY SOLD G.E. lightbulbs. All the Sylvanna (?) bulbs were suddenly gone from one weekend to the next. Wow. We really are living in the dumbest of times.