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So back in February on an earnings call, the Wendy’s CEO said that they would start experimenting with dynamic pricing.
今年2月，温迪汉堡的CEO在财报电话会议中表示，该公司将开始试推行动态定价。
For example, the Breakfast Baconator might cost $7.99 at 7 a.m. when everyone eats a breakfast, and $6.99 three hours later when it's not breakfast time, but also not lunch time yet either.
比如，培根汉堡早餐可能在早上7点大家都吃早餐的时候卖7.99美元，然后三个小时之后，在既不是早餐时间，也不是午餐时间的时段卖6.99美元。
This idea made it from the financial news through the internet all the way to the morning shows such as The View. Dynamic pricing has been around since the dawn of merchandising.
这个想法登上了财经新闻，在网上传播开来，最后还被《观点》等早间访谈节目点评。动态定价从商品推销的诞生之日起就存在了。
Sometimes it’s a means of maximizing return on fixed expenses, such as labor: Happy hour is a way to boost bar traffic before the after-work rush, for example. (You might say Wendy’s was attempting a happy hour for Baconators.)
有时，它是一种从固定支出获得最大化收益的手段，比如劳动力这种固定支出：例如，欢乐时光就是增加酒吧在下班高峰期之前的客流量的办法。（可以说温迪汉堡就是在尝试给培根汉堡创造一个欢乐时光。）
“Load balancing” is a similar concept in energy and transportation. Utilities charge less for power overnight, and transit agencies impose higher fares during rush hour to encourage users to shift toward off-peak times, when energy and trains are in less demand.
“负载平衡”是一个类似的概念，多用于能源和交通领域。电力公司对深夜的用电收费较低，交通部门在高峰时段收取更高的票价，鼓励用户在非高峰期乘车，非高峰期的能源和车辆需求较低。
Other times, it’s an effort to liquidate perishable or seasonal goods, like fresh produce at a grocery store or winter coats at Macy’s.
其他时候，这是为了销掉易腐烂或季节性商品，比如杂货店的新鲜农产品或梅西百货的冬季大衣。
Then there’s “surge pricing” on ride-hailing platforms, which is meant to quickly prod more drivers to start picking up passengers. Some commodity goods, like gasoline, fluctuate daily with international markets.
然后还有打车平台上的“高峰溢价”，目的是快速促使更多的司机开始接送乘客。一些大宗商品，如汽油，每天都随着国际市场的波动而波动。
In the analog era, changing prices was costly, requiring manually updating signs or applying markdown stickers. As restaurants, retailers, parking garages, gyms, salons and event venues became more automated, price changes became effortless even at brick-and-mortar locations.
在没有网络的时代，改变定价的成本很高，需要手动更新招牌或手动贴上降价标签。随着餐馆、零售店、停车场、健身房、美发沙龙和活动场所变得更加自动化，即使是在实体店，价格变动也变得毫不费力。
It’s easy to understand why companies want to change prices more frequently: to make more money. But does that mean that as dynamic pricing spreads, prices will be higher on average?
为什么企业想更频繁地改变价格是很好理解的：为了赚更多的钱。但这是否意味着，随着动态定价变得更普遍，平均价格将会变得更高？
Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, posed the question to the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, at an oversight hearing in March, calling the technique “just another way for corporations to make it harder for consumers to seek out lower prices.”
俄亥俄州民主党参议员谢罗德·布朗在3月份的一次监督听证会上向美联储主席杰罗姆·鲍威尔提出了这个问题，布朗称这个定价技巧“只是企业让消费者更难得到较低价格的又一种方式”。
Mr. Powell responded that dynamic pricing lowers prices as well as raises them, and that the overall impact on price levels isn’t yet known.
鲍威尔回应说，动态定价既会降低价格，也会提高价格，对价格水平的整体影响尚不清楚。
Part of the concern comes from the idea that dynamic pricing is often enabled by algorithms, which are opaque to consumers and regulators, and can be tools of collusion.
产生担忧的部分原因是，动态定价往往是由算法实现的，算法对消费者和监管机构而言是不透明的，可以成为串通的工具。
The Federal Trade Commission recently filed a legal brief warning that price fixing by algorithms is still illegal, even without explicit human direction. And when one company dominates the market, dynamic pricing is more likely to inflate prices overall.
美国联邦贸易委员会最近提交了一份简短的法律警告，称即使没有明确的人类指示，通过算法操纵价格仍然是违法的。而且当一家公司主导市场时，动态定价更有可能抬高整体价格。
