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... In the future, the ideal time to eat a burger won't be when you're hungry and really hankering for one.

It'll be the oddest, most awkward hours -- late mornings or afternoons, the middle of the night on a Tuesday -- the slices of time when prices will be lowest. Not unlike your Uber ride, fast food prices will go up or down depending on demand.

At least, this is the world people imagined when fast food chain Wendy's revealed it would be tinkering with "dynamic pricing," a broad term that describes any strategy where prices fluctuate based on supply and demand -- like flights and Uber rides.

The uproar was swift and sonorous; Wendy's tried to clarify that it would use the strategy to offer lower prices, not to raise them when traffic is highest, but the reputational damage was done. In countless headlines, Wendy's was accused of using surge pricing on food at a time when steep food prices at both restaurants and grocery stores have left many people drastically tightening their belts.

Above all, the Wendy's fiasco also highlights an uncomfortable truth: It feels impossible to know what to expect to pay for anything. ...