Unfortunately, given that I’m in the NYC DMA, individual franchisees probably couldn’t afford to cut their prices in half, as much as that sucks to admit. Minimum wage here is $15.49 per hour, which is ridiculous. Utilities, insurance (both for the business and the workers), sanitation, taxes, rent, ongoing franchising fees, and material costs do add up. Plus, they’re not seeing the volume that they had been, due to a combination of people like me who aren’t going there and the fact that they’re open less hours (because reliable overnight labor is too expensive).
yt-dlp and VLC still work. I’m good.