The ability for them to monitor what you are looking at (they can and do, and if they aren’t they will) , and drop a price, and then monitor that it is in x number of carts in the store, and then raise the price before it gets to the checkout is scary.
The only way we’re going to “win” this is by not giving an inch. Unfortunately, that means inconveniencing a lot of employees who have nothing to do with it. But if I put something in my cart and it’s a single cent higher than advertised, I’m leaving it and walking out.
Employees get paid by the hour. Your strategy can work as long as employees don’t try to frantically keep up. The store will simply have to hire more employees or let things go to waste.
At some point we have to vote with our feet. Send them a message that this stores’s staffing has been insufficient and then don’t shop there. You bet they keep track of that with your rewards #. You’d just need a lot of people to actually do this and follow through.
Grocery stores have no problem letting food go to waste. They will just write it off on their taxes.
Not saying we should all just give in, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking that the corporations care at all about groceries going to waste.
My guess is most people are to exhausted to check prices often enough at a large enough scale to make an impact large enough for corporations to take notice.
> Grocery stores have no problem letting food go to waste. They will just write it off on their taxes.
They are out the money they paid for the product that was trashed. They can just deduct the value of the product from their taxable revenue. It is still a massive waste of money for the grocery store…
Especially when margins are so thin for grocery stores. If every customer wastes a single product or two every trip, they are no longer profitable lol.
I honestly think these people think a tax write off means free money. Like they think businesses are out there trashing $10,000 in product to save $1,000 on taxes? Pretty much pissing away over $9,000.
you aren't even worried about the worst part: surge pricing for groceries. they'll jack up prices after 4pm when everyone gets off work and goes shopping, just like Uber.
I bet you carry a smartphone with you to the store. Take pictures of everything. Is it annoying. 100% but this is such a predatory thing they are trying to enact. As someone else said we cannot give them even an inch on this or it will become the norm across the board.
That's an ass-backwards way to handle the problem though. Write your congressman, tell them to support the banning of predatory "dynamic pricing" models.
Are you going to memorize the price when it changes every time you go to the store?
I buy probably 30 items every time I go. There's no way I'm remembering that an item was $4.13 this time rather than $4.17 for 30 items. That sounds exhausting.
I'd refuse to shop anywhere that didn't display a price. People should flood these establishments with so many complaints they have no choice but to address it.
It's really unreasonable to expect the customer to check and remember all the prices while also being under the time pressure of moving items and paying. This is just an erosion of consumer trust.
You don’t have to remember everything, just some things. When you notice them changing prices on you, just take things out of your cart and leave them a mess.
Its not even remembering it, imagine scouring over your reciept after checking out, and the mustard that was on the shelf at 3 for 8.46 is rung up at 2.91 like smart guy over there as perfect recall and is going to catch every price change.
It’s not too much to remember, people just don’t really look closely at the prices of items at the grocery store anymore. I promise earlier generations had no problem reviewing their receipt for price accuracy and some folks still do today.
Yeah i dont understand why people always treat me like some wizzard for being good in basic math and numbers. Checking a grocery list for 20/30/50 items to spot irregularities aint that hard. Especially not when buying staples you know prices of by heart.
It's really not if you buy the same shit every week you just know how much stuff should cost. Off the top on my head I know my milk is 2.25 my cheese is 1.99 my pizza is 2.99 it's really not that hard lol. No wonder people are getting dumber.
Yea for real. Id just grab a ton of stuff and have them put it back. Try to scam me? Don't make a dime off me, and your employees will get pissed because of your shitty policies.
Is this happening at Walmart? Because there's been more than one time I've grabbed a product KNOWING I read the price and when I get to the register it scans higher. I've had the thought once or twice that I must be losing my mind, early alzheimers, something.
Well, the law of offer and acceptance says the price when I put it in the cart governs. If I have to wait with my camera for the price to drop 50 cents in 1 minute then thats a pretty good wage.
Technically they HAVE to track your carts in real time. You put stuff in your cart, get distracted, come back later and it’s still there right?
That’s because they saved it. Either on your device or their database or both, but it’s saved so it can stay there when you get back.
The idea of taking the information they already have, and using it to screw you on the price, is really just capitalism. A really shitty practice IMO, but it’s capitalism.
This is the issue I have here. I like the digital price tags as they do make it easier to change pricing and have seen where the worker can flash the light for stocking the shelf. What I don’t agree with is changing the price during store hours or normal hours of operation.
If a store is 24h which are rare, then 7am to 11pm would be normal to me to lock pricing in. Any changes between normal hours would be a fine of X% of your daily sales. Not profit, but sales.
When do you think prices are changed in "normal" retail with paper price tags and no dynamic pricing? When I was in retail, we looked at pricing monthly and I would go around with new price tags for everythjng that had changed. This happened during normal work hours, because it's work and I was being paid for it.
This is currently my job and the prices change at midnight, regardless of what's on the paper label. That's obviously the case at your store too unless you were literally putting the price labels on the products and the cashier had to manually enter every price. So I might be increasing the price of something at 2pm but the new price won't come up at the register until the next day.
I'm sure POS software varies, and different industries can of course have specific laws. But no, the software allowed a price change at any time, instantly in effect, and we would do it short tranches by category throughout the day. Cashier didn't need to do anything in this case.
Is the person from Manila gonna go restock the shelves when I throw the item on the ground? Or throw away the food because it can't be put back and requires refrigeration? Hopefully everyone does this
That'll help you a lot, taking it out on random kids or old people being paid minimum wage. Just figure out who the CEO is and complain to them in-person instead, email and phone is a waste of time with those.
Do you know the prices of your whole grocery cart? Didn't read the article but the law should stipulate that prices can only change before opening. If it's a 24 hour store then they can change at midnight only
Part of me dislikes the dystopia corporate hellscape of it all.
But part of me thinks... What's that actual immortality here? Anyone can charge what they want, merchants have raised and lowered prices dynamically since the dawn of time. The stock market exists because shares can change price within seconds.
I agree it will lead to bad social consequences, but I'm struggling to justify an outright ban. How does it even work? All pricing decisions must be locked in for X days?
Does anyone have any evidence of this actually happening? I get it's a scary scenario but I don't see how this could do anything but piss people off and cause all sorts of conflict over a pretty miniscule amount of money. I do agree it should be banned, but I also don't think any store that wants to survive more than a week would actually do it.
Like if I'm buying a $10 item, what are you gonna do, raise it to $11? Stores aren't going to kill their reputation for a single dollar. If they raise it to something higher like $20 then people will refuse to buy it.
Most people aren't in stores for long enough for there to be more than a couple people at a time that actually have the same item in their cart at once, so again I don't really see the logistics of this playing out in a way that makes sense for anyone
One thing I have learned over the years is if there is any way to make even a penny more, businesses will do it in a heartbeat. If it’s possible, someone will do it eventually. Most businesses operate under the mantra “greed is good”.
Also it’s the directionality of it. You’re punching up, demanding something from those above you for your own benefit. They are punching down, demanding more from those below them.
Maybe I misunderstood them but I think the comment I replied to is talking about physically being in store, grabbing an item, getting to checkout and finding that the price is higher because the store was monitoring and saw a number of people put the item in their cart.
The fact that they don't ban Uber from doing it, a company that ACTUALLY does it, is insane.
It took one news story about digital signs to blow this out of control. And people are so scared of things they don't understand it snowballed into this bullshit.
Amazon is using the same tactics... Along with online retailers. Right know we can't price things correctly bc of gas prices as a result ppl are paying more.
With the advent of AI expect an avalanche of high-tech tactics to extract more wealth from the working class to the rich, to corporate America. They are not satisfied with the current RECORD profits. They want MORE $$$ from us using technology, fraud, deception and greed.
Total Corporate America profits for 2025 were a record $3.4 Trillion. A huge amount of immoral wealth while consumers are being bombarded with Republican tariff taxes and spiking gasoline prices.
AI and technology must be regulated to protect consumers. Democrats support this protection; Republican continue to drastically reduce regulations AND give corporations huge tax cuts. Enough is enough. Soom we will all vote!
There' s already a massive push for this with the gig economy.
But 'dynamic pay' means finding the worker who is most desperate and will do it cheapest (~~uber in fact has a 'desperation score' for drivers that lets them give them the shittest jobs they know don't tip well, because they know this driver will come back for more jobs anyway~~.
>uber in fact has a 'desperation score' for drivers that lets them give them the shittest jobs they know don't tip well, because they know this driver will come back for more jobs anyway
This is a hoax. https://www.prdaily.com/the-scoop-a-reddit-hoax-went-viral-then-doordash-and-uber-eats-fired-back-2/
Way too realistic to just be a hoax. Way too in line with Uber's behavior too. Sounds more like Uber doing damage control and trying to hide what they're doing.
Right, but this article is about grocery stores trying to maximize profit through pricing in an environment where the employees almost always earn a fixed rate.
In a grocery context, it'd be something like an app where your wage is flexible and you indicate your willingness to work, and then the employers would allocate you hours based on how cheaply they could get you to do it.
All of these tools are more powerful in the hands of the employer, so they'll favour the employer.
You can also do something dynamic for employees like "pay 50% extra on holidays", but that's done through regulation, not the market.
Your selective definition of what "dynamic" means is your own. However nothing inherently prevents worker unions from negotiating a cut of dynamic pricing as a wage increase. That would still be dynamic pay. Your posts are argument for the sake of, which is uninteresting and pointless.
That is not what gig work is. Some gig work may offer dynamic pay, but a grocery store, for example, does not work like a rideshare service where pay is based on output (number of rides taken and the revenue generated by each individual ride).
I look forward to AI "learning" that I won't pay bullshit prices for things. Knowing that these algo's are trying to determine our marginal willingness to pay for things keeps me aware of not overpaying, because I don't want the algorithm to bucket me with the suckers.
Believe it or not, you are not unique. The AI and algorithm will (eventually) easily figure out how to bucket people who think like this and still give you the highest price you are willing to pay.
> I look forward to AI "learning" that I won't pay bullshit prices for things.
how confident are u that u aren't already paying bullshit prices for things? cuz i'm an american and i'd argue it's effectively impossible to dodge the bullshit
and i don't believe that u as an individual relying on willpower alone is enough to stop thousands of full time educated employees that focus on psychology, marketing, sales, exploitation, etc from finding ur vulnerabilities - that is just too much ego to have imo (moment u think u ain't got blind spots is a moment u gotta worry bout urself because u as a human 10000% have blindspots)
As well it should! There should be federal restrictions on how frequently a price can be changed to prevent price gouging and predatory tactics. Once a week at most! Before it was purely practical concerns that stopped companies from doing this scummy shit, but these fully digital price systems let companies change prices potential dozens of times a day, and to raise pricing specifically when the store is most busy. It's pure greed!
> There should be federal restrictions on how frequently a price can be changed to prevent price gouging and predatory tactics. Once a week at most!
I don't know about that. Let's think about this in the most basic terms - you are selling lettuce at a farmer's market. You start the day selling at full price since there are no other sellers there. Other sellers show up and undercut you, so you modify your price to compete. Near the end of the day, you know you are going to have to load back up your truck with browning lettuce to take it back home to a compost pile which wastes fuel and time, so you drop the prices massively to liquidate it.
Given your thought that prices shouldn't change more than once a week, should those folks at a farmer's market be punished for actively modifying prices based on market needs?
I totally get your sentiment, but I don't think it can be solved nearly so easily as limiting how often vendors can change their prices when modifying prices is a pretty basic business activity and has been for thousands of years.
Maybe we separate the regulation of weekend lettuce stands and entrenched corporate giants using AI to track your every move. I’m not a lawyer, it might not be possible. /s
Well obviously there is a middle ground here. Price increases ought to be strictly regulated, but I don't see why discounts and lowered prices couldn't be allowed much more freedom.
That's how gas prices work where I live. They can only increase once a day (at midnight for 24 hour stations, or station open for ones that aren't) They can go nuts with price drops. Have a price dropping war with the station across the street all you want. But increases only once a day.
But I've really only ever seen an agressive price drop war between stations once. It was AMAZING. It was about 20 years ago and the prices they hit were like 10-20 year lows at THAT time. I don't know what those station owners were thinking.
You lost me at “other sellers.” Your theory assumes
fair market competition and we know food distributors and grocers have been consolidating into bigger and fewer companies for many years.
In my town there is a bougie grocery that is always the most expensive. A cheap grocery with crappy produce quality that matches the price and every other grocery store is owned by the same parent company. Those are the options for a city of 100,000 people.
Inside the economic concept called "demand curve":
If you have 50 customers that can pay you $1 over cost and 5 customers that can afford $15 over cost and you are able to offer them targeted prices you'll earn $125 and everyone gets the goods they want.
If you can't, you'll set the price level at the price for the wealthier ones, earning $75 and leaving the poor without goods and you without $50 due to the ban.
In this scenario, are you suggesting that due to this ban, businesses will price out the majority of their customers, leaving them in your example "without $50", rather than pricing their product at a point that the majority of their customers are willing to pay?
Like you think businesses will choose to lose 50 out of 55 customers.... Just.... Because?
Because any business run by someone that stupid deserves to go bust.
This is how housing developers work. They make more money on larger, more expensive homes with less risk. So they focus on building larger and more expensive homes. One large home will make them more money and be less risky than 4 smaller homes on the same lot.
If that gets them the most profit, and in this scenario it does, then yes that is the only logical move for that business. They don't want nor need those 50 customers that can't pay their price.
Rising prices specifically when the store is busy seems like a good thing to me. It would encourage price-conscious consumers to avoid busy times, leading to less crowded stores and shorter lines.
I would LOVE if I could buy a gallon of milk on a Friday night without waiting in line, even if it means I pay a bit more.
I would like to see national legislation passed that would ban this for online. All I have to do with Amazon is look up and item when logged in and then open up a private browser tab to see the price difference.
Should be allowed to screencap the other and get it at that price.
Good. Consumers are at such an immense information disadvantage in dynamic pricing that it is waaaaayy outside the realm of a fair, free, and competitive market.
Wasn't it a store like best buy or target that got busted for showing different prices on their site to those tagged as inside the store? So if you pulled out your phone in the store, looked up the price on their website, it would show a higher price. Maybe you had to be on their wifi, but it was shady as hell.
And also, Target put stickers on xmas trees during the holidays that said "HUGE discount sale $100!!" but under the sticker was another sticker that said $75... that also went viral
When the Panama Papers showed the global leeches were hoarding $32 trillion in offshore bank accounts, I knew then they would screw us into utter poverty.
They didn't forget. A bunch of journalists responsible were hunted down and killed, and now journalists know to think twice before investigating rich people again.
There weren't really any Americans in the Panama Papers so they weren't a huge deal here. The American rich don't pay many taxes anyway so there's no real need to dodge them. Thy were a bigger deal abroad.
presumably because it's not an issue people are experiencing currently. Do you know of any supermarket chains that practice this form of dynamic in person pricing?
Everyone is missing the big picture. Profits result from firms selling good for more than they cost to make. Consumer surplus, the consumer analogue to profit, occurs when you pay less for a good than you are willing to pay. This is the main reason the economy benefits consumers. If each consumer gets charged what they are willing to pay, then consumers stop benefiting from the economy. They end up just exchanging labor for goods at a 1 to 1 ratio. All of the surplus gets turned into profit. The rule/norm that everyone pays the same price is fundamental for consumers.
Why is static pricing a norm/rule? I can think of many situations that are Pareto improved based on dynamic pricing (think 3rd degree price discrimination)
I actually agree with you that we dont talk about this norm/rule enough. It should be the foundation of how consumers think about benefiting from the economy. Consumers should agressively push for the elimination of third degree price discrimination in most cases. Senior and student discounts are tacitly accepted, but the net effect is that they allow businesses to charge more to everyone else. They turn everyone elses surplus into profits. Yes, third degree price discrimination can increase Output in some cases, but this comes from businesses benefiting more and consumers being worse off. You layer a tax system that heavily penalizes labor over capital, and you end up with massive inequality.
I never said that we don’t talk about it enough, nor do I think it’s a rule.
I’m not interested in what you think consumers ought to value, I’m asking why you believe that static pricing is always more beneficial to consumers than dynamic.
Because dynamic pricing = pricing closer to each individuals willingness to pay, thus transfering consumer surplus to business profit. Very straightforward.
Most products sold in a grocery store are sold at cost plus a small profit. What do you think is more likely? That businesses will reduce prices below costs to benefit consumers with lower willingness to pay, or that businesses will raise prices a lot for those consumers who are able to pay? It's dynamic in a specific direction, not random pricing.
I have no illusions that a firm will attempt to maximize the efficiency of their pricing model. I just don’t agree with the assertion that doing so is always a zero-sum arrangement/pareto optimal/whatever you want to call it and that it’s always only to the benefit of the firm!
Amazon isn’t the best example since their whole premise is a marketplace that offers a high degree of price transparency to consumers.
Delta is a more recent example (specifically their poor attempt at first degree price discrimination) of where even the whiff of using cookies/personal consumer information caused so much backlash that they walked back their decision to personalize prices. Of course they still do what they’ve always done, which is price tickets dynamically based on time and availability.
Michigan has price tag laws, and if the price charged at the register is different from the price advertised on the item, shelf, or display, the consumer receives back the difference in price plus a 10x bonus payment of that difference.
In NC, the 1st mis-ringing item is free (for each specific kind of mis-priced item), and any subsequent must be priced at the marked price. I get $5-$10 back frequently each time I shop because aside from knowing pretty the normal prices of what I buy, I know what should be on sale. I just scan my receipt for what rings up at full price, vs. what I know should be on sale and parse those. That's where most errors are (plus, I can spot the random shelf sale tag from last week that wasn't removed properly, and I know I can likely score one of those items for free).
Dynamic pricing seems directly opposed to any bait-and-switch regulations, too.
How about this, no dynamic pricing for anyone worth less than $75M. But if you’re worth more than $75M, your prices are 10x higher, and you subsidize everyone else’s grocery prices to go lower
Ripping off people buying food should be illegal anyways. Basic necessities shouldn’t cause financial stress on a family. Especially when this planet has excess.
The public and the media must not parrot the words "dynamic pricing" Corporate America has chosen to use. Call it what is --- "Price manipulation"! It uses technology to steal more wealth from the working class.
Dynamic pricing should exist only for the billionaire class, but billionaires shouldn’t even exist in an ethically and morally inclined world geared towards its People. The 1% dodged a bullet with this timeline.
Finally, some good news for shoppers! It's about time someone put a stop to those sneaky dynamic pricing schemes in food stores. Honestly, seeing prices change by the minute was getting ridiculous. This should make grocery shopping a lot more predictable and fair for everyone. Hopefully, other places will follow suit!
Dynamic pricing is what happens when think free market will fix everything it doesn't and it doesn't fix it right away. Some don't have a choice in their grocery. It's like a monopoly in some areas. But many advocating for letting the markets decide have disposable income and should shut their mouths.
Never stolen a penny in my life. Any store pulls this shit, I will be engaging in "occult compensation" on the regular, off-setting any upcharges with 2-3 free items.
Dynamic pricing and price discrimination are very different. I'm not against the cost of the last gallon of milk going up. It solves a scarcity problem. I am against them building a profile for me and learning that I really like milk and charging me more because of it. In a world who price discrimination, no consumer will ever be happy because you'll be charged exactly the amount where you're indifferent whether or not you get the milk. It sounds like it's muddled what they're talking about though.
At one point store owners will figure that using dynamic pricing to maximize profit is way better than giving discounts only. This could mean hyper personalization where the price is different for each customer based on AI algorithms and data collected on individuals. Prices could be displayed dynamically via digital tags changing depending who is looking at it. Endless possibilities, really. Kinda like when you search for plane tickets today and the price goes up on the ticket you keep on your browser for a longer period. Suddenly all alternative flights also price up and don’t go down because they track you and your computer device from there on.
It's most common where one airline holds an effective monopoly position in a market. Think Delta in Atlanta or American in Dallas. Delta doesn't really care about reputation when they know your options are a nonstop with them or a two stop flight on a competitor. People will pay and the planes go out oversold.
It's not airlines that are operating the tickets sales business.
And those need their reputation.
I'm calling it mostly a myth because someone somewhere must have actually tried to do it - but once they were caught and information spread it became too unprofitable for anyone else to repeat the trick.
It can only be worth it if they are planning to burn all their bridges (and are about to go out of business).
Tricks like this need one condition to be successful: to not be easily caught by the customers.
It's way too easy to notice that the price has gone up...
It's literally in the article:
> The bill targets a system whereby retailers can use technology to adjust prices throughout the day or show different prices to different customers, especially in online shopping.
"adjust prices throughtout the day" -> lower prices in off-hours
"show different prices to different customers" -> discounts for the elderly
“The final bill reflects a workable framework that achieves the stated policy goal of prohibiting the use of consumer data to increase prices while preserving the ability for retailers to offer discounts and promotions that benefit consumers,” a statement from the alliance reads.
I don’t mind. I prefer shopping and eating meals in off hours so I would probably save money. Dynamic pricing is a good way to smooth out when people buy things so everybody isn’t there all at the same time.
The baseline pricing is not going to be lower in any way compared to pre-dynamic pricing. That’ll be the starting point. There is no benefit to this dystopian bullshit.
Yes I remember a completely unrelated example. You’re describing the phenomenon where startups offer lower prices to gain market share, and then raise prices when they feel that they have a captive, loyal audience.
I get the point you’re trying to make, but it simply doesn’t apply here. Under dynamic pricing, the average price of goods should remain about the same. Groceries are fundamentally a low margin business - I don’t see that changing no matter the pricing strategy.
You don’t see how they could use the plethora of data from every user to expand those margins once everyone’s accepted the principle of dynamic pricing?
The technology exists today to price items differently not only based on time of day, but even for every different individual based on a whole universe of personal data.
They’re also using your personal info to see how
Much they can charge YOU. So you might pay more because of the car you drive or the clothes you wear. Or how long it has been since the last time you shopped.
The problem is that dynamic pricing is anticompetitive. In a healthy market people should easily be able to switch to the best offer so that the market will set a fair price for the goods to capture their customers. But when every price is fluctuating based on time and what data they have on you, it is very difficult to tell what the best store is. The end result is that stores will be able to set higher prices because it will just be harder to find a better alternative.
And inevitably they will use surveillance data to juice their customers for as much as they can before making them leave.
Like how you can not use a ride share app that uses dynamic pricing. You just have to use one that isn't Uber or Lyft, in other words sorry you have to do dynamic pricing.
No by you saying you don't use them you are showing why this isn't a solution and doesn't negate the issue. You have to do significantly more work to get around the system which is why the vast majority of people do not do so. Uber and Lyft also have gained enough market share and scale that they are incredibly difficult to compete against further limiting your options.
stores should be able to change prices as they see fit, the only thing that should be banned is having different people pay different prices and the using personal information to set prices.
So you hate happy hour? It was your logic, friend, not mine. And it's weird I needed to tell you that.
Yeah, I'm not against sales my dude. One knows the price when they walk in lol. I'm also one of those batshit crazy people that thinks it's probably ok to regulate food prices and alcoholic served beverage proves differently
IKillZombies4Cash | 9 days ago
The ability for them to monitor what you are looking at (they can and do, and if they aren’t they will) , and drop a price, and then monitor that it is in x number of carts in the store, and then raise the price before it gets to the checkout is scary.
DumpsterFireCEO723 | 9 days ago
If they can track carts in real time, it’s basically surveillance disguised as convenience.
Scary stuff, who wants to shop knowing the price might jump before checkout?
OrcOgi | 9 days ago
Who will actually pay for that? If i go buy a product and at checkout its 20% more im asking for a employee or leaving it.
Want to scam people? Fine, but i aint one of them.
anothergaijin | 9 days ago
They are hoping you won't notice
Mackinnon29E | 9 days ago
Every single time this happens, just leave the product out to go to waste (when it's groceries) or for someone to go put back.
KalaUposatha | 9 days ago
The only way we’re going to “win” this is by not giving an inch. Unfortunately, that means inconveniencing a lot of employees who have nothing to do with it. But if I put something in my cart and it’s a single cent higher than advertised, I’m leaving it and walking out.
elphin | 9 days ago
Employees get paid by the hour. Your strategy can work as long as employees don’t try to frantically keep up. The store will simply have to hire more employees or let things go to waste.
SkunkMonkey | 9 days ago
> The store will simply have to hire more employees
AAAAAAAAAAHAHHAHAHHAHAHA
Thanks, I need a good morning guffaw.
wickedzeus | 9 days ago
At some point we have to vote with our feet. Send them a message that this stores’s staffing has been insufficient and then don’t shop there. You bet they keep track of that with your rewards #. You’d just need a lot of people to actually do this and follow through.
Twisted_Cabbage | 9 days ago
Grocery stores have no problem letting food go to waste. They will just write it off on their taxes.
Not saying we should all just give in, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking that the corporations care at all about groceries going to waste.
My guess is most people are to exhausted to check prices often enough at a large enough scale to make an impact large enough for corporations to take notice.
DogBarf00 | 9 days ago
> Grocery stores have no problem letting food go to waste. They will just write it off on their taxes.
They are out the money they paid for the product that was trashed. They can just deduct the value of the product from their taxable revenue. It is still a massive waste of money for the grocery store…
Please pay attention in high school.
Mackinnon29E | 9 days ago
Especially when margins are so thin for grocery stores. If every customer wastes a single product or two every trip, they are no longer profitable lol.
DogBarf00 | 9 days ago
I honestly think these people think a tax write off means free money. Like they think businesses are out there trashing $10,000 in product to save $1,000 on taxes? Pretty much pissing away over $9,000.
thebeef111 | 9 days ago
you aren't even worried about the worst part: surge pricing for groceries. they'll jack up prices after 4pm when everyone gets off work and goes shopping, just like Uber.
3_Thumbs_Up | 9 days ago
You're not causing them a high enough cost by doing that. Leave everything and swear to never shop there again.
NaiveMessage2025 | 9 days ago
You're leaving money on the table.
Keep going back. Keep price checking. Keep walking away if you find discrepancies. Keep costing them money.
Maybe you'll be banned from the store eventually, but if you were prepared to never shop there again anyway who cares?
3_Thumbs_Up | 9 days ago
That sounds like a plan to waste my own time.
Full_Mention3613 | 9 days ago
Better than letting them waste your money
3_Thumbs_Up | 9 days ago
That's what the "never shop there again" solves.
defjam20000 | 9 days ago
[ Removed by Reddit ]
Choosemyusername | 9 days ago
You can remember the price of everything you put in your cart? I can’t. That’s amazing.
REDeyeJEDI85 | 9 days ago
I bet you carry a smartphone with you to the store. Take pictures of everything. Is it annoying. 100% but this is such a predatory thing they are trying to enact. As someone else said we cannot give them even an inch on this or it will become the norm across the board.
heyheyhey27 | 9 days ago
That's an ass-backwards way to handle the problem though. Write your congressman, tell them to support the banning of predatory "dynamic pricing" models.
Expensive_Entrance0 | 9 days ago
pen and paper , hope that helps buddy
ThisUsernameIsTook | 9 days ago
What a pain in the ass. Far simpler to not shop at any store that does this.
Less-Engineer-9637 | 9 days ago
Items that I consistently buy yes, I memorize the price.
sckuzzle | 9 days ago
Are you going to memorize the price when it changes every time you go to the store?
I buy probably 30 items every time I go. There's no way I'm remembering that an item was $4.13 this time rather than $4.17 for 30 items. That sounds exhausting.
Less-Engineer-9637 | 9 days ago
I worked as a retail manager for years so it doesn't bother me. I'm used to memorizing numbers.
NaiveMessage2025 | 9 days ago
Yikes.
amazingkillerlemon | 9 days ago
They don't have prices on the items, just a barcode.
CakeRobot365 | 9 days ago
I'd refuse to shop anywhere that didn't display a price. People should flood these establishments with so many complaints they have no choice but to address it.
MountainMapleMI | 9 days ago
There won’t be prices on them on shelf. Only at checkout, we’re only going back to a more advanced form of bargaining and negotiation.
Where the customer has no leverage.
GeauxCup | 9 days ago
But how would you ever track it?
Your need to take a pic of each price tag and verify at checkout. That'll take forever if you have a full basket.
OrcOgi | 9 days ago
We have a thing called a brain and short term memory.
ihrtmyselftoday | 9 days ago
It's really unreasonable to expect the customer to check and remember all the prices while also being under the time pressure of moving items and paying. This is just an erosion of consumer trust.
elphin | 9 days ago
You don’t have to remember everything, just some things. When you notice them changing prices on you, just take things out of your cart and leave them a mess.
ihrtmyselftoday | 9 days ago
Americans will do this instead of having consumer protections
Intelligent_Oil7816 | 9 days ago
Because America has a board of shareholders instead of a functioning government.
GeauxCup | 9 days ago
You're going to remember hundreds of items and prices over 45 minutes of shopping?
That's impressive - I couldn't do that.
OrcOgi | 9 days ago
Hundreds of items? I dont know what kind of disgusting shopping trips you do, but we maybe buy 20/50 items at once here.
GeauxCup | 9 days ago
Ok, so 50. That's a hell of a lot to remember.
I'm just trying to say that dynamic pricing is bull shit and the onus it puts on a consumer to track prices is completely absurd.
I'm glad you're fine with it.
LogoffWorkout | 9 days ago
Its not even remembering it, imagine scouring over your reciept after checking out, and the mustard that was on the shelf at 3 for 8.46 is rung up at 2.91 like smart guy over there as perfect recall and is going to catch every price change.
GeauxCup | 9 days ago
They'll need to put a giant ticker tape at the front of the stores with fluctuating dynamic prices scrolling by.
Maybe it'll encourage a secondary market of people trying to score big off the 5:15 uptick in mustard.
matticusrex | 9 days ago
It’s not too much to remember, people just don’t really look closely at the prices of items at the grocery store anymore. I promise earlier generations had no problem reviewing their receipt for price accuracy and some folks still do today.
OrcOgi | 9 days ago
Yeah i dont understand why people always treat me like some wizzard for being good in basic math and numbers. Checking a grocery list for 20/30/50 items to spot irregularities aint that hard. Especially not when buying staples you know prices of by heart.
ImpracticalJerker | 9 days ago
It's really not if you buy the same shit every week you just know how much stuff should cost. Off the top on my head I know my milk is 2.25 my cheese is 1.99 my pizza is 2.99 it's really not that hard lol. No wonder people are getting dumber.
pimparo0 | 9 days ago
And you will remember the exact price of 50 items?
amazingkillerlemon | 9 days ago
That wouldn't work if you have problems with short-term memory.
deathnomX | 9 days ago
Yea for real. Id just grab a ton of stuff and have them put it back. Try to scam me? Don't make a dime off me, and your employees will get pissed because of your shitty policies.
twittalessrudy | 9 days ago
What if it's 5%? they're gonna find the exact percentage that applies for everyone
hap071 | 9 days ago
Is this happening at Walmart? Because there's been more than one time I've grabbed a product KNOWING I read the price and when I get to the register it scans higher. I've had the thought once or twice that I must be losing my mind, early alzheimers, something.
PrincessGiallo | 9 days ago
They don't care. You're not that important.
OrcOgi | 9 days ago
As an individual, no. But god forbid the day comes the masses understand they hold the power collectivly
ThisUsernameIsTook | 9 days ago
Sounds like communism
lordaddament | 9 days ago
I mean would you really drop everything in your cart and then drive another 15 minutes to another grocery store that will probably do the same thing?
buynsell678 | 9 days ago
These dynamic pricing also happens everywhere. Try booking a flight, hotel or shopping in amazon. Even ordering food online.
NumNumLobster | 9 days ago
Uber costing more if you have a low battery is the most rage inducing version of this
calgarywalker | 9 days ago
Well, the law of offer and acceptance says the price when I put it in the cart governs. If I have to wait with my camera for the price to drop 50 cents in 1 minute then thats a pretty good wage.
Any_Nectarine_7806 | 9 days ago
Like keeping locations active on your cell phone.
PM_ME_SOME_ANY_THING | 9 days ago
Technically they HAVE to track your carts in real time. You put stuff in your cart, get distracted, come back later and it’s still there right?
That’s because they saved it. Either on your device or their database or both, but it’s saved so it can stay there when you get back.
The idea of taking the information they already have, and using it to screw you on the price, is really just capitalism. A really shitty practice IMO, but it’s capitalism.
brumbarosso | 9 days ago
Some real wild greedy shit
Da_Question | 9 days ago
Even worse is they'll just straight up raise prices if they know its something you buy regularly and charge others less because they dont buy it,
AlwaysPetTheBelly99 | 9 days ago
Then once someone gets used to having a certain product or food in their life, they individually raise that price.
YellowZx5 | 9 days ago
This is the issue I have here. I like the digital price tags as they do make it easier to change pricing and have seen where the worker can flash the light for stocking the shelf. What I don’t agree with is changing the price during store hours or normal hours of operation.
If a store is 24h which are rare, then 7am to 11pm would be normal to me to lock pricing in. Any changes between normal hours would be a fine of X% of your daily sales. Not profit, but sales.
Dapper_Lifeguard_414 | 9 days ago
When do you think prices are changed in "normal" retail with paper price tags and no dynamic pricing? When I was in retail, we looked at pricing monthly and I would go around with new price tags for everythjng that had changed. This happened during normal work hours, because it's work and I was being paid for it.
Dapper_Business8616 | 9 days ago
This is currently my job and the prices change at midnight, regardless of what's on the paper label. That's obviously the case at your store too unless you were literally putting the price labels on the products and the cashier had to manually enter every price. So I might be increasing the price of something at 2pm but the new price won't come up at the register until the next day.
Dapper_Lifeguard_414 | 9 days ago
I'm sure POS software varies, and different industries can of course have specific laws. But no, the software allowed a price change at any time, instantly in effect, and we would do it short tranches by category throughout the day. Cashier didn't need to do anything in this case.
che-zzz | 9 days ago
I would go absolutely nuclear at the register.
lock_robster2022 | 9 days ago
The Customer Experience Specialist on video call from Manila will be very upset if you do
Mackinnon29E | 9 days ago
Is the person from Manila gonna go restock the shelves when I throw the item on the ground? Or throw away the food because it can't be put back and requires refrigeration? Hopefully everyone does this
Do__Math__Not__Meth | 9 days ago
Unfortunately the stores will pass that burden onto everyone else busy just raising prices further, they don’t care
ThisUsernameIsTook | 9 days ago
What're you gonna do, not eat?
RealLoonsInsider | 9 days ago
"Look, I just thought that all of your ice cream should be closer to the paper towels, that's all!"
PrincessGiallo | 9 days ago
You gonna punch a 16 year old making minimum wage?
WingerRules | 8 days ago
Then they'll ban you from the only real grocery store thats within an hour drive from your small town.
AlwaysPetTheBelly99 | 9 days ago
That'll help you a lot, taking it out on random kids or old people being paid minimum wage. Just figure out who the CEO is and complain to them in-person instead, email and phone is a waste of time with those.
pimparo0 | 9 days ago
Or the manager, you ain't getting ahold of the owners of Publix through customer service or their corporate website.
emannikcufecin | 9 days ago
Do you know the prices of your whole grocery cart? Didn't read the article but the law should stipulate that prices can only change before opening. If it's a 24 hour store then they can change at midnight only
hk4213 | 9 days ago
Mob behavior. And a sign of economic collapse.
InTooManyWays | 9 days ago
That’s fucking psychotic. There seems to be no limits to greed in a crony capitalist world
Dd_8630 | 9 days ago
Part of me dislikes the dystopia corporate hellscape of it all.
But part of me thinks... What's that actual immortality here? Anyone can charge what they want, merchants have raised and lowered prices dynamically since the dawn of time. The stock market exists because shares can change price within seconds.
I agree it will lead to bad social consequences, but I'm struggling to justify an outright ban. How does it even work? All pricing decisions must be locked in for X days?
McGrevin | 9 days ago
Does anyone have any evidence of this actually happening? I get it's a scary scenario but I don't see how this could do anything but piss people off and cause all sorts of conflict over a pretty miniscule amount of money. I do agree it should be banned, but I also don't think any store that wants to survive more than a week would actually do it.
Like if I'm buying a $10 item, what are you gonna do, raise it to $11? Stores aren't going to kill their reputation for a single dollar. If they raise it to something higher like $20 then people will refuse to buy it.
Most people aren't in stores for long enough for there to be more than a couple people at a time that actually have the same item in their cart at once, so again I don't really see the logistics of this playing out in a way that makes sense for anyone
phred_666 | 9 days ago
One thing I have learned over the years is if there is any way to make even a penny more, businesses will do it in a heartbeat. If it’s possible, someone will do it eventually. Most businesses operate under the mantra “greed is good”.
Little-Somewhere6076 | 9 days ago
Why is greed bad? I don’t work for less than I’m worth
TheManAccount | 9 days ago
Having self worth isn’t greed.
Also it’s the directionality of it. You’re punching up, demanding something from those above you for your own benefit. They are punching down, demanding more from those below them.
Do__Math__Not__Meth | 9 days ago
>stores aren’t going to kill their reputation for a single dollar
I wouldn’t be so sure these days
lock_robster2022 | 9 days ago
They already do that in any apps you order ahead or save your shopping list.
McGrevin | 9 days ago
Maybe I misunderstood them but I think the comment I replied to is talking about physically being in store, grabbing an item, getting to checkout and finding that the price is higher because the store was monitoring and saw a number of people put the item in their cart.
lock_robster2022 | 9 days ago
Whoops you’re right. I’ve never seen that in-store
1Steelghost1 | 9 days ago
No this doesn't happen and could never happen.
The fact that they don't ban Uber from doing it, a company that ACTUALLY does it, is insane.
It took one news story about digital signs to blow this out of control. And people are so scared of things they don't understand it snowballed into this bullshit.
Suspicious_Place1270 | 9 days ago
it's happening all over america, proven, and i do not even live there and know it
pjdonovan | 9 days ago
I've never seen it drop in price below it's listed price, it's either $X or $x+$y, I've never seen it go below $x.
discoduck007 | 9 days ago
And it won't...
shewy92 | 9 days ago
How would that work with those price gun things
Kerguidou | 9 days ago
Where I live, this is very illegal. The USA truly is the land of the free.
imkvn | 9 days ago
Amazon is using the same tactics... Along with online retailers. Right know we can't price things correctly bc of gas prices as a result ppl are paying more.
Spider_pig448 | 9 days ago
Scary but economically reasonable. I'm not sure what the basis is for this ban
Suspicious_Place1270 | 9 days ago
it's literally pure manipulation, there is no other word for that
and it's not a stock market with stock prices, they set it and forget it
dominiond66 | 9 days ago
With the advent of AI expect an avalanche of high-tech tactics to extract more wealth from the working class to the rich, to corporate America. They are not satisfied with the current RECORD profits. They want MORE $$$ from us using technology, fraud, deception and greed.
Total Corporate America profits for 2025 were a record $3.4 Trillion. A huge amount of immoral wealth while consumers are being bombarded with Republican tariff taxes and spiking gasoline prices.
AI and technology must be regulated to protect consumers. Democrats support this protection; Republican continue to drastically reduce regulations AND give corporations huge tax cuts. Enough is enough. Soom we will all vote!
VeteranSergeant | 9 days ago
Yeah, if they want to do dynamic pricing, then the workers deserve dynamic pay.
maniacal_cackle | 9 days ago
> then the workers deserve dynamic pay.
There' s already a massive push for this with the gig economy.
But 'dynamic pay' means finding the worker who is most desperate and will do it cheapest (~~uber in fact has a 'desperation score' for drivers that lets them give them the shittest jobs they know don't tip well, because they know this driver will come back for more jobs anyway~~.
philh | 9 days ago
>uber in fact has a 'desperation score' for drivers that lets them give them the shittest jobs they know don't tip well, because they know this driver will come back for more jobs anyway
This is a hoax. https://www.prdaily.com/the-scoop-a-reddit-hoax-went-viral-then-doordash-and-uber-eats-fired-back-2/
maniacal_cackle | 9 days ago
Oh good catch!
CEOofRaytheon | 9 days ago
Way too realistic to just be a hoax. Way too in line with Uber's behavior too. Sounds more like Uber doing damage control and trying to hide what they're doing.
VeteranSergeant | 9 days ago
Right, but this article is about grocery stores trying to maximize profit through pricing in an environment where the employees almost always earn a fixed rate.
maniacal_cackle | 9 days ago
In a grocery context, it'd be something like an app where your wage is flexible and you indicate your willingness to work, and then the employers would allocate you hours based on how cheaply they could get you to do it.
All of these tools are more powerful in the hands of the employer, so they'll favour the employer.
You can also do something dynamic for employees like "pay 50% extra on holidays", but that's done through regulation, not the market.
VeteranSergeant | 9 days ago
Your selective definition of what "dynamic" means is your own. However nothing inherently prevents worker unions from negotiating a cut of dynamic pricing as a wage increase. That would still be dynamic pay. Your posts are argument for the sake of, which is uninteresting and pointless.
dontknow_anything | 9 days ago
> However nothing inherently prevents worker unions from negotiating a cut of dynamic pricing as a wage increase.
Except the fact that there is no worker union big enough to get that deal. Employers will simply fire people trying to unionise.
Little-Somewhere6076 | 9 days ago
Investment bankers make millions of dollars without unions. Apparently negotiating for yourself works
dontknow_anything | 9 days ago
Yeah, investment bankers and your retail staff are quite the same.
Little-Somewhere6076 | 9 days ago
What’s the difference?
I don’t think investment bankers are inherently better than retail workers, but since you do, why?
poellodu | 9 days ago
Race to the bottom
Little-Somewhere6076 | 9 days ago
That’s awesome
Name_Taken_2017 | 9 days ago
Dynamic guillotine
Expensive-Object-830 | 9 days ago
Solid death metal band name
LogoffWorkout | 9 days ago
Let them eat dynamic cake.
Mundane-Charge-1900 | 9 days ago
This is literally gig work
VeteranSergeant | 9 days ago
That is not what gig work is. Some gig work may offer dynamic pay, but a grocery store, for example, does not work like a rideshare service where pay is based on output (number of rides taken and the revenue generated by each individual ride).
raptosaurus | 9 days ago
You bet they're already working on that, but only in a downward direction. Store not busy? You make 50 cents less per hour
Catnip_Farmer | 9 days ago
You can't vote your way out of this. No political party gives a hoot about you, they work for their lobbyists.
Whenever there's political party turnover they just keep doing the same shit but use different language to describe it.
FearlessPark4588 | 9 days ago
I look forward to AI "learning" that I won't pay bullshit prices for things. Knowing that these algo's are trying to determine our marginal willingness to pay for things keeps me aware of not overpaying, because I don't want the algorithm to bucket me with the suckers.
KiwiSherbert | 9 days ago
Believe it or not, you are not unique. The AI and algorithm will (eventually) easily figure out how to bucket people who think like this and still give you the highest price you are willing to pay.
FearlessPark4588 | 9 days ago
which won't be the higher price
ThisUsernameIsTook | 9 days ago
Sure it will. It might not be the highest price but it will be more that whatever the "base" price is. You are not as special as you think you are.
stiff_tipper | 9 days ago
> I look forward to AI "learning" that I won't pay bullshit prices for things.
how confident are u that u aren't already paying bullshit prices for things? cuz i'm an american and i'd argue it's effectively impossible to dodge the bullshit
and i don't believe that u as an individual relying on willpower alone is enough to stop thousands of full time educated employees that focus on psychology, marketing, sales, exploitation, etc from finding ur vulnerabilities - that is just too much ego to have imo (moment u think u ain't got blind spots is a moment u gotta worry bout urself because u as a human 10000% have blindspots)
FearlessPark4588 | 9 days ago
I do research to know competitive market pricing is for goods that I purchase
DICKPICDOUG | 9 days ago
As well it should! There should be federal restrictions on how frequently a price can be changed to prevent price gouging and predatory tactics. Once a week at most! Before it was purely practical concerns that stopped companies from doing this scummy shit, but these fully digital price systems let companies change prices potential dozens of times a day, and to raise pricing specifically when the store is most busy. It's pure greed!
dogs_gt_cats | 9 days ago
> There should be federal restrictions on how frequently a price can be changed to prevent price gouging and predatory tactics. Once a week at most!
I don't know about that. Let's think about this in the most basic terms - you are selling lettuce at a farmer's market. You start the day selling at full price since there are no other sellers there. Other sellers show up and undercut you, so you modify your price to compete. Near the end of the day, you know you are going to have to load back up your truck with browning lettuce to take it back home to a compost pile which wastes fuel and time, so you drop the prices massively to liquidate it.
Given your thought that prices shouldn't change more than once a week, should those folks at a farmer's market be punished for actively modifying prices based on market needs?
I totally get your sentiment, but I don't think it can be solved nearly so easily as limiting how often vendors can change their prices when modifying prices is a pretty basic business activity and has been for thousands of years.
kptknuckles | 9 days ago
Maybe we separate the regulation of weekend lettuce stands and entrenched corporate giants using AI to track your every move. I’m not a lawyer, it might not be possible. /s
DICKPICDOUG | 9 days ago
Well obviously there is a middle ground here. Price increases ought to be strictly regulated, but I don't see why discounts and lowered prices couldn't be allowed much more freedom.
Ateist | 9 days ago
But that's the same thing - you just set the base price higher and "discount" it.
Xipher | 9 days ago
The J.C. Penney way
rovaals | 9 days ago
That's how gas prices work where I live. They can only increase once a day (at midnight for 24 hour stations, or station open for ones that aren't) They can go nuts with price drops. Have a price dropping war with the station across the street all you want. But increases only once a day.
But I've really only ever seen an agressive price drop war between stations once. It was AMAZING. It was about 20 years ago and the prices they hit were like 10-20 year lows at THAT time. I don't know what those station owners were thinking.
CGlids1953 | 9 days ago
You lost me at “other sellers.” Your theory assumes fair market competition and we know food distributors and grocers have been consolidating into bigger and fewer companies for many years.
ThisUsernameIsTook | 9 days ago
In my town there is a bougie grocery that is always the most expensive. A cheap grocery with crappy produce quality that matches the price and every other grocery store is owned by the same parent company. Those are the options for a city of 100,000 people.
gradi3nt | 9 days ago
All of capitalism is based on price gouging/ predatory tactics…
Ateist | 9 days ago
You do realise that this means prices will go up instead of remaining down?
serabine | 9 days ago
Where is this magical place where prices are "remaining down"?
Ateist | 9 days ago
Inside the economic concept called "demand curve":
If you have 50 customers that can pay you $1 over cost and 5 customers that can afford $15 over cost and you are able to offer them targeted prices you'll earn $125 and everyone gets the goods they want.
If you can't, you'll set the price level at the price for the wealthier ones, earning $75 and leaving the poor without goods and you without $50 due to the ban.
Baby_Rhino | 9 days ago
In this scenario, are you suggesting that due to this ban, businesses will price out the majority of their customers, leaving them in your example "without $50", rather than pricing their product at a point that the majority of their customers are willing to pay?
Like you think businesses will choose to lose 50 out of 55 customers.... Just.... Because?
Because any business run by someone that stupid deserves to go bust.
DogBarf00 | 9 days ago
This is how housing developers work. They make more money on larger, more expensive homes with less risk. So they focus on building larger and more expensive homes. One large home will make them more money and be less risky than 4 smaller homes on the same lot.
ThisUsernameIsTook | 9 days ago
If that gets them the most profit, and in this scenario it does, then yes that is the only logical move for that business. They don't want nor need those 50 customers that can't pay their price.
Ateist | 9 days ago
> Just.... Because?
it leaves them with greater profit.
If they were to set price at the point where those 50 customers can afford it, they would be earning $55, which is less than $75.
welshwelsh | 9 days ago
Rising prices specifically when the store is busy seems like a good thing to me. It would encourage price-conscious consumers to avoid busy times, leading to less crowded stores and shorter lines.
I would LOVE if I could buy a gallon of milk on a Friday night without waiting in line, even if it means I pay a bit more.
Lemp_Triscuit11 | 9 days ago
the working poor have far less control over their schedules. I hate lines but not enough to (further) starve my neighbors to make them shorter lol
katosen27 | 9 days ago
Either;
-Take pictures and document as you peruse the aisles. Then make a stink when they try to up charge. If they don't honor the original price, walk out.
-figure out which store does dynamic pricing and avoid them like they are the plague.
Thats the only way they listen: hit their revenue.
Fast_Cloud_4711 | 9 days ago
I would like to see national legislation passed that would ban this for online. All I have to do with Amazon is look up and item when logged in and then open up a private browser tab to see the price difference.
Should be allowed to screencap the other and get it at that price.
blandsrules | 9 days ago
Please stop giving Amazon your money
Fast_Cloud_4711 | 9 days ago
Switching to Walmart plan
lock_robster2022 | 9 days ago
Good. Consumers are at such an immense information disadvantage in dynamic pricing that it is waaaaayy outside the realm of a fair, free, and competitive market.
realsadboihours | 9 days ago
Weird that competitive market used to mean competition between businesses but now it feels like competition with the consumer
Turgid_Donkey | 9 days ago
Wasn't it a store like best buy or target that got busted for showing different prices on their site to those tagged as inside the store? So if you pulled out your phone in the store, looked up the price on their website, it would show a higher price. Maybe you had to be on their wifi, but it was shady as hell.
ThisUsernameIsTook | 9 days ago
Why shouldn't a store charge a different price online versus in-store? They are different markets with different costs associated with the business.
Turgid_Donkey | 9 days ago
I don't remember the exact details, but they were showing different prices on their website if you were in store vs anywhere else.
Found an article. It was on their app, not the website.
todogeorge23 | 9 days ago
And also, Target put stickers on xmas trees during the holidays that said "HUGE discount sale $100!!" but under the sticker was another sticker that said $75... that also went viral
Icy_Media9225 | 9 days ago
When the Panama Papers showed the global leeches were hoarding $32 trillion in offshore bank accounts, I knew then they would screw us into utter poverty.
Glad to see people fight back.
Knotted_Hole69 | 9 days ago
Everyone straight up forgot or forgave about that situation. Like what the fuck?
oryydin | 9 days ago
They didn't forget. A bunch of journalists responsible were hunted down and killed, and now journalists know to think twice before investigating rich people again.
Emotional-Power-7242 | 9 days ago
There weren't really any Americans in the Panama Papers so they weren't a huge deal here. The American rich don't pay many taxes anyway so there's no real need to dodge them. Thy were a bigger deal abroad.
whobetta | 9 days ago
Seriously why is this taking so long? Should be a slam dunk for every state… if your state is not working to do this wtf are they even doing
flounder19 | 9 days ago
> Seriously why is this taking so long?
presumably because it's not an issue people are experiencing currently. Do you know of any supermarket chains that practice this form of dynamic in person pricing?
[OP] Such_Radio_9152 | 9 days ago
By the time it becomes a problem it's already too late. Better to nip it in the bud.
intermodalterminal | 9 days ago
Everyone is missing the big picture. Profits result from firms selling good for more than they cost to make. Consumer surplus, the consumer analogue to profit, occurs when you pay less for a good than you are willing to pay. This is the main reason the economy benefits consumers. If each consumer gets charged what they are willing to pay, then consumers stop benefiting from the economy. They end up just exchanging labor for goods at a 1 to 1 ratio. All of the surplus gets turned into profit. The rule/norm that everyone pays the same price is fundamental for consumers.
blu_waters | 9 days ago
Very well put. This is why succeeding at dynamic pricing, especially for necessities such as food, would be terrible for everyone.
Little-Somewhere6076 | 9 days ago
Why would dynamic pricing change the equilibrium for food, but static pricing wouldn’t?
droxile | 9 days ago
Why is static pricing a norm/rule? I can think of many situations that are Pareto improved based on dynamic pricing (think 3rd degree price discrimination)
intermodalterminal | 9 days ago
I actually agree with you that we dont talk about this norm/rule enough. It should be the foundation of how consumers think about benefiting from the economy. Consumers should agressively push for the elimination of third degree price discrimination in most cases. Senior and student discounts are tacitly accepted, but the net effect is that they allow businesses to charge more to everyone else. They turn everyone elses surplus into profits. Yes, third degree price discrimination can increase Output in some cases, but this comes from businesses benefiting more and consumers being worse off. You layer a tax system that heavily penalizes labor over capital, and you end up with massive inequality.
droxile | 9 days ago
I never said that we don’t talk about it enough, nor do I think it’s a rule.
I’m not interested in what you think consumers ought to value, I’m asking why you believe that static pricing is always more beneficial to consumers than dynamic.
intermodalterminal | 9 days ago
Because dynamic pricing = pricing closer to each individuals willingness to pay, thus transfering consumer surplus to business profit. Very straightforward.
droxile | 9 days ago
It’s only straightforward if we ignore consumers whose reservation price was below that of the static one.
intermodalterminal | 9 days ago
Most products sold in a grocery store are sold at cost plus a small profit. What do you think is more likely? That businesses will reduce prices below costs to benefit consumers with lower willingness to pay, or that businesses will raise prices a lot for those consumers who are able to pay? It's dynamic in a specific direction, not random pricing.
droxile | 9 days ago
I have no illusions that a firm will attempt to maximize the efficiency of their pricing model. I just don’t agree with the assertion that doing so is always a zero-sum arrangement/pareto optimal/whatever you want to call it and that it’s always only to the benefit of the firm!
intermodalterminal | 9 days ago
I am pretty sure that in 95% of instances will lead to businesses benefiting and consumers hurting. Amazon tried this 20 years ago.
droxile | 9 days ago
Amazon isn’t the best example since their whole premise is a marketplace that offers a high degree of price transparency to consumers.
Delta is a more recent example (specifically their poor attempt at first degree price discrimination) of where even the whiff of using cookies/personal consumer information caused so much backlash that they walked back their decision to personalize prices. Of course they still do what they’ve always done, which is price tickets dynamically based on time and availability.
Agree to disagree I guess.
Hot_Frosty0807 | 9 days ago
Michigan has price tag laws, and if the price charged at the register is different from the price advertised on the item, shelf, or display, the consumer receives back the difference in price plus a 10x bonus payment of that difference.
Frozty23 | 9 days ago
In NC, the 1st mis-ringing item is free (for each specific kind of mis-priced item), and any subsequent must be priced at the marked price. I get $5-$10 back frequently each time I shop because aside from knowing pretty the normal prices of what I buy, I know what should be on sale. I just scan my receipt for what rings up at full price, vs. what I know should be on sale and parse those. That's where most errors are (plus, I can spot the random shelf sale tag from last week that wasn't removed properly, and I know I can likely score one of those items for free).
Dynamic pricing seems directly opposed to any bait-and-switch regulations, too.
spondgbob | 9 days ago
How about this, no dynamic pricing for anyone worth less than $75M. But if you’re worth more than $75M, your prices are 10x higher, and you subsidize everyone else’s grocery prices to go lower
kerblamophobe | 9 days ago
It boggles the mind how you Americans can live with this dystopian shit
Must be all the Streaming and sports that distract you from voting out the shit in your government I guess
Fundamentals-802 | 9 days ago
You forgot video games.
Seriously though, you might be onto something here.
Bleezy79 | 9 days ago
Ripping off people buying food should be illegal anyways. Basic necessities shouldn’t cause financial stress on a family. Especially when this planet has excess.
dominiond66 | 9 days ago
The public and the media must not parrot the words "dynamic pricing" Corporate America has chosen to use. Call it what is --- "Price manipulation"! It uses technology to steal more wealth from the working class.
ThisUsernameIsTook | 9 days ago
To be fair, they are also charging the wealthy more. They just don't feel the pain as much.
SpiritCrawler | 9 days ago
Dynamic pricing should exist only for the billionaire class, but billionaires shouldn’t even exist in an ethically and morally inclined world geared towards its People. The 1% dodged a bullet with this timeline.
Osiris_Raphious | 9 days ago
All this is going to do is make them rebrand and approach dynamic pricing differently.
Dynamic pricing sucks for the 90% working poor, but it does little to affect the 10% class that ownes most of the wealth..
abuhatesreddit | 9 days ago
Finally, some good news for shoppers! It's about time someone put a stop to those sneaky dynamic pricing schemes in food stores. Honestly, seeing prices change by the minute was getting ridiculous. This should make grocery shopping a lot more predictable and fair for everyone. Hopefully, other places will follow suit!
Sufficient_Matter585 | 9 days ago
Dynamic pricing is what happens when think free market will fix everything it doesn't and it doesn't fix it right away. Some don't have a choice in their grocery. It's like a monopoly in some areas. But many advocating for letting the markets decide have disposable income and should shut their mouths.
tradgamer9 | 9 days ago
Never stolen a penny in my life. Any store pulls this shit, I will be engaging in "occult compensation" on the regular, off-setting any upcharges with 2-3 free items.
ThisUsernameIsTook | 9 days ago
They will be investing excess profits into shoplifting prevention.
Enjoy prison.
tradgamer9 | 9 days ago
Prison? For shoplifting? lol.
lilEcon | 9 days ago
Dynamic pricing and price discrimination are very different. I'm not against the cost of the last gallon of milk going up. It solves a scarcity problem. I am against them building a profile for me and learning that I really like milk and charging me more because of it. In a world who price discrimination, no consumer will ever be happy because you'll be charged exactly the amount where you're indifferent whether or not you get the milk. It sounds like it's muddled what they're talking about though.
Ateist | 9 days ago
So, does this mean that grocery stores would no longer be able to offer discounts in the off-hours for the elderly?
Because that's also "dynamic pricing" - only one that helps both people and stores...
coalescence2071 | 9 days ago
At one point store owners will figure that using dynamic pricing to maximize profit is way better than giving discounts only. This could mean hyper personalization where the price is different for each customer based on AI algorithms and data collected on individuals. Prices could be displayed dynamically via digital tags changing depending who is looking at it. Endless possibilities, really. Kinda like when you search for plane tickets today and the price goes up on the ticket you keep on your browser for a longer period. Suddenly all alternative flights also price up and don’t go down because they track you and your computer device from there on.
LetTheDeedShow | 9 days ago
Bingo. They will extract a percentage of your salary, not a set price.
Ateist | 9 days ago
Endless possibility for abuse, that is.
Look forward to billionaires borrowing the service of the nearest unhoused person to do their groceries.
Or start wearing masks to prevent being robbed.
> search for plane tickets today and the price goes up on the ticket you keep on your browser for a longer period.
it's mostly a myth. Price changes because previous, cheaper fare class has been sold out.
Laruae | 9 days ago
The "Myth" is as real as clearing cookies on your browser to watch it revert in real time. Did I undo the sale by clearing my cache?
Ateist | 9 days ago
Did you experience it yourself? More than once? On different web sites?
Can be just a coincidence - 5% of passengers on average do cancel their tickets each flight.
It's really not a good policy that hurts reputation of the platform more than it brings in money...
ThisUsernameIsTook | 9 days ago
It's most common where one airline holds an effective monopoly position in a market. Think Delta in Atlanta or American in Dallas. Delta doesn't really care about reputation when they know your options are a nonstop with them or a two stop flight on a competitor. People will pay and the planes go out oversold.
Ateist | 8 days ago
It's not airlines that are operating the tickets sales business.
And those need their reputation.
I'm calling it mostly a myth because someone somewhere must have actually tried to do it - but once they were caught and information spread it became too unprofitable for anyone else to repeat the trick.
It can only be worth it if they are planning to burn all their bridges (and are about to go out of business).
Tricks like this need one condition to be successful: to not be easily caught by the customers.
It's way too easy to notice that the price has gone up...
lock_robster2022 | 9 days ago
No, if you read past the headline you would see that.
Ateist | 9 days ago
It's literally in the article:
> The bill targets a system whereby retailers can use technology to adjust prices throughout the day or show different prices to different customers, especially in online shopping.
"adjust prices throughtout the day" -> lower prices in off-hours
"show different prices to different customers" -> discounts for the elderly
wcharoes | 9 days ago
Prices only go up bubby, and Grandma doesn't shop on the app.
She gets to the checkout and holds the line up because she doesn't understand what Digital Coupon meant.
Little-Somewhere6076 | 9 days ago
Really? Most technology is much cheaper than 50 years ago
wcharoes | 9 days ago
*looks at the NES Challenge set retailing for 90 bucks in 1989, and now CiB on eBay for like 750 dollars*
Errrrm, yeeeeah ok brooo.
Little-Somewhere6076 | 9 days ago
Apparently you aren’t familiar with Moore’s Law
wcharoes | 9 days ago
Please stop downvoting me every response, it's really rude. I'm not doing it to you.
Little-Somewhere6076 | 9 days ago
Caring more about internet points than the idea is sad
wcharoes | 9 days ago
If they're not important why do you feel the need to take them from me?
Ateist | 9 days ago
Grandmas understand "15% off if you shop before 13:00" just fine.
echino_derm | 9 days ago
Looks like they would not be able to offer discounts on off hours. But it seems like they would be able to have promotional discounts for the elderly.
tonylouis1337 | 9 days ago
“The final bill reflects a workable framework that achieves the stated policy goal of prohibiting the use of consumer data to increase prices while preserving the ability for retailers to offer discounts and promotions that benefit consumers,” a statement from the alliance reads.
Now that I like a lot
Seaman_First_Class | 9 days ago
I don’t mind. I prefer shopping and eating meals in off hours so I would probably save money. Dynamic pricing is a good way to smooth out when people buy things so everybody isn’t there all at the same time.
IndianaSucksAzz | 9 days ago
The baseline pricing is not going to be lower in any way compared to pre-dynamic pricing. That’ll be the starting point. There is no benefit to this dystopian bullshit.
lock_robster2022 | 9 days ago
Do you remember when Airbnb and Uber were less expensive than hotels and taxis?
Seaman_First_Class | 9 days ago
Yes I remember a completely unrelated example. You’re describing the phenomenon where startups offer lower prices to gain market share, and then raise prices when they feel that they have a captive, loyal audience.
I get the point you’re trying to make, but it simply doesn’t apply here. Under dynamic pricing, the average price of goods should remain about the same. Groceries are fundamentally a low margin business - I don’t see that changing no matter the pricing strategy.
lock_robster2022 | 9 days ago
You don’t see how they could use the plethora of data from every user to expand those margins once everyone’s accepted the principle of dynamic pricing?
The technology exists today to price items differently not only based on time of day, but even for every different individual based on a whole universe of personal data.
monkwrenv2 | 9 days ago
Interestingly, I took a trip to France last fall, and Airbnb was quite a bit cheaper than hotels there. Likely due to stronger consumer protections.
wawa2022 | 9 days ago
They’re also using your personal info to see how Much they can charge YOU. So you might pay more because of the car you drive or the clothes you wear. Or how long it has been since the last time you shopped.
echino_derm | 9 days ago
The problem is that dynamic pricing is anticompetitive. In a healthy market people should easily be able to switch to the best offer so that the market will set a fair price for the goods to capture their customers. But when every price is fluctuating based on time and what data they have on you, it is very difficult to tell what the best store is. The end result is that stores will be able to set higher prices because it will just be harder to find a better alternative.
And inevitably they will use surveillance data to juice their customers for as much as they can before making them leave.
Little-Somewhere6076 | 9 days ago
Nothing is stopping people from buying from firms not using dynamic pricing
echino_derm | 9 days ago
Like how you can not use a ride share app that uses dynamic pricing. You just have to use one that isn't Uber or Lyft, in other words sorry you have to do dynamic pricing.
Little-Somewhere6076 | 9 days ago
I can use a taxi. Taxis are substitute services to ride share
echino_derm | 9 days ago
Have you been using taxis as a substitute to ride share services?
Little-Somewhere6076 | 9 days ago
No, because I don’t care dynamic pricing. But apparently you do, and you think that taxis don’t exist
echino_derm | 9 days ago
So you were bringing up the substitute without actually knowing if it is a viable option?
Little-Somewhere6076 | 9 days ago
Are you making the claim that taxis aren’t a substitute service for ride sharing?
If they are, then your claim their is no substitute for uber Lyft is obviously false
If they aren’t, I’m happy to provide sources to the contrary
echino_derm | 9 days ago
No by you saying you don't use them you are showing why this isn't a solution and doesn't negate the issue. You have to do significantly more work to get around the system which is why the vast majority of people do not do so. Uber and Lyft also have gained enough market share and scale that they are incredibly difficult to compete against further limiting your options.
Lemp_Triscuit11 | 9 days ago
"just don't buy your concert tickets from ticketmaster!"
dante_gherie1099 | 9 days ago
stores should be able to change prices as they see fit, the only thing that should be banned is having different people pay different prices and the using personal information to set prices.
Lemp_Triscuit11 | 9 days ago
If you're two people in line ahead of me and we get different prices, different people got different prices lol
dante_gherie1099 | 9 days ago
if u order before happy hour and i order during happy hour we get different prices
Lemp_Triscuit11 | 9 days ago
So you hate happy hour? It was your logic, friend, not mine. And it's weird I needed to tell you that.
Yeah, I'm not against sales my dude. One knows the price when they walk in lol. I'm also one of those batshit crazy people that thinks it's probably ok to regulate food prices and alcoholic served beverage proves differently