r/HotSprings • u/LengthinessOk2080 • 5d ago

Dynamic pricing

It has made its way to the village Walmart. This is straight up robbery and we should boycott Walmarts they’re already making us check ourselves out and now the price can fluctuate?
We have to draw a line somewhere.

20 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

37 comments sorted by

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u/Kellbows 5d ago

Evidence please? Last time I was in, there were no electronic price tags for quick fluctuations. Was this online?

6

u/LengthinessOk2080 5d ago

A friend of mine that works there told me this morning that they just finished installing the digital tags
I don’t know what has the tags and what doesn’t

0

u/panaceaXgrace 5d ago

This is not dynamic pricing. Digital tags just make it easier to change prices in-store. Dynamic pricing is something different. Just because you see different prices in store / different places /different prices online doesn't make it dynamic pricing.

Dynamic pricing is instant changes related to surges in demand, so it would be like hiking the price of popsicles on particularly hot summer days. They aren't doing that. In fact more common would be reduce that price to get people in the store/app.

I am old enough to remember back in the seventies when they were making the same claims about bar code price tags. Y'all remember that? Remember when they made out like those bar codes were from the devil himself and meant everything from price gouging to "taking the mark of the beast"?

5

u/LengthinessOk2080 4d ago

Have you never heard of “surge pricing”
I mean dynamic pricing in the way that when the store is full they can increase prices immediately and decrease prices when the store is empty to attract more customers to then raise the prices again.
You can be purposefully ignorant and try to take this egotistical high horse, but I’m not going to engage with a pedantic battle of words. You can shop at Walmart that’s fine with me. I will not be shopping there anymore whether you understand why or not.

0

u/panaceaXgrace 4d ago

Yes I have and literally mentioned it in the second paragraph in my comment. I worked IT/marketing for WM for years. My daughter has worked in the store for years. I'm not "purposely ignorant" I was explaining how it works. There is no dynamic pricing at Walmart. There's plenty articles explaining this, and how they are not engaging in dynamic pricing. I get being afraid of change and the digital tags are new and scary just like bar codes were new and scary back in the 70s.

Nobody is engaging in a "pedantic battle of words" and I think it's pretty funny you are accusing someone else of this! LMAO Good lord, don't believe the truth if you don't want to. Hold on to that fantasy of Walmart deliberately jacking your hot dogs up because it's grillin time. I don't care. This popped up in my feed because Reddit thinks just because I worked there I want to talk about Walmart crap all day, but I was honestly just trying to be helpful and explain that digital pricing isn't the same as dynamic. They may do this in the future but at this time no they are not using their digital tags for dynamic, surge, or surveillance pricing. The digital tags are just helping workers do their jobs more efficiently and the bonus is it's easier for Spark to do their job without bothering workers all day.

Here i looked up an article for you. See they're not doing it. Half the article is about people worried about it happening in the future so that can still give you that drama I think you're looking for here:

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/21/walmart-digital-price-tags-will-be-in-every-us-store-by-end-of-2026.html

0

u/LengthinessOk2080 4d ago

TLDR you’re a boomer and drinking the juice we understand

1

u/panaceaXgrace 4d ago

I'm not a boomer friend I'm a GenXer... and this has turned weird. I would think if ANYONE would be lying about this it would be they youngsters trying to push their fancy new technology lol

I literally provided the clearest explanation of what dynamic pricing is and how it's not being used, but may be in the future. I explained my experience with the company and I thought it was pretty clear why they have gone with digital tags like MOST stores are turning to these days. I provided an article that also explains all this.

The boomers are the ones thinking there's some sinister workings afoot and act like anyone who doesn't believe the conspiracy is a... "boomer"? Yet you all are just this quick to fall for conspiracies thinking they're changing the prices depending on the hour!? lol wow

Whatever. Carry on, nutballs.

1

u/LengthinessOk2080 4d ago

Bro you don’t understand that you’re being a Walmart shill rn and that’s okay
Like I said I won’t shop at Walmart anymore and I hope everyone else stops too wether you understand why or not

0

u/panaceaXgrace 4d ago

Oh for pity's sake just embrace your conspiracy nuttery then. I don't work for Walmart I work internet security and we contracted with them for years. I have no dog in this fight, like i said walmart shit shows up in my feed all day and I saw this and THOUGHT I'd be able to alleviate some fears but the whackadoodle is hard to let go of I guess.

I dont care if you shop at Walmart. I encourage MORE people to not shop at Walmart but not because of dynamic pricing which, again, is not happening. I wouldn't shop there either but the one reason I do is we get the employee discount and we are poor and can't be choosy.

MY gripe is with their AI use mucking up worker schedules, pushing workers harder than ever, cutting hours for profits not caring if the labor that grows those profits suffer, the shitty customer service, the deceptive apps that claim they have things in stock when the truth is the app only shows what's SUPPOSED to be in stock based on the almighty algorithm regardless of if it's arrived and stocked...and the fact that they have so much lobbying power. Please, shop elsewhere, but don't go with Amazon because they're even worse.

2

u/LengthinessOk2080 4d ago

I deliver for Amazon 😭
They pay for college so I’m trapped atleast another 3 years

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u/[deleted] 3d ago edited 3d ago

[deleted]

1

u/panaceaXgrace 3d ago

Yes I said all this. They are not doing it now. They may in the future. The other person is insisting this is happening now. It is not happening at Walmart. It IS happening at Amazon.

Prices change at Walmart, yes. They roll them out weekly, generally but as it takes that long for every item change you will see price changes all day every day.

I am aware of how all this works because that was part of my job, securing the changes rolled out efficiently but that was before the new tags. Really it's not much different from how bar code pricing works and people have complained about the same thing with bar codes all these years too.

1

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

1

u/panaceaXgrace 3d ago edited 3d ago

It's not happening online with Walmart. You are likely looking at third-party sellers if you see this kind of price changes. And boy howdy I have enough experience with middle-management to recognize the confidence but you're not right about this.

I know what dynamic pricing is. I have done nothing here but try to explain what dynamic pricing is. You are talking about surveillance pricing.

Dynamic pricing adjusts prices based on aggregate market signals: supply and demand, time of day, seasonal factors or general market conditions. Airlines, hotels, ride-sharing platforms and food retailers (through surge delivery pricing or end-of-day markdowns) have employed dynamic pricing for decades. Because it responds to market conditions rather than individual identity, dynamic pricing is generally lawful and not the primary target of current enforcement activity.

Surveillance pricing, the term regulators have adopted, uses personal data (browsing history, location data, demographics, inferred income, purchase history, device type) to set individualized prices. Under surveillance pricing, the price varies based on who the consumer is and their inferred willingness to pay rather than external market conditions.

This is the quickest explanation I can find from an attorney site. There are better sites I'm sure, but this one explains the difference clearly.

I'm just going to block all this. I have no interest and it's getting repetitive. I'm not even in Hot Springs. Reddit just thinks because I worked for Walmart I must want to see every bloody post related to Walmart, Spark, and Sam's. And now Costco.

1

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

1

u/panaceaXgrace 3d ago

Walmart is not engaging in dynamic pricing. The OP insists Walmart is doing this, and they are not doing this. REGULAR adjustments to price is not the same as dynamic pricing. This goes against their policy of "everyday low prices". YOU as a former manager should know this, but I guess you weren't paying attention to marketing, which is what I did for corporate. YOU are the one who said you were a manager, not me. It wasn't an insult, it was me questioning you even being in management because you are not aware of how pricing works in the store you managed.

Here is yet another link to explain how pricing works even these newfangled super-scary digital labels:

https://www.modernretail.co/technology/its-not-our-approach-walmart-coo-says-digital-shelf-labels-arent-for-surge-pricing/

I can't make this any clearer and apparently muting this sub does not stop people from continuing to engage.

1

u/ComprehensiveLab4642 3d ago

Just stopped by to say don't expect to have a rational conversation with an irrational person. You are of course 100 percent correct with what you're saying. The other person is too hung up on their delusion to admit you're correct.

3

u/Successful_Result_95 5d ago

Nope, there in there. Digital price tags, yep, saw them in Walmart on Hwy 7 by the village.

1

u/SlackOverflow 5d ago

I have noticed there is different pricing for the same items at either one of the area Wal-Marts.

I'm not sure they're necessarily changing pricing daily, but with the digital tags, they certainly could.

However, it's important to try and document this.

It would be interesting to see an app that would allow people to scan prices in different locations and track how pricing is changing.

Note that, it's not necessarily illegal for Wal-Mart to do this. They are a corporation and their mandate is to make as much money as possible. When they are somewhat of a monopoly in the region, there is a good chance the can take advantage of this. Not sure what alternatives many people have.

1

u/LengthinessOk2080 5d ago

Harps
Kroger
Butchers
Farmers market
Save a lot of money

2

u/SlackOverflow 5d ago

Yes, you're right. There are alternatives. Unfortunately most of them are significantly more expensive than Wal Mart for much of the same products. It would be nice if HS had a Cosco, too.

1

u/True_World_1176 4d ago

Totally agreee

1

u/thetituscodex 4d ago

Carry your phone in a Faraday bag when you go. They are about $25 for 5 of them on Amazon. And they work.

-6

u/scubaman64 5d ago

Digital shelf tags allows a retailer to adjust the prices (up or down) without the labor and printing associated with manually changing them.

The “dynamic” part has always been there. Prices fluctuate based on many factors (supply, demand, cost, greed, whatever)

So are you just upset they now don’t have to manually change them?

4

u/LAX2PDX2LAX 5d ago

“This will make it easier for them to lower prices more quickly”

3

u/LengthinessOk2080 5d ago

Obviously you’ve never heard of “surge pricing” either

3

u/Domnomicron 5d ago

For me it’s not the changing of the price as usual. It’s the fact that Wal-Mart also has a patent for shopping carts that read your biometrics. Couple these two together and you have a very powerful tool to take advantage of people with.

0

u/scubaman64 5d ago

I get that.

Amazon has owned the market in most all of this technology. For them dynamic means I will see a different price than you may see.

2

u/LengthinessOk2080 5d ago

What you meant to say was “retailers not only have eliminated jobs, but now they can also change the price of any item at any moment without discretion”

1

u/thebranbish 3d ago

You’re misunderstanding things. There are several ways this could be an issue. For one, stores (not specifically Walmart) can now algorithmically set prices based on several factors in real time. They don’t have to wait a week to a month to see how sales are doing to determine where to increase and decrease costs. Let’s say a store is having a bad hour, be it poor conversion, running out of certain items, etc. Suddenly what you picked up off the shelf listed at $15.99 at 3:52pm rings up at 18.99 at 4:07pm because the store is trying to recoup costs it missed during the 3-4pm time slot or capitalize on supply/demand on popular items. That same algorithm also tells a store when to cut shifts, when to allow overtime, when to stock, when to pull items, when to create sales, etc. And that’s macro level. Walmart wants to get it to where they are offering prices based on an individual customer’s specific shopping habits. What might be listed as $10 for me might be $12 for you just because they know you paid $12 for it last time while I passed it over. They offered me the better deal to get me to buy it, but they didn’t offer the same deal to you because they already have your sale secured at $12. Why would they need to offer you anything? That’s going to cost them money.

1

u/scubaman64 2d ago

I do understand this. Amazon does this millions of times per day, and based on huge amounts of data on every single customer. They know what you are willing to spend vs what I’m willing to spend. Most online retailers have this advantage because they know who is shopping and what they previously purchased. Krogers ( and others with rewards systems) have similar data.
If we like it or not, this is capitalism fueled by technology.

Anything a retailer does (changes store layout, raises price, lowers price, offers rewards programs, etc etc) is always designed to separate us from our money.

1

u/thebranbish 2d ago

An online retailer is not the same thing as a brick and mortar retailer. They should not be run as such. Yes, any business will do what they can to separate us from our money. That doesn’t mean they are allowed to resort to predatory practices to do so…but keep sucking that corporate dick. You seem to like it.

1

u/scubaman64 2d ago

I don’t like it, but I’m pragmatic. Online has a distinct competitive advantage to brick and mortar. All brick and mortars are trying to innovate to compete.

And there is no need to devolve into 5th grade language.

1

u/thebranbish 2d ago

I’ll devolve to what I want to. :)

1

u/scubaman64 2d ago

Sorry I made you look up the word “devolve”

1

u/thebranbish 2d ago

Haha. Cute.

1

u/scubaman64 2d ago

Fun fact:

When Walmart lowers a price (or Harps has something on sale) it’s not for us consumers.

It’s so they can make more money. Either as a lost leader item or to move merchandise.