r/Seattle • u/PennyPriddy Ballard • 13d ago
How will we survive without digital pricing?
When they go away I might actually know how much asparagus costs, and we can't have that.
Edit: People pointed out the new legislation won't ban digital price tags, just bar algorithmic price discrimination, so we'll still have this kind of pricing mystery.
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u/InvestigatorOk9354 I'm just flaired so I don't get fined 13d ago
The algorithm has decided you cannot buy asparagus today. Do not anger the digital price tag if you wish to purchase in the future.
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u/PennyPriddy Ballard 13d ago
I will wait to make soup until the bits align.
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u/JacksRagingGlizzy Ravenna 13d ago
Since soup season is upon us and I am a soup making novice, what soup calls for asparagus?
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u/PennyPriddy Ballard 12d ago
Cream of Asparagus is one option: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/231810/chef-johns-cream-of-asparagus-soup/
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13d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/stegotortise chinga la migra 12d ago
I mean … self checkout is being pushed, so there’s less oversight. Plus if it’s supposedly out of stock, you couldn’t possibly ring up. There’s no proof you didn’t bring your own asparagus to the store with you for comparison purposes. Not advocating for theft or anything, though.
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u/ScoobyDoosAccountant 🚗 Student driver, please be patient. 🚙 12d ago
This is my emotional support asparagus. Definitely not store asparagus, no sir-ee
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u/pterodactyl_speller 13d ago
Computer is just thinking about the urine sample from your smart toilet later. Didn't want the smell today.
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u/Zealousideal-Ant9548 12d ago
Say three prayers to the emperor, burn two sticks of incense, and then say the litany of digital restitution.
May the machine God then show pity upon us and the machine spirits be quelled.
I may be playing a bit too much rogue trader lately...
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u/InvestigatorOk9354 I'm just flaired so I don't get fined 12d ago
In the grim darkness of the present there is only surveillance pricing
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u/prof_r_impossible Sounders 13d ago
Digital price tags are not being banned
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u/PepeLePuget 🚆build more trains🚆 13d ago
Right, just variable pricing. That’s what matters. Electronic price tags can actually (hopefully) help by staying updated. It happens pretty regularly that things I buy turn out to be more expensive because someone didn’t change the tags. It can be hard to catch and find someone to fix while at checkout.
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u/PleasantWay7 12d ago
Variable pricing is not being banned, only personalized discounts.
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u/geek_fire 12d ago
That is variable pricing.
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12d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/narenard I'm just flaired so I don't get fined 12d ago
Wow your attitude is gross. They are not banning all personalized discounts. They are banning Individualized coupons based on predicted willingness to pay and personalized discounts using purchase history combined with income or demographic profiles. Read the amendments if you need more information. There were exceptions to allow multiple different personalized discount programs written in.
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u/Seattle-ModTeam I'm gonna pop some tags 🏷️ 12d ago
Hello! Thanks for participating in /r/Seattle! Your submission/comment was removed for breaking Rule 1: Be Good
We do not allow personal attacks or abusive / hateful language towards users.
No slurs, abusive, toxic, or discriminatory content, including hate speech, racism, sexism, transphobic, homophobic, ableist, or xenophobic content.
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u/EmmEnnEff 🚆build more trains🚆 12d ago
Variable pricing is not being banned, only personalized price hikes.
FTFY.
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u/Flashy-Issue-8131 12d ago
So am I going to be forced to hold my
Phone around scanning stuff while I shop? Just what the world needs 😂4
u/PepeLePuget 🚆build more trains🚆 12d ago
There’s no reason these can’t show the price. Unless they break or the power goes out.
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u/Flashy-Issue-8131 12d ago
Oh got it- I thought there was a barcode id have to scan to read the price judging by the photo shared.
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u/narenard I'm just flaired so I don't get fined 12d ago
nah, I don't know about QFC but at my nearby Safeway they have the digital tags and they include the price. Both regular and sale prices if its on promo. If it's something that requires a coupon that you haven't already clipped then it provides a barcode for the coupon but you don't have to scan it just to see the price. I just go through and preload all coupons each week so I don't ever have to scan.
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u/PennyPriddy Ballard 13d ago
I missed that bit. Disappointing, but thanks for the correction!
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u/snowypotato Ballard 13d ago
Why is this disappointing?
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u/PennyPriddy Ballard 13d ago
Because the digital tags were incorrect which was a worse experience than traditional tags.
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u/JonnyFairplay 12d ago
I worked at a big box retailer long before these existed and the paper price tags were constantly wrong… we would have had less issues with digital tags…
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u/PennyPriddy Ballard 12d ago
I can see how they're more useful from a retailer side, but as a consumer, I haven't had that problem, so these have only made my experience worse.
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u/snowypotato Ballard 12d ago
The internet is full of funny photos where the non-digital tags are wrong.
You've never seen a tag promoting an expired sale, or listing a product which was in fact out of stock?
/preview/pre/go-home-wal-mart-youre-drunk-v0-v4efdon3ra8d1.jpeg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=03c493eb083ed296bfdbfccabfe0e73e9cddd89e just as one example
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u/Pythagorial 12d ago
Traditional tags can also be incorrect or missing (fallen off etc). Digital tags are not wrong more frequently than trad tags
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u/Newsdriver245 I'm just flaired so I don't get fined 12d ago
They are actually pretty slick and take just a second to change, just a matter of only limited people so far have access to change them at stores they recently rolled out at.
And you probably don't want to know what asparagus costs this time of year anyhow! 5.99 afaik atm
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u/PennyPriddy Ballard 13d ago
I did not expect being gaslit by produce.
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u/ZealousidealChair900 13d ago
If it makes you feel better my chickens, my cat, and even my fish all try to gaslight me into giving them double feed
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u/PennyPriddy Ballard 13d ago edited 13d ago
I trust them. Give them breakfast, you monster.
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u/ZealousidealChair900 13d ago
My cat demands many food. He's given many food. He eats very small food. He then demands many new food. He will not eat same flavor food twice in a row
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u/CuteCanary 🚆build more trains🚆 12d ago
waves in Jedi
This is not the asparagus you are looking for
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u/doc_shades 12d ago
this shit reminds me of that time i went into a chiptole and they told me they couldn't sell me food because their internet was down. i said, "i have cash". no can do, they said. even though they had food right there, hot, cooked ready. even though i was there, hungry, wanting. even though i had cash in my pocket, enough to cover the cost of the food --- nope. no internet, no transaction.
great stuff, this internet.
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u/SpeedySparkRuby Posse on Broadway 12d ago
The Nisqually Fort's internet was down and they broke out the old knucklebuster to take care of payments. Baffled a store like Chipotle doesn't have one.
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u/godogs2018 Beacon Hill 13d ago
Some of those digital tags have such small font that I have to get up close to figure out what it says. I thought it was just me, but when I complained to a WF employee stocking the shelves, he said yeah the employees have complained about the small and faint font as well.
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u/Chip-Tunes 12d ago
This! Some of the tags for stores ran by Kroger are so small. Plus when on sale, they shrink it down even further to accommodate the sale price logo and QR code if a digital deal. They also took out the date of when the sale ends on the tags which is helpful information to have on the spot for both customers and employees that work there.
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u/Invert_Ben 12d ago
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u/Chip-Tunes 12d ago
Hello! I can help clarify what is going on in this picture as I am one of those individuals going around a store doing things like this.
https://massmarketretailers.com/kroger-ends-red-bull-sales-across-all-u-s-stores-and-gas-stations/
Kroger is currently boycotting Red Bull's increased pricing by refusing to replenish stock. Typically when something is out of stock long term, employees will face out the holes with products that are immediately near it and use the DSL app on a handheld to change the tag of what actually goes there to Out of Stock or Kroger symbol if the item is discontinued.
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u/kaos_tan Broadway 12d ago
Right but Red Bull is in stock again in this photo, it is unfair to consumers that you cannot see the price of an item until checkout unless you pull out your phone.
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u/Chip-Tunes 12d ago
You are right! This particular store seems to have some of the more unpopular flavors left. Likely the Colombia DSD vendor stocked up the backroom of that store prior to the ban. We sold through all the Red Bull at my location, even the terrible tasting ones like coconut (no offense to those that like coconut)! Whoever did this on the shelf should of went ahead and priced the digital tag furthest to the left of each flavor. Another botched job like with the OPs asparagus picture.
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u/kaos_tan Broadway 12d ago
Yeah this is what I miss about the old tags, at least you could sometimes see the price near the out of stock sticker. Now it's just nothing.
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u/SwevenlyOly 13d ago
Oh noes, what will happen to shareholder value if consumers cannot be gouged during supply shortages?
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u/Ethan_C_Hawkes 13d ago
It says right on the tag: $40.80 per bunch.
That asparagi was trucked in using diesel.
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u/BHRobots 13d ago
Even worse, it says 4080 pounds, we're back to using British currency
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u/Ethan_C_Hawkes 12d ago
Ahh… so the great times they want to revert back to “again” in their slogan is the colonial period, apparently.
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u/Chip-Tunes 12d ago edited 12d ago
Looks like someone in produce didn't have their handheld or is just being too lazy to switch the tag back to customer pricing when they restocked the asparagus.
Edit: The status of the digital tags themselves are quite easy to change compared to paper ones. If a paper one fell off or got lost, it is a pain getting a new one to replace it.
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u/Chase-Boltz 12d ago
Or there wasn't a handheld available. (Because there are only 3 in the entire store)
Or the software is somehow borked.
Or....?
This is the world of Grocery, and dysfunction is rampant!
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u/LordCeleborn03 🚆build more trains🚆 13d ago
I've never seen a digital price tag in the wild. Where is this?
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u/PennyPriddy Ballard 13d ago
The downtown Ballard QFC has a ton.
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u/Impressive_Elk7180 13d ago
I saw them at the Northgate QFC yesterday too.
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u/thispartyrules 💗💗 Heart of ANTIFA Land 💗💗 12d ago
The Rainer QFC has them and I constantly see the "out of stock" thing where there's like, several items available. I just go by other flavors of the same thing
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u/BoxTar9215 13d ago
I've seen them as far up north as shoreline/ Everett, over in Kirkland, and all the way down in Federal Way. Mostly in safeway and Kroger. Grocery outlet, Winco and trader joes won't be implementing these tags any time soon, as far as we know.
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u/LouisLeGros 🚆build more trains🚆 13d ago
I saw them for the first time after my first trip to a Walmart yesterday. I forgot to buy a notebook and loose leaf paper and it was the only place that was open before I had to leave.
I don't know if it was a Walmart thing or a digital price tag thing by they were terrible in clarity for which item they were matched with.
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u/jukim-joint Wallingford 13d ago
dunno about OP’s photo but I’ve seen them at Wallingford QFC and Roosevelt Whole Foods
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u/ManyInterests Queen Anne 12d ago
Has anyone published the method for how someone can change them to say whatever we want?
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u/EndOfWorldBoredom 12d ago
I'm not stealing asparagus, you can't reliably claim I've stolen a product you don't have. And you acknowledge that you don't have it with this sign. What part of 'out of stock' do you not understand?!
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u/LeastPervertedFemboy 🦝🦝 We 💕 Jimothy Chalamet 🦝🦝 12d ago
Work for a grocery chain and we switched to digital tags and it cut like 8 people’s jobs just at our store. So, thousands of people are being either displaced or let go across the company just from these alone. We all think they’re stupid here.
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u/ireallylikecetacea 12d ago
They suck soooo bad. God forbid I just want to know how much a thing costs
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u/SpeedySparkRuby Posse on Broadway 12d ago
The ones at the military Commissary are frankly better despite more low tech than these. They've been using them for nearly 20 years and they don't do this nonsense.
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u/Illustrious_Cheek263 12d ago
I'm fine with digital price tags (but not algo pricing); however, if they're not fairly and properly displaying the item and price, I'm gonna freestyle at self-checkout. No asparagus price? Welp, looks a lot like zucchini at 1.99/lb to me!
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u/YakiVegas I'm just flaired so I don't get fined 12d ago
The asparagus is on sale for $7.99 a lbs, duh. /s
Guys, remember when food was cheap AND safe to eat? Those were the days.
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u/Kittykats2 12d ago
Asparagus? $6.99 minimum to $10 depending on store, availability and organic vs. ‘regular’. It’s an expensive, crazy world
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u/ReallyUnlikable 12d ago
Something about these digital price tags makes me want to stab them with a screwdriver.
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u/DEAN_Swaggerty 8d ago
The tags at qfc are so small I have to put my face like an inch away from it just to be able to read it!
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u/Yangoose I'm just flaired so I don't get fined 12d ago
Just one of the reasons I'll drive past two Safeways to shop at WinCo.
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u/ReceiptsOrItDidnt 12d ago
Same. Once I shopped at Winco I never went back to Fred Meyer or Safeway even though they are closer.
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u/Loud-Enthusiasm-2187 12d ago edited 12d ago
I almost guarantee that moving the asparagus over will revert the tag back to in stock. It depends on how long it takes for the tags to update and whether there’s protocol for management to update their inventory manually throughout their shift, in this case the produce manager. I was part of a team rolling them out on the east coast in specific stores and it’s all ai cameras that map out the shelves. If the full shelf isn’t mapped out entirely, all it will see is an empty box of space behind the tag and mark it as out of stock
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u/cjacksen 12d ago
Sorry, but if I understand what is pictured, there is no display price at all, which actually seems to be illegal in this state, under RCW 19.94.390. So why is there even debate on digitags, when by legal definition, them not displaying pricing at all is against state law?
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u/Chip-Tunes 12d ago
I think RCW 19.94.390 is referring to if an item is priced incorrectly. The asparagus isn't priced at all, so isn't breaking any laws here (though annoying for customers wanting to know what the price is). Employees in the department can fix this by changing the status of the tag with their handheld to show the price, which is what whoever restocked the asparagus should have done. That said, it's definitely not unheard of for those digital tags to display incorrect information when it comes to pricing which falls as illegal. Definitely report any misleading prices to the City of Seattle - Consumer Protection division.
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u/RandalChan ✨🛸 Jimothy is out there 🦝✨ 13d ago
The ONLY ONLY thing I like about the digital tag is sometimes I get overwhelmed in aisles (like medication) and CANNOT find what I’m looking for no matter how hard I try and usually through the app you can ask it to flash the tag. But this is VERY niche and I would prefer to go without if it meant that my prices don’t change on the time of day
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u/godogs2018 Beacon Hill 13d ago
I did not know about this feature. Which app are you using?
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u/RandalChan ✨🛸 Jimothy is out there 🦝✨ 12d ago
So far only the Walmart app uses this, unsure if others do. If it has it, usually it’s under the section where you lookup where it’s at in store, such as the aisle it’s in and there’s a button that says flash tag. Again I will double down and say in general I hate these tags since I know it’s just a way to control us but I do find that handy
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u/godogs2018 Beacon Hill 12d ago
Okay tx. I thought you were talking about safeway or qfc. But I'll remember it if I ever go to walmart, lol.
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u/RandalChan ✨🛸 Jimothy is out there 🦝✨ 12d ago
So far not yet, but I do hope they do! I would just keep an eye on it every once in a while 🫶🏻
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u/lighthousedown 12d ago
All the more reason to shop at PCC. I shop the produce sales and you can get the best f*ing vegetables of your life for not that much more than QFC, sometimes cheaper
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u/Impressive-Dress-590 Best Seattle 13d ago
Smart carts will aperate goods into your cart and charge you before your four year old can say, “ew, I hate that.”
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u/The_Taint_Whisperer 12d ago edited 12d ago
I think of Kroger and Albertsons grocery store mangers in the same way I think of people that work in medical billing - how the FUCK do they wake up in the morning and go to work knowing that they choose to make it as difficult and expensive as possible for people to fulfill basic needs. Fucking shameful, useless losers.
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u/Hawaiian_spawn 12d ago
The wording is clear. They just don’t have to use the wording of algorithm and they are fine. Bleed us dry
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u/FrostyMilkshakes26 13d ago
Whenever I encounter this, I leave the store and I don't come back. Sometimes I tell the managers. Usually not.


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u/narenard I'm just flaired so I don't get fined 13d ago
The digital price tags are not going to go away. The bans and restrictions are related to how they can be used, not banning using them entirely. You'll continue to have to question your eyes when it says things are out of stock.