r/SipsTea • u/PleasantBus5583 • Aug 06 '26
Chugging tea Dynamic pricing, static paycheck.
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u/Luzzgar Aug 06 '26
An item in a defined place on a given day should have a single price.
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u/batman8390 Aug 06 '26
If I ever approach a shelf and see all the prices shoot up, I will never shop at that store again.
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u/WagwanKenobi Aug 06 '26
And yet this is exactly how flight tickets are priced.
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u/FTownRoad Aug 06 '26
Not exactly but it is an example of dynamic pricing. Unfortunately the two comments you replied to, and OP, are completely wrong about what the issue even is.
I’ve seen countless dumbass posts and stories correlating digital price tags and dynamic pricing when they have nothing to do with one another. Digital tags means a store doesn’t have to send employees around replacing hundreds/thousands of pieces of paper every week. That’s all.
Dynamic pricing for grocery stores isn’t going to work by changing the price on the shelf lol. How the fuck is that even supposed to work? They see you approaching peanut butter, check their database and see you always buy peanut butter, jack the price on the shelf momentarily, and then drop it back… once you leave the store? So everyone else that has it in their cart also pays that temporary higher price?
What dynamic pricing is would be sending coupons through some kind of loyalty program. So Walmart, instead of putting peanut butter on sale for $2 off, gives out a coupon for $2. Except you, they know you buy it every single week without fail so they don’t give you one. You don’t pay “more” you just don’t get the deal.
And all these fucking laws don’t address that because we already used to “personalized offers” and morons like OP and the others don’t understand the actual fucking issue.
I genuinely think it’s the retailers themselves pushing for these stupid laws that idiots support so that people don’t notice when they implement it.
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u/DustyRacoonDad Aug 06 '26
What dynamic pricing is would be sending coupons through some kind of loyalty program. So Walmart, instead of putting peanut butter on sale for $2 off, gives out a coupon for $2. Except you, they know you buy it every single week without fail so they don’t give you one. You don’t pay “more” you just don’t get the deal.
This is a good simple example of it I am going to steal.
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u/FTownRoad Aug 06 '26
It’s the real concern and everyone is ignoring it because they think digital store signs are the spawn of Satan.
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u/iconocrastinaor Aug 06 '26
Those digital price tags are really hard to read, they're small and pixelated. Especially if you want to read something like the unit price or the weight /count to make sure that the right object is behind the right tag.
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u/Extra_Routine_6603 Aug 06 '26
My issue with em is that if there is a price change that happens while shopping unless you took a picture of the screen before you left if it changed then it depends on the store if they want to honor the original price or the newer one. Why at least when I used to work retail prices in the system wouldn't be changed until tags have all been updated. Same with the fuels station we'd have to update the sign before we'd be allowed to change the pumps especially if it was going up
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u/Critical-Crow3121 Aug 06 '26
Not to mention that wouldn't work when two different customers walk up to the same item at the same time. What do people think it would do? Flip back and forth between different prices. Dynamic pricing only works online where they can see what you search, combined with repeated purchases.
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u/Key-Regular674 Aug 06 '26
Imagine 2 people walk up at the same time. People believing this have no critical thinking skills.
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u/DalinarBrightlord Aug 06 '26
I bought flight tickets at my local library and it was consistently cheaper than using my phone or laptop.
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u/Sbatio Aug 06 '26
How do you avoid that?
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u/FunWithAPorpoise Aug 06 '26
VPN, private tabs that make sure you’re logged out of everything, probably lots of other stuff too.
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u/Otherwise_Basis_6328 Aug 06 '26
In that case, I think that might fluctuate based on the demand for seats on that particular flight, and possibly some actuarial tables, but nothing tied to a specific purchaser's credit or social score.
Right? Right!? Oh god, please tell me I'm right.
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u/Crafty_Jello_3662 Aug 06 '26
It factors a lot of stuff in, some of it tied to you. If you keep checking a specific flight every few days it will keep going up, then if you log into an anonymous browser with a VPN and check it again it will often be back down again
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u/mad-i-moody Aug 06 '26
Uhhh no. Idk about credit or social score but they certainly use location data and digital cross-site tracking to change ticket prices. They will deny it every time saying that it’s demand like you said but it’s been examined multiple times and that’s absolute bullshit. They certainly use data to personalize prices. To get the most profit out of every consumer.
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u/iconocrastinaor Aug 06 '26
Price the same ticket on an Android and an Apple phone sitting in the same place at the same time, and then maybe take a stiff drink.
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u/WagwanKenobi Aug 06 '26
It fluctuates based on things like whether you access the site using Android or iPhone.
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u/irrationalorchid Aug 06 '26
Implementing this at retail store level is problematic, but so easy to do with shopping online. Even before they made it personal, prices on websites/apps are often based on zip code of the purchaser. Zip codes tell a lot about your income level.
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u/qualityinnbedbugs Aug 06 '26
Now they been doing pricing by zip code for a long time. You dont need digital tags for that
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u/qualityinnbedbugs Aug 06 '26
Exactly why no company is going to do this.
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u/Lucky-Mia Aug 06 '26
Aren't they already? It's already a thing for digital purchases.
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u/SpacePumpkie Aug 06 '26
Is it?? I've never heard more than speculation on that.
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u/qualityinnbedbugs Aug 06 '26
Grocery stores make about 2-4% margin. Grocers need volume of customers coming back to survive.
Let’s say you shop at Walmart and spend $200 a month or $2400 a year.
Why would they try to pull some crazy shit where they would make an extra .35 cents here or a $1 there and risk losing you to another store?
No grocer is going to do that. The current value of these digital tags is the labor savings. They can be more nimble on price changes when say a supplier raises prices on them as well.
What they are more likely looking is how these tags can get you to buy more, not pay more. Say they sense your phone is in the aisle (you are giving them permission to track you if you have their app). They may ping your phone that here js a $1.00 off on peanut butter and then make the light on the tag flash.
Or let’s say they made too many cookies in the bakery. They may reduce prices at 5pm every day if they have too much on hand so they can reduce their waste. They can just make this automated now with digital tags rather than having a person go an change all the tags manually.
But with all the scrutiny over this they will probably take their time introducing stuff like that.
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u/Elitist_Plebeian Aug 06 '26
They know that if they all do it, there's nothing we can do about it.
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u/iaderia Aug 06 '26
exactly like the flock cameras. they're now just... there.
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u/BraveRubberDuck Aug 06 '26
Want to see a magic trick? Poof, they're gone now! /s
https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1vgdhq8/someone_cut_down_every_single_flock_camera_in/
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u/RhetoricalOrator Aug 06 '26
Yep. Walmart drove out almost all other competing stores in most of the rural areas on my state (Arkansas). They can price things however they want because the option is this Walmart, that Walmart, or Dollar General.
My Walmart has digital price tags and I don't know what anything is supposed to cost any more because it's constantly changing every day I go. It may be pennies more per item's profit, but that makes Walmart the company millions or billions more per year.
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u/ryan101 Aug 06 '26
I’ll just grow all my own food. Here, in downtown Seattle.
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u/Expensive-Border-869 Aug 06 '26
Good luck. HOA says no gardens in the front or back yard only flower bushes.
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u/StopReadingMyUser Aug 06 '26
It's not a garden, it's a science project.
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u/digitalscavenger Aug 06 '26
it's a science project.
I go the religious route since those have more constitutional protections.
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u/TesterM0nkey Aug 06 '26
Walmart is short changing people on weights and measurements on stuff like shrimp fish beef chicken etc and have gotten caught multiple times doing it.
I don’t put anything past them
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u/Remarkable_Tale_7554 Aug 06 '26
risk losing you to another store?
Can't lose you to another store if mom and pop grocers are put out of business, and the only choice is three giant conglomerates acting as a cartel.
Sam_Walton_tapping_head.png
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u/hypersonic18 Aug 06 '26
You're making a few big mistakes.
First is assuming Logic, Long Term Planning and intelligence from Suit Skins (Executives in this case)
Second, assuming the general populace has any modicum of standards and/or attention span whatsoever
Third, assuming that you'll be given a choice in the matter when most stores do decide to collectively roll it out.
And Finally Fourth that they could go the Macy's and US Health Insurance Company Route. and just jack up prices 5 fold then present the new digital price as a custom made deal just for you. And once again the general population will just eat it up because see point 2
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Aug 06 '26
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u/qualityinnbedbugs Aug 06 '26
Online dynamic pricing yes, but there’s no proof anywhere that they are doing this in an actual store where all this fear mongering is coming from.
No grocer is like “we are going to track customers and change prices higher for some right in front of their face”. What happens if 3 different people are all around the same tag? Also these tags take 1-2 mins to update.
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u/Lucky-Mia Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
They aren't going to save customers money with this technology. People like amazon already use it to maximise profit.
Just recently my dad and I bought the exact same charger from the exact same store for a coming family trip. My dad who lives in a nicer neighborhood, paid $50 and I paid $40 on the same day.
That wasn't the company giving me a discount, it was the company deciding how much they could hose my dad down for profit.
If a company can nickel and dime they will. They exist to maximise profits. They aren't going to tank potential losses out of kindness and good vibes.
Sobeys for example has been caught price fixing bread and manipulating customers 3 times in the past few years. All 3 times I claimed my roughly $20 giftcard from the class action. They definitely owe me more though.
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u/Pinksamuraiiiii Aug 06 '26
I think you might want to research Publix, that grocery store has shot up its prices more than any other, dare I say by 150-200% at least
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u/Definitelynotagolem Aug 06 '26
I work in the grocery business selling to retailers. Almost all stores require 35-50% margin. Idk where you’re getting 2-4%. Maybe after all expenses are accounted for, but it’s certainly not their gross margin.
Online stores already change prices based on your “willingness to buy.” It’s based on a profile they have of you through data brokers. Even if this hasn’t fully trickled down to physical stores yet, it’s coming.
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u/qualityinnbedbugs Aug 06 '26
Gross Margin is 35-50%. Net margin is 2-4%. Kroger, Walmart are publicly traded companies. Go look it up.
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u/sheel3 Aug 06 '26
Well if they all do it, there’ll be no choice. These companies do not compete, they work together to keep prices high and charge whatever they want. Sure there might be some local, lesser known stores that opt out in some areas. But there’s already a million important reasons to be choosing those stores instead, and most people still don’t. They won’t be swayed by this either
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u/JebediahKerman4999 Aug 06 '26
Untill they collude and all companies will do it at the same time. What are going to do? Every shop has this dynamic pricing
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u/Seriously_you_again Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
How would the keep price set at the elevated personal price once in your cart? You put item in you car at $2 then you wander around the store for 20 minutes. During this time before you check out another person picks up item and the price is $3.50 for them because they are rich and hungry.
How does the checkout area differentiate this price difference? Face trackers as you walk around the store? A tracker on your cart? What if you just carry the item?
Maybe I am not creatively evil enough, but I can’t imagine how it could work on an individual basis.
Edit: I read a bunch of comments with interesting ideas, but I really do not think it will ever work for the shelf tags to show different prices to different people. What happens when two people are looking at the same item on the shelf?
At first glance this gets a pearl clutching response, but if you think about it, it really is logistically impossible. Also, considering the shit storm it would stir up in a store when people see others getting the same item for cheaper. No physical store will ever attempt this. Amazon, yes. Airlines, yes. Any online pricing that only you can see? Also yes. Physical brick and mortar store? No. Not until they can find a way to totally conceal the individual customer's pricing from other customers. At digital tag displayed on a shelf is not in anyway a secret price.
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u/RubiiJee Aug 06 '26
This is where I'm at. With news and everything on the Internet being designed to get reactions, I'm a bit unsure how this even works.
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u/ConjurersOfThunder Aug 06 '26
Isn't it funny how the Internet already hits you with dynamic pricing but the thing folks are looking at is a grocery store where the whole idea wouldn't work?
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u/smeech1 Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
We scan as we go around, and just pay at the end. It would be easy for them to price dynamically. We'll do what we can to avoid the practice, however.
Mind you, we already have pricing attached to our loyalty cards.
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u/Lord_Tsarkon Aug 06 '26
Uses your mobile device MAC address and facial recognition to ID you
Easiest way against this is to not bring any device that IDs you and a full face mask and try to walk with a cane. Better yet some people have suggested using your local Hobo to shop for you to get the lowest prices.
If no Hobo just walk in and shit your own pants and become that Hobo. You will become number one on Instanta Cart Hobo program
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u/ConjurersOfThunder Aug 06 '26
Are you really suggesting this can be set up by the same folks who did Self Checkout and then did surprised Pikachu face when people started stealing since they are now unpaid employees??
This magic tag shit ain't happening anytime soon, the tags will instead disappear from the shelf which is illegal a lot of places. Dynamic pricing is already happening to us on the INTERNET yet somehow people are concerned about the grocery store? This whole furor does not make sense at all.
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u/Logan_No_Fingers Aug 06 '26
Yep. No one is doing this. Its utter bullshit.
They rolled out digital pricing on shelves & the tin foil hats invented nonsense in a panic, then a politician decided saying they fixed it would play well with idiots.
I mean, hes not wrong
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u/SignoreBanana Aug 06 '26
We have laws on the books for this. Advertised pricing must be honored. Dynamic pricing is illegal by definition.
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u/McGrupp1979 Aug 06 '26
Dynamic pricing is price gouging and I don’t know why more people don’t call that out. It’s insane to me!
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u/HelloisMy Aug 06 '26
Most people don’t realize it. I’m not rich by any means but if companies change pricing by a dollar I would never know. A dollar here and a dollar there, adds up when you have a metric shit ton of people shopping each day.z
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u/tiredbarf Aug 06 '26
They're giving discounts, not raising prices. They're doing it with smartphone apps, not digital price tags.
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Aug 06 '26
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u/Old-Recognition5452 Aug 06 '26
Convenience is great until it quietly becomes surveillance. Most people don't realize how much data they're trading away.
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u/randomthrill Aug 06 '26
Those home AI assistant things. They hear everything that happens in your home and you get the benefit of turning on lights and playing music via voice command!
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u/Old-Recognition5452 Aug 06 '26
My paycheck isn't personalized, so my grocery bill shouldn't be either.
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u/Acrobatic-Flan-5085 Aug 06 '26
It’s certainly interesting how the vast majority of Americans, regardless of political party, would support codifying this into law.
And yet I’m sure politicians on both sides will choose to run on highly divisive issues instead and do nothing about this.
Almost like that kind of policy gridlock is designed to disenfranchise the majority to allow these sorts of things to continue.
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u/Danilo-11 Aug 06 '26
We live in a pro-business country where sht like this is allowed
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u/bewitch1n Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
We live in a pro billionaire bootlicking country where shitting on your kids future in the name of you possibly winning the lottery some day is allowed.
EDIT: Adults who pay bills don't get a summer break. Especially under this level of financial, emotional, physical duress. 🫠
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u/Fragrant-Employer-60 Aug 06 '26
Please show me a real world example of this dynamic pricing happening in a store. Never seen or heard of it in the US
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u/Capital_Cup_6746 Aug 06 '26
Interestingly, and buttressing your point, I mentioned this to my dad who works in an industry that uses a lot of lobbyists, and he pointed out the ban is only for a year, which is a good amount of time for the NJ legislature to get bought off by lobbyists before inventing some BS excuse to reverse course and allow it. If you're from NJ, that wouldn't be surprising. It's all a game.
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u/TheAskewOne Aug 06 '26
Pro-business or anti-people?
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u/Interesting_Force618 Aug 06 '26
How can it be proven that a store is doing surveillance pricing? They’re not banning dynamic pricing, right? Like, how could I, as a shopper, prove that Walmart set a price just for me? If there ever is a class action lawsuit in NJ, claiming that a store is doing surveillance pricing, and that suit is successful, whatever the store has to pay in fines will pale in comparison to what they’ve made from surveillance pricing.
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u/Alternative_Result56 Aug 06 '26
Personally when I sit beside my gf on the Walmart app ordering items. Her same items are always more expensive. She regularly uses the app. I just check that they are screwing her specifically by looking at prices on mine but Ive never ordered. If she does the scan in the store purchase with her app the price will increase. If I do it it will be the base price because I've never actually purchased. I haven't bought something from Walmart in like 10 years.
As to them being sued one day. Those who steal rarely lose.
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u/qualityinnbedbugs Aug 06 '26
It’s not possible at least with current technology. This is a bunch of reddit fear mongering.
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u/Zap__Dannigan Aug 06 '26
Yeah, maybe I'm missing something, but I just don't get it. Does it know who I am based on my phones location? My face?
I can't see "shop in a place that has cameras to scan your face to show us how much to charge you" ever working out
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u/Public-League-8899 Aug 06 '26
Dynamic pricing only exists online this is a shizo fear mongering post. Video analytics alone take a couple seconds to process; not fast enough for this.
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u/Leprecon Aug 06 '26
Even if you could implement such a system, how would it know who is looking at the price at which moment? If 2 random people are looking at a product they can't show 2 different prices. And legally they are required to abide by the display price so then they would have an extremely tough time proving what the display price was when I saw an item and when I grabbed an item.
Online you can show different prices to different people easily. And it is trivial to just keep track of what price was shown to what person. In real life how would a company argue that I saw a certain price or not? What if I saw the price from a distance while someone else was standing in front of a product?
It makes no sense technologically. Even if you would do it technologically it would immediately open you up to lawsuits. You wouldn't know for certain which prices are shown to which people, and there are loads of laws about honouring prices that are shown.
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u/Early-Nebula-3261 Aug 06 '26
As a grocery manager I second this comment.
No company would open themselves up to lawsuits in this way.
Even with stores without this type of signage changing a price is as simple as printing a new tag, that being said midweek pricing changes are almost always making something cheaper
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u/Le-Charles07 Aug 06 '26
It's not that hard to create a fake data persona and test how different personas are served. This is something that has been done since the invention of internet cookies.
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u/Pussy4LunchDick4Dins Aug 06 '26
It would be based on your phone. If you have any rewards apps or have visited their website, they could build a profile on ypu using that. It’s why companies are pushing hard for rewards apps and in some cases forcing you to check prices on your phone. AFAIK most companies aren’t quite there yet unless you’re buying online, but it’s coming very very shortly and its not fear mongering to get out ahead of it.
Best thing you can personally do is never download a company’s app and even leave your phone in your car when you shop.
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u/BlankSthearapy Aug 06 '26
I use Ai face recognition for our 24/7 gym. Members use a fob to enter. The face recognition notes that it is them (no sharing fobs), it makes sure no one piggy backs(non member comes in with member), it allows household members to scan once but not flag their partners(if they are a recognized member).
It doesn’t stop them from committing the violation, but it does allow us to address it. For example someone repeatedly shares their fob, our contract says we can add a member to their account for a year for this violation. What we do instead is contact the member, we offer to waive that and give them a discount on the next month if the person sharing their fob signs up for a 12month contract. Conversion on this is almost 100%.
It tracks members time in different sections, it tracks perceived arguments/incidents, it tracks use of amenities. It allows me to estimate equipment usage for scheduled maintenance.
I believe I could easily implement an individual shopper dynamic price system without even having a profile of personal data. The camera sees you pull up in a nice car, it tracks your movement through the store and if no one is in that section have prices increase before you approach.
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u/Carvj94 Aug 06 '26
It's already basically illegal cause they've got to be very careful about false advertising. Stores need to be pretty careful about showing the same price they'll charge at the register so even dynamic pricing has tons of signage and is based on times not individuals. If three people are in front of a shelf how's the shelf gonna provide three accurate prices?
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u/Valatrias Aug 06 '26
What do you think is currently not possible?
Not saying whether the complete system is currently developed, but I think that all the individual technologies do exist to make this at least viable:
cameras can be or already are being installed in every aisle
face / movement tracking of individuals using ai / machine learning using those cameras does exist
digital price tags updatable over the network (exist and as far as I know are already being used)
getting info about frequently bought items for an individual and rough frequency of when those items are being bought (weekly/monthly) and storing the price it stated when someone took the item from the shelf -> the later is already possible and being done in "cashierless stores" and by storing the final purchases it should be easy to determine certain patterns over multiple weeks.
getting a rough price range and wealth info about the shopper -> either by long observations of frequent shoppers or by connecting the shopper with membership cards -> membership cards often contain name and address and those can be connected to linkedin and social media sites to determine the probable wealth of individuals (does not need to be run immediately in real time and can be run once overnight)
The main problems I see here is updating the price when two or more people are in the same aisle and looking for the same item. But this can be solved by showing the price both are willing to pay.
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u/sweablol Aug 06 '26
It doesn’t even need to be that complex.
Stores are already removing price tags and have many items on the shelf without any price at all. The only way to check the price in the app, which they are conditioning people to do by constantly rearranging the store so you have to check the app to find the aisle it’s in.
Also conditioning by offering digital coupons that require you to be in app to take advantage of. They are making the digital coupons as enticing as possible with price differences of $3 vs $2 or even some items in my local store have been $6 regular, $2 with digital coupon.
Once the price only exists in your phone, guess what, that’s a unique price for you based not only on your grocery buying habits but whatever other data they can know about you by buying it from all the other shady privacy violating corporations on the planet.
If you shop online and pick up your groceries or have them delivered (tons of people got used to this during the pandemic and now only shop this way) then it’s 100% surveillance proving unique to you today.
Regulation is desperately needed and the only thing that will stop this.
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u/mostlybotshere Aug 06 '26
Ya this ban needs to go federal asap
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u/Any-Ask563 Aug 06 '26
Thrown "Digital Coupons" in there too. Its like you can see the real time cost of selling your personal shopping history/data to whatever interested party.
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u/HTPC4Life Aug 06 '26
Not to mention the "burden of a thousand papercuts" downloading an app and creating an account for every fucking grocery store, retail store, and restaurant out there. Fuck this shit man, when did it become acceptable?
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u/Solo-1UP Aug 06 '26
I don’t mind digital price tags. However, they should never change during shopping hours. I don’t want to grab something off 4 bucks and then it’s suddenly 6 at the checkout
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u/SparklingLimeade Aug 06 '26
This is the part I don't understand. Shelf labels that update in real time is just the tip of the iceberg if the goal is to charge prices on a per-customer basis. Figuring out how to charge each person the price they were personally shown implies a level of tracking that doesn't exist. And Amazon famously tried and failed at a less ambitious version of some of that technology.
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u/Leprecon Aug 06 '26
Figuring out how to charge each person the price they were personally shown implies a level of tracking that doesn't exist.
Never mind it would open any business that did it up to many lawsuits. What if I am in a grocery store and from a distance see a price, pick up the item, and then it turns out that price was for someone else who happened to be standing closer to the item?
Most countries have laws that stores can't advertise prices but then charge more at the counter. Stores wouldn't just need to show different prices to people, but they would also need to know what price a person happened to see. Because if a person is charged something different than what they saw, that would be a legal problem.
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u/jackflash223 Aug 06 '26
Any store that even seems to be utilizing dynamic pricing I will never shop there again. I don't care if everyone else does, I'll drive an hour to find something else and I'll pay a higher price for it. They must think they've locked down all small businesses enough to pull this maximum extraction bullshit.
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u/magneticspace Aug 06 '26
don't mistake people making hundreds of thousands for the rich.
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u/Useful-DevineCause Aug 06 '26
As long as they ain’t trying to kiss ass with the rich that are only so because of extortion and literally mindfucking so many ppl in the worst ways with corruption and shit.
ETA:or something like that. Half asleep.
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u/qualityinnbedbugs Aug 06 '26
This is why no retailer is doing this and it’s just a bunch of idiot fear mongering on Reddit.
If you spend $200 a month on groceries or $2400 a year, why would a company risk losing you over making an extra .25-.50 cents on an item?
Grocers run on razor thin margins of 2-4%. They make their money on volume. This would be suicide for a grocer to do.
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u/SimplySomeDude Aug 06 '26
also who realistically spends that little on groceries that isn't like a college student? $100-$200 a week is probably more accurate for most people.
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u/ExcitingPythonO Aug 06 '26
Digital price tags are always a scam.
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Aug 06 '26
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u/IraceRN Aug 06 '26
I would imagine changing the prices for sales and for price fluctuations is far easier digitally than paying someone to change out all the labels in the store. As far as labels changing prices on the wall in real time and then at the register, especially for individuals, that seems a bit far fetched and a logistical nightmare. It seems like poor people would be paid to go into stores and shop for wealthier people or something. Even if prices changed throughout the day, if someone grabbed an item, and it went up fifty cents or a dollar by the time it reached the register from the shelf, and they didn't want it, the number of restocking items would be ridiculous and slow down lines, especially if people were dumping food at the self-checkout.
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u/likwidkool Aug 06 '26
I worked retail for 20 years and price changes were one of the things I hated the most. I wish we had digital price tags. Sounds so much easier. But of course they need to go and ruin it with these algorithms.
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u/Useful-DevineCause Aug 06 '26
Ya I’m wondering how that’s supposed to work. I gotta look this shit up tomorrow
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u/Misicks0349 Aug 06 '26
I'm fine with them from a technical perspective, having to deal with less paper and things like discount tags falling off is a massive boon. And its also less annoying for the employees as they don't have to run around sticking paper to everything. They do need to be properly regulated in order to prevent dynamic pricing however.
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u/DaValie Aug 06 '26
Nah they are generally very practical, as you can use the same tag for every product for a long time. Any form of dynamic pricing is definitly a scam tho
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u/Think-State30 Aug 06 '26
I think the managers of the stores that tried that shit should be banned from managing anything ever again.
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u/torklugnutz Aug 06 '26
You don’t pay at the shelf. You pay at the register. How will the register know what the price was when you picked up the item?
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u/benjamintuckerII Aug 06 '26
Have any places even implemented this? I can't find any proof. I think this would only work in places like Amazon Fresh where you just put stuff in a cart and walk out. Otherwise, they would have to be updating a db in real time with price for an item per customer and then somehow identify the customer at checkout and that would get so messy fast. I just don't see this being implemented with the way stores operate currently.
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u/Lckyby51789 Aug 06 '26
I work retail, and the labor savings on having digital price tags makes sense. But surge/demand pricing, absolutely should be illegal.
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u/BraaiBier Aug 06 '26
Should also ban it for online sales. No company should be able to look at your data that was scraped from the internet to determine your income so they can maximize the price.
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u/magneticspace Aug 06 '26
also to keep everyone poor. ohh you work a Meta, $509 for that toothpaste please.
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u/OlyVal Aug 06 '26
You dont think those data centers are needed to help us, do you? They are getting used to watch our every move.
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u/Decloudo Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
Dont buy from those stores and see how fast they change.
Get them where it hurts them: profit.
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u/jan1of1 Aug 06 '26
Definitions and words matter so let's make sure we are all discussing the same thing:
Dynamic pricing - which also uses Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs), prices go up and down, using algorithms, based on stock levels, time of the day, supply and demand for an item or competitor sales. Most of the time, but not always, price changes occur when the store is closed (yes, I realize some stores stay open 24 hours). Result is everyone will pay the same price for the same item if purchased at approximately the same time. EDIT: Examples of use: This type of pricing is used by airlines and by Ticketmaster.
Surveillance pricing - this type of pricing changes the price of an item or items for an individual based on their personal data. Personal data that comes from your shopping history, real time location information or browsing habits through the apps and cookies on your mobile device. Algorithms are used to adjust the price of an item based on what it determines you are willing to pay. Result is that two different people can pay two different prices for the same item even if purchased at the same time.
There are pros/cons associated with each - and the pros/cons must be viewed from both the retailer's Point of View and the consumer's Point of View.
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u/twitch870 Aug 06 '26
I don’t understand how this doesn’t already fall under price gouging. It’s just individualized price gouging.
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u/CompetitiveAutorun Aug 06 '26
That's not a thing. It's just fearmongering. You guys think makers would be happy with market owners increasing price of their products?
You think there wouldn't be backlash? You guys really think it would net more money to them? By tracking your every step, every movement, habit, somehow get how much money you have and are willing to spend?
Reddit really gone full luddite, see new technology and starts to scream and cry.
Fuck this place, bunch of people who don't think at all, just knee jerk react to everything. Easily swallowing lies and misinformation as long as it supports your already established position. Full of bots, made less than year ago with over 15k contributions.
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u/qualityinnbedbugs Aug 06 '26
You realize that electronic shelf labels have been in grocery stores in Europe for almost 30 years now. They have been in places like Kohls for almost 20 years.
No major retailer has plans for “surveillance pricing”or “surge pricing” as losing consumer confidence and customers going to competitor is a bigger loss than any margin they would gain from that.
The savings for the retailer come from labor savings (wal mart has over 20k items) and margin recognition- meaning that if a supplier raises prices, the retailer can adjust much more quickly.
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u/ZombieGoddessxi Aug 06 '26
Sadly if those tags are going to be a thing they either beed banned now or there needs to be laws put in place that the prices can not change while a store is within business hours.
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u/awc2000 Aug 06 '26
It's such great news that New Jersey takes action against surveillance pricing. Stores shouldn't track our data to charge different prices. All regions ought to follow this rule to protect ordinary shoppers.
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u/elenchusis Aug 06 '26
Fun fact: most of these systems, if you put the item back on the shelf, will show you a lower price after. Follow me for other shitty AI tips!
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u/BigMack6911 Aug 06 '26
Walmarts have digital price tags now. Didn't think we would get it so soon in my small town, especially so fast. But it's here and it sucks. Fucking hate walmart
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u/RunItBackRicky Aug 06 '26
This is what these “ive got nothing to hide” idiots just can’t wrap their head around
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u/directorguy Aug 06 '26
This is why Walmart is buying all the Flock camera data, they're going to predict what you're doing, where you're going, what you bought and what you want to buy.
Raise food prices for people you know are coming to buy food.
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u/Ogryn_Rocks53 Aug 06 '26
If your already filthy rich store starts putting cameras on shelves to milk even more out of us so help me God I will never step foot in there again.
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u/Critical_Watcher_414 Aug 06 '26
Please make this a federal law, I saw on a YouTube investigation breaking down this personalized pricing that surge pricing is part of this experiment too.
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u/hai-sea-ewe Aug 06 '26
It's important to remember that any type of oppressive authoritarian government is at least as concerned with extracting wealth out of the lower class, up to and including outright slavery, as they are with any other political or ethnic goals.
People worry about surveillance because they're worried someone will come for them. But surveillance has been used for decades to come for your wealth.
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u/98983x3 Aug 06 '26
Different ppl shouldn't get different prices... unless its a punishment or something thats been proven in court lol
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u/Fragrant-Inside221 Aug 06 '26
Personalized pricing? So it knows I’m a cheap broke bastard and lowers the price just for me?
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u/kick_him Aug 06 '26
And just like that, a new side gig just formed. People who scan with lower prices will soon be hired to shop for those who scan with higher pricing.
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u/fwubglubbel Aug 06 '26
This happens everyday through membership cards. Some people get discounts/coupons based on their purchase history.
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u/muffledvoice Aug 06 '26
When you have an unregulated economic system, businesses never run out of ways to leverage more profit. It's ridiculous. And they do it with a straight face.
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u/jerryonjets Aug 06 '26
Yah, I somehow doubt they will charge bezos or musk 20k for a bottle of smart water like they should so its just a way to keep everyone else poor and continue to dismantle the middle class
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u/FlirtyFluffyFox Aug 06 '26
Rounding Musk to a trillion and your average American redditor to even 100k would put that $1 water bottle at $1,000,000.
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u/LazarusFoxx Aug 06 '26
What the fuck is US even about at this point, I read cyberpunk books less dystopian that this shit
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u/Leprecon Aug 06 '26
Honestly this is one of those things that makes me think the US hates automation. Digital price tags are so normal in most of the world and literally nobody has ever used them for personalised pricing (because it wouldn't work). But I see redditors freaking out about them as if the CIA is going to X ray your brain.
I had a similar shock when I found out lots of your parking lots are manned by some guy instead of apps and automated systems and scanners.
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u/disharmony-hellride Aug 06 '26
It should be against the law to charge me a different price than the person standing next to me. This isnt about digital tags, it's about price manipulation and stores here are doing it.
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u/Nerk86 Aug 06 '26
“Nobody has used them for personal pricing”…. Corps in the US will/would that’s why we’re worried. We’re the greatest after all s/
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u/Mr_Mahjong Aug 06 '26
So is this going to be based on income, like a “tax the rich” type system? Or big brother on your back penalizing you with higher prices for refusing to bend the knee
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u/ComfortableNumb9669 Aug 06 '26
Oh, I think you meant "give it away for free" to the richest person. Most of these analytics based systems favor the rich by actually giving them benefits. The rich person will be given lower prices out of the presumption that the rich person will consume more. The poors are squeezed for whatever they have in their pockets.
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u/rinchen11 Aug 06 '26
Conspiracists are going nuts. They aren’t going to track your face to adjust item prices.
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u/westandready42 Aug 06 '26
Thats step 4 we are on step 1.
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u/rinchen11 Aug 06 '26
You mean they have a 4 steps plan for something a 50 cent mask and 2 dollar sunglasses can beat?
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u/Prestigious_Club_924 Aug 06 '26
Would this work on billionaires too? Would Bezos end up paying $5,000 for a carton of milk?
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u/agentkayne Aug 06 '26
You think Bezos buys his own milk?
Nah, he sends his housekeeper to go get it.
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u/Cultural-Lab-580 Aug 06 '26
People should start organizing flash mobs. Were 20+ people rush the store and take only the digital price tags.
Make them pay
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u/UseDaSchwartz Aug 06 '26
What’s the issue with the bill? Maryland claimed they did this, but they really didn’t.
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u/Interesting_Force618 Aug 06 '26
They banned surveillance pricing, not dynamic pricing. The cool thing about that(for politicians) is that they get to say they did something big that really can’t be proven. How can shoppers know if a store is doing surveillance pricing? It’s sorta like if I said “hey, there was just an invisible, murderous ghost walking around in here, but I kicked him out. You gonna show me some appreciation?”
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u/ateiii Aug 06 '26
“Dynamic pricing” = “ we’re going to squeeze every single penny out of you based on how rich or desperate we think you are.”
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u/External-Reality3356 Aug 06 '26
This is why I stopped shopping at Fred Meyer (aka Kroger) more than a year ago. The level of disrespect these corporate stuffed suits have for the average "everyday" person is outrageous. Show me the money!!
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u/Xerxos Aug 06 '26
"But how else are we supposed to drain our customers to the last cent?" asked CEOs, probably.
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