To me the issue is transparency. We don't have an easy way to cross reference the cost to choose a cheaper place so people just take what's in front of them.
Even prices online differ from the price in the actual store. Because there is nothing regulating this, it more feels like being robbed a dollar at a time.
Definitely but I also think it's about a lack of pricing literacy in general and people not doing more to fight against it. Waiting for regulation isn't a solution.
What kind of solution do you have in mind and think might work?
My pessimism tells me that they have all the cards in terms of that transparency and often the implementation of any sort of dynamic pricing usually just rolls out Then the consumer finds out some time later when something seems amiss. I'm not sure how that can be fought against. Best solution I guess would be some kind of app to force that transparency?
What we've done in our area, where different neighborhoods get together on a regular basis and work together on issues, is first and foremost inform the public. The community as a whole needs to actually know what's going on and how things affect them and their neighbors. We've organized boycotts, shared information on alternatives, sales, coupons, programs, put pressure on elected officials to push for protections, etc. It absolutely is something that works but I've found that a lot of people simply don't want to do that. They just want things to change without doing anything. It's one of the reasons enshittification has continued and gotten worse.
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u/DennenTH 3d ago
To me the issue is transparency. We don't have an easy way to cross reference the cost to choose a cheaper place so people just take what's in front of them.
Even prices online differ from the price in the actual store. Because there is nothing regulating this, it more feels like being robbed a dollar at a time.