Kroger and Walmart Deny 'Surge Pricing' After Adopting Digital Price Tags (nytimes.com)
- Reference: 0175316853
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/24/10/24/1442237/kroger-and-walmart-deny-surge-pricing-after-adopting-digital-price-tags
- Source link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/23/business/kroger-walmart-facial-recognition-prices.html
> Members of Congress are raising the alarm about new technology at supermarkets: They say Kroger and other major grocery stores are implementing digital price tags that [1]could allow for dynamic pricing , meaning the sticker price on items like eggs and milk could change regularly. They also claim data from facial recognition technology at Kroger could be considered in pricing decisions.
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> Kroger denied the claims, saying it has no plans to implement dynamic pricing or use facial recognition software. Walmart also said it had no plans for dynamic pricing, and that facial recognition was not being used to affect pricing, but the company did not specify whether the tool was being used for other purposes. Both Walmart, which has 4,606 U.S. stores, and Kroger, which has nearly 2,800 U.S. stores, also suggested that the effects of digital price tags are being exaggerated, and economic experts say that most grocery bills won't be higher as a result of the tags. Still, data privacy experts have concerns about new technology being implemented at grocery stores broadly.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/23/business/kroger-walmart-facial-recognition-prices.html
Re: (Score:3)
it could just be your delivery app that is fucking you over, i mean i trust Uber/others completely to behave ethically. they have a proven track record after all.
Made-up issue (Score:2)
Keeping shelf tags up to date is a struggle, alleviated by digital price tags, that alone justifies the expense for retailers that have daily/weekly price changes like a grocery store or a big box retailer.
This is really just some "advocates" inventing a potential issue to try and get some notoriety.
The risk is too great - if a retailer was ever caught altering prices during store hours against shoppers (raising prices), they'd never survive as a business.
Re: (Score:2)
I think this only came about because of the crazy inflation that happened since the last time there was crazy price inflation outside of real estate in the USA was 1984.
And what they say has any value because (Score:2)
those corporations are so honest if they were to implement hateful, unfair dynamic pricing, they'd immediately announce it?
Hint: they're corporations. Nobody believes corporations.
Benefit (Score:3)
I can see a legitimate use for digital price tags in reducing the time and effort in having employees change price tags manually, as well as reducing errors. But I don't think that stores should be allowed to change prices during business hours. That would prevent the price changing between when a customer views a price and decides to buy, and when they arrive at the checkout. It would also prevent pricing based on facial recognition. Set the price before you open in the morning and it's fixed until you close in the evening. That should eliminate any concerns.
Why do companies do things? (Score:4, Insightful)
Companies make decisions in order to make more money or reduce cost.
Spending money to replace existing, working, infrastructure with something more expensive is seldom done to control cost. Yes, they may honestly have no plans to implement surge pricing right now , (because the rollout isn't complete), but give it a few quarters and they'll be experimenting with equity demand pricing (or some similar euphemistically-named variable pricing plan) by which certain ethnically privileged groups are charged more during certain days and times.
Re: (Score:2)
i can see a gas price fixing like model, i am sure RealPage is working on a revenue streamlining project.
Re: Why do companies do things? (Score:2)
If anyone has an issue with this "potential" issue, why not ask your state government to pass a law like the one currently on the books that only allows gas stations to change prices once every 24 hours?
It really isn't hard to imagine, I have to believe grocery/big box retailers would be fine with that... can you really imagine they'd publicly argue to be able to change prices multiple times per day.
Re: (Score:2)
> "Surge pricing" is not a thing in grocery land,
...Yet.
It's going to happen.
Re: (Score:2)
Best Buy has had these for ages now. Have we seen any evidence of surge pricing there? No, we haven't. The reason for using the etags is to save labor costs and to make sure that the shelf tags are properly updated (i.e. employee doesn't miss one and causes issues at the checkout).