Maryland Becomes First US State to Ban Surveillance Pricing for Groceries

We must do it.

For the children.

No sales tax on groceries purchased with tips

Yeah dog, is not just our government… Well, I guess this is because of the lack of a government for the people. But yeah for more than a few years shopping for groceries has become where do you personally get the lowest prices. I get different discounts from my partner.

We now shop at a store that doesn’t play this type of game but many people live in an area that only contains stores like this.

you know they just copy airlines, right?

We really need a non profit that buys data on politicians and Billionaires and then just make an app for people to follow them around and harass them to get this banned.

This is the real crux of the issue. Data collection and algorithmic incentives are destroying society.

all companies are in the data business now. that IS the business.

i told a friend maybe 2 years ago that mcdonalds app and changing to digital drive thru menus would mean they could change prices at any time and even per customer. he thought it would be “too difficult”

And 24 hour stores can update their prices at midnight, but the lower of the two prices is still effective for the first 2 hours, in case anyone was actively shopping during the change.

Surveillance pricing usually makes people think per-person pricing, but the law goes further than just that.

I worked on an electronic shelf label project at a (now defunct) retail project. I’m less worried about them trying to target prices per user while in a store because there are some difficult hardware and software challenges trying to show a price to one person (like what if two people are looking at it.) Showing a per-user price per app is trivial. There’s also laws in most states that require you to pay the price shown on the price tag and trying to target per person risks failing that, though that depends on state enforcement. The system I worked at linked the prices to the point of sale system to ensure you paid the lowest price shown on any price tag in the last few hours (though that was company policy to make complying with the law easier.)

What I am worried about is prices dynamically changing based micro trends like water getting more expensive on warm days. Some people might say that increase prices means increased supply to meet that demand, the real risk is retailers being able to micro optimize prices to better capture consumer surplus as profits. A consumer is un-prepared for that and the consumer will not benefit.

These include electronic shelf labels, which advocates have warned could allow companies to instantly change grocery prices based on the time of day, weather, and other factors that influence consumer demand.

“Digital price tags are replacing paper ones. It’s happening because we are having cameras that are watching aisles, it’s happening because we have apps that are moving from search-based to predictive,”

You are not immune.

The absence of haggling was one of our cultural high-points, on the opposite end from “tipped wages”.

If you don’t use a rewards or loyalty program, you’re already paying the highest price for the items.

Potentially face recognition, but primarily through the signals your phone outputs, like WiFi and Bluetooth signals.

A lot of stores here in the UK already employ facial recognition if you walk in.

It stops known shoplifters throughout stores (so if you shoplifted in a Nottingham Tesco’s, be prepared to be banned from Sainsbury’s in Swansea), but it also tracks your shopping so it’s being sold as a convenience feature - you walk up to a till and it already knows what’s in your basket and how much you need to pay.

Oh and while you walk through the stores, you get targeted advettisements that’s already connected to your online identity. You looked up symptoms of PCOS? Have fun being blasted with hair removal product ads throughout your shopping.

It’s pretty fucking dystopian, yes. My local corner shop doesn’t need to know my shopping habits. It won’t sell me more milk or bread. And I won’t be buying that new type of chicken nuggies no matter how hard they try to sell it. I’m perfectly happy with what I want to buy, I don’t need or want optimised ads.

it’s just as dystopian with a browser

Facial recognition is just one way to begin or build upon a profile, but there are others. Cameras would also be looking for things like specific brands of clothing being worn. Raggedy, no-name work shirt? You get a pass. $80 Carhartt jacket? Maybe we add a buck fifty onto that tub of Folgers you rely on to get through the day. Wearing the latest $300 T-shirt drop from the Foofoo X MTBLZ brokemaxxing collab? Hell, I’d personally wanna charge you extra on principle.

Even without cameras and their “AI” trying to gauge your wealth, past purchases can just as easily be associated with the credit/debit cards used to pay for them in order to build a profile. If they know what you regularly buy they can start nickel and dime’ing those things to test the limits of what you’re willing to spend. I feel like I also heard about some stores using Bluetooth or NFC triangulation. So your phone, smart watch, fitness tracker, etc could essentially serve as their means to watch you movements. They know the moment you entered, how long you lingered in a specific spot in any given aisle, and what register you checked out at. Now there’s a profile for those devices. Paid with debit/credit again? Then those devices and the purchasing method are connected and the overall profile has grown.

I’m kind of curious how much longer places are going to accept cash. It’s anecdotal but, from grocers to department stores, there never seems to be more than a single staffed checkout lane around here anymore. Then, of course, the self checkouts don’t accept cash (or the few that do seem to always be out of service). Probably equal parts “we don’t want to pay more employees” and “we want your data” motivating that shift.

We’re decades into dystopian already.

But also eliminate profits entirely from the industry.

you’re not wrong on every point. but the unfortunate addendum is that the essentials are also too expensive.

In a perfect world, sure. But with corruption, price gouging, too big to fail, and govt buyouts of lots of the biggest players in the game, its all rigged against us. I wish I could just stop buying cheese for a bit and the price would drop, but that would require everyone to stop. But then the govt would just subsidize the dairy farmers and id have been without cheese for nothing.
Fuck, i want cheese now!

Milk isn’t a brand thing.

two thumbs up! I started a #nobuy lifestyle about a year ago. I only buy essentials. Gas, (because I live in a car-centric hellscape) food basics, and soda water because I quit alcohol and it helps. That’s it. I repair my clothes and thrift shop if I just have to have something “new”. My food bill is still 30-40% higher even after cutting out everything extra but I refuse to pay $7 for a bag of chips. I was in a Dollar General the other day for cat food, and a 12 pack of Sprite was $9. $9! at the dollar store. Ridiculous!

No there isn’t: EVERYTHING is more expensive, wages have not kept pace with productivity in many decades, and a lot of people are struggling. If you’re still managing to get buy with judicious spending, that’s great but you should understand that a lot of people are in situations bad enough that they cannot do that. There is no easy fix for individuals unfortunately.

Same here.

All of my purchases are practical and come from a need, not a want.

I’ve gone to an extreme form of this. I buy the same food every week, and eat the same meals every week. This practice makes my weekly grocery shopping a breeze. I know exactly what I’m getting, exactly where it is, there’s no browsing or even looking at other products. I’m in and out in <30 minutes, including check out, and I know my bill will be ~$75, which is all of my food for a week. So, just over $10/day. I don’t eat out at all, and haven’t since the pandemic showed me I could easily make all my meals at home while eating better and saving money. I was just doing it out of habit and convenience, AKA laziness.

Yeah, I thought I’d get bored with the food when I started this, but I haven’t. In fact, I’ve simplified the menu even further over time. I started with the mantra, “Food is not entertainment, food is not reward”. Because, food should be neither of those. If you wonder whether your pet gets tired of eating the same thing every day, they don’t. Because, they don’t think about food as entertainment, how does boredom even fit in the equation?

Why?