We're gonna need some new regulations that require all price labels to have a date/time of last change so we know when they changed the prices.

The first time the price of a good changes between the time I put it in my cart/basket and checkout, I will be starting a class-action lawsuit against corporate fraud.

Jesus, I can’t imagine just coming out and saying this like it’s not fucking deranged to charge people more for WATER during a heat wave.

and if there is a fire, we can raise prices of fire extinguishers, how cool is that?

I won’t say never, but my company has these and the tags aren’t able to be centrally updated meaning it would require manual intervention to reprice those items at all locations (and incorrect pricing is grounds for shutdown in some states) furthermore our software only does a pricebook load once a day so I can’t see that in our near future. I’m inclined to believe Walmart execs may be regurgitating a sales pitch more than what they’re capable of doing. That being said never say never and out techno dystopian future will be upon us soon.

Just leave my gallons of ice cream sitting there.

They'll probably require you to shop with your phone and scan shit as you go.

Yea, no, kiss my ass.

Also, the first time the price of something rises in the 5 minutes it takes for me to get my shopping done and get to the checkout, I’m taking a shit on the floor.

I'm with you I'm saving my dump truck load for the conveyor belt at the register.

It helps that it's an "industry analyst" and not someone from Walmart.

I can tell you, working in retail, there's no way they'd jack up prices during a heatwave for water. They still gotta compete with other stores, and charging more would cause shoppers to go to where it's cheaper.

Now if there's shortages all over town and even the followers can't keep up, I can see them fucking with prices. But they could do that right now if they wanted to. It's not hard to adjust prices.

The real advantage of electronic labels is not having a crew to replace stacks and stacks of labels all over the store. The cost of labor and cost of the actual label sheets and printer maintenance to keep all that up to date, I'm guessing, is getting to the point where it's cheaper to use electronics.

We've been seeing these electronic tags on sale items at Walmart for the past few years. It's been a few months since the last time we were in the store, but last weekend we noticed ALL items now had small two-color OLED price tags on them. I don't know if that means we're just lucky enough to be one of the first to get the new tech, or that the chain had already started rolling them out well before the article, but they're definitely out there. I'd actually love to get ahold of some just to play with them, although seeing the prices of OLEDs on ebay makes me wonder how any store is saving money by using them.

Haha literally what planet do they live on?

Yeah every store values client loyalty, but pretending companies (e.g. Walmart for crissakes) want to be loyal to their customers should disqualify you from being called an "industry analyst".

Probably the same guy that says inflation is “not a problem/getting better/under control”.

Are these people just available for hire by the media? Are they like professional witnesses for “two sides” reporting?

Oh Ffs, what a fucking idiot, or liar, probably both.

Of course that's the whole fucking point, you over-educated fucktard.

And people wonder why the average Joe mistrusts academia?

Ads are digital. The price ranges become digital. They have no excuse.

I'm sure you'll still get those bootlickers defending the practice of not including tax, but they will make even less sense than before.

Wait, you're telling me that the price on the shelf doesn't include tax where you live?

The year is 2047. Individually tracked pricing algorithms determine prices for each customer. I am the local water man, who everyone pays a small fee to go buy clean water, because my high volume of purchases means I get a slight discount. In only 34 more years I can pay off my 8th grade education and start thinking about a down payment on a double sleeping pod.

They've been in use in the US in other retail outlets for about as long.

I suppose there was little rationalization for them in grocery stores until recently. Keep in mind grocery stores are massive chains, largely stocked by vendors - the store doesn't own a huge portion of the product, they rent out space to vendors.

So there's probably also the interaction between vendor and the chain - how the pricing update is managed.

Maybe someone more knowledgeable about how grocery works could chime in. I only have a cursory understanding. I wonder what their It systems look like, how they integrate/communicate with vendor systems.

They are - and they’re e-ink based so power lasts a long time. I’ve not been to a store that don’t have them in many years.

They’re great - always showing the correct price/ amount, and it’s less hassle for the store to change.

As long as you have a free market and not a coordinated one it will work out great for you guys too

We just need a law to prevent them from changing the prices during business hours or limit it to one change per day if they are open 24/7.

I've often wondered what the "saving the environment" numbers of these actually look like. Is making and recycling paper shelf labels worse for the environment than a small device that's a mix of plastics and electronics and has a battery that will eventually need replacing? Especially when I consider my local grocery store probably has thousands of these tags, all rolled out overnight one night, that will probably all need replacement batteries at similar intervals too.