Time to vote with our wallets. I absolutely will refuse to shop at any store in my area that starts implementing this.
They already do that, just not as frequently. They change price tags of items every day by hand
Let’s call it what it is: price discrimination.
Dynamic sounds way more fun!
In Poland it's already there in stores owned by the German Schwarz-Gruppe - Lidl and Kaufland. One might want to start shopping local to get exposed to 100% free range organic greed instead of lab-optimized greed at big stores.
That’s a shame because Lidl is the only affordable grocery store to begin with around here.
A problem area is pricing that changes 10 minutes after you put it in basket but before checkout. Though OP did go through some other abuse scenarios, though some were far fetched. This can't allow a store to personalize prices the way a web site can.
This is what I came to the comments to gripe about this whole thing. Yes, they can play some games and probably will, but consider: People will be watching. They do this and you bet people will track this crap and post about it. The blowback will be huge.
If they're stupid enough to try this, it will not last. lol. You can raise prices over the long term, but fuck around with short term prices people can see changing for no good reason? Yeah.....
And on the "personal pricing" - that's written by someone that doesn't understand how barcodes work.
But I'm sure they will try to play some games with it.
My grocery store has had these for a while. Dynamic price reductions are coming too. Instead of a set % off, it’ll calculate the most optimal percentage to take off based on popularity of the product, how long until expiry, etc. Just a heads up.
Thank you for telling the useful side of what this could be like. I'm on a sales team who considers options like dynamic pricing, and it is nice to know what good vs bad to look out for.
fucking lol
Looks like e-ink. A thumb tack taped to your thumb should take care of these pretty quick and inconspicuously. Especially if people generally agree this is stupid and should be shunned.
… you know they have cameras?
Do you have 0 slight of hand? Just buff your agility, youll be okay.
already here. just ask the inflation (not an american)
It definitely wasn't QE.
thats the joke. that inflation is dymanic we already have it.
I’m still not clear on exactly what triggers this. Is it phone location, because a phone number is linked to all your data (unless you’ve been gaming it for the last 5-10yrs)? Do I walk by with my phone and the price goes up?
Is it like goodwill? Does the price change as you’re checking out? Do I grab a 2lb bag of medium roast coffee beans for $13, and because buying it consistently for decades, it’s now $18 at checkout? But is still $13 for the guy behind me who decided to try whole bean over pre-ground?
If rich people turn off their phones before hitting the parking lot and poor people leave theirs on, does the entire store get cheaper?
If you take a pic with your phone of the “advertised” price does that mitigate sudden increases while checking out, if you’re even watching?
Does having your unemployed, deadbeat uncle or kid do the shopping from their phone make it cheaper for the household?
What are the triggers?
OP was making a lot of shit up.
It doesn’t even have to be per person. It can just be by time of day.
That's the personalized prices. That's step two.
This one is the digital price tags that let the store manager or corporate office instantly raise prices throughout the store for everyone.
I can imagine price stickers would update daily, and individual users would get personalized discounts on their app.
App-less buyers would pay the baseline price in the sticker, app users would pay less. Like existing loyalty card programs, but with more data collection
It’s going to be hilarious when these get hacked
Reminder that by law, if the price is listed wrong:
Sometimes the price of an item in store or online at the checkout may not match the displayed or advertised price in store or online. If this happens, even by mistake, the business must either:
- sell the product for the lowest price - either the checkout price, or displayed or advertised price, or
- stop selling the item until the incorrect price is corrected.
What law? In what country?
Australia, the country the article is talking about. That was a quote from the ACCC website.
The closest thing I can think of would be Quebec, they have some fairly strong consumer protections, but i don't know how far they would extend in cases like this
stop selling the item until the incorrect price is corrected
Not a lawyer but couldn't they just refuse to sell it to you? We all know it would be bullshit but couldn't a company say "Oh that minimum wage clerk made a mistake, but don't blame them, just an honest mistake."
Or is the law, if it's on the shelf, it must be honored?
They would have to refuse to sell to anyone. It would likely not be lawful to leave it on the shelf and sell it at the higher price to someone else who might not have noticed the discrepancy, until they fix up the shelf pricing.
If my local store switches to digital price tags to do this I'm just going to gather as many as I can and flush them down the toilet.
It's a nice thought but good luck not getting caught on the 3k cameras in the store and following you to your car.
It would be a shame if your phone was infected by a malware that rewrites all the prices in the tags in your vicinity.
Security cameras in stores are kept purposely garbage so they don't get bugged by the police to provide footage to them. Unless something changed in the last decade since I worked in a retail joint.
It has definitely changed a lot
Why would they care?
My local Woolies has had e-ink tags for at least two years, maybe more. Between this and Coles hiring Palantir, we mostly shop at Aldi. Bunnings and Kmart using facial recognition as if it's no biggie as well. How long until they partner with CBA to check your credit card limit as you stand in front of the bananas to see how much you'll pay?
They're opening an Aldi's near me. I'm excited.
Aldi's is the shit. No bloat, no bs, just groceries. They don't have some stuff, but for the staples you're set. I usually go to the more traditional grocery store every 4th trip or so.
Boycott the stores that use them, it might help them change their mind behind they become the norm.
This is Australia and I think 90% of grocery shops are either this one or the competitor
Thanks. I hate it.
The chain grocery store near us (Safeway) has had stupidly high prices since the pandemic. I decided I’m not going to shop there anymore unless I really have to. We are lucky to have a locally-owned, small chain grocery store very close to us. Prices are high but honestly not much if at all higher than Safeway and I’d rather pay a small premium to help them stay in business. Also I doubt they would ever opt into something like this stupid price scheme, but Safeway absolutely would and will.
Yeah, Safeway has been shitty for a long time. I'm fortunate like you that we have a wealth of independent grocers and small ethnic markets that are so much better. They're also a fair bit cheaper too.
It is a subsidiary of Albertsons after being acquired by private equity investors led by Cerberus Capital Management in January 2015.
Classic
That explains a lot. Private equity kills everything it touches.
It’s obviously shitty and exploitive anywhere, but this makes food desserts even more of an issue.
Scummy ass companies making life worse for everyone to line their pockets.
They wouldn’t even be in financial trouble, they would just be less rich.
Those e-ink tags have been around in the UK for some time.
The displays are not the problem
Them updating on a whim is
`Current-generation digital tags are cloud-connected and equipped with Bluetooth or NFC (short-range wireless technology used for contactless payments) to communicate with phones. A phone loaded with a shopping app can pass information to the tag about the user's identity.
The tag then briefly displays a personalised price when the shopper taps the phone.
Mr Oyefeso said retailers could also pair ESL with facial recognition, so that "prices change depending on who is in the aisle or looking at the shelf". `
Great hey, I think people will continue at woolies. The level of love for monopolies is crazy. But hey house prices are going up.
But wouldn't you be able to see the price change as other people walk by? That doesn't sound like something people would passively just be okay with. And what about when people are next to each other, what price would it display?
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