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Maryland becomes first state to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores

theguardian.com

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Re: Maryland becomes first state to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores

#51

Post by snide »

crazygringo wrote: post #44

Sadly, this article doesn't explain how this "surveillance pricing" (which is just a scarier-sounding synonym for "dynamic pricing") would even work in a physical grocery store. Like, prices are displayed on the shelf for everyone to see. And they have to match what you pay at checkout. So how the heck would a grocery store even do this? And this law is specifically around grocery stores . Like, there was a big kerfu…

Stores are now putting QR codes for pricing, not listing the prices out on stickers/paper. You check on your phone, and often times walk through "scan and go" making direct payment on your phone.

This is often done in stores where they say that prices can change daily, and that these tools help them keep prices up to date. The darker pattern is what this law prevents, and that even with this sort of labeling, they can't charge you different from what they charge me in the same store.

Re: Maryland becomes first state to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores

#52

Post by [deleted] »

crazygringo wrote: post #44

Sadly, this article doesn't explain how this "surveillance pricing" (which is just a scarier-sounding synonym for "dynamic pricing") would even work in a physical grocery store. Like, prices are displayed on the shelf for everyone to see. And they have to match what you pay at checkout. So how the heck would a grocery store even do this? And this law is specifically around grocery stores . Like, there was a big kerfu…

[deleted]

Re: Maryland becomes first state to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores

#53

Post by everdrive »

tt24 wrote: post #12

[flagged]

How much my food costs is quite consequential, and I think it's very important to understand whether or not a business has some hackneyed algorithm that tells them to charge me 50% more than the man standing next to me.

Re: Maryland becomes first state to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores

#54

Post by jglamine »

chimeracoder wrote: post #39
orangecat wrote: post #34

Gosh, I hope colleges don't find out about this pricing strategy.

> Gosh, I hope colleges don't find out about this pricing strategy. They've been doing it for years; it's called "financial aid". It is literally the textbook example of how to get people to pay different amounts for the same thing based on what they are willing or able to pay. It's also why the recent shift in immigration policy has affected top-tier universities so much: domestic education is, by and large, subsidi…

Yes, that's the joke. I think the parent post was sarcasm.

Re: Maryland becomes first state to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores

#55

Post by alt_4577 »

snide wrote: post #51
crazygringo wrote: post #44

Sadly, this article doesn't explain how this "surveillance pricing" (which is just a scarier-sounding synonym for "dynamic pricing") would even work in a physical grocery store. Like, prices are displayed on the shelf for everyone to see. And they have to match what you pay at checkout. So how the heck would a grocery store even do this? And this law is specifically around grocery stores . Like, there was a big kerfu…

Stores are now putting QR codes for pricing, not listing the prices out on stickers/paper. You check on your phone, and often times walk through "scan and go" making direct payment on your phone. This is often done in stores where they say that prices can change daily, and that these tools help them keep prices up to date. The darker pattern is what this law prevents, and that even with this sort of labeling, they ca…

Interested know which stores are doing this QR code for pricing thing (and what area of the country).

Re: Maryland becomes first state to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores

#56

Post by dTal »

crazygringo wrote: post #44

Sadly, this article doesn't explain how this "surveillance pricing" (which is just a scarier-sounding synonym for "dynamic pricing") would even work in a physical grocery store. Like, prices are displayed on the shelf for everyone to see. And they have to match what you pay at checkout. So how the heck would a grocery store even do this? And this law is specifically around grocery stores . Like, there was a big kerfu…

E-ink price tags are not uncommon. Technology to track individual customers through the store based on smartphone RF is already deployed in many supermarkets. Some stores even do scan-as-you-shop, where the customer scans the item at the shelf, rather than at the front of the store. There are certainly a lot of i's to dot and t's to cross, but it's hardly a theoretical impossibility - find the right store and you could do it today with no more than a software update.

Re: Maryland becomes first state to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores

#58

Post by alt_4577 »

Starman_Jones wrote: post #22
tokyobreakfast wrote: post #4

[flagged]

Maryland’s crime solutions are working, and have been for some time. It’s in metaphorical maintenance mode, rather than needing active development.

Maryland minus Baltimore? Seems like Baltimore is in the top 10 for violent crimes, but drops to #12 for murder.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b...

Re: Maryland becomes first state to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores

#59

Post by sidewndr46 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #37
slg wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I don't think we will ever see such law, nor do I think this would be a good idea. Why isn't this a good idea?

Buyers and sellers should be able to negotiate prices however they want. It is how markets have worked since the dawn of human trading. It would also be costly to police. If the problem is that a grocery store has a monopoly in an area, then that is a different problem fixed by adding grocery store(s).

Most pricing laws are built on the idea that this isn't OK. For example, I can't negotiate pricing directly with an automobile manufacturer. I have to go through a dealer so I am "protected".

Re: Maryland becomes first state to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores

#60

Post by crazygringo »

snide wrote: post #51
crazygringo wrote: post #44

Sadly, this article doesn't explain how this "surveillance pricing" (which is just a scarier-sounding synonym for "dynamic pricing") would even work in a physical grocery store. Like, prices are displayed on the shelf for everyone to see. And they have to match what you pay at checkout. So how the heck would a grocery store even do this? And this law is specifically around grocery stores . Like, there was a big kerfu…

Stores are now putting QR codes for pricing, not listing the prices out on stickers/paper. You check on your phone, and often times walk through "scan and go" making direct payment on your phone. This is often done in stores where they say that prices can change daily, and that these tools help them keep prices up to date. The darker pattern is what this law prevents, and that even with this sort of labeling, they ca…

I've looked online and can't find any real examples of QR code-only stores.

It seems like QR codes are growing in popularity as a way to look up more product details, user reviews, etc. -- especially at electronics stores.

But the idea of prices being hidden entirely doesn't seem to exist anywhere in normal consumer stores. There seem to have been some store experiments and retail "concepts" (prototypes not rolled out), but it seems like the consumer backlash is extremely strong so these experiments have stopped. Consumers want to be able to browse prices, that's pretty fundamental.

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