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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

#61

Post by crazygringo »

dTal wrote: post #56
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 cou…

I still don't understand how that would work. Yes, e-ink is great for updating prices, I welcome it at grocery stores.

But if both me and another person are standing in front of the prosciutto and cured meats fridge, we're seeing the same prices, even if I'm poor and they're rich.

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

#62

Post by jbxntuehineoh »

xnx wrote: post #10

Pricing will become increasingly adversarial. The Internet did too much to expose price differences to customers, so sellers are responding. Customers will need aggressive agents to price-shop on their behalf. Take hotel booking as one of the current nightmares of price visibility. Total price often isn't exposed until you show up at the hotel.

shopping, 2000: go to store. take item off shelf. hand cashier indicated amount of money. leave.

shopping, 2030: use your personalized AI agent ($100/month subscription) to simultaneously impersonate a dozen clients across five different online shopping platforms with the goal of tricking the sellers' AI agents into thinking you're poorer than you are so that you can pay $5 for bananas instead of $25.

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

#63

Post by lastofthemojito »

crazygringo wrote: post #60
snide wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ou…

Here's an example (not mine): https://old.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1s0n9al/...

I also saw this in a gas station convenience store near me but I did not take a photo. I haven't seen it in a real grocery store yet.

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

#64

Post by OptionOfT »

Sadly, there is no provision in this law to allow consumers to sue the companies.

You have to report it, and then maybe the office of the Attorney General _might_ impose a fine on the grocery store:

https://governor.maryland.gov/news/press/pages/governor-moor...

> Governor Moore’s proposal builds on the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act of 2024 by specifically targeting the intersection of data surveillance and essential goods pricing. Under the new legislation, violations would be treated as an unfair or deceptive trade practice under the Maryland Consumer Protection Act. The Office of the Attorney General would enforce the measure, with merchants subject to civil penalties of up to $10,000 for a first offense and up to $25,000 for subsequent offenses.

If a grocer has the finances to deploy a system like this, they're close to the size of Kroger / Walmart. These fines are way too low.

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

#66

Post by richwater »

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…

> Now that there's been a huge drop in international applications, they need to make up the loss in revenue, so they're shifting those costs back to domestic applicants.

Or, gasp, cut bloat.

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

#67

Post by nsxwolf »

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…

So we’re now going to spend several hours at the grocery store, scanning every item and waiting for some app to come back with a custom price?

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

#68

Post by solnyshok »

int32_64 wrote: post #23

Is haggling an individualized price? What's stopping companies from allowing arbitrary bids on any item they can choose to reject? What if the future of the grocery store is eBay, a true nightmare.

or you will ask bids for your shopping list, and get replies from several retail chains (or, rather their AI agents).

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

#69

Post by toast0 »

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…

> Like, there was a big kerfuffle a while ago about how Wendy's was going to engage in dynamic pricing so that a burger would be cheaper during the slow period at e.g. 3-4 pm, compared to the lunch rush. But that wasn't personalized. And the outcry was so strong they never did it, no law needed.

That's crazy that people were kerfuffled over it as stated. Restaurants very commomly have early bird and happy hour specials which sounds like the same thing. Please come when we're not usually busy, thanks.

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

#70

Post by nsxwolf »

chucksta wrote: post #50
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…

Facial recognition https://epic.org/krogers-surveillance-pricing-harms-consumer...

How is this supposed to work? There’s hundreds of people in the store. Someone is always right next to me. How will the can of peas know which price to display
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