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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

#171

Post by zeta0134 »

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…

The answer is loyalty programs. I wouldn't be surprised if many existing loyalty programs already violate this law in spirit. The customer is encouraged to scan their app, and offered personalized coupons. Anyone not participating pays the base (highest) price possible, and those who are price conscious get a tailored discount, which is not necessarily the same discount as their neighbor.

(As an added bonus, the data stream from the loyalty program is attractive to marketing teams. Want to not be tracked? Higher prices for you!)

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

#172

Post by Loughla »

Tangurena2 wrote: post #104
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.

Culturally, Americans do not haggle and do not to well in cultures where haggling is the norm. It would take a massive cultural shift before negotiating price is even close to normal. Part of this is why so many employees do poorly when negotiating salary during the interview process. Disclaimer: my father was in the oil business and we lived a lot in the Middle East among other places.

Americans don't do well with anything perceived as confrontation, speaking in general terms. Haggling is on that list. It's why my son sold so damn much popcorn sitting outside of a grocery store for the boy scouts. He asked everyone, and a wide majority of people are too polite to just say no thank you.

I don't know why it is, because Americans are also pretty aggressive about certain topics. But confrontation, even low stakes like price haggling, is a problem.

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

#173

Post by _DeadFred_ »

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…

'price listed is valid for the next 5 minutes' is how imagine enshittificaiton looking here.

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

#174

Post by throwaway85825 »

Tangurena2 wrote: post #99
OptionOfT wrote: post #64

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 essent…

The fines need to be something big enough to notice. There are currently lots of stores with one price on the shelf with a higher price at the register. In the past, it would be easy for it to happen by mistake. Now it is happening so frequently & systematically at the smaller retailers - like Dollar General or Family Dollar - that it is becoming a noticeable issue for states with poorer communities. > All told, 69 o…

If a state AG is required to do something it wont happen. Only creating a private right of action changes behavior.

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

#175

Post by sfifs »

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…

If a grocery store raises shelf prices across the board to be able to give discounts to a few, it will likely to lose customer footfalls to stores that don't. Grocery globally is generally (except food deserts in high crime areas) is a hyper competitive business with very low margins. So preventing personalized price increases should be the policy priority.

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

#176

Post by djeastm »

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…

>"surveillance pricing" (which is just a scarier-sounding synonym for "dynamic pricing")

For your consideration:

>"dynamic pricing" (which is just a friendlier-sounding synonym for "surveillance pricing")

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

#178

Post by nsxwolf »

themafia wrote: post #119
nsxwolf wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> There’s hundreds of people in the store. Where are you shopping? I get groceries the most I've seen is 30 people at a time. > How will the can of peas know which price to display People are talking about facial recognition and smart phones driving this. What they're missing is that your shopping cart is likely to contain a selection of items which make it _highly unique_. Not just on the day you're shopping but acr…

Midwest Walmarts, Meijer’s, Costco etc very often have hundreds of shoppers.

So we’re going to see a price and by the time we get to the register all the prices will have changed? And that’s not going to cause a bunch of commotion and demands for price checks at the checkout?

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

#179

Post by xp84 »

lokar wrote: post #108
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…

For individual discrimination (vs neighborhood or time of day), one way would be what Macdonalds does: - raise all the prices - have an app (with an account) to give personalized discounts - use “AI” (or, just a regular program) to pick the optimal set of discounts per person, squeezing as much as you can out of them

As a person who can't help being cheap, I do use all the fast food apps, and hate the dog-slowness of each one of them. It has been really interesting though, to see immediately when someone at McD or Wendy's HQ turns the discounting knob. McDonalds turned theirs down (for me?? who knows?) years ago, and Wendy's (sometime last year?) abruptly curtailed what used to be a really worthwhile regime (often giving any of a small burger, a drink, or fries for free with purchase) to one that usually just gives $1 off an item.

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

#180

Post by xp84 »

bombcar wrote: post #159
Tangurena2 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of "discount" is so much that they must be getting a large income stream from the data. Whenever I see something where the shelf sticker claims a lower price for "digital coupon" (meaning: use their app), I put the item back onto the shelf and move on. I'm willing to use the loyalty cards, but I am not willing to allow the sort of surveillance data that phone apps provide. Margins on items at grocery store…

The dirty secret is there is no income stream from the app, and the data they recover isn't worth much. What it is is that the people who are price-conscious will clip the coupons and use the loyalty - those who are not will not.

Yup, it's that simple. And effective. As I was raised pretty poor by most people's standards, I can't help but jump through whatever annoying hoops to save a buck. But there are a lot of well-off people who would find it kind of taboo to essentially digitally "clip coupons."
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