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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

#211

Post by crazygringo »

brewdad wrote: post #183
crazygringo wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody will shop there then. They've tested this and consumers will go elsewhere unless you're selling super luxury goods.

In my town of 100,000 people there are four options. A universally high priced grocery, a dirt cheap, goods at our near their sell by date with the expected low quality grocery, a gas station convenience store, or a bunch of mid-tier grocers with a few different names all owned by the same parent company. Many places would dream of my "options".

Oh believe me. If that parent company was dumb enough to remove prices from items, and if that is even legal in your state, then a competitor would enter very quickly, making a big deal advertising about how it displays prices, and everyone would start doing their shopping at that competing mid-tier grocery store. Because that's how capitalism works.

You are making the fundamental mistake of thinking that the current equilibrium of local stores will continue to persist once some of the stores make a deep and fundamental change to their business. That is obviously not the case. It would create a gigantic strategic opportunity for competitors. And competitors really like finding strategic opportunities where they can make a bunch of money now where they couldn't before.

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

#212

Post by crazygringo »

chowells wrote: post #152
crazygringo wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't tell if you're implying that Wendy's was going to offer different prices to different customers "on the fly", but that wasn't the case. It was store-wide with updated prices shown clearly. Yes it could change on a daily basis, but you would also expect it to be roughly predictable because the whole point is to get more people to come in when it's cheaper. Saying that Wendy's is "pinching pennies" doesn't make…

So... you just apparate at Wendy's instantly without cost when you decide to go? Most of us aren't so lucky. We need to travel there, which takes time and resources. Sometimes we decide to go through the drive-through and there are 5 cars in front of us and soon 3 more behind us blocking us in. When prices are 20% higher than you expected when you finally get to order, do you leave and waste all that time? Do you pay…

I genuinely don't know what you're talking about.

I mean, I go to a place like McDonald's probably once a week when I'm starving and it's convenient. Their prices change all the time. The item that had a big promotion last week no longer has one this week. On the other hand, there is a new item on the menu that has a big promotion this week. And because I went to a different McDonald's today than I did last week, the prices are all different anyways, often by as much as two dollars.

You seem to be assuming that fast food prices are already known and predictable when they're not. What you usually do is decide you're in the mood for Wendy's, go there, look at the different prices and different promotions and decide what will most satisfy you while being the cheapest. Maybe you were in the mood for a bacon cheeseburger but they have a promotion where double cheeseburgers are 40% off so you get that instead.

Why you are bringing in travel time doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. And the whole point of dynamic pricing is that they want it to be somewhat predictable, so you know that if you show up at 3:30 p.m. you're going to save a couple of bucks compared to if you show up at 12:15 p.m. Like, it's not rocket science to figure out at what times a restaurant is going to be less busy.

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

#213

Post by Ritewut »

tt24 wrote: post #210
Ritewut wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to live in a food desert. Glad to know I imagined it and lived in fantasyland.

I’m sure they exist in places like Kingman. Doesn’t mean we need to structure our pricing policy around 0.001% of people

Doing the bare minimum research would tell you 6% of Americans live in a food desert and 14% live in "food insecurity" but you clearly have no interest in understanding the issue.

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

#214

Post by crazygringo »

sandworm101 wrote: post #115
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…

They remove the pricetags and replace them with a shopping ap able to track your habits and maximize your spending. This already happens online. Try getting two people to book a vacation, one on a new iphone and one using an ancient android. Prices will differ.

That's basically an urban legend about vacation prices being different between iPhones and Android. It's not a thing.

A bunch of people claimed it happened to them and it sounded sinister and plausible so it's spread a lot on social media.

But there is no actual evidence of it and lots of people, including journalists, have tried to reproduce it and failed.

And the thing is, it's really easy to pull up a flight today on an old android and see a cheap fare, and then pull it up on your Mac a day later and see it's much more expensive, and not realize that the reason for the price difference is because the cheap seats sold out and only the expensive ones are left.

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

#215

Post by chowells »

crazygringo wrote: post #212
chowells wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So... you just apparate at Wendy's instantly without cost when you decide to go? Most of us aren't so lucky. We need to travel there, which takes time and resources. Sometimes we decide to go through the drive-through and there are 5 cars in front of us and soon 3 more behind us blocking us in. When prices are 20% higher than you expected when you finally get to order, do you leave and waste all that time? Do you pay…

I genuinely don't know what you're talking about. I mean, I go to a place like McDonald's probably once a week when I'm starving and it's convenient. Their prices change all the time. The item that had a big promotion last week no longer has one this week. On the other hand, there is a new item on the menu that has a big promotion this week. And because I went to a different McDonald's today than I did last week, the…

You've never had to budget tightly, then? When I was in college, I knew what my typical order at every restaurant near campus would cost me, to the cent. It was a big deal in how I planned my days. Something costing $1 more could blow my budget for the month - and did, a few times. I can't imagine how miserable it would have been trying to balance all the various factors if prices were basically randomized.

I know a fair number of people who still have to plan to that degree. It's not a foreign idea for them. It's their daily life.

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

#216

Post by tt24 »

Ritewut wrote: post #213
tt24 wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sure they exist in places like Kingman. Doesn’t mean we need to structure our pricing policy around 0.001% of people

Doing the bare minimum research would tell you 6% of Americans live in a food desert and 14% live in "food insecurity" but you clearly have no interest in understanding the issue.

I’m aware of these numbers and find them unconvincing. Food deserts are primarily due to customers preferred choices of groceries in those areas.

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

#217

Post by Ritewut »

tt24 wrote: post #216
Ritewut wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doing the bare minimum research would tell you 6% of Americans live in a food desert and 14% live in "food insecurity" but you clearly have no interest in understanding the issue.

I’m aware of these numbers and find them unconvincing. Food deserts are primarily due to customers preferred choices of groceries in those areas.

I'm not a big "check your privilege" person but you are the definition of privileged if you actually think food deserts are because people don't want to shop at Kroger.

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

#218

Post by tt24 »

Ritewut wrote: post #217
tt24 wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m aware of these numbers and find them unconvincing. Food deserts are primarily due to customers preferred choices of groceries in those areas.

I'm not a big "check your privilege" person but you are the definition of privileged if you actually think food deserts are because people don't want to shop at Kroger.

It’s more like because they prefer to buy things like chips and soda over other options. Grocery stores then start stocking more of the former and less of the latter.
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