For the love of anything holy. Then they'll require to install a shitty app to shop at the grocery store in the first place. No, thank you
I shop at Jewel (which is currently under threat of being taken over by Kroger) and they're now doing this thing where there will be, for instance, peaches, under a huge sign showing an incredible deal. Then you look at it and realize that the price isn't discounted at all unless you install a "Jewel App" and use it to "claim" a "digital coupon."
Two major supermarkets do this in the UK now. I fucking hate it, it should be illegal. I also noticed recently a store with digital price labels. Combine the two and we're marching towards the news in the post at a breakneck speed.
Many supermarkets do adjust their prices based on the average income of the location they're in, so this isn't really different in some ways.
If you’re on the billionaire whitelist, you pay even lower than the people in poverty.
Saw an interview with a guy (on Bloomberg actually) who explained that "ability to pay" and "willingness to pay" are two different things and that the pricing system doesn't target people who have a lot of money ("ability to pay") but rather people who have fewer options.
Like, if the app knows that you don't have a car and this is the only grocery store you can walk to, you will pay a higher price.
Yikes
don't worry. prices will come down when albertsons and kroger merge. large corps are just more efficient.
They treat their workers better, too. And pay them more. /s
This way maybe a banana could cost $10
If this happens... You can bet your ass my unemployed relative is going to be the one buying all the groceries with cash.
No cash? Well it turns out the untaxed gift allowance is $18,000, or $1500/mo, more than enough for all the groceries of a large family.
So instead of taxing millionaires fairly... It's come to this.
Demonstrating the inherent contradiction of capitalism in practice.
Capitalism is allegedly the only fair way to price things, via the "Price Mechanism". However, capitalists have simultaneously been creaming their pants at the idea of charging specific people or people in specific situations more, because they can get more profit, in service of Profit Maximization.
I'm sure I'll get a lecture on how they are not at all mutually exclusive but I don't care, honestly. It's either going to price gouge when the customer is perceived to be in more need (low battery pricing for taxi apps) or have a price based on the customer's ability to pay... at which point why not socialism?
Essentially, the capitalist will support what is best for themselves and make up reasons why it theoretically might benefit consumers (but not really).
This isn’t new. Websites have had higher prices when browsed with a Mac than when browsed with Linux.
Interesting. Progressive private taxation.
All this time I thought we'd eat the rich. Turns out they'll eventually just eat each other instead.
Also known as wealth hoarding.
The rich get richer...
I think it's cute that people think the dynamic pricing is charging the poor less,
If you see someone shoplifting anything from Kroger or one of their subsidiaries, no you didn't. Now cause a distraction while that shoplifter does the Lord's work.
I would walk up to a homeless person and invite them to shop together. They can get some for themselves, and I can pay them while saving money
What the hell is wrong with these people. How the fuck isn't this illegal and punishable by life imprisonment?
Because nobody has actually done this yet, this is just a question some senators asked in a hearing. It's a weird question, but the answer doesn't necessarily seem to be "no".
I think it's more of a "You have never bought this brand, so it's going to be 50% off today because we want you to consume as much as possible and keep coming back", not "You're a gamer, so the Mtn Dew Game Fuel costs 50% more today", or "You're rich, so everything costs 3x as much".
Companies already do this with their apps, issuing coupons to try to expose certain customers to more products. Dynamic pricing just seems like a less transparent and ultimately worse way to do it. It essentially kills couponing as an art form, and I am quite good at shaving 40-60% off of a grocery bill.
If this model succeeds, I worry about what it will evolve into.
Security cameras feed goes through an AI model to classify customers into wealth bands based on appearance, and continually updates the e-ink price labels nearest each customer accordingly.
It's perfect. This is the market segmentation dream. Segment the market without having to spend the resources to create different versions of the product for each segment. Just change the price per segment! 🥰
This is why so much money is being pumped into AI. This is the future and our politicians are too old to understand any of it. It isn't sentience you should be worried about folks.
Yup too many people worry about what happens after AI gains sentience. When we need to worry about what happens before.
If this were just "it costs more to be rich" I'd be all for it, but more likely it's just about jacking up prices based on other factors. So it'll probably hit poor people, too, by charging more for things they want more, forcing them to give up other stuff they want less.
I’m ok with higher income people paying higher taxes as long it is to the benefit of society. The case in this post it is just to line the pockets of extremely rich people.
Agreed. This is not a wealth tax, this is the rich realizing that they've squeezed nearly all they can out of the lower classes. They must now pivot to squeezing the middle class harder to continue building their dragonesque hoard.
Airlines have been doing this for years.
Browser ID say you’re using a Mac? Higher price for you since you must have a higher income.
Thats not the way it will work. They will give discounts to the rich and charge the poor more. This is essentially what dollar general is. A added cost for being poor.
I'm less worried about the idea that people are charged groceries based on income and more worried based on need.
Will the person who buys cigarettes twice a day pay more than the person who pays once a fortnight because it's clear that they require it more? Will the shopper of the family of 6 pay extra because they don't have the time or energy to drive to the next place that offers groceries without this system?
Introducing this based on income seems like a sugarcoating of something far more insidious.
More like... "We have established your low ability to complain and will be raising the price.... Suck it"
Can't wait till it gets to the Health industry.... Oh, wait...
I am going to go to Kroger, speak with the manager, and scream loud enough while complaining for the entire store to hear, and never return the first time this happens.
I'm lucky enough to have options. A lot of small towns aren't. This idea needs to die fast, and it won't unless we are loud and borderline violent in pushing back against it. Tank their sales and reputations as quickly as possible.
Edit: because people think I hate th manager, changed wording. And yea, it sucks that I can't scream directly at the CEO, but if you've silent, this gets implemented with no friction at all, and they declare it a success.
The barely above minimum wage manager doesn't make these decisions and all you gain from screaming at him is bringing down the mix of everyone around you.
The best way to handle this is to not shop at Kroger. Not when they start doing it. Now. Kroger won't get my money until they publicly admit this is a bad move and walk it back before it happens.
From each according to their ability; to each according to their greed.
This seems like it should be illegal.
"If you're starving, we'll use an API with your bank to charge you $10 more than your entire net worth. In that moment we'll offer you a credit card with a 37% adjustable interest rate that only adjusts up to cover the overage (but credit card takes 6-8 business days to process, so you will go over). We'll then be left with no choice but to also process an overdraft fee on your bank account with daily penalties for the overage since you are being irresponsible.
And we'll use AI to generate a picture of everyone you love in a room laughing at you, because fuck you. By overdrafting, you triggered a clause in our user agreement (that you agreed to) which states that we can charge you whatever we think it's fair for that picture. The picture will then regenerate each month, indefinitely, on an auto subscription, unless you cancel by hand delivering a paper cancellation form to our cancellation office in Guam."
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