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The new labels allow employees to change prices as often as every ten seconds.

“If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream. If there's something that’s close to the expiration date, we can lower the price — that’s the good news,” said Phil Lempert, a grocery industry analyst.

Apps like Uber already use surge pricing, in which higher demand leads to higher prices in real time. Companies across industries have caused controversy with talk of implementing surge pricing, with fast-food restaurant Wendy’s making headlines most recently. Electronic shelf labels allow the same strategy to be applied at grocery stores, but are not the only reason why retailers may make the switch.

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[-] skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I'm sure there'll be:

  • a lawsuit
  • local news coverage
  • a statement from some high up congressperson
  • a statement from the president "come on!"
  • a lengthy and expensive congressional investigation with the heads of the big three food stores where they'll ask them if they know how facebook works
  • a convoluted bill passed that is based on the rolling average price creep over x consecutive hours that's so confusing everyone just gives up and pays the surge price or starves as America tries as hard as possible to third-world our ass until Putin's Russia (or North Korea or whatever) looks like the Promised Land by comparison (Reverse Babylon AD?)
[-] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 232 points 1 week ago

If it’s hot outside we can raise the price of water…”

Holy fuck dude that’s some endgame capitalism right there.

[-] dudeami0@lemmy.dudeami.win 83 points 1 week ago

Is it price gouging if there is a heat advisory is my question, and how enforceable is that. For water it's just cruel, especially in places with little access to drinkable tap water.

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[-] satanmat@lemmy.world 45 points 1 week ago

Yes. That is actually the point. MUST maximize that profit!

Airlines do this now, as does Uber.

The tech is only just catching up for retail. This is end game capitalism hope you enjoyed the ride.

[-] Fuckfuckmyfuckingass@lemmy.world 42 points 1 week ago

They really will just fuck us to death if we let them.

[-] treadful@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 week ago

One dose of capitalism please.

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[-] CluelessLemmyng@lemmy.sdf.org 13 points 1 week ago

It's Walmart. They are one of the scummiest around. They nickel and dime everything and everyone.

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[-] ryan213@lemmy.ca 88 points 1 week ago

So what if you placed some water in your cart, walked around and then they raise the price before you check out? How does that work?

[-] frickineh@lemmy.world 80 points 1 week ago

They're going to end up with a bunch of people complaining to the manager about the price not matching the sign, which already happens, but it'll be 10x worse.

[-] transientpunk@sh.itjust.works 51 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Good. Annoy the managers until they get rid of this shit

[-] frickineh@lemmy.world 30 points 1 week ago

The thing that sucks is that the managers aren't going to be the ones with the power to do that. Then again, all of my managers were spineless as fuck when I worked in a grocery store (literally never had employees' backs), so they'll probably just do an override on the price anyway.

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[-] foggy@lemmy.world 66 points 1 week ago

There are laws in many states governing many items clearly articulating that the price cannot change during business hours/within a business day.

Hopefully the FTC revs up it's engines like it's been doing.

[-] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Hopefully the FTC revs up it's engines like it's been doing.

That depends on who is in charge of the country at any given time. Three-letter entities have a way of being hamstrung during conservative administrations.

The next time conservatives have control, though, it will likely be permanent. The FTC would certainly be dismantled.

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[-] geekworking@lemmy.world 71 points 1 week ago

Just wait until they track your phone in the stores and tie it to demographics like where you live and profession to build a financial profile to estimate how much you are able to pay. As you walk down aisles, the prices change to your price to gouge out every possible penny from you.

[-] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 40 points 1 week ago

The true cyberpunk dystopia. They ultimately want to keep you as close to destitute without actually being bankrupt as possible, that way they extract as much as possible from you at all times for as long as they can.

Capitalism will always try to get as many people as possible, to pay as much as possible, for as little as possible.

[-] Boozilla@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago

I can see this happening 100%. It's already kind of a thing in home renovation and construction. Some businesses will charge you a higher hourly labor rate if your materials are expensive. Installing tile or whatever should be the same labor rate, but they assume customers buying expensive materials "must be rich" and won't blink at paying more for labor, too. They don't all do this, of course, but it's something to watch out for (and one of many reasons you should always get multiple estimates from different contractors).

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[-] 3volver@lemmy.world 66 points 1 week ago

If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream.

If people are starving after a natural disaster, we can raise the price of everything because they're desperate and have no alternatives.

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[-] ironhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 65 points 1 week ago

How is this not considered false advertising? You go to a shelf and see your favorite snack on sale, you grab it. Finish the rest of your selections and go to check out.

By the time you get there the price of your snack is no longer what was shown on the shelf.

If it isn't false advertising, it's bait and switch.

[-] Madison420@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago

It's worse than that, if they have shelf scanners they could see cans of peas just went from 4 to 3 so they then increase price because of the demand you yourself just created.

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[-] fury@lemmy.world 60 points 1 week ago

“If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream.”

Dude actually said that out loud. Wild. Teach me how to give that little of a fuck.

[-] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 17 points 1 week ago

You know what the world needs? Surge pricing on water.

--No one, ever.

[-] Canadian_anarchist@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 week ago

I'm sure Nestle has already thought of that.

[-] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

They have a fiduciary responsibility to charge people more when they’re willing to pay more because they’re literally dying of thirst.

Or some such bullshit.

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[-] LordCrom@lemmy.world 40 points 1 week ago

Ooooo. Can't wait till a hurricane is coming and they raise the price of water and canned food.

I wonder how much price gouging will be permitted. If they can raise the price of water when it's hot then could they raise it "just enough" to not get in trouble with the state when a hurricane is coming

[-] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world 31 points 1 week ago

Price gouging is effectively legal in red states. Conservatives do not prosecute businesses for harming people for profit.

[-] sunzu@kbin.run 10 points 1 week ago

Price gouging is effectively legal in the US....

Not sure where you live but it happens everywhere and every time there is a good opportunity to make money.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 35 points 1 week ago

On the shelves, surge pricing.

Weekend evenings, pizza and beer prices skyrocket. Rest of the week evenings, staples are higher like beef, chicken, etc. Holidays, Turkey prices go up the closer to thanksgiving you get. Plastic cups, paper plates, grilling necessities go up approaching the 4th of July.

“Oh, but it’s just shortages…”

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[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 33 points 1 week ago

“If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream. If there’s something that’s close to the expiration date, we can lower the price — that’s the good news,” said Phil Lempert, a grocery industry analyst.

One half of that is good news for one party and bad news for the other and the other half is the opposite.

I think this person needs a psychological evaluation.

[-] sunzu@kbin.run 12 points 1 week ago

If there’s something that’s close to the expiration date, we can lower the price — that’s the good news

Except we know they would rather throw that shit out than sell it cheaper... maybe they will donate it.

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[-] Boozilla@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago

Potentially every 10 seconds. So you put the item in your cart at one price, and then discover it's a different price at checkout.

I hope shoppers start dumping a bunch of these back on the store, and they are forced to restock them. Would serve them right. It's the only thing that will impact it it: make it an expensive hassle for them.

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[-] faltryka@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago

This is probably a prelude to groceries getting Uber like surge pricing, and likely targeted pricing schemes too.

[-] Zahille7@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago

On one hand, this cuts down on paper/sticker waste and time spent making and printing new prices and such.

On the other, I don't like that they could just change the price whenever they feel like. Though others have said multiple states have laws against changing prices during the business day.

[-] captainjaneway@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago

Paper waste is really something that was overstated in the early 2000s. Yes paper is made from trees. But trees are renewable compared to the silicon and carbon consumed in these electronic tags. It's way more environmentally friendly to use paper.

[-] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 week ago

That would be my only concern. Like picking something up and have the price increase on my way to the register.

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[-] Jubei_K_08@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago

This is gonna suck for restockers when a lot of items get left at the cashier's because Walmarts ghouls decided to raise the price between shelf and checkout.

[-] ElderberryLow@programming.dev 16 points 1 week ago

Just gonna squeeze every last drop out of you. Every. Last. Drop.

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[-] Phoenix3875@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago
  1. Buy groceries when the price is low.
  2. Refund when the prices go up.
  3. Profit!
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[-] drunkpostdisaster@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

I don't go to walmart anymore. I think I am just going to go back and see how much I can steal.

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[-] JoshuaFalken@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

While the labels give retailers the ability to increase prices suddenly, Gallino doubts companies like Walmart will take advantage of the technology in that way.

“To be honest, I don’t think that’s the underlying main driver of this,” Gallino said. “These are companies that tend to have a long-term relationship with their customers and I think the risk of frustrating them could be too risky, so I would be surprised if they try to do that.”

Rather than seeing an opportunity to use surge pricing, Gallino says retailers are likely drawn to electronic shelf tags to ensure consistency between online and in-store pricing.

This person must live on another planet.

Sure, the prices won't be changing every six seconds, but anyone with half a mind can see these tags won't be used only when stock or expiry are a factor. The prices will be up on the weekend to start. Then later it'll be changing through the day to get higher prices between 4:00-7:00 when people are getting off work.

The arguments of no longer needing people to do yet another menial task and increasing utility of labels for consumers both have merit, but this alien even says the primary factor:

“The bottom line ... is the calculation of the amount of labor that they’re going to save by incorporating this."

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this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2024
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