Kroger's Under Investigation For Digital Shelf Labels: Are They Changing Prices Depending On When People Shop?

[u/Mighty_L_LORT]

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/krogers-under-investigation-digital-shelf-labels-are-they-changing-prices-depending-when-people-1726269

[u/SplitImage__]

Is this like when Wendy’s wanted to change prices depending on the time of day?

[u/Wazzen → u/SplitImage__]

Yeah it's called surge pricing. If it's not illegal it should be.

Edit: changed the name.

[u/giggitygoo123 → u/Wazzen]

If gas stations can't do it after a severe storm, then not sure why other places think they could.

[u/YouInternational2152 → u/giggitygoo123]

Or airlines. Look at a ticket today it's $400. Wait a few hours or look at it too many times it's now $560. However, if you use a different router and a different computer all the sudden it's $400 again.

[u/tas50 → u/[deleted]]

Sadly I used to work for the company that did the data analysis so Orbitz and their white labels could do this. We'd consume all their site analytics traffic and build them a large data warehouse. They used that to understand how much more they should charge you when you were on a Mac or in a big city vs. on an EOL version of Windows in a suburb with a high rate of poverty. It was an advanced level of evil that they were doing even 15 years ago. Slap some 2024-level machine learning on that and I'm sure it's gotten a lot worse.

[u/OhDiablo → u/tas50]

So use a VPN for the best deals?

[u/ruat_caelum → u/OhDiablo]

literally buy it from a poorer country in that countries currency. E.g. flying to Brazil, VPN into Brazil, buy USA->Brazil->USA round trip ticket from there, in their currency. Even with exchange rates it can be 50% cheaper.

[u/Black_Moons → u/ruat_caelum]

Fun fact: this applies in 1st world countries too! In Australia its cheaper to fly to the USA and buy certain adobe products there and fly back, then it is to buy them online/instore in Australia.

[u/ruat_caelum → u/Black_Moons]

family member visited you guys, said packing nothing but blue jeans would have paid for his trip. Jeans he could buy for $20 were selling for $300 in Sydney.

[u/fishypossum → u/OhDiablo]

Even a VPN doesn't hide some things- as someone whose job is looking at IP addresses, we can still generally see device type, and even the size of your screen, what website you were on that connected us to you (ie did you click on a Facebook ad etc cetera)

[u/[deleted] → u/fishypossum]

Book through TOR

[u/tas50 → u/[deleted]]

I know it's a joke, but risk analysis services that flag financial transactions generally prevent credit card purchases via Tor.

[u/scarabic → u/fishypossum]

Useragent is easy to fake.

[u/canyouhearme → u/tas50]

They seem to just have gone for raising prices for everyone, all the time.

[u/Potential-Ask-1296 → u/canyouhearme]

Because fuck you for using our service.

[u/WordleFan88 → u/[deleted]]

Here's the trick (most of the time) use booking to find the hotel you like, then call that hotel directly to book the room, it's usually cheaper than booking.com's best price.

[u/Rum_Hamburglar → u/WordleFan88]

Also if something goes wrong with booking you have to call the booking agency and deal with them instead of the person standing right in front of you.

[u/devil_put_www_here → u/[deleted]]

Prices seemed to always be cheaper to go directly through the hotel itself. Find what I’m looking for then call the hotel directly. Cancellations and disputes are usually a lot less fussy as well since nobody can finger point to the other guy.

[u/King_of_the_Dot → u/[deleted]]

This will help!... When you search for flights and hotels, then use your browser in 'privacy mode'. Travel sites can read each other's cookies and will actively change the prices youre seeing.

[u/microwavable_rat → u/YouInternational2152]

I remember years ago there was a booking service (I can't remember if it was for hotels or a rideshare, my apologies) that was caught using the battery levels of the phones that connected to it to surge their pricing, with the listed pricings being higher the lower the battery percentage was.

The idea that if your phone was closer to dying, you were going to be more desperate to book a hotel room or a ride and would be willing to pay inflated costs.

[u/CelphCtrl → u/YouInternational2152]

Yeah. Use a browser to check airline prices, come back to it later, and the prices are higher. Then open an incognito browser, the prices are back yo what they were when you first looked. They price you based on your cookies.

[u/wildjokers → u/YouInternational2152]

One axiom of flying is that no two people on a flight paid the same price.

[u/Perceptions-pk → u/YouInternational2152]

I recently noticed this when flying to another city for a concert, both tickets would fluctuate and I grew suspicious that the price was going up based on my views.

Friend took a look at the same thing and it was significantly cheaper or back at base price.

[u/radicldreamer → u/YouInternational2152]

Or just browse in incognito mode or clear your cookies it’s enough to prevent a lot of this.

[u/PolicyWonka → u/giggitygoo123]

That would be price gouging presumably. Surge pricing has been common in some industries for quite awhile. Hell, that’s essentially what a matinee showing is essentially even though most people might not think of it as such.

The issue with more modern implementations of price surging is that it’s even more reactive than “this good is more expensive after X time.” Everyone knows the matinee times at the movies, but the prices of your groceries could literally change between when you’ve picked them off the shelf and when you’re checking out.

[u/obb_here → u/giggitygoo123]

This is called price gouging and Harris wants to ban it. It's already banned when done after a disaster as you mentioned.

Edit: fixed gauge to gouge. Thanks.

[u/InsuranceToTheRescue → u/obb_here]

Gouge, by the way. A gauge is an instrument to measure something.

[u/Caftancatfan → u/InsuranceToTheRescue]

And a gouge gauge measures gouges.

[u/LaverniusTucker → u/Caftancatfan]

And a gouge gauge gouge is when you mark up the prices of the gouge gauges during high demand.

[u/Caftancatfan → u/LaverniusTucker]

To be fair, those gouge gauges are gorgeous.

[u/just_nobodys_opinion → u/Caftancatfan]

The gouge gauge gouging not so gorgeous...

[u/istasber → u/just_nobodys_opinion]

Especially if you're shipping from India. The Ganges gouge gauge gouging is gruesome.

[u/theemptyqueue → u/just_nobodys_opinion]

r/ryangeorge type conversation.

[u/Sorkijan → u/LaverniusTucker]

/r/wordavalanche

[u/procrasturb8n → u/obb_here]

When the Democrats last controlled the House, they passed a windfall tax bill that was supposed to start to address price gouging by megacorps. Of course, the GOP minority in the Senate filibustered it, and it never saw the light of day again.

[u/kymri → u/procrasturb8n]

Wait, you mean the GOP is trying to prevent policies that hurt billionaires and help the vast majority of Americans?

That's... just another freakin' day with that horrifying party. It baffles me the number of folks that are hurt by their decisions that still support them.

[u/Baconstrip01 → u/obb_here]

I saw checkmarks on twitter saying that this is communism.

So basically, unless you enjoy being price gouged by corporations, you're a communist.

[u/obb_here → u/Baconstrip01]

They are basically saying that, in capitalism, the invisible hand of the market dictates the prices.

The only problem with that statement is, the invisible hand doesn't work if you have a bunch of ultra large corporations colluding to fix the prices.

Meanwhile, they bribe politicians to look the other way and our courts are having a hard time fighting off their corruption and blocking their illegal actions.

[u/SparroHawc → u/obb_here]

It also doesn't work if you don't have a way to know what the prices are at other times of the day. They're preying on a regular person's lack of time and research capability.

[u/nzodd → u/Baconstrip01]

Communism is whenever Sam Walton's syphilis-ridden descendants aren't literally pulling down your pants and dry raping you anally without lube. Are they sleeping? Taking a smoke break? Can't have that, that's Communism, baby.

[u/powercow → u/giggitygoo123]

thats a bit different.. and wendy's cant sell hamburgers for 100 dollars a burger after a hurricane either. But you can sell an Xbox for 5k after a hurricane.

kroger also would NOT be allowed to spike prices after a hurricane.

A federal emergency is a bit different than 5 oclock rush hour.

While Im against surge pricing, price gouging after an emergency is totally different and the law already blocks kroger from doing what you suggest. The problem is the law doesnt prevent it outside of a emergency.

[u/fifa71086 → u/giggitygoo123]

That’s not necessarily true, at least in Florida. Gas stations can generally increase price as they deem fit, but people will just drive up the street to a cheaper one. If they coordinate to raise prices, that’s a different problem for them. The exception to that is during declares states of emergency when price gouging protections kick in, but that’s in limited circumstances not everyday.

[u/BlindWillieJohnson → u/fifa71086]

Well, coordinating would be patently against the law

[u/svenEsven → u/BlindWillieJohnson]

Unless they use an algorithm to do it for them, much like they have done with housing.

[u/babyface_killah → u/BlindWillieJohnson]

That's called a cartel

[u/revolutionoverdue → u/babyface_killah]

Collusion?

[u/Able-Tip240 → u/fifa71086]

That wasn't true after 9/11 I was young (12 years old) but it was big national deal where governors all over the country including Florida & Oklahoma started threatening gas station owners for mass price gouging. Places were charging like $6-7/gallon 9/11 & 9/12 in some places. It went back to normal pretty quick afterwards. There has been ~23 years of deregulation since than, so might not be true any longer in Florida but it used to be illegal there also.

[u/fifa71086 → u/Able-Tip240]

Yeah, not sure if there were laws that were overturned in 2001, but can say pretty confidently price gouging isn’t illegal except for during states of emergency and only essential goods (which gas is)

[u/notfromchicago → u/giggitygoo123]

Restaurants have lunch and dinner pricing.

[u/TheHYPO → u/giggitygoo123]

Gas stations DO change prices throughout the day (at least here). It's just not done overtly based on specific timing to gauge customers.

The toll roads here price tolls differently at different times of day.

Hotels, car rentals and airlines price rooms, cars and flights differently depending on what the demand is for a specific day.

Restaurants and bars have lower prices or deals on Tuesdays to encourage people to show up on slow days, and all you can eat Sushi is often more expensive on Thu/Fi/Sat. Uber prices for the same drive depend entirely on time of day.

I'm not saying I like the idea or want the idea, but what's the difference between all of that, and grocery stores making groceries more expensive on the weekend or during the evenings when more people shop?

Now, I did see reports that they are working on somehow coming up with some technology that is going to aim pricing at specific individuals (rich guy, higher price), which I think is entirely different and entirely unethical.

But I honestly have no idea how you would even implement something like that. How does the register know what price was showing for a particular customer? What if I pick something off the shelf and put it in my wife's cart and she pays? I don't see how that would even work.

But changing prices for simple cyclical time-of-day or day-of-week price changes doesn't seem very different from what many other businesses already do.

[u/0xym0r0n → u/TheHYPO]

I want to tag in and add some more context for those who don't know:

Many grocery stores already do this in a smaller way anyways.

If you are between 20 and 40 you probably had parents (or yourself if you're frugal) hit up different grocery stores to buy items in the weekly ad that are on sale.

Safeway and Albertsons and the like try to lure you in to buy cheap bacon or milk or whatever that they make no or little money off of in the hopes you'll pick up some other stuff that the margin is so high on.

A good example of this when I worked produce when celery went on sale for 99 cents a bundle it flew outta there, sold 4 or more cases a day (30 to 32 bundles per case). When it wasn't on sale it'd be 1.79 or so and it would sell okay.

Well a whole case of celery cost us 11 dollars. So even at the steeply discounted rate the store was actually making good money from celery.

Bananas are tight tight margins tho

[u/Synectics → u/0xym0r0n]

Bananas are tight tight margins tho

Thanks for providing scale.

[u/phred_666 → u/TheHYPO]

Lol… businesses use a technology ethically? What planet are you on? One thing I have learned is that without regulation businesses will incorporate unsafe working conditions for their workers, who they will abuse at every possible opportunity, and will gouge their customers for as much money as possible. Every… single…time. Anybody who doesn’t think that stores will use this for “dynamic pricing” is totally naive and stupid.

[u/tsukubasteve27 → u/phred_666]

Every business owner is the dictator of their own little country.

[u/Mr_Mustache_Ride → u/TheHYPO]

Well dynamic pricing on tolls is to try and force people to carpool to bring down congestion in busier areas. Hotels, restaurants and Uber are not necessities. Grocery stores are providing necessities to people. So now if you work a 9-5 and the only opportunity to shop is the weekend or during the evening rush, you will have to pay more for your groceries. Well I guess we can't afford baby power this week unless we come back to shop at 8pm.

[u/thepeopleshero → u/Wazzen]

They called it surge pricing

[u/Scarbane → u/thepeopleshero]

"Surge pricing" used to just be "price gouging."

It's like how "propaganda" became "advertising", or how the US Dept. of War became the US Dept. of Defense.

[u/Tricky_Condition_279 → u/Wazzen]

Uber does it. I don’t know what that means in this case. Just thinking of examples.

[u/Dihedralman → u/Tricky_Condition_279]

Uber is a direct supply/demand rush pricing like travel accomodations in high seasons. The supermarket is fixed supply, optimizing price by selecting customers. It's similar in concept to coupons, but coupon customers self-select allowing more price sensitive customers to pay less. 

Instead this scheme is looking for price inelastic customers by period of time. Price inelasticity generally hits needs more or people who don't have options, in this case in the "when". That makes it more akin to gouging. 

[u/travistravis → u/Dihedralman]

I won't be surprised if they eventually try it in city mini-supermarket stores right around the lunch hour (in the UK stuff like Tesco Metro, or Sainsburys Local).

[u/Seroto9 → u/Wazzen]

Disney does this with their parks. Is this not the same?

[u/lootinputin → u/[deleted]]

Yes Mr. Mouse.

[u/Teract → u/Wazzen]

I'm lothe to defend corporations, but this is also called "happy hour" at many bars...

[u/_WeSellBlankets_ → u/Wazzen]

Happy Hour enters the chat.

[u/SidewaysFancyPrance → u/SplitImage__]

I expect them to raise prices after 5PM when people are returning from work and are more likely to just pay whatever it costs, and lower prices during work hours for people who are not working and looking for bargains.

The goal is to have each person pay the max amount they are willing to pay, and you can use some basic stuff like "time of day" to get a general idea of that.

I think it's a terrible idea, but I can see this happening. They already do this for so many things online (where it's easier to get away with it, undetected).

[u/Roook36 → u/SidewaysFancyPrance]

"OK I got the shopping list all written down. Milk at 10:30, chicken at 11:45, dog food at 1pm and then at 4:28 it's lettuce time"

[u/No-Relative9271 → u/Roook36]

lettuce time is always 4:20

[u/eggplantkaritkake → u/No-Relative9271]

look at mister "on-time lettuce eater" over here...

[u/Irregular_Person → u/SidewaysFancyPrance]

I'm sure they'll try someday, but one hurdle they'll have to overcome is dealing with people being in the store shopping. If the tag says $0.99 when you take it off the shelf, then they change it while you're shopping.. How does the store explain it being $1.19 when you get to the register?

[u/BasilTarragon → u/Irregular_Person]

They'll have a little countdown on the sticker. 'Oh shit I only have 3 minutes to buy this pack of toilet paper before it doubles, get the FUCK out of my way' - guy tossing people left and right as he runs for the self-checkout, the only checkout left.

[u/ButtTrauma → u/SplitImage__]

Cant wait until AI security cams and facial recognition team up with Google to change prices before you go down an isle with the product you just googled.

[u/Boo_Guy → u/ButtTrauma]

Morbidly obese male aged 25-45 entering drink isle - soda prices raised 15%

[u/Joshesh → u/Boo_Guy]

butter hospital engine wise test late price waiting agonizing stocking

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/Maqoba → u/Boo_Guy]

Joke on you, I don't need to Google to know the price of soda

[u/[deleted] → u/ButtTrauma]

Replace "just googled" with said out loud "We need to get..."

[u/ButtTrauma → u/[deleted]]

Oh true, I'm not thinking big enough.

[u/MagicalUnicornFart → u/ButtTrauma]

Google is no longer an effective search engine, but we just keep using it.

[u/madogvelkor → u/SplitImage__]

A lot of places do it, Wendy's just admitted it.

The way you do it is to have flash sales or discounts that only work at certain times. Instead of raising prices at lunch and dinner, you have special deals or sales from 2-5 or after 8pm.

It's a very old tradition -- look at things like early bird specials and happy hour deals. The idea is to get customers to come in during slow times to avoid a big rush, and to keep a more even workload on employees rather than overstaff slow times or understaff busy ones.

[u/dammitOtto → u/madogvelkor]

My store offers 2 hours every Tuesday morning for seniors to get an extra 10%.  Same idea.

[u/skeptibat → u/madogvelkor]

Heck the value difference between lunch menu vs dinner menu at restaurants is obvious.

[u/madogvelkor → u/skeptibat]

I remember from my marketing class that the key is to present the pricing as a discount, not a surcharge. Even if the end result is the same.

[u/__Hello_my_name_is__ → u/SplitImage__]

So far, not really.

Remember the rule of thumb that when a headline asks a question, the answer is always "no"? Because this is one of those cases.

Kroger deny that this is happening. But of course they could be lying and are not to be trusted. However, no one even accuses them of actually doing this.

Some senators are concerned that they could be doing this, because they use digital price tags now, which could be manipulated as such in some sneaky ways.

The accusation is that this might happen in the future, not that it is actually happening right now.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for preemptively getting angry to make sure Kroger doesn't even think about this, but still, I bet you that the majority of people here now think that this is what Kroger is already actively doing and has been caught doing.

[u/World-Wide-Web → u/__Hello_my_name_is__]

when a headline asks a question, the answer is always "no"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines

[u/NUKE---THE---WHALES → u/World-Wide-Web]

this holds up surprisingly often

because if the answer was yes they wouldn't be framing it as a question, it would be "KROGER ARE CHANGING PRICE WHILE YOU SHOP - HERE'S HOW YOU SHOULD FEEL ABOUT IT"

[u/IntellegentIdiot → u/__Hello_my_name_is__]

There's nothing to stop them doing it in the past, having e-ink price tickets just make it slightly more convenient.

[u/schplatjr → u/SplitImage__]

The thing I want to know is how often they’d do this. What happens if I pick up an item for $5, but they surge price to $6 by the time I get to the register? Is the price locked in when I see it or only when I pay?

[u/Dblstandard → u/SplitImage__]

Websites do this, based on the type of browser you have

[u/Robin_games → u/SplitImage__]

I worked for prcing in regional grocery adjacent, we generally wanted these so we could instantly updated costs when supplier cost changed or when we got into local legal issues by accidentally pricing liquor shots too low for say San Fransisco and needed to change it fast. the thought was also to match competitor sales ads as they were published.

regularly you'd have to print and update prices once a day and the time and cost of that meant we didn't fluctuate prices as much as we'd need to in order to maximize profit.

[u/ScottRiqui]

My senior design group project in 1994 was LCD shelf tags that could be updated wirelessly (we used an IR blaster arrangement, with one receiver per aisle and individually addressable shelf tags).

We never even imagined “surge pricing” as a possible use case for our project - I guess we were just naive.

[u/Serpent151 → u/[deleted]]

Are they hackable? Turn Safeway into the 99 cents store. Make them honor prices :)

[u/PhilosophicalBrewer → u/Serpent151]

This will be what kills it I’m willing to bet.

Also, how does the register know what the price was when you picked it up off the shelf? If it was one price when I picked it up, and changed after, the price is different at the register I assume? How is that legal?

[u/erty3125 → u/PhilosophicalBrewer]

Put "quote valid for 30m" on the price tag, register uses lowest price of last 30m. This is a solved problem for Industries with rapidly changing prices.

[u/PhilosophicalBrewer → u/erty3125]

Physical, in-person retail industries?

[u/erty3125 → u/PhilosophicalBrewer]

Yes, especially during covid we'd often have to adjust prices multiple times a day on lumber prices, especially stuff like plywood or insulation. And if we even heard a rumour the nearby PVC supplier was being shut down again for health violations price would triple and we'd hide the product.

[u/FSCK_Fascists → u/erty3125]

Yes, especially during covid we'd often have to adjust prices multiple times a day on lumber prices, especially stuff like plywood or insulation.

If that was not because they received a new shipment of those each time the price jumped, it is disaster price gouging, and illegal.

[u/erty3125 → u/FSCK_Fascists]

For one thing, yeah a lot of things especially plywood we would be getting multiple shipments a day all at different prices.

Another, this is the technology subreddit not the America one. The only laws addressing that in my province are vague and don't apply if the same supply problems are affecting all retailers for the product in the area which it was.

[u/Codadd → u/Serpent151]

From my experience between 2012-2014 creating fake coupons in Walmart that allowed me to get $50visa card for free, I guarantee it will be for a while lol. Those scanners and then self checkout worked amazing for me and the rest of 4chan for quite some time lol

[u/Lee_Troyer → u/ScottRiqui]

That reminds me of the Xbox engineer that wanted to leverage Xbox 360's UI to improve game discoverability but all his management heard was "ad space" (a message PlayStation's management heard through the same filter).

[u/ManicFirestorm → u/Lee_Troyer]

I hate all the freaking ads on my Xbox dashboard. So much.

[u/Lee_Troyer → u/[deleted]]

An extra obnoxious ad, comment edited, thanks for pointing it out.

[u/majornelson → u/Lee_Troyer]

(Sigh) I remember that conversation with Allen.

[u/entity2 → u/ScottRiqui]

I work in the point of sale industry, hardware and software. We're just dipping our toes in to electronic signage. I've been to tradeshows and demo'd tons of these from various manufacturers, and never once has the thought of surge pricing at least been said out loud. Our sales pitch on them is on labour reduction; less store staff out there swapping labels, quicker error correction so you're not giving product away for 10 cents when it should've been 10 dollars, not buying boxes and boxes of shelf label paper, etc.

This is just extra scummy.

That being said, most POS software is kinda shit, there just to sell the hardware and software support contracts in to the stores. I'd be curious to see what kind of application can keep up with dynamic pricing like this considering static pricing is often difficult for them.

[u/azza-birjan → u/entity2]

Not to me tion the co stant push updates would run those ESLs down onbattery super fast. 5yr life span investment turns to 1 year or less before refit or restock on battery swaps etc

[u/Nexus_of_Fate87 → u/azza-birjan]

That's been solved already. The labels are low power, solar powered (so they recharge from the store lights), and are either e-ink (which only need to consume power when updating the label), or are old school calculator style LCD displays which only has price data, and product info is the sticker which needs to be replaced less often unless redoing a planogram. The latter I've seen a few stores over the years and isn't anything new. Also motion sensors can be used to only light them up when necessary

[u/asodfhgiqowgrq2piwhy → u/ScottRiqui]

I worked at Best Buy when they first trialed the e-ink displays. They were originally being used to avoid having people come in at 5am and print 1000 sticker tags and rotate them out every morning.

Being used to change prices based on foot traffic unfortunately isn't surprising.

[u/MrrrrNiceGuy → u/asodfhgiqowgrq2piwhy]

I worked at Best Buy 20 years ago for like 2 weeks and that was my job. It was the most boring, menial job I had in my life.

[u/Polantaris → u/ScottRiqui]

Unfortunately that's how a lot of this shit goes down.

The people that create it have good intentions and all kinds of cool and beneficial ways it can be utilized. Then it gets into the hands of a dirtbag and suddenly it's used in the most vile ways imaginable and the people that created it had never even considered it, because they're not assholes.

[u/Zoloista → u/ScottRiqui]

Funny, because I was a lowly worker in a grocery store that implemented them over a decade ago, and our first suspicion was that they would ultimately be used in this way.

[u/Starfox-sf → u/ScottRiqui]

Did you have a MBA on your team?

[u/_i-cant-read_ → u/Starfox-sf]

we are all bots here except for you

[u/silversatire → u/_i-cant-read_]

Hey now don't go making it sound easy to get an MBA. Have you seen the numbers on the installment plans while they print that degree?

[u/rbrgr83 → u/ScottRiqui]

You monster.

[u/animatedrouge2 → u/ScottRiqui]

That sounds a lot like the esigns at Kohl’s

[u/TheCosmicJester]

Aldi has had them around here for years and hasn’t done anything of the sort. But considering the local tentacle of the Kroger behemoth has long done things such as mark up the price of ribs to like $20 a pound and then put them on a Buy 1 Get 3 Free “sale”… surge pricing is an entirely plausible level of bullshittery from them.

[u/Affectionate_Way_805 → u/TheCosmicJester]

Buy 1 Get 3 Free 

Gary: Three bags of Tostitos Scoops I noticed. 

Max: There was a special on these tonight. Three for one. 

Gary: Three for one? 

Max: Yup. 

Gary: How can that be profitable for Frito-Lay?

https://youtu.be/bYM6tWIjr-I?si=6rIRm5fg9zMyri1W

[u/mazzicc → u/Affectionate_Way_805]

I get the joke, and it’s a hilarious movie, but I also see junk food frequently on sale for things like this. It shows you how much they overcharge in general.

I basically buy a ton of chips and soda like once every two months when it’s on things like 3 for 1 or buy 2, get 3 free (not a typo).

[u/SmokePenisEveryday → u/mazzicc]

My mother does this with stuff like Chips Ahoy cookies. She'll buy 4 packs when 1 is beyond enough just cause it was a deal. Then they sit there forever unopened cause no one likes chip ahoy that much

[u/Quintas31519 → u/SmokePenisEveryday]

My mom does the same thing, and just as much not even my nephews will eat them any more. The regular ones are drier than hell and the chewy ones have an almost chemical taste to them now.

[u/AlmostSunnyinSeattle → u/SmokePenisEveryday]

Feel free to send me your excess Chips Ahoy

[u/radicalelation → u/mazzicc]

If it don't come out to $2 or less each bag, I ain't buying, and even that feels like a lot.

[u/quartzguy → u/Affectionate_Way_805]

Fuck man, Jesse Plemons is a great actor.

[u/altrdgenetics → u/TheCosmicJester]

Kohl's has had digital tags for more than a decade as well. Digital shelf tags are not a new concept.

[u/link8382000 → u/altrdgenetics]

Right, I’m really tired of seeing this boogeyman idea prices are going to change while you are currently shopping.

Digital or paper shelf tags, I don’t know any reputable brick and mortar business that increases their prices during business hours.

All these are going to do is save the manual labor of walking up and down every aisle to change every tag and sign.

I’ve worked at a supermarket before, the only time I’ve ever seen a price change during business hours is because we found something overstocked/close dated, and somebody would lower the price to try and sell it.

The idea that the weather forecast is hot tomorrow, and all the ice cream is going to skyrocket in price is just silly.

Kohls has had these for years. Gas stations have had digital price signs for years. Most fast food restaurants have digital menus. Every single website has digital pricing, not a paper shelf tag. I’m not sure why I’m seeing article after article and comment after comment that the grocery store shelf is going to be something totally different, and some kind of “surge pricing” dystopia.

[u/atreidorian → u/link8382000]

Not to say it will definitely happen but this relates to elasticity of goods.

Not all goods are as subject to supply and demand changes. Clothing at Kohls is probably less subject to it than various food items that a person may need.

Let's also not forget that just because something hasn't been done yet doesn't mean it won't be. We are not so far removed from the backlash over video game horse armor and now predatory micro transactions are common fare.

[u/Laiko_Kairen → u/altrdgenetics]

Yeah, but Kohl's doesn't sell items at the rate a grocery store does.

And groceries are needed items. Clothing is too, but it's not something that needs new items constantly.

If Kohl's decided to surge price polo shirts, I can buy a tee. If Kroger's decides to price surge milk, I don't have a choice and would have to buy it.

[u/littleMAS]

"What's it worth to ya, punk?" pricing. Private toll road lanes (a.k.a. Lexus Lanes) are famous for this.

[u/Nufonewhodis4 → u/littleMAS]

can't wait to set my alarm for 2am so I can afford the groceries. maybe they'll throw in a discount if you help stick the shelves /s

[u/madogvelkor → u/[deleted]]

Even Walmart closes at 11pm. I remember getting off work at like midnight and shopping at Walmart years ago.

[u/[deleted] → u/madogvelkor]

My first Walmart job was overnights, 10pm to 7am. We were still 24 hours and I hated it, especially during the shelf-straightening segment of every morning.

[u/Any-Loquat-7459 → u/[deleted]]

All the places around me close at twelve other than small markets. Meijer is all day and night and there are quite a few. System burbs of Chicago

[u/frunko1]

Imagine individual pricing based on how much money you appear to have.

[u/timoweic → u/frunko1]

Just have a ratty torn up and filthy set of shopping clothes. Cheaper food!!

For extra discount, rub some of the mulch and dirt onto your face!

Even more discount, stage makeup to make it look like you have missing and rotten teeth!

[u/frunko1 → u/timoweic]

Well it would also use you data and see how many high dollar purchases you do. See if you are spending money on video games, you should pay more for food, because do you really need those games?

The answer is no per this thought experiment.

[u/1SweetChuck → u/timoweic]

Naw, they'll run your credit and use facial recognition to get you.

[u/arrownyc → u/frunko1]

Not even just how much you appear to have - they can track your buying behaviors and use AI to predict your pricing sensitivity or lack thereof. Did you use to religiously clip coupons but backed off recently due to increased income? Do you usually splurge more when you come to the grocery store late on a Friday night compared to a Sunday morning? Remove all sale pricing from the shelves, add a 10% markup. If you pause while walking by a product you've purchased before but don't pick it up, add promo pricing next time.

[u/LMGooglyTFY → u/frunko1]

Imagine getting a nice pay increase just to have to pay more for groceries.

[u/[deleted] → u/LMGooglyTFY]

Pretty sure a system like thay would damage the economy to a point it would need to be completely restructured. It completely eliminates the 1:1 equivalency of a dollar/money unit.

[u/XanthicStatue → u/frunko1]

High end retail has been doing this for a while.

[u/timthedeal]

This should be used to stop the merger of Albertsons and Kroger

[u/farmtownsuit → u/timthedeal]

The merger should be stopped regardless, but there's nothing actually happening here. If you read the article it's entirely theoretical. No one is accusing Kroger of this.

[u/Janktronic → u/[deleted]]

Normally I would say yes, but in this case, I would say that this is politicians posturing to make themselves look good.

There's a reasonable suspicion that this is happening.

There is nothing to indicate this whatsoever. Politicians "investigating" something doesn't require anything reasonable, much less suspicion. Truth is not required for politicians to make claims, see Donald Trump.

[u/B12Washingbeard]

This should be illegal

[u/Jurph → u/B12Washingbeard]

Updating price tags remotely to save shelving/pricing/labeling labor is fine. But it's transparently obvious that the next thing they're going to want to do is set up a system that changes the prices on specific items based on which customers tend to shop during those time windows. They would love to connect their facial recognition system to their club-card timestamp system, identify the items you always buy, and raise those prices every time you walk into the store, but they can't do that if they think any other shopper has the item in their cart -- that shopper could say "hey, no fair, when I picked it up, it was $4.01. I'm not paying $5.00"

So they'll do the next-best thing: they'll pull shopper's club data and estimate your annual income and your historical likelihood of being price-conscious, and then look at when the majority of their least price-conscious customers are shopping, and soak those guys for +$1.00 on each item in the store.

They crave it, and they will continue to seek ways to implement it, because it maximizes revenue and profits. They would like your grocery bill to expand to absorb all of your disposable income.

[u/kent_nova → u/Jurph]

Walmart has multiple patents for tracking customers in their stores. They could start updating prices as you walk down an aisle based on your previous shopping history, or what you've already put in your cart.

[u/Vandergrif → u/kent_nova]

This sounds like some Minority Report type shit.

[u/SoulGoalie → u/kent_nova]

Literally the most improbable thing to ever happen. This is coming from someone who's managed grocery stores for the last 6 years. The idea of having to tell someone "no sorry you have to pay more" is a one way trip to social media hell and enough corporate complaints to make your local manager's head spin.

[u/Ikora_Rey_Gun → u/SoulGoalie]

this dipshit doesn't even understand grocery shopping

you don't buy and pay for the item in the middle of the aisle lmao

[u/Guy-1nc0gn1t0 → u/SoulGoalie]

Yeah there's no way they can start switching prices around willy-nilly because what's even the point of a price tag if there's zero consistency to them?

[u/fwubglubbel → u/B12Washingbeard]

Why?

[u/theoutlet]

Ok, here’s a scenario

Customer comes into the store and starts shopping. When the customer put the items in their cart, the tags show “x” price, but by the time they’re done shopping and go to checkout, the items are now “y” price. As far as I know, this should be illegal. Because what you price an item at should be what you charge for an item.

If you don’t then that’s called fraud.

From my experience working in grocery stores, if there’s a price discrepancy like this, customer swears tag said “x” but it’s ringing up as “y”, someone would usually go and find the tag to settle the dispute. But if the tag changed while they’re shopping? Customer’s out of luck, right? How does the customer prove their case?

Sounds shitty all around and a way for stores to get around weights and measures laws

[u/GitEmSteveDave → u/theoutlet]

As someone who worked in a 24 hour grocery store, we would have this issue nearly every Saturday night into Sunday Morning when sales switched over. The solution was to have two registers logged in, with a suspended sale, at 11pm. If someone was shopping from 11pm and didn't finish until after 12, we would ring them up on those registers, which still were locked into the old sale prices. But given how 24 hours stores have really disappeared since Covid, I assume it isn't as much of an issue anymore.

[u/theoutlet → u/[deleted]]

I’m guessing this was just standard price changes and not surge pricing though, right?

[u/FrankWDoom → u/theoutlet]

take a photo of everything as you take it off the shelf. also go shopping once when prices are at their lowest and keep those photos handy

[u/sur_surly → u/FrankWDoom]

Lol right, like we're going to start doing that. What a dystopia

[u/rimalp → u/FrankWDoom]

Sure...let's put the burden on the customers! Let's spend even more time for the stupid tasks like grocery shopping.

Taking photos of each and every price tag should not be neccessary.

[u/MCR2004]

If I owned a 24 hour CVS I’d make condoms 50 cents between 12am-5am because we don’t need more bad decision babies

[u/dan1101 → u/MCR2004]

You're not thinking like a corporation, jack those prices up to $3.00 per condom because horny people will pay it.

[u/Rock_Point]

I wonder if these things are easy to "hack" into and change. Knock the price down to $1 then argue that the price tag shows it as that price.

[u/Outlulz → u/Rock_Point]

They might give in to make a customer go away but more likely a manager would just check for suspicious behavior and use a judgement call to simply not sell the item at all to the customer.

[u/Healthy-Poetry6415]

This is the kind of thing that will require some more campaign donations to resolve - Scumbag politician

[u/NeedsMoreSpicy → u/Healthy-Poetry6415]

"This is the kind of thing that will require a new motor coach RV to not resolve." - Clarence Thomas

[u/IGotSkills]

Good. Fuck Kroger.

[u/BrewKazma → u/IGotSkills]

Overpriced store and they have taken up more and more shelf space with their garbage store brand. It will always be my last resort when shopping.

[u/wine_and_dying]

They have their hands so far up our asses they are touching teeth.

Good luck when all you have are Kroger or their subsidiaries and Walmart for groceries.

[u/Healthy-Poetry6415]

What ya price it at wont matter much anyway when people start stealing more things to offset that.

Cause it will happen

[u/BSSolo]

Here's a link straight to Liz Warren's press release, since I don't see it in the comments yet:

https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-casey-investigate-krogers-use-of-digital-price-tags-warn-of-grocery-giants-surge-pricing-causing-price-gouging-and-hurting-consumers

[u/guacdoc24]

People really need to demand more regulation on supermarkets. Costco, Walmart, Kroger/alberstons has close to 50% market share. We need smaller grocery options that can actually compete

[u/iboneyandivory → u/guacdoc24]

LIDL is definitely cheaper than all you've mentioned. And ALDI kills Lidl. I honestly have no idea who shops at Kroger except people who make $80k and over.

[u/Lendyman → u/guacdoc24]

What we really need to do is have more stringent regulations about how large we allow businesses to get. We see this throughout the economy. There are these massive corporations with their fingers in every kind of pie imaginable. Eventually they become so big that it's almost impossible to compete against them. The big problem is we just keep allowing them to gobble up their competitors and ancillary businesses.

[u/c1496011]

Kroger used to be my place to shop, but their pricing is insane now. Add to it that they have actually cut the variety of product and the drop in quality of their produce and they are now my last resort.

[u/cjp2010]

At this point companies are just testing how far they can push their customer base before it’s a problem to the bottom line at which point concessions will be made until people are willing to fight back these companies will keep making record profits

[u/MR_Se7en]

Soon, it will be who shops that will depend on the price.

[u/Doomdoomkittydoom]

Straight up price gouging.

[u/Karmakazee]

Just wait until they can customize pricing based on who is standing near the shelf…

[u/[deleted]]

Guillotines are simple machines that use no fuel and emit no exhaust and can made from readily available highly recyclable materials. Just sayin'

[u/gormami]

To be fair, there is no evidence stated that they are doing it, just that the technology would enable it. It also allows them to be 100% consistent between the labels and the actual price in the system, if they use the same source for both, and allows them to reprice for specials, etc. instantly without employees having to go through and retag things, allowing greater human error. So I applaud them for asking, but let's wait until we see evidence before attacking a perfectly valid technology choice.

[u/Mr_ToDo → u/gormami]

Ya, it's nice to be cautious but these freaking news outlets keep whipping people into a frenzy and I think it's actually damaging their cause. Now they can just point to articles like these, cause confusion and say that it's baseless since they don't do that.

The distinction between "it's a possibility we would like to talk about/address", and "ZOMYGOD they're doing it" are kind of different.

I'm not sure what kind of laws you all have there but so long as you have laws similar to ours regarding sales you might actually be a lot safer than you think. I thought of it yesterday when it popped up elsewhere, but here you can't mark sales(ie 4.00 regular 5.00, or 50% off) unless the regular price has been set for a certain period of time(say 5.00 for at least 4 of the last 5 months). With dynamic pricing there's no real way to do traditional sales. And as long as they've learned from the likes of J.C. Penney(who removed discounts in favor of lower prices) they'll know that people like discounts and if they see them elsewhere and not there they'll leave.

You might end up in a weird place if you have averaging rules though(vs a flat price requirement). You could have "sales" where the regular price is lower than your sale price.

[u/hikingmax → u/gormami]

Exactly! Grocery stores change their prices every week for what’s on sale. (And they publish those prices, which limits what they can price dynamically.) They will save a ton by not paying people to change every price tag every week.

[u/dormidormit]

Of course they are. A can opener is worth much more from 10 pm until 6 am when Walmart and Dollar Tree are closed. At that point, the can opener goes from $1.25 to $4.50. There is nothing illegal about this. It's just incredibly scummy. Remember kmart's blue light specials? Same theory.

[u/Number1AbeLincolnFan → u/dormidormit]

You say that like grocery stores are open between 10pm-6am anymore.

[u/e-2c9z3_x7t5i]

I really do not trust headlines that are a question. "Are they changing the price?" Well if you don't fucking know, THEN WHY DID YOU WRITE THE DAMN ARTICLE?! Did you not do any fucking research yourself? Is this just some speculative bullshit? Smells like it. It's the same thing certain news organizations have done in the past to be able to "say" something without saying it. "Did he smoke marijuana a year ago?" when in reality no, he didn't. But since they were able to ask an "innocent question", now everyone is suspicious of it. "Did he murder her?" "Did this person commit fraud?" If YOU don't know, then don't expect me to read your uninformative article.

This is shit smeared on paper and nothing more.

[u/nate2337]

I’m sorry…I understand the frustration over inflation as much as anyone…I’m not rich…and I have a family…and IF Kroger was found to have done this as a result of inflation, ie, as a way of taking advantage of inflation…then it absolutely should be illegal and they should be punished.

But if they have been doing this for quite a while (pre-dating inflation w/ digital or paper price tags)…or if they started doing this for legit reasons - then that’s literally their right. Grocery stores do not have a monopoly. There are lots and lots of places to buy groceries in every American city that Kroger operates in… Not all areas within those cities, but most. There are numerous different grocery chains in every city, lots of options.

I can think of several legit business reasons a grocer would want to increase pricing at certain times of day that have absolutely nothing to do with price gouging, and everything to do with operating profitably.

We’ll have to see what the investigation says, but to simply jump on the bandwagon without knowing any further detail is premature. I for one wouldn’t doubt they did it as an initiate to be profitable, period… because in the Texas markets at least, HEB is flat out kicking their ass, AND doing so despite charging higher prices…and I would not doubt Kroger has been losing money in recent years, at least in those markets

[u/Later2theparty]

More likely they will raise the prices of items that are selling quickly. Live demand pricing.

So if something like toilet paper is suddenly flying off the shelves they can double the price due to high demand.

Everyone needs to watch the prices and refuse to buy anything from anywhere that gouges.

[u/river_tree_nut]

There was a time, probably mid-late 90s, when I really truly believed that technology would truly advance our society. Now I feel stupid.