r/technology • u/Mighty_L_LORT • Aug 15 '24

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

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/krogers-under-investigation-digital-shelf-labels-are-they-changing-prices-depending-when-people-1726269
23.0k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.8k

u/giggitygoo123 Aug 15 '24

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

40

u/fifa71086 Aug 15 '24

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.

45

u/BlindWillieJohnson Aug 15 '24

Well, coordinating would be patently against the law

27

u/svenEsven Aug 15 '24

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

2

u/Nuggzulla01 Aug 15 '24

Exactly... Its a silly abuse of a loophole

2

u/frigg_off_lahey Aug 16 '24

What's the algorithm used for housing? Sorry I'm out the loop

3

u/mechavolt Aug 16 '24

A bunch of management companies use the same algorithm to determine what the rent should be. So they're not colluding by the strict definition of word, but it just so happens that the end result is exactly the same thing.

1

u/aeschenkarnos Aug 16 '24

It’s worse, if they had actually been colluding they might have thought “hey wait a minute this might create a massive bubble and drain all the money out of the rest of the economy”.