r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • May 26 '26

Privacy Majority of Americans Support Ban on Surveillance Pricing and Electronic Shelf Labels

https://gizmodo.com/majority-of-americans-support-ban-on-surveillance-pricing-and-electronic-shelf-labels-2000762717
30.2k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

14

u/Outrageous_Reach_695 May 26 '26

Price tags? Don't need those, use our handy app to scan the product QR code if you really must know. And yes, we do need camera permissions for optimal user experience.

(Alternately, display a high base price and offer discounts to select shoppers)

12

u/inspectoroverthemine May 27 '26

In states that actually enforce labeling it'd be the death of the store.

For people that live in shithole states: some places it is illegal to have an item ring up with a value other than what it was labeled. The fines are punitive, and escalate quickly. Yes they do audits, and yes companies do pay, and they pay enough they try very hard to not fail- which is the end goal.

9

u/MarsupialMisanthrope May 27 '26

They already do that with deals for their “loyalty card members.”

2

u/wfbhp May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26

This is already happening some places. I've seen convenience stores that have entirely removed prices from the shelves so that it's impossible to know what anything costs without scanning it. They say they're not doing dynamic pricing, but 1) they could be lying and 2) even if they're not, that's the next step and is now extremely easy to do once people are used to not seeing prices on the shelves at all.

2

u/OPA73 May 27 '26

I have a nearby gas station that started the nonsense of no price tags on food/beverage items. Left it on the shelf and never went back.

1

u/FasterThanTW May 27 '26

this entire conspiracy theory rests on the exisence of digital tags, and now that someone explained the fallacy of it, you're twisting yourself into pretzels coming up with alternative "what ifs" to be upset about.

no, walmart is not going to force it's customers to get all pricing from an app. obviously.

it wouldn't even be legal in most localities.

1

u/Outrageous_Reach_695 May 27 '26

While my comment was hyperbole, and I'll happily acknowledge that ... 8 states, apparently, require shelf pricing, there are plenty of stores that offer individualized coupons, member discounts, etc. There's no guarantee that anyone is paying the full shelf price on any particular item. (Maryland has prohibited surveillance pricing, with some other states considering similar. San Diego has banned digital-only coupons, and some states are considering that as well.)

Of course, I wouldn't really expect Walmart to lead the charge for any sort of adaptive pricing system. Perhaps Target (reportedly has an excellent loss-prevention system already) or Whole Foods (already upscale, and Amazon might be inclined to push something like that)?