this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2026
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The example given isn't really a good one. When I was a kid I worked at a grocery store and I know how they did the pricing. Pricing was normally done once a week, to align with the weekly discount magazine (often in the store the current weeks discounts magazine and next week discounts magazine would be available for shoppers). Prices were switched out manually by the store manager and a couple of other people. These were small printed paper pricetags in a little plastic insert. As the people who did the price changes did thousands a week, they got really fast at it. With one flick they would remove the old tag and put in the new. So even back then the prices were changed out often. Prices were def influenced by the weather, as even back then general weather reports were accurate enough. We would usually know when really hot weather would come, or really cold weather.
But products like ice or water are a bad example anyways, as those would in fact be discounted when it's hot out. The idea is to pull in people from the street with those promotions and have them impuls buy other things. Or draw in shoppers that would normally shop at another store, but are drawn in by the tasty looking ice cream promotion. It's also a supply and demand kind of thing, where in the summer a lot more ice cream is being sold and thus bought in by the store. This pushes down the price, not raises it up.
I wonder if it is really worth the time of somebody at the store to micro-manage prices like that. Usually those kinds of stores have a well thought out strategy and stick to that. And in my experience cutting labour costs is more important, so they usually run with a pretty tight crew. This means nobody has time for micro-optimisations like that. Doing some other task that reduces the amount of people working there pays off much sooner. Maybe with automation in the future, but that would require very accurate stock management and I just don't see how that's possible in a grocery store context.
That’s the point of electronic tags. Nobody has to change it. There’s an algorithm—excuse me—‘AI’ that calculates and updates the prices.
I would agree it’s going to cause all sorts problems if they try to do this more frequently than daily. The only people that won’t notice a price change from the time it goes into the cart to the register are rich people. The average customer has limited funds and pays attention.
They will just delay any increase at the register for twice the average loiter time of a shopper as no one is going to complain about a discount. Any decrease would happen immediately. If that runs afoul of any laws they will just do it daily after close.
In Canada we have had these for a while. In some stores you can even trigger an LED on the price tag from the app to help find an item apparently.
While this does seem like it sucks the horse has been out of the barn for some time. You can see it on Amazon or airline sites.
Just another way to squeeze us just a little more.
It doesn't seem like it sucks, it objectively fucking sucks and should be illegal.
The stores that would implement this type of thing either have a local monopoly or are targeting the wealthier demographic.
My local fully employee owned grocery store would laugh all the way to the bank if their competitors push this.
yup...though there are large sections of america that are completely locked down in this respect. places where there are no local/co-ops etc. just faceless chain after faceless chain as far as the eye can see
Algorithmic pricing in grocery stores has been a thing for at least a few decades, though the specific name it went by has changed a lot.
I'd say it began with data collection via those club/loyalty cards, which offered extremely granular transaction data. Around the mid 2010s, "analytics" for FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) were already commonplace to not only track, but to "nudge" you into purchases you wouldn't otherwise, e.g. via notifications or coupons.
This infrastructure which harvests and influences people on such a large scale is arguably the most valuable asset of retailers. It's basically what Big Tech does, after all.
Algorithmic pricing in supermarkets is newer, but Consumer reports has already caught InstaAI pricing fixing for months now.
Exclusive: Instacart’s AI Pricing May Be Inflating Your Grocery Bill - Consumer Reports - https://www.consumerreports.org/money/questionable-business-practices/instacart-ai-pricing-experiment-inflating-grocery-bills-a1142182490/
Weaponized psychology to create docile consumer drones.
If you are using Instacart to buy your groceries, you have no one but yourself to blame.
Might as Door Dash every single meal with the fees you payin. How lazy can you be to not even buy your own groceries?
People with disabilities and without cars exist, you know
Yes but relying on Big Tech and the "Gig" economy for their charity was never going to go well. I can not think of a more iconic duo for exploitation.
My 92 year old grandma who is legally blind manages to get to the grocery store so I don't really feel it's an impossibility. People have been disabled, and without cars, and gotten to the grocery market for literal centuries.
Well back then societal cohesion and family units meant they were provided for, not to mention the difference in food desert ubiquity.
Just because over reliance on a service is bad, or the service can be manipulated, doesn't mean there aren't any people who benefit massively from the service.
The world has changed a lot since you were a kid. Pricing is done completely differently now
Algorithmic pricing is already here if you're purchasing through Instacart, and some stores are now directly doing it through their app. Prices are adjusted per customer, meaning you and I may be charged different prices for the exact same product simply because the algorithm determined you would be more willing to pay a higher price than me
Within a decade, that may be the universal shopping experience
They do nothing that doesn’t increase profits. It could be anything from cutting the staff or hours needed to update pricing or surge pricing. Increasing salsa pricing while offering a minor discount on chips for a large televised sporting event or something. If they can get away with it, they’ll do it.
You need to think bigger.
Electronic Pricing allows them to charge Bill, the Carpenter $2.59 for the gallon of milk, and then charge Karen, the "FinTech" worker $5.30 for the same gallon of milk. Price charges right at register.
They'll charge whatever they think you, as an individual, can afford.
Remember it isn't enough to get some, most, of the majority of the money. They want ALL the money. Each individual company.
When they track your phone ID or use face recognition around the store to adjust pricing we’re fucked.
So far I am glad that Amazon's "AI" grocery store was Actually Indians. They had all the money in the world and still couldn't do it.
Here's hoping the technology to do this reliably is at least a few decades out.