Technology

Don't let perfection be the enemy of good. Keep pushing for better consumer protections.

I actually would like to prevent loyalty card programs from lowering your price. Just call it a sale.

They want to harvest your data and sell it. And you know as sure fuck they aren't going to shit to protect it.

Step by step it will get there. This needs to be told to whoever got this to happen! And also to improve this

Rewards programs are also a scam, in a way. The company isn’t giving shit away for free, not these big corporations who run those things. Either you’re paying for it and getting your own money back, or other customers are paying for it. All so they can get a monopoly on your wallet.

We must do it.

For the children.

No sales tax on groceries purchased with tips

Yeah dog, is not just our government... Well, I guess this is because of the lack of a government for the people. But yeah for more than a few years shopping for groceries has become where do you personally get the lowest prices. I get different discounts from my partner.

We now shop at a store that doesn't play this type of game but many people live in an area that only contains stores like this.

you know they just copy airlines, right?

all companies are in the data business now. that IS the business.

i told a friend maybe 2 years ago that mcdonalds app and changing to digital drive thru menus would mean they could change prices at any time and even per customer. he thought it would be “too difficult”

We really need a non profit that buys data on politicians and Billionaires and then just make an app for people to follow them around and harass them to get this banned.

This is the real crux of the issue. Data collection and algorithmic incentives are destroying society.

And 24 hour stores can update their prices at midnight, but the lower of the two prices is still effective for the first 2 hours, in case anyone was actively shopping during the change.

These include electronic shelf labels, which advocates have warned could allow companies to instantly change grocery prices based on the time of day, weather, and other factors that influence consumer demand.

“Digital price tags are replacing paper ones. It’s happening because we are having cameras that are watching aisles, it’s happening because we have apps that are moving from search-based to predictive,”

You are not immune.

Surveillance pricing usually makes people think per-person pricing, but the law goes further than just that.

I worked on an electronic shelf label project at a (now defunct) retail project. I'm less worried about them trying to target prices per user while in a store because there are some difficult hardware and software challenges trying to show a price to one person (like what if two people are looking at it.) Showing a per-user price per app is trivial. There's also laws in most states that require you to pay the price shown on the price tag and trying to target per person risks failing that, though that depends on state enforcement. The system I worked at linked the prices to the point of sale system to ensure you paid the lowest price shown on any price tag in the last few hours (though that was company policy to make complying with the law easier.)

What I am worried about is prices dynamically changing based micro trends like water getting more expensive on warm days. Some people might say that increase prices means increased supply to meet that demand, the real risk is retailers being able to micro optimize prices to better capture consumer surplus as profits. A consumer is un-prepared for that and the consumer will not benefit.

The absence of haggling was one of our cultural high-points, on the opposite end from "tipped wages".

Potentially face recognition, but primarily through the signals your phone outputs, like WiFi and Bluetooth signals.

If you don't use a rewards or loyalty program, you're already paying the highest price for the items.

A lot of stores here in the UK already employ facial recognition if you walk in.

It stops known shoplifters throughout stores (so if you shoplifted in a Nottingham Tesco's, be prepared to be banned from Sainsbury's in Swansea), but it also tracks your shopping so it's being sold as a convenience feature - you walk up to a till and it already knows what's in your basket and how much you need to pay.

Oh and while you walk through the stores, you get targeted advettisements that's already connected to your online identity. You looked up symptoms of PCOS? Have fun being blasted with hair removal product ads throughout your shopping.

It's pretty fucking dystopian, yes. My local corner shop doesn't need to know my shopping habits. It won't sell me more milk or bread. And I won't be buying that new type of chicken nuggies no matter how hard they try to sell it. I'm perfectly happy with what I want to buy, I don't need or want optimised ads.

it's just as dystopian with a browser

Facial recognition is just one way to begin or build upon a profile, but there are others. Cameras would also be looking for things like specific brands of clothing being worn. Raggedy, no-name work shirt? You get a pass. $80 Carhartt jacket? Maybe we add a buck fifty onto that tub of Folgers you rely on to get through the day. Wearing the latest $300 T-shirt drop from the Foofoo X MTBLZ brokemaxxing collab? Hell, I'd personally wanna charge you extra on principle.

Even without cameras and their "AI" trying to gauge your wealth, past purchases can just as easily be associated with the credit/debit cards used to pay for them in order to build a profile. If they know what you regularly buy they can start nickel and dime'ing those things to test the limits of what you're willing to spend. I feel like I also heard about some stores using Bluetooth or NFC triangulation. So your phone, smart watch, fitness tracker, etc could essentially serve as their means to watch you movements. They know the moment you entered, how long you lingered in a specific spot in any given aisle, and what register you checked out at. Now there's a profile for those devices. Paid with debit/credit again? Then those devices and the purchasing method are connected and the overall profile has grown.

I'm kind of curious how much longer places are going to accept cash. It's anecdotal but, from grocers to department stores, there never seems to be more than a single staffed checkout lane around here anymore. Then, of course, the self checkouts don't accept cash (or the few that do seem to always be out of service). Probably equal parts "we don't want to pay more employees" and "we want your data" motivating that shift.

We're decades into dystopian already.