The new labels allow employees to change prices as often as every ten seconds.

“If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream. If there's something that’s close to the expiration date, we can lower the price — that’s the good news,” said Phil Lempert, a grocery industry analyst.

Apps like Uber already use surge pricing, in which higher demand leads to higher prices in real time. Companies across industries have caused controversy with talk of implementing surge pricing, with fast-food restaurant Wendy’s making headlines most recently. Electronic shelf labels allow the same strategy to be applied at grocery stores, but are not the only reason why retailers may make the switch.

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[–] 235 points 2 years ago (13 children)

If it’s hot outside we can raise the price of water…”

Holy fuck dude that’s some endgame capitalism right there.

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  • [–] 45 points 2 years ago

    Yes. That is actually the point. MUST maximize that profit!

    Airlines do this now, as does Uber.

    The tech is only just catching up for retail. This is end game capitalism hope you enjoyed the ride.

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    [–] 89 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    So what if you placed some water in your cart, walked around and then they raise the price before you check out? How does that work?

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  • [–] 80 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    They're going to end up with a bunch of people complaining to the manager about the price not matching the sign, which already happens, but it'll be 10x worse.

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  • [–] 51 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    Good. Annoy the managers until they get rid of this shit

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  • [–] 67 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    There are laws in many states governing many items clearly articulating that the price cannot change during business hours/within a business day.

    Hopefully the FTC revs up it's engines like it's been doing.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago*

    Hopefully the FTC revs up it's engines like it's been doing.

    That depends on who is in charge of the country at any given time. Three-letter entities have a way of being hamstrung during conservative administrations.

    The next time conservatives have control, though, it will likely be permanent. The FTC would certainly be dismantled.

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    [–] 71 points 2 years ago (10 children)

    Just wait until they track your phone in the stores and tie it to demographics like where you live and profession to build a financial profile to estimate how much you are able to pay. As you walk down aisles, the prices change to your price to gouge out every possible penny from you.

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  • [–] 40 points 2 years ago

    The true cyberpunk dystopia. They ultimately want to keep you as close to destitute without actually being bankrupt as possible, that way they extract as much as possible from you at all times for as long as they can.

    Capitalism will always try to get as many people as possible, to pay as much as possible, for as little as possible.

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    [–] 66 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream.

    If people are starving after a natural disaster, we can raise the price of everything because they're desperate and have no alternatives.

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    [–] 65 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    How is this not considered false advertising? You go to a shelf and see your favorite snack on sale, you grab it. Finish the rest of your selections and go to check out.

    By the time you get there the price of your snack is no longer what was shown on the shelf.

    If it isn't false advertising, it's bait and switch.

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    [–] 60 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    “If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream.”

    Dude actually said that out loud. Wild. Teach me how to give that little of a fuck.

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    [–] 40 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Ooooo. Can't wait till a hurricane is coming and they raise the price of water and canned food.

    I wonder how much price gouging will be permitted. If they can raise the price of water when it's hot then could they raise it "just enough" to not get in trouble with the state when a hurricane is coming

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  • [–] 35 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    On the shelves, surge pricing.

    Weekend evenings, pizza and beer prices skyrocket. Rest of the week evenings, staples are higher like beef, chicken, etc. Holidays, Turkey prices go up the closer to thanksgiving you get. Plastic cups, paper plates, grilling necessities go up approaching the 4th of July.

    “Oh, but it’s just shortages…”

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    [–] 33 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    “If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream. If there’s something that’s close to the expiration date, we can lower the price — that’s the good news,” said Phil Lempert, a grocery industry analyst.

    One half of that is good news for one party and bad news for the other and the other half is the opposite.

    I think this person needs a psychological evaluation.

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  • [+] 28 points 2 years ago (7 children)
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    [–] 24 points 2 years ago

    This is probably a prelude to groceries getting Uber like surge pricing, and likely targeted pricing schemes too.

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  • [–] 23 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    On one hand, this cuts down on paper/sticker waste and time spent making and printing new prices and such.

    On the other, I don't like that they could just change the price whenever they feel like. Though others have said multiple states have laws against changing prices during the business day.

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  • [–] 24 points 2 years ago

    Paper waste is really something that was overstated in the early 2000s. Yes paper is made from trees. But trees are renewable compared to the silicon and carbon consumed in these electronic tags. It's way more environmentally friendly to use paper.

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    [–] 20 points 2 years ago

    This is gonna suck for restockers when a lot of items get left at the cashier's because Walmarts ghouls decided to raise the price between shelf and checkout.

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  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Just gonna squeeze every last drop out of you. Every. Last. Drop.

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    [–] 16 points 2 years ago (1 child)
    1. Buy groceries when the price is low.
    2. Refund when the prices go up.
    3. Profit!
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    [–] 13 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    I don't go to walmart anymore. I think I am just going to go back and see how much I can steal.

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    [–] 11 points 2 years ago

    While the labels give retailers the ability to increase prices suddenly, Gallino doubts companies like Walmart will take advantage of the technology in that way.

    “To be honest, I don’t think that’s the underlying main driver of this,” Gallino said. “These are companies that tend to have a long-term relationship with their customers and I think the risk of frustrating them could be too risky, so I would be surprised if they try to do that.”

    Rather than seeing an opportunity to use surge pricing, Gallino says retailers are likely drawn to electronic shelf tags to ensure consistency between online and in-store pricing.

    This person must live on another planet.

    Sure, the prices won't be changing every six seconds, but anyone with half a mind can see these tags won't be used only when stock or expiry are a factor. The prices will be up on the weekend to start. Then later it'll be changing through the day to get higher prices between 4:00-7:00 when people are getting off work.

    The arguments of no longer needing people to do yet another menial task and increasing utility of labels for consumers both have merit, but this alien even says the primary factor:

    “The bottom line ... is the calculation of the amount of labor that they’re going to save by incorporating this."

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago

    Don't worry, they will also be making it so you have to use their data mining apps that require unconscionable permissions just to see that they are changing prices every 10 seconds.

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