AFL-CIO calls for ban on such labels to protect consumers and workers from surveillance pricing and job cuts

The universal adoption of electronic shelf labels in grocery stores across the US could cost tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in lost wages while further driving up grocery costs, according to a report released on Tuesday.

An analysis by the AFL-CIO Tech Institute of the label manufacturers’ own marketing materials found the universal adoption of electronic shelf labels, which are marketed to retailers as a cost-cutting measure, could cost workers between $1.6bn to $6.9bn in lost wages annually and affect between 44,223 and 191,633 jobs.

The policy brief – Priced Out, Pushed Out: Electronic Shelf Labels Raise Prices and Shrink Paychecks – calls for a ban on electronic labels to protect consumers and workers.

The universal adoption of electronic shelf labels in grocery stores across the US could cost tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in lost wages while further driving up grocery costs, according to a report released on Tuesday.

An analysis by the AFL-CIO Tech Institute of the label manufacturers’ own marketing materials found the universal adoption of electronic shelf labels, which are marketed to retailers as a cost-cutting measure, could cost workers between $1.6bn and $6.9bn in lost wages annually and affect between 44,223 and 191,633 jobs.

The policy brief – Priced Out, Pushed Out: Electronic Shelf Labels Raise Prices and Shrink Paychecks – calls for a ban on electronic labels to protect consumers and workers.

Manufacturers have hailed the labels as a way to collect huge amounts of personal data from customers, increase profits and cut labor costs.

The report argues that electronic shelf labels use the same pricing systems that allow dynamic pricing – price changes such as increasing allergy medication prices when pollen counts are high – to surveillance pricing, changing prices based on personal data.

These technologies are being implemented across the US retail industry at a time when food prices have surpassed inflation and wage gains, increasing 33% over the past seven years.

I'm just old enough to remember price tags being on each item at the grocery store. UPCs were being phased in, but both systems were in use for several years as scanners finally became universal.

I don't think anyone is clamoring for a return to having to navigate around stockers putting price tags on each individual can of tuna from a case. The issue here isn't the tautological "new technology removes jobs;" it's that dynamic pricing introduces new points of failure (what if the price changes between grabbing something and checking out? You can't go take a picture of the price tag you saw at the time to prove you're being overcharged) and fundamentally changes the nature of shopping.

And that's before we get into personalized pricing, though loyalty cards have been offering that for years, so the real change here would be: Somehow the screen knows who you are and determines a price in a fraction of a second so you don't see it change.

I just need a loaf of bread, not some dystopian "god only knows what it'll cost" grocery store game.