Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and 13 colleagues wrote to the CEO of the supermarket behemoth #Kroger in November about electronic price tags (often called #electronic #shelf #labels or #ESLs ).
These digital displays allow companies to change prices automatically from a mobile app.
Tlaib warned that this so-called “#dynamic #pricing” permits retailers to adjust prices based on their whims.
Just as #Uber raises prices during storms or rush hour, retailers like Kroger use ESLs to adjust prices based on factors like time of day or the weather.
Supermarkets could conceivably mine a shopper’s personal data to set prices as high as possible.
“My concern is that these tools will be abused in the pursuit of profit, surging prices on essential goods in areas with fewer and fewer grocery stores,” Tlaib wrote.
In August, Senators Elizabeth #Warren and Bob #Casey wrote to Kroger raising similar concerns about #price #gouging.
Noting that the company has already implemented the technology in hundreds of stores across the county, they warned that
“ESLs may help Kroger extract maximum profits from consumers at a time when…high grocery prices are a leading concern among Americans who are concerned about inflation.”
Warren and Casey also voiced concern about Kroger’s partnership with Microsoft to install #facial-#recognition technology in stores,
which could be used to identify individual customers:
When a shopper approaches the shelf, she would see a price calibrated specifically for her.
The next shopper might pay a different amount based on their profile.
Retailers could use shopper data to charge higher prices to those who can afford to pay more, but since stores do not have to disclose who is making pricing decisions or why,
the senators worry that shoppers on a budget are particularly vulnerable.
“It is outrageous that, as families continue to struggle to pay to put food on the table, grocery giants like Kroger continue to roll out #surge #pricing and other corporate #profiteering schemes,” they wrote

thenation.com/article/society/…