| |
| ▲ | paconbork 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | "Please scan this item with our app to see the price" | | |
| ▲ | SoftTalker 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | As of now, my local supermarkets still have price tags on the shelves. And if there's a higher price at the register when the item is scanned, they will honor the shelf price if you call it to their attention. The biggest supermarket now has e-ink shelf tags so I assume those are synced with their item database so that doesn't happen anymore. | | |
| ▲ | micromacrofoot 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | it's the other way around, the shelf prices can be stable and they decide which discounts you can get based on your shopping profile which they built using surveillance | | |
| ▲ | SoftTalker 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Well,,, OK? If I buy a lot of Scott toilet tissue, I'm happy to get a discount on Scott toilet tissue. Though mostly, the discounts I use are already posted on the shelf, I just need to "clip" an e-coupon in the app to get it. They do send me emails and even postal mails with coupons too, but those all go in the trash. | | |
| ▲ | phil21 17 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | It's not really a "Well, OK?" situation. The local supermarket chain near me has more or less done away with normal low prices on the shelves. If you want anything resembling a deal, you get to deal with their shit-tier quality app plus other friction inducting time wasting crap like "clipping" digital coupons. Plus opting in to all the associated tracking the app does in order to use it. They effective raised prices 10-20% for the entire store and then the only way to get a deal is use the app. This is only currently slight hyperbole - every month it rolls out more and more in this direction. This way they can tell regulators "we only give discounts in a discriminatory manner! We don't raise prices!" when the time comes. With any luck a judge will see right through that unmitigated bullshit, but I'm not going to hold my breath. | | | |
| ▲ | micromacrofoot an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | is that still ok when you're paying more because you don't shop as much as the people who live in the wealthier part of town? or what if you get fewer discounts for being male? |
|
|
| |
| ▲ | zahlman 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Okay, and what happens at the register? |
| |
| ▲ | evereverever 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | "Please scan this item with our app to see YOUR price" -ftfy | | |
| ▲ | xp84 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | Somehow this doesn't scare me at all. Fast food restaurants have been doing this for like 8 years. Almost any order you could make normally, you could get a buck or two off of it if you order through their incredibly sluggish, bloated cross-platform-framework "app" and redeem a "deal." And they tell you this with giant ads. The function is to get incremental sales (and hopefully establish a pattern of repeat business) by discounting selectively to people who might not buy at all otherwise. If you're thinking "But they should give that discount to everybody!" that's not a thing. There's not enough margin in the first place, especially at a supermarket or Walmart, that everyone could just have lower prices on everything. My grocery store already sends me individualized paper coupons every month. All of this is promotions. It's all just trying to get some incremental sales, and hoping that if you get an offer for free hot dog buns you'll also buy the hotdogs. | | |
| ▲ | phil21 15 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | > There's not enough margin in the first place, especially at a supermarket or Walmart, that everyone could just have lower prices on everything. Strange how this totally worked until a few years ago. I never cut coupons or any other time wasting shenanigans, but was able to stop up on deals on the commonly used shelf-stable items I buy without even needing to signup to a loyalty program. I understand price segmentation is a thing. But it's gotten pretty exhausting and only increasingly so. Fast food you can simply opt out of. My health improved due to them shifting all the "deals" to the app, and doubling menu prices. Groceries are a different thing. | |
| ▲ | hakfoo 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | I've always figured the dream would be to be able to advertise a low price without ever having to deliver it. Some particularly skeevy car dealers were skewered many years ago for saying "Advertised price is less tax, title, and additional $2,000". But they CAN get away with saying "The $8.99 burger is $11.99 unless you:
- possess one of a range of sanctioned devices
- have access to data services
- are able to create and manage an account
- are willing to opt in to whatever tracking/marketing gimmickry
- can claim the "deal" in advance Each of those steps is a funnel that opts out at least some potential customers from the deal. The 12-year-old who doesn't own a phone can't get the deal. The 85-year-old who can't operate Android can't. The person making impulse purchases and not pre-researching their meal selection misses the offer. I feel like there's a argument for a precedent akin to "no purchase necessary to enter" for sweepstakes-- no additional purchase, software install, or commitment should be required to claim any advertised offer. | |
| ▲ | RobotToaster an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | The idea of the price you pay could be far higher because your McSocial Credit Score is too low doesn't scare you? | |
| ▲ | butvacuum an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | It doesn't scare you that $store can decide to double their lrice because they detected a brand new phone in your pocket? This isn't even a little hypothetical- bluetooth had to anonomyze the MAC address to stop this, and it still fails sometimes. | | |
| ▲ | cm2012 31 minutes ago | parent [-] | | If a store does this, they will eventually be caught and lose business |
| |
| ▲ | watutalkinbout 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Maybe you haven't got sufficiently developed imagination... https://nypost.com/2026/04/21/business/jetblue-x-post-sparks... | |
| ▲ | wat10000 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | I don't really care about fast food. That's strictly an optional luxury. If the experience sucks too badly, skip it. Grocery would be another matter. I also think this hypothetical "scan to see your price" scenario is a lot worse. As things stand now, there's still a baseline price. If the shelf says $8.99 then you know that you may be able to get a better price through their loyalty program or with a coupon, but it will never be more than $8.99. In a fully dynamic pricing world where you have to scan scan to get a number at all, which is what a lot of businesses would really love to have, you'd lose that baseline. That item might ring up at $20 if the system decides I'm desperate or inattentive or just don't care. This is already possible online, of course. If it spreads to grocery stores, though, I'm going to start channelling Ned Ludd and it won't be pretty. |
|
|
|
