Posted on 10/18/2026 5:09:21 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
U.S. consumers aren’t just frustrated with high prices. They’re angry and confused about the increasingly high-tech ways that restaurant chains and major retailers are setting those prices.
Digital price tags are rapidly replacing paper ones in grocery aisles. Artificial intelligence tools help businesses decide what to charge by predicting how customers might respond. Terms like “dynamic pricing” and “surveillance pricing” are stirring anxiety on social media, where users wonder if different people are getting different prices for the same product.
Americans have grown accustomed to changing prices when booking flights, hotel rooms and rides, but the prospect of everyday spending shaped by algorithms they don’t understand and personal data they may not realize they’re sharing has touched a nerve.
“There are major tensions happening right now between who’s really going to have the power with some of these algorithms and usage of bots and AI: the companies or the shopper,” said Katie Thomas, who leads an internal consumer behavior think tank at the management consulting firm Kearney.
Companies using the technology say some concerns stem from misconceptions about how their pricing tools work. Walmart CEO John Furner said in a blog post last month that digital price tags save workers’ time and keep prices up to date. He said the labels aren’t used to raise prices based on the weather, time of day or individual shopper.
“We price the product, not the person,” Furner wrote.
But companies aren’t always transparent about the customer data they collect and how it’s used, which has made consumers suspicious and led to speculation. For example, social media posts falsely imply that electronic shelf labels Walmart plans to put in all its U.S. stores...
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
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I've always suspected EZ Pass gives a free ride to government vehicles and other specially designated persons.
Yah AP, my apprehension over AI pricing is so through the roof. Just the other day, I was talking to a friend and I says, I says, “friend, how are you sleeping with all this AI pricing?”
The advantage is never with the shopper, and “surge pricing” by any other name is already changing prices in direct response to how much traffic they have.
Welcome to the new world.
What if I send a drone flying down the aisle to grab my item and take a picture of the price at the time so they don’t associate it with me until checkout?
“What if I send a drone flying down the aisle to grab my item and take a picture of the price at the time so they don’t associate it with me until checkout?”
___________________________________________________________
Great plan! There’s a TV show in there somewhere.
That's why they have the facial recognition cameras in the checkout lanes.
Just wait till the dems start adding social credit fees.
I’m waiting for AI to eliminate AP.
Why bother? They'll just cancel all your financial accounts.
This is clearly a propaganda piece.
When are they not?
Not to be a Pollyanna but it is just as likely to work in reverse. AI will definitely be used to find the max price per unit for profit but just like coupons or lunch specials it may also decide to drive the price down to bring in traffic.
>>Just wait till the dems start adding social credit fees.
or exponential price increases on goods once you exceeded your “ration”.
“ users wonder if different people are getting different prices for the same product.”
They absolutely are. Digital fingerprinting has become very sophisticated. If you make a purchase with one vendor, a whole chain of vendors become aware of your purchase instantly update your profile. For example once your air tickets are booked for some place you are going to visit and you are booking a hotel separately, your hotel rates for that place will magically go up. This happens when you are booking each leg of a flight separately too for whatever reason. As soon as you book the first leg, the flights out of that place for your next leg will go up in price. I can confirm this from my own experience . Shoppers need to be extremely cautious about how they approach online shopping and reveal as little as they can. For starters ditch the chrome browser. Use Mullvad , or better , Firefox in lockdown mode.
AI
Digital currency - that’s coming, believe me.
All that on top of smart phones, smart appliances, cars that are connected, biometrics, and a government mass surveillance state they lie about, got caught in their lie (thank you Snowden), and just continue to do anyway.
—
But no worries, you have HIPAA rights! LOL
I predict an increase in shoe polish sales.
😆
I will vote for any politician that promises to support attached price tags on all products. Let them teach AI how to affix price stickers. It’s a job AI should be good at doing. I want to shop like it’s 1960 again.
Can you imagine the heads that would explode if this became law? Unfortunately our overlords will never allow it to happen.
Back in the day I worked at a grocery store with the inked price stampers.
You are talking about adding a lot of supply chain overhead.
That ain't free.
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