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Walmart Is Putting Digital Labels That Change Prices Instantly on Every Store Shelf in America

⁨314⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨return2ozma@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨aboringdystopia@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/walmart-is-putting-digital-labels-that-change-prices-instantly-on-every-store-shelf-in-america/91320526

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Comments

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  • AA5B@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I wish I could boycott them, but haven’t gone there in years

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    • Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      “…not talking about price segmentation…”

      Yet.

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      • toiletobserver@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        There are rules about having to honor advertised prices. The savvy and poor will notice.

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    • its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      There’s no sense closing the barn door after all the horses got out.

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    • shweddy@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      That’s how they get ya

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  • technomage@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I worked in a Walmart on the overnight shift (cleaning, separate company) when they rolled them out 3+ years ago here in Canada. They’ve honestly become the norm in grocery stores and other large stores here. If some company was going to be sleazy about them, it probably would’ve happened already (Loblaws, I’m looking at you).

    I straight up asked why they were being installed, and it’s two-fold. One, they can save money cause now they don’t have to pay staff to go around and change the little paper tags, which takes an absurd amount of manpower and is easy to fuck up. And two, they can all be changed over to a barcode/QR code during inventory, which speeds up the whole process. I’ll be the last person to defend corpos, especially Walmart, but I don’t think this one was done with the intentions of directly fucking over the customer.

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    • Kolanaki@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I feel like it’s one of those things that someone came up with the benign idea first, and then later some jackass was like “Hey, we could use these to change the prices every time a customer looks at it.”

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      • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        The road to hell is paved with good intentions

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    • Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I’ve worked retail and one of the things that baffled me was just how wasteful price tags were.

      They change SO OFTEN and it’s so much paper and plastic just tossed it the trash every time. Never even thought about it until I worked at a store and had to change them.

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      • technomage@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        God, right?! I could fill a bag full of the things nearly every day when I was cleaning before they switched over! I literally had a little bin I’d save them up in to take home to use as kindling for the fire pit cause they’d already been replaced. Though, I think the lack of waste is more a pleasant side effect than a reason why these companies did it. Either way, it’s still a positive!

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    • normalentrance@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I once worked retail and it was a pain to run around printing labels for hours. Granted, I got paid by the hour, so there were much worse things to do.

      I also don’t believe this is a nefarious plot, but it does enable dynamic pricing. Stores are creepy these days, they have sensors and network hardware that can track you in the store. They also can do facial recognition.

      So they know who you are, where you are / where you went, what you ultimately buy (just enter your rewards number!). So they could literally see someone coming and raise prices on certain items as they enter the store.

      Not to say that is a strategy companies are actively employing, but all the pieces are there.

      Reference to help you sleep at night: documentation.meraki.com/…/Location_Analytics

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      • technomage@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I definitely get what you’re saying, and in any other context, I’d definitely agree. I just can’t quite see it working without some sort of identifying thing, like a loyalty card or some intense customer tracking (and we all know how that went with the Amazon Go stores). Mainly because there’s not a good way to identify a specific item taken from a shelf full of the item, given UPCs are the same for all units of a product so it’d have to be done by cards or tracking.

        I could be wrong, but given the current state of tech, I don’t really see it working in a large, busy store like a Walmart or Canadian Tire. At least, not to reliably target individuals. I could see it being used to change prices for everyone, based on time, date, temperatures, and stuff like that, but yeah…

        Also, apologies if this doesn’t make full sense. I’m radically under caffeinated right now 😅

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    • Aeri@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Best buy and other stores have genuinely already been using these for ages.

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    • Agent641@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      They actually have some neat features, if implemented. There’s one where you can scan a QR code to go right to the product page where you can get, among other things, more verbose allergen info, reviews, or, if the product is out of stock where you scanned it, it can give you similar alternate products or stores that have stock.

      It can also allow you to go on to the website, find your item, and ask the pricetag to flash.then you can look for the flashing pricetag if you can’t find the item on the shelf.

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      • technomage@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I haven’t seen the QR codes linking to the product page yet, but I’ve seen the flashing tags to find stuff, and it’s cool af! Like, yes we may be quickly sliding into a dystopian hellscape, but we can have some cool little things along the way… As, y’know… A treat lol

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  • henfredemars@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Are the cameras going to detect when I have a fever and then triple the cost of Tylenol?

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    • Test_Tickles@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Actually, they’ll start with surprise specials and flash deals, like KMart used to do with their blue light specials. They will use it to discount over-stock as it gets near the sell-by date.
      And then, once they’ve got you used to the prices changing at random times, maybe even getting people to come back in shop in the store more often but offering really great deals (like black Friday started out) . Then they will begin to have “peak pricing”, where you pay more on busy days and times.

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    • GreenCrunch@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      no, they detect autism

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      • henfredemars@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Shit, I’m fucked.

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  • FelixCress@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    And let me guess - they still don’t display the price including tax?

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    • daychilde@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      You will never get anyone to display a higher price voluntarily, it’ll take legislation.

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  • samus12345@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    How would it work if the price changed between getting the item off the shelf and paying for it? Will I have to take a picture of every price tag in case the price goes up?

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    • Krzd@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      (In Germany) The legal purchase agreement is made at the register, which means you agree to those prices. The prices on the shelves are technically irrelevant, although if they are intentionally falsified you could sue for deceit or false advertising.
      Which is why almost all stores will honour the prices on the shelves, even if they’re wrong, and also it’s just cheaper to adjust the price than to argue with customers ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

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    • Sam_Bass@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Ideally they should keep prices locked for 24 hours between changes

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      • phoenixz@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Hahahahaha

        Great joke!

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      • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Should be a law that they can only set the price at the start if the business day short of perishable goods marked down before they go bad (where the fresher ones are still regular price)

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      • stringere@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Why?

        Currently they release new prices on Monday, on a weekly basis, and they’re changed by hand throughout the day. The non-digital signage with last week’s prices can still be up while you’re shopping but at the register items will ring in with the new price.

        If that happens they will honor the price on the shelf as long as the UPCs match (people move those price signs all the time, on accident and on purpose).

        I understand the corporate bad evil company stance but in this instance people are reaching conclusions based entirely on wild speculation.

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  • jaykrown@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    This should absolutely be illegal. Not to mention how the prices don’t include taxes, you don’t know the real price you pay until you’re already at the checkout which is horseshit. It’s no wonder that online shopping has become much more popular.

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    • boonhet@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Ironically, these “digital labels”, although problematic in their own right, could help with that.

      1. Currently if the store employees have missed a price change on a product, it might actually cost more than the sign says

      2. It would be pretty to easy to make those include tax IF these digital labels know which store they’re in.

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      • samus12345@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        They’d never do 2 because they like having the fake lower price listed so people are more likely to buy it.

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  • faythofdragons@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Be sure to handle them appropriately, the screens are vulnerable to damage, and replacing them would be more expensive than printing out a new paper tag. It’d sure be a shame if the corps lost money there.

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    • ElectricAirship@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Shame if my trusty thumb tac accidentally pressed into the screen and ruined it

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  • MisterD@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    In a few months:

    NEWS BULLETIN on TV: “bad thing” happened today. Prices of most things will go up…

    Instantly the prices change before you make it to the cash register

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  • daychilde@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Technically, a price can change at 9 a.m., change again at 2 p.m., and change again before the dinner rush.

    Technically in one sense, maybe. Technically in a practical sense, no. Because the price on the shelf is the agreed price to pay, and if it changes after you put it into your cart, that’s gonna break laws.

    People are making hay over something that will not happen.

    but let’s say it does. People will absolutely lose their SHIT. And while companies are stupid, they are not THAT stupid. And even let’s say they ARE that stupid: This is the type of the legislatures would love to pass laws about becauase it’s easy to do and extremely popular. Like cops running stings. It’s easy and shows they’re doing something.

    So I am absolutely zero worried about this and all this hype is stupid.

    Will they changes prices nightly? Sure. Will they change prices multiple times during the day or for individual shoppers? Nope.

    And if they were going to pull this shit, they’d already be pulling it online where they can already do that. And yet, not a single fuckin peep about that from any of these people hyping up this thing.

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    • 3abas@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      You’re at Walmart doing grocery shopping, and you fill your cart with all kinds of foods. Are you going to realize the tomatoes are ringing up at $2.51/lbs when the label was $2.40 in?

      I don’t think it would be illegal, the price tag is not a contract and it’s often mislabeled today. The question is, can you get people to accept that the price will go up or down before you checkout, and will they just pay when it goes up or create a new stock return inventory?

      If the chicken you’ve been walking around the store with went up and you decided you didn’t want it anymore, that’s straight to the trash. What products will they target with this?

      I think it’s more likely to go down during the day to compete with other stores than to go up on you, but who knows what these greedy fucks are going to do.

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      • daychilde@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Are you going to realize the tomatoes are ringing up at $2.51/lbs when the label was $2.40 in?

        You’re telling me in this day of grocery prices impacting us that nobody would notice this happening? All it takes is for a very few people noticing it for people to riot.

        I would be MORE surprised if there are NOT cases of people claiming this is happening when it’s not.

        Also, if there are rumours that it is happening, there will be people who take pics of prices on the shelves and compare that to the checkout price. If they find it happening, they WILL post and people WILL be up in arms about it.

        Another person replying mentioned gas. People drive miles out of the way to save a nickel per gallon - average tank is like 10-20 gallons, give or take, meaning they will spend a couple of dollars to “save” 50¢-$1.00 or so. People are not rational about these things, and if they try it, someone will catch it, and when they catch it, all hell will break loose.

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      • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        i remember numbers, so yes?

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    • minorkeys@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      You have too much faith in your idea of what can and can’t happen.

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    • Washedupcynic@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      If the price of an item was changed after I pull it off the shelf I’m telling the cashier to take the item out of my order, and the company can deal with the logistics of restocking the item. For future shopping trips I’m using my smartphone to snap a picture of every price tag as I’m putting an item in my cart. Failure to honor the price on the tag when I pulled it off the shelf is met with me walking the fuck out of the store with nothing. Now you can cancel the order and restock a whole cart of groceries. Let’s see how many man hours of labor you save then.

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    • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      so they are kinda already pulling it online. amazon does it. but like, they let me know when the price of something in my basket changes immediately. big notification.

      very different from putting it in your cart and finding out at the checkout. now if you need to make a substitution… godsdammit we gotta go wait in line again?

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      • daychilde@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        or i’ll lead the riots myself.

        This is why they won’t. Or if they do, it will not be for long. People will be up in arms. That’s why I’m not worried about it happening.

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  • NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Cool. I never shop there, I dont know why people do.

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    • Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      “Food deserts” exist. For some, Walmart is their only grocery store within a reasonable distance.

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      • NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I never really thought about walmart having groceries.

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    • douglasg14b@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      You, really, cannot fathom why people would shop at Walmart?

      Really? Incapable of that?

      I highly doubt that, because I doubt you are proud of being ignorant or proud of flaunting anti-Intellectualism.

      Pretending we don’t know why something is the way it is is a form of self defeatism where we hand control to these companies, who survive on data and knowledge, by denying ourselves the data and knowledge to do something about it and help others do something about it.

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      • NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Screeching and loud and sort of being an asshole. I take it your are an American?

        Fuck if I know why people would go there, I have been to a few and they never have anything I want, they obviously purchase the cheapest crap they can, and I am aware of the rush to the bottom of quality and price by killing small business.

        Yes, I cannot understand why people would go there.

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    • daychilde@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Well, I’ll tell you why I do.

      1. Walmart corporate sucks. Yep. But you know who else sucks? Most other corporations. Walmart is not significantly more evil than the rest.

      2. I’m a wheelchair user. I am independent to the point of driving to dialysis, but not grocery shopping. So I use delivery. You know who the only store is that doesn’t charge me extra? Walmart.

      3. They’re not the lowest in price - Aldi and Lidl are - but Walmart is still cheaper than the other mainstream grocery brands, and I’m poor

      4. Quality is pretty decent all across the board. Not special or amazing, but pretty solid.

      5. They really have their shit together. We just moved and I have InHome now, meaning when I place an order, I get either 9a-12p window or 1p-5p window (my choice), and they bring stuff into the apartment - into the kitchen. Also, I cannot tip, meaning no decision or choice on the matter.

      I’m not passionate about Walmart. I wish other stores would get their shit together like them, though, because I’d like to throw my business around. I really wish I had better access to Aldi and Lidl, but I can’t pay the inflated instacart/doordash prices for groceries, and I hate instacart grocery shoppers. Nice poeple, but they can never find everything and having to babysit the chat and hope they don’t pull nonsense right before checking out so I don’t have time to catch them… it’s not been good experiences.

      Walmart ain’t perfect and it’s annoying when they’re out of something or they make a mistake, but they fix mistakes, and overall, it’s a solid service.

      Should anyone else use it? Up to your needs. I’m glad to have it, though.

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  • moopet@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Theoretically these have a lot of benefits as well, like saving on paper and ink. One barker could last as long as thousands of prices over its lifetime, and mean staff don’t have to spend time changing them.

    I mean, capitalism gonna capitalise and they’ll be used for evil, mostly, but.

    I wonder if they’re all wired or run off batteries? If the former, then there’s a single point of failure, if the latter then ho boy do I have a plan for a zigbee/wifi/whatever device.

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    • stringere@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I wonder if they’re all wired or run off batteries?

      Batteries. Asked my local store manager (aka my wife). She also added that if you have the Walmart app open and can’t find an item on the shelf it will light the label up green so you can locate it.

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    • maplesaga@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Its funny everyone shit the bed that prices might go up, but the Fed is out there pumping out 8% more money supply a year, and they keep printing if that money simply bids up stocks or house values.

      Then they think its grocery stores raising prices 30c that’s making billionaires trillionaires.

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    • stringere@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I wonder if they’re all wired or run off batteries?

      Batteries, I asked my local store manager (aka my wife). She also added that if you have the Walmart app open and can’t find an item on the shelf it will light the label up green so you can locate it.

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    • JayJay@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      They run off batteries. Usually an entire rail has one battery for all the tags. But they only need to use power to change the screen. I forget the type of screen but its like digital ink? They usually refresh and maybe change price around midnight where i work.

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    • DupaCycki@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I wonder if they’re all wired or run off batteries?

      They may not be the same, but the ones we have in the EU, or at least the ones I’ve seen, run on batteries. They’re not connected to anything. You can just yoink one and it works. I’ve seen some people do that and was tempted to myself. Not sure about the software side. If it’s realistically possible to display something else entirely on them, then it’d be cool to have.

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    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Tear up the floors and put in micro generators that harness our footsteps that feed into the shelving and power the price tags wirelessly

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      • stringere@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Too expensive but that is a great idea for public spaces in general. Thermoelectric on open spaces would be cool, too. But while we’re dreamimg: por que no los dos.

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  • Jaegeras@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    And they’re already dogshit in practice. Some of them are broken, we can’t tell where to put things because the stupid digital interface glitches. People misplace them. They aren’t properly installed or they’re a pain to install. They don’t even blink when you try to find something.

    Oh yeah, what a wonderful investment…

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    • JayJay@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Yeah they break way too easily. I swear half the ones on the bottom shelf are wrecked from carts hitting them where i work.

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    • kyub@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Sure. But still better than what the likely endgame of digital price adjustments might be. It can never be good for the customer when the store has an easier time dynamically adjusting prices.

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  • DupaCycki@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    We have a lot of those in the EU as well, except prices change once every 48 hours at most, due to discounts activating or expiring. Shit like this is thankfully completely illegal, as is expected in any resonably advanced country.

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    • P1nkman@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Is like to point out that the USA is not a reasonably advanced country. It’s more like a third world country with a Gucci belt.

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  • SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    They put em most cities like a year ago or more honestly.

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  • mech@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    So, what if I go to the store with limited cash, choose the items I can buy with it, and then while I’m on my way to the register, the prices increase?

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  • Korhaka@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Aldi has had these for ages and never really had a problem with it. Once something was displayed wrong and I mentioned it so they corrected it for me and then fixed it so the tags were showing correctly. 2 products were price switched by mistake.

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  • its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Get a blue vest, and go down the aisles taking them down. You aren’t damaging anything or stealing anything, just making it less valuable for their bottom line.

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  • melsaskca@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I get how this can save money in labour but there should be laws or regulations that prices cannot change during store open business hours. If not, greed wins yet again.

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  • homes@piefed.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I will continue to never shop there

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  • batmaniam@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    The one and only positive of stores doing this is cheap e-ink displays.

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  • 0x0@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Clickbait title

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  • Sam_Bass@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Was in one today and they haven’t made it here yet

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  • minorkeys@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    The better to steal from you, my dear.

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