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.
Walmart Is Putting Digital Labels That Change Prices Instantly on Every Store Shelf in America
Submitted 12 hours ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to aboringdystopia@lemmy.world
Comments
jaykrown@lemmy.world 30 minutes ago
technomage@lemmy.ca 7 hours 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.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 5 hours 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.”
Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 6 hours 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.
technomage@lemmy.ca 6 hours 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!
normalentrance@lemmy.zip 5 hours 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
AA5B@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
I wish I could boycott them, but haven’t gone there in years
Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 hours ago
“…not talking about price segmentation…”
Yet.
toiletobserver@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
There are rules about having to honor advertised prices. The savvy and poor will notice.
its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 hours ago
There’s no sense closing the barn door after all the horses got out.
henfredemars@infosec.pub 12 hours ago
Are the cameras going to detect when I have a fever and then triple the cost of Tylenol?
Test_Tickles@lemmy.world 10 hours 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.GreenCrunch@piefed.blahaj.zone 11 hours ago
no, they detect autism
henfredemars@infosec.pub 10 hours ago
Shit, I’m fucked.
FelixCress@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
And let me guess - they still don’t display the price including tax?
daychilde@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
You will never get anyone to display a higher price voluntarily, it’ll take legislation.
daychilde@lemmy.world 8 hours 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.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 20 minutes 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?
3abas@lemmy.world 6 hours 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.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 19 minutes ago
i remember numbers, so yes?
minorkeys@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
You have too much faith in your idea of what can and can’t happen.
faythofdragons@slrpnk.net 12 hours 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.
ElectricAirship@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 hours ago
Shame if my trusty thumb tac accidentally pressed into the screen and ruined it
NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip 10 hours ago
Cool. I never shop there, I dont know why people do.
Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 9 hours ago
“Food deserts” exist. For some, Walmart is their only grocery store within a reasonable distance.
NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip 6 hours ago
I never really thought about walmart having groceries.
douglasg14b@lemmy.world 7 hours 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.
NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip 6 hours 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.
daychilde@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
Well, I’ll tell you why I do.
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Walmart corporate sucks. Yep. But you know who else sucks? Most other corporations. Walmart is not significantly more evil than the rest.
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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.
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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
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Quality is pretty decent all across the board. Not special or amazing, but pretty solid.
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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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MisterD@lemmy.ca 11 hours 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
homes@piefed.world 8 hours ago
I will continue to never shop there
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 hours ago
They put em most cities like a year ago or more honestly.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 12 hours 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.
grue@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
Aldi ain’t Wal-Mart.
its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 hours 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.
TwilitSky@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
I can count 10 misdemeanors alone you could get for doing this if you refuse to leave after being tased and pepper-sprayed by security.
its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 hours ago
Absolutely, if you do something I didn’t suggest doing that would probably be an issue. That’s why I didn’t suggest doing that.
Mac@mander.xyz 9 hours ago
Misdemeanors are harmless
cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 hours ago
If they tase and pepper spray you before asking you to leave, you go to the local magistrate and take out assault charges against the individual, and then sue the company.
(It’s still illegal to assault someone after telling them to leave, but they have more options. They could get creative then, detain you on suspicion of shoplifting. But they can’t physically hold you. What they would do is tell you that if you walk, they will charge you with some bullshit. But if you stay, they will just ban you from the store and make it official. The risk there is, as soon as the cops show up, they can say that they asked you to leave an hour ago and you’re still there. If it’s me, I’m not sticking around, nor providing them with identification, and if they try to lay hands, I will defend myself. But I’m also not a vandal.)
CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 hours ago
Better to wear a short sleeve button down and a tie with a clipboard.
Clipboard is a skeleton key and will let you do just about anything.
batmaniam@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
The one and only positive of stores doing this is cheap e-ink displays.
minorkeys@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
The better to steal from you, my dear.
Jaegeras@piefed.social 44 minutes 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…