DETROIT – How many of us use apps for our favorite stores to score an extra deal or two? Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib warns these apps, along with our shopping history and personal information, could be used against us to influence the prices we pay.
Background: Michigan lawmaker accuses grocery stores of price gouging, ‘surveillance pricing’
House Bill 4966, also known as the Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act, aims to address this issue.
The bill highlights how personal profiles allow companies to charge different prices for the same items by using mobile apps, online shopping, electronic shelf labels and facial recognition technology.
“Now corporations are using technology to raise prices in new ways and without your knowledge,” she said.
The timing couldn’t be worse, as 47 million Americans are reported to be food insecure.
“To not have access to food, healthy food, and to take advantage of our people — that should be a crime,” said one mother of five.
Congresswoman Tlaib introduced the bill Tuesday to prohibit personalized price gouging and ban electronic shelf labels, which can change prices within seconds of a customer picking an item off the shelf. So far, it has 25 co-sponsors.
“Companies should not be able to use our online history, past purchases or location information to charge us higher prices,” Tlaib added.
Prices are already too high, and advocates see the need for regulations.
Jamiela Bell said, “It’s innovation, and the people need to be protected.”
Brittney Clark, who uses store websites and apps to compare prices between retailers, agrees there should be limits on how companies use the information they collect.
“It can be done as long as it’s being done in a safe way. Not invading privacy that’s hard to come by,” Clark said.
Dan Peterson, of UFCW Local 876 in Detroit represents more than 18,000 workers, many of them grocery store employees or meat processing facility workers. He says race, gender, income, shopping habits and more can be used to track you from aisle to aisle. “Companies shouldn’t be able to use online history, past purchases or location information to charge you higher prices for you family who needs to eat,” said Peterson.
Efforts to reach Meijer, Kroger, Walmart and Target for comment on how they use customer data, whether it influences pricing, and their stance on digital shelf pricing and the bill were unsuccessful.