Kroger, America’s biggest supermarket chain, is being investigated over its use of electronic price labels on store shelves nationwide. US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bob Casey announced they were looking into the practice to see if the chain was engaging in surge pricing. So-called ‘dynamic pricing’ is common in other industries, such as flights, hotels and car-sharing services like Uber . It sees customers paying more or less depending on demand


There are multiple posts on lemmy about the stores switching to digital tags, some of which claim they will “save the customer money”, obviously an outright lie as the point is to make more money for the store.

Ex: https://lemmy.world/post/16718848 , https://lemmy.world/post/17161297

    • TommySoda@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Unfortunately some people don’t have a choice. The only grocery stores near me are Kroger or Albertsons. I have to drive over an hour to get any other options.

      But at the same time, even though I only shop for two, it might end up being cheaper to drive an hour and a half to Costco if shit keeps going the way it is. When you have to pay over $100 on less than a week of groceries, gas prices seem quaint in comparison.

    • forks@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      It’s only in southern California I think, so probably. I just left one to start school, and it wasn’t that bad. They were just starting to get much more serious about a greeting program, and they send secret shoppers to evaluate the workers a couple times a month, but that’s about it. It’s unionized, too, which is nice.

    • Samvega@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 months ago

      Yes. Humans choose to allow other humans to suffer, over and over again. In fact, some of them make money from it, and then spend that money spreading the idea that it’s good for people to suffer because they’re not ‘normal’ (white, male, heterosexual).

      • undergroundoverground@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I think you’re right but, also, we a tend to discount the effect of having the most greedy and sociopathic people in our society leading it and owning most of the assets.

        Not that you’ve said either way but I think that then gets confused with “human nature.”

  • Media Bias Fact Checker@lemmy.worldB
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    4 months ago
    MSN.com - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)

    Information for MSN.com:

    MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: High - United States of America
    Wikipedia about this source

    Search topics on Ground.News

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/biggest-us-grocery-chain-investigated-over-uber-style-surge-pricing/ss-AA1oFuzd?ocid=socialshare

    Media Bias Fact Check | bot support

    • TommySoda@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Sure this bot is annoying, but why is everyone down voting it? Am I out of the loop or something?

      • zombaya01@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        From what I remember is that the bias reports themselves are quite biased. I believe to favour pro-semitic media’s, but I’m not too sure about it.

        • TommySoda@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          I could see that. They do seem to favor specific websites. I understand the idea behind it but the execution is mediocre.

  • irotsoma@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    And with the Kroger/Albertsons merger likely imminent considering they announced all the stores in my city they’re going to close or sell off, it’s likely to become the norm and even if it’s deemed illegal, the fines won’t be enough to matter until they can pay to make it legal. It’s not like they can be shut down if they’re the only grocery stores.

  • edric@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    TIL Kroger is the biggest supermarket chain in the US. I thought it would be Walmart.

    • slumlordthanatos@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Walmart is a retailer, because they sell basically everything, while Kroger only sells groceries. I think that’s the distinction they’re making.

      • humorlessrepost@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        My local Kroger sells clothes, has dressing rooms, has a pharmacy with a clinic, an attached gas station, and has a decent home goods section.

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      I think most Walmarts don’t really sell groceries. Last time I lived near one, it didn’t have any produce, which is really the whole point of a grocery store.

      Didn’t Kroger just buy another chain, though? That might have been what made them the biggest.