Grocery Store Surge Pricing Is Robbing Americans... New Food Price Scam

Added: 2026-05-01

[00:00:00]As if we need any more issues when we go to the grocery store, we are now having to not only look at the high prices of the goods, but we are also having to worry about prices changing from the time that we enter in the store to the time that we get to check out. Dynamic pricing, if you haven't heard of it and you probably have heard of it by now, but if you haven't, it's really becoming more and more common. And the price tags that you're used to seeing on the shelves, the little paper tags, have now been replaced with little digital ones that can be changed at an instant and they are using it to their advantage.

[00:00:34]Okay, I never thought I would see the day, but it's finally here, unfortunately.

[00:00:38]So, you see these little tags? This is what they call dynamic pricing or digital pricing. That's when you see these horrible. I'm really sad.

[00:00:49]Because basically what it means is that you can come here see, oh, it's 128, and then when you go to the register, it could be a completely different price. A lot of companies have admitted that what they do is they can use the information off your phone like some ping or something like that. I'm not a I'm not super technical. Anyways, they can get information off of your phone and basically find out what you can afford and jack up the price a little bit and just figure out what they can sell it to you for.

[00:01:19]Um basically possibly giving you a higher price versus somebody else, which is literally so dystopian in my opinion.

[00:01:26]Like that's so crazy that I can come here and get caffeine for 96 cents because oh, that's what they wanted to sell it to me for, but Sally gets it for let's say, I don't know, like 80 cents.

[00:01:39]Like it's crazy. And then it may not seem like a lot right now, but it adds up over time. So, it's just so crazy that the dynamic pricing and the digital pricing is literally here at Walmart.

[00:01:50]Like I almost don't want to shop right now.

[00:01:54]It's crazy. It's called dynamic, algorithmic, or surveillance pricing. A growing trend among global retailers designed to increase profits. An approach that adjusts the ticket price based on who's looking. This is about companies deciding that one person based on their online personal data history or shopping history is is willing to pay more for eggs than another person. Tech expert Carmie Levy explains grocers and other retailers can learn a lot about you when you use their apps, but that's not all they're peeking into. Location information, what you're doing in your other apps, maybe what you've posted on social media, things that you've liked and engaged with.

[00:02:33]>> Think of a parent up late at night with a sick baby googling their symptoms.

[00:02:37]>> Grocery stores are trying to make it easier to charge you more money, and it could be happening to you without even noticing. The next time you're shopping, check the price tags. Do they look like this? These are electronic price labels, which use digital screens to show the price of items instead of your typical paper or sticker tag. They're already being used in major grocery chains, and while some are saying the labels are more efficient, lawmakers are concerned that they'll encourage dynamic pricing, which could hurt everyday Americans.

[00:03:00]Dynamic pricing is the practice of changing the cost of basic items based on need. Hypothetically with dynamic pricing, the cost of items like toilet paper could go up or down based on the time of day, the weather, the season, or other major events. With electronic price labels, grocery stores could change prices in minutes, which could result in price surging. Proponents for the labels are saying that price surging hasn't happened yet and that consumers could even benefit because grocery stores could quickly discount items that are close to sell by dates, making them cheaper. However, the reverse is also true. Electronic price labels could make it easier to drastically increase prices when there's high demand. Imagine the worst-case scenario, like a natural disaster where people desperately need bottled water or first aid supplies. The high demand in this case could mean higher prices in emergencies. We've seen this happen before, particularly with medicine.

[00:03:42]>> Experts also fear that digitized prices mean companies can easily collude with one another to all have the same price and undermine fair market competition.

[00:03:49]So, there wouldn't be any cheaper alternatives to price surges.

[00:03:52]Ultimately, the only way to safeguard against this is with government regulation. Some states have introduced legislation to ban electronic price labels, others have taken a stand against surge pricing. With pending legislation, this is the kind of thing that will require us to put pressure on our representatives to stand up for consumer rights over corporate greed.

[00:04:07]>> Walmart's dynamic pricing has me so and other stores better not follow suit.

[00:04:11]Today, I went to Target and I seen a tennis racket. Um I'll put it here, it was like $18.

[00:04:16]And then I go to Walmart right after and the exact same tennis racket was $24.

[00:04:21]And that's when I had noticed that my Walmart had like the digitized like price things. So, I was like, okay, that's weird, whatever, cool, I'll just get the tennis racket from Target cuz it's cheaper. And then I was also purchasing curtains. And so I go over to the curtains and it was like different lengths for different prices. So, like the 63-in one was like, I think 18, and then the 65-in one was like 19. And I ended up getting the 93-in, but that one didn't have a price in front of it. So, I was like, oh, it'll probably be like $21, $22 based on like the price increments. And then I go to the cash register to check out. It says, y'all see my card info? Hold on.

[00:05:01]Okay. So, then it rang up as just merchandise. It doesn't it didn't say curtain or anything. It rang up just as merchandise for $14.97. So, it was cheaper than both the other ones on the shelves by the time I had made it to check out. I was like, this is just too much and it's irritating me and I hope that other stores don't do this too because I'm not about to be sitting here paying made-up ass prices for Like I'm just not doing it. Start paying attention to your grocery receipts very carefully. I'm so alarmed by the comment section in my video that's two videos before this. I talk about grocery store dynamic pricing, where grocery stores are starting to bring in electronic pricing tags, so the price changes on the items all day long depending on demand. I have two major concerns with that comment section. The first major concern is that people are picking up an item off of a shelf at one price, getting to the register, and it's a different price. Obviously, this poses an extreme problem for people that are on a strict budget. The other problem is the amount of people that have been to grocery stores without these electronic pricing tags. They pick an item up off the shelf that's labeled one price. They get to the register and they check out and it's a different price and they do not recognize it until they get home.

[00:06:13]They'll be picking up a carton of eggs for $2.50 and then when they get home and look at their receipt, it was $8.

[00:06:19]Or, you know, butter that was supposed to be $3.50 is $7.50. This is not okay because when you see a price on something, you expect that to be the price. And sometimes when you get to the checkout, you're distracted or you think that that would be the price that it is.

[00:06:33]Pay attention to those grocery receipts.

[00:06:36]Pay attention when they're ringing up your items. Know what the item is supposed to cost. I don't care if you got to type that in your phone or take pictures. And take that to customer service if they're giving you a problem. Call over a manager. Get it for the price that it's supposed to be. We cannot let them continue to get away with this price gouging >> The cost of your flight went up because you searched for it twice. Your ride share costs more because your phone battery is dying. And this is surveillance pricing, which is corporations using your own data and behaviors against you. And I saw this post from Representative Mallory McMorrow and I really want to talk about it because right now companies are using your personal data, your search history, your location, even how desperate you might be in the moment, um for example, your phone battery dying, to figure out the absolute most that you are willing to pay for a product or service and then they are going to charge you that. So, two people can be looking at the exact same flight, the exact same ride, the exact same um product and get completely different prices, not because of demand or anything that might make sense, um but because of who they are and what the companies know about them as a user. Um and according to Representative Mallory McMorrow I mentioned earlier, this is only getting worse as AI gets more advanced and better at predicting your behavior. And her plan is to ban it. Um like fully stop companies from using your personal data to change prices, whether that's flights or rent, um even wages, um because the bigger issue here isn't just like higher prices, right? Um it's that corporations are quietly turning your own data into a tool that squeezes even more money out of you and most people don't even realize that it's happening. And I wanted to talk about this because I recently saw a news article about a grocery store who is beginning to utilize peak pricing, which meant that products were going to be different prices depending on what time of the day it was, depending on consumer data that they've collected. Um they are doing this on a mass scale now with your personal user data. Um it's not just going to be in public spaces anymore.

[00:08:28]It's going to be online, on your phone, things that you are personally looking up, things that you are personally buying for your household. I mean, you don't even have to step out of your house for these companies to be farming your data. Um and I really I really think that we need to be a little bit more concerned about it because it is only going to get worse if people don't get angry about it right now. So, I know people have talked about like how Walmart's changing their pricing and it's frustrating and like the dynamic pricing, I think that's what it's called where it's like the digital screen.

[00:08:54]Okay, let me just explain my really frustrating moment with them for Easter.

[00:08:58]If you don't want to hear venting, just just scroll past. So, I go to buy all of my kids one gift and one piece of chocolate for Easter. And for one of my kids, it was the Spidey figurines, five Spidey characters. And online, it was $19. And I was like, uh I don't really want to spend $19 on people, but that's that is what it's going to bring him joy. So, I was like, you know what? Let me just do this in person. Like I know they have it in stock. I have other groceries to do. I'll just I'll just go in person. So, fast forward, I'm in the store and I pick it up and I'm like, oh, this is $30. Did I pick up the wrong one? I scan it with my phone and I'm like, oh, no, it says 19 online, 30 in person. They'll just probably price match it cuz I know Target does that and a lot of other stores do. And so I'm over here like, oh, yeah, that's cheaper online, that's cheaper online. Like we're talking like $5 difference, $10 difference. So, I get to the counter, I scan all the things, and then I push the button where like the lady comes over and I was like, hey, just so you know, like these are $10 cheaper online. Is it possible for you to go ahead and price match them?

[00:09:57]And she just looks at me and was like, "No."

[00:10:00]And I was like, "Oh, but it like it's Walmart online. Like not like another store, like it's your store. So, like can't Walmart price match Walmart?" And she like pulls up the phone and she's like, "This says it's this price if you buy it online. It's this price if you buy it in the store."

[00:10:16]We're talking an $11 difference. And so, I'm like, "Okay, so if I place a pickup order or a delivery order, it's going to be $11 cheaper?" And she's like, "Mhm." I cannot justify this. So, I had her take it off. I get in the car and I place a pickup order. And in my mind now, I'm like, "How does this make sense? I'm going to place a pickup order where somebody's going to have to go into the store, find my item, bring it, pick it up."

[00:10:42]Like that is manual labor that someone is having to do that now is giving me a cheaper price when it should be more expensive. I don't know.

[00:10:51]Anyways, my order's ready.

[00:10:53]And then I look at it and one of the items is out of stock.

[00:10:57]I know that item was not out of stock.

[00:10:59]There I I was at the aisle. I saw them.

[00:11:02]My husband went in to pick it up and he had to go into the store, find the item, which was not out of stock, went up to the front desk and was like, "Hey, this item that's $30 is $19 online. We tried to do it this way. We tried to do it this way. Can you please just price match?" And the lady was like, "Absolutely. I can do that."

[00:11:23]So, thank thank you for her. She was very helpful. I saved $20 by ordering two things in the app versus in the store.

[00:11:34]But that doesn't make sense from a perspective of like sometimes people look on your phone and you're like, "Okay, okay, this is in my price range.

[00:11:42]Let me go shopping for it." But now we can't do that. Now we just have to place pickup orders or shipping orders, which that's a whole 'nother thing because shipping should cost money, but it's really cheaper.

[00:11:57]Like I know it's all just a scam and I hate it. I hate it all.

[00:12:02]So, I feel like I'm just boycotting shopping in Walmart because even now when I go in, there's no prices anywhere. Like if you see like a random stray item, you don't know how much it costs. And then if you scan it to find the cost, that's not even the right cost because that's your phone online cost.

[00:12:22]Make it make sense. So, these digital screens are true problems because what used to take days sometimes for employees to be able to go and change these prices now can be done in a matter of seconds and that really affects the customer because you are, you know, having good faith that when you go to the grocery store you can budget for certain things, but then when they're changing the pricing on you, how how is that helpful? Why do you need that additional stress when you're going grocery shopping? So, now we're not just having to worry about inflation, but we're also worrying about unpredictability at the checkout. So, you know, as if we needed another thing to worry about here in the United States, but this is something that's being implemented. Some states are starting to fight this. They are trying to have bans against dynamic pricing.

[00:13:10]So, we'll see if these really go into effect and if it spreads, but hopefully it does. I'm not sure what's going to happen. If you've heard about anything like this, let me know in the comments below. And if you've experienced dynamic pricing in a store by you, let us know down in the comment section as well.

[00:13:26]Thank you for watching. Take care and I'll catch you in the next video.