Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) is accusing Kroger of implementing technology to potentially price gouge shoppers—a claim the grocery giant strongly rejects.
“Families are struggling to put food on the table. I sent a letter to Kroger about their decision to roll out surge pricing using facial recognition technology,” Tlaib wrote on X Tuesday. “Facial recognition technology is often discriminatory and shouldn’t be used in grocery stores to price gouge residents.”
Tlaib’s letter highlighted her concerns about Kroger’s plans to use facial recognition technology through its partnership with Microsoft to display personalized offers and advertisements on its EDGE smart shelves, which were first unveiled in 2018.
The digital shelves, Kroger says, allow for an improved shopping experience and reduced waste. However, others think the technology won’t be used to offer discounts, but rather gouge customers.
“Studies have shown that facial recognition is flawed and can lead to discrimination in predominantly Black and brown communities,” she wrote in her letter. “The racial biases of facial recognition technology are well-documented and should not be extended into our grocery stores.”
Tlaib later added: “My concern is that these tools will be abused in the pursuit of profit, surging prices on essential goods in areas with fewer and fewer grocery stores.”
Tlaib is not the only critic who voiced concern about the technology rollout.
In August, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) argued that the use of digital price tags “appears poised to enable large grocery stores to squeeze consumers to increase profits.”
“For example, stores may use this technology to raise the price of turkeys in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, or the price of ice cream on a hot day, causing customers to face unexpected price hikes when they reach the grocery aisle and find themselves unable to afford the groceries that they had originally budgeted for,” Warren and Casey wrote.
The duo also echoed concerns from another critic’s congressional testimony in May that use of facial recognition technology—which offers EDGE smart shelves the ability to display personalized offers and ads—will be used “to ‘determine how much price hiking each of us can tolerate,’ quickly updating and displaying the customer’s maximum willingness to pay on the digital price tag.”
Facial recognition technology is becoming increasingly common among retail giants. Companies such as Walmart, Macy’s, and Albertson’s—the latter of which Kroger is attempting to merge with—have all used some sort of facial recognition technology.
In a statement to the Daily Dot, a spokesperson for Kroger said that the technology would do the opposite of gouging customers.
“Kroger’s business model is built on a foundation of lowering prices to attract more customers,” the spokesperson said. “Everything we do is designed to support this strategy, and customers are shopping more with Kroger now than ever because we are fighting inflation and providing great value.”
“To be clear, Kroger does not and has never engaged in ‘surge pricing.’ Any test of electronic shelf tags is designed to lower prices for more customers where it matters most. To suggest otherwise is not true.”
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