Going to the grocery store feels like it costs more and more every trip. According to Civil Eats, food prices in the United States are up about 25% since 2020, which experts attribute to supply chain issues, changing demand, and corporate greed.
Despite these high prices, some companies seem to be doing everything they can to get more money out of consumers.
In some cases, this takes the form of simple price increases; in others, companies have engaged in shrinkflation, where they reduce the size of a product’s packaging or the amount of product in the package while offering it for the same or higher prices.
Now, one customer alleges that companies have found a new way to get more money out of customers: changing price displays.
Are grocery stores using time-based pricing?
In a video with over 1.9 million views, TikTok user @twoideas shows off a series of screens affixed to shelves in a grocery store. The screens show both a price and an advertisement.
“These are the new digital price screens,” he starts. “So, the whole goal of these is to adjust the prices on the items as they become more in demand.”
According to the TikToker, the intent of the screens is to be able to quickly change prices as the day progresses, allowing a store to increase the price of an item as inventory becomes lower.
“I’ll come back later on in the day and you’ll see this go up and down in price,” he claims of the item on the shelf in front of him.
If you haven’t seen these screens yet, the TikToker says, you likely will soon, as “they’re going to start incorporating all these all over.”
Is it true?
This accusation has been levied against multiple stores previously, though the veracity of such claims has long been questionable.
For example, earlier this year, Walmart announced that it would be implementing “Digital Shelf Labels” at its stores by 2026. Immediately, internet users began accusing the company of implementing “dynamic pricing,” or a scheme through which the store could change prices in response to demand—a similar accusation to the one being made by @twoideas.
However, there is no direct evidence for this claim, and Walmart itself denied it. Instead, the company simply stated that the screens would allow the company to quickly change prices on items rather than having to go through aisles and individually retag them.
Similar allegations were made against Kroger, which the company, too, denied.
In summary, while the grocery store’s alleged scheme laid out by @twoideas is possible, it does not appear to be in place yet, and there do not appear to be companies that have admitted to planning to implement such a system.
@twoideas #inflation ♬ original sound – twoideas
Commenters share their thoughts
Whether the proposed system is real or not, commenters were quick to share their opposition to such an idea.
“So you’re telling me you can put it in your cart and the price could increase by the time you get to checkout????????? hell no,” said a user.
“Any store doing this I’ll be boycotting,” added another.
“Odd they have money for this tech upgrade but no funds to help bring down the cost of groceries,” stated a third.
The Daily Dot reached out to @twoideas via TikTok comment.
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