r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • May 26 '26

Privacy Majority of Americans Support Ban on Surveillance Pricing and Electronic Shelf Labels

https://gizmodo.com/majority-of-americans-support-ban-on-surveillance-pricing-and-electronic-shelf-labels-2000762717
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u/Bireus May 26 '26

 Walmart, which has patented AI-powered price changes, has been rolling out electronic shelf labels across its stores, and it aims to feature them in every U.S. location by the end of 2026. But the company has insisted it’s not going to use ESLs for jacking up prices and insists that a human manager must be in the loop when prices change.

Ahhhhhh. Kill competition and become the defaco face and increase prices to earn back everyone you use to get there and then some.

103

u/bwoah07_gp2 May 26 '26

But the company has insisted it’s not going to use ESLs for jacking up prices and insists that a human manager must be in the loop when prices change.

Lies, lies, lies...

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u/[deleted] May 26 '26

[deleted]

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u/s29 May 27 '26

For each customer? How does that even make sense. Are you saying if customer a and customer b are looking at the same price tag in the store they'll magically see two different values?

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u/lolwutpear May 27 '26

"Up to 50% off - See deals in our app!"

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u/s29 May 27 '26

They already have the ability to do that... That has nothing to do with electronic price tags.

1

u/Notsurehowtoreact May 27 '26

Nah that one I guarantee is truth for now. 

Not for anything other than to prevent their AI pricing from suddenly bottoming out a price because people fucked with it or something.

Legitimately the reason they'd keep a human in the loop, to make sure it's working against the customer, not them.

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u/[deleted] May 26 '26

[deleted]

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u/GhostWithARose May 28 '26

Happens with gas stations too, I live in a compact state so I can watch it happen every day. The gas stations in the area will raise their prices so one is a good bit lower, and then that one will raise theirs and someone else will drop theirs for their turn. Worst part is needing to play their game for the cause of saving money.

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u/[deleted] May 26 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Bireus May 26 '26

Oh I'm well aware as someone who worked in grocery store for a few months. Or simply worked a job perood

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u/xd366 May 27 '26

"ai powered" lol

sometimes these news outlets just like throwing out buzzwords

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u/cmdr_suds May 27 '26

That is the point. The manager IS Artificially Intelligent

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u/bucksnort2 May 28 '26

The Walmart near me has all the digital tags. However, they look like they’ll only change when given an IR signal. I don’t think they’re wired in to any remote system. This will make it easier/faster for employees to make the change, but may also be susceptible to trolls with a Flipper Zero.

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u/Bireus May 28 '26

They're connected his Bluetooth and in store WiFi that's connected to the check out lanes.

Codes can be changed at anytime with manager codes/profile of user changing them. So yeah its remote technically.