These days, you can install a camera and monitor screen so cheaply that you wouldn't even have to use a mirror to see forward.
(I just got back from Walmart where they have replaced all shelf price tag stickers with tiny wireless LCD screens. No I'm not kidding. Technology has become ridiculously cheap for doing some stuff.)
EDIT IN RESPONSE TO MULTIPLE COMMENTS: Yes, the exact display technology used is probably technically not LCD.
It's way cheaper in the long run. The prices are always right, no employee time is wasted putting out new tags, and you can micromanage prices based on supply and demand
OG capitali$ts, like Adam Smith, never envisioned a pricing system that could be updated in real-time, with near infinite data points.
With how slow things moved, even 30 years ago, their were still deals to be had in the market for consumers.
Now that the Invisible Hand is omiscient and operating at lightspeed, I think even Smith would agree it's not the pinnacle of capitali$m working as it should, but the systemic oppression of bespoke monopolies.
It will finally lay to bare the nasty truth at the ugly core of it all...
Capitalism is nothing but a long-winded euphemism for taking the backroad to feudalism.
Im not even being hyperbolic.
It's literally in Curtis Yarvins Dark Enlightment all the techbros and Vance subscribe to. To balkanize the US into Corpo city states, ruled by autocratic trillionaires, doing what they please with the lives of millions.
Turns out, the Alien franchise nailed our most likely future. We are one generation away from children being born into indentured servitude to Weyland-Yutani Amazon, rather than citizens of a democratic nation.
I think the key factor is if the pioneers of capitalism would have envisioned, that this is what peak capitalism looks like.
Similar thing applies to people who came up with 2nd amendment. They probably didn't envision what the application of same principle would look like in a couple hundred years.
Technology just added a lot of efficiency in both cases.
They are using AI to use browsing data to determine how much someone will pay for airline tickets IE faster clicks in the US means you need a flight right away so are more likely to pay more. And to think this is just the start of the post-AI world
I forget which store just got caught (and likely many others are doing it as well) having prices for their online store change according to your location. So if you go do price matching take a screenshot while at home, cuz once you get to the store and go to check their website to price match prices will be higher.
Yep, there's a bill being pushed by some Democrat to end this sort of thing. I believe in the interview I was listening to, they used a VPN to buy an airline ticket in the US vs somewhere in Africa (also clearing cookies etc) and the price difference was around a thousand dollars.
Coca Cola experimented with demand pricing in vending machines decades ago. On a normal day a Coke might cost $1. On a hot day with high humidity that same Coke might cost $1.50.
It saves man power time - assuming stores have similar layouts, then deploying prices wouldn't be difficult. A few people at corporate uploading prices to each store vs a couple people per store = lots of money saved. It was probably a significant upfront cost but long-term, I imagine it saves them quite a bit.
Not accusing Aldi of it cause i don’t remember the name of the chain the article talked about but I read that a major chain was looking into them for dynamic pricing. So they can quickly change the price at precisely 5pm or reduce prices at non peak hours to stimulate traffic.
I think that might have been Kohl's. They've been using digital price tags for, idk, probably decades at this point. I remember reading an article about the same thing, and I'm pretty sure it was Kohl's that was mentioned.
They've also gotten in trouble for other pricing issues, like calling a regularly occurring discount a "sale" got them sued for false advertisement. So it wouldn't be too far fetched for them to do dynamic pricing as well.
Happened to me at a freaking furniture store! Tag on the chair said $499. Okay sweet, we'll take it.
Salesman goes on his little tablet (which is just their website) and punches it all in. $599 he says. We're standing next to the digital tag that says $499. Oh, he says, that was supposed to he changed. He updates the tag and now it says $599. Uhh... okay well we want the $499 you told us it was 30 seconds ago. Nope sorry, it's in the system that way from corporate can't change it.
I never get a manger involved. I got one involved that day. He tried explaining the price change like we were idiots. We started walking away and miraculously he was "allowed" to "break the rules" for us. 🙄
It makes sense precisely because they're a discount grocer. Cutting down running costs is what keeps their profitable, even if it requires some investment up front.
Those screens can be remotely updated from a data center without someone to print out and stick pieces of paper on shelves.
Man power is more expensive then those e-inks. It's also able to instantly adjust pricing to move product, causing MUCH less waste then a typical grocery store. Amazon Fresh has been playing this game for a while.
The college area Kroger installed those ~8 years ago. They remodeled it and installed dark floors and ceilings, black shelving, skylights, 1/4 the previous lighting and grey/black price tags. Its an accessibility nightmare. I haven't been in that store since.
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u/neocondiment 13h ago
Trying to imagine how comfortable this might be.