Biggest US grocery chain investigated over Uber-style surge pricing

RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 275 points –
msn.com

Kroger, America's biggest supermarket chain, is being investigated over its use of electronic price labels on store shelves nationwide. US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bob Casey announced they were looking into the practice to see if the chain was engaging in surge pricing. So-called 'dynamic pricing' is common in other industries, such as flights, hotels and car-sharing services like Uber . It sees customers paying more or less depending on demand


There are multiple posts on lemmy about the stores switching to digital tags, some of which claim they will "save the customer money", obviously an outright lie as the point is to make more money for the store.

Ex: https://lemmy.world/post/16718848 , https://lemmy.world/post/17161297

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I think most Walmarts don't really sell groceries. Last time I lived near one, it didn't have any produce, which is really the whole point of a grocery store.

Didn't Kroger just buy another chain, though? That might have been what made them the biggest.

every Walmart I've been to has a big grocery section

I think those are the "Superstores." I know in my tiny-ass hometown we had a regular Wal-Mart that was basically just a K-Mart.

I miss my blue light special at KMart šŸ„²

The div1 walmarts without a grocery are mostly phased out I thought? There are only supercenters (general store + grocery) and neighborhood markets (grocery only) in the adjacent states to me.

Not yet. They are trying to merge with Albertsons which owns lots of local stores like Jewel Osco and Safeway. But they need the merger to be approved by the FDA before it can go through. Their case is supposed to be heard early next year. Let's hope it doesn't go through.

Wouldn't that be the Federal Trade Commission to make that determination?

I haven't seen a Walmart since like 1995 that didn't have a fuck ton of groceries, including produce

Walmart has store classifications which govern how they are built according to the demographics of the area they serve, ie: population, average income, etc.

Neighborhood Walmarts are essentially a grocery store. So they do have dedicated grocery stores.

They are trying to buy Albertsonā€™s. Which sucks since those are the two closest to me and one is far better than the other.