Stores may soon set a different price for each shopper
What began as cancel-to-keep-your-discount tricks could become a different price for every shopper, using AI.
Shawn Ryan Show · #340 Byron Tau - The Government Doesn't Just Spy on You. It Buys You.What if you walked into a Walmart and saw a different price than the shopper next to you? Not a sale price, or a coupon price, but your price, calculated for you alone.
This is a hypothetical picture of personalized pricing, not something happening now. In the scenario, the cameras outside talk to cameras inside the store, which talk to digital price tags on the shelves. The scenario imagines that through facial recognition, phones, and connected data systems, the tags could show each shopper a personal price for every item.
Byron Tau, a reporter who covers data brokers and surveillance, calls the broader idea surveillance pricing. He says companies have long treated consumers as data. They want to know about your purchase journey, your background, and your interests. Historically, he says, they used that profile to target you with advertising. Increasingly, with enough data and a detailed consumer profile, they could start setting prices using what they know.
Tau cautions that no one knows exactly how it will work. But he says parts of it are already here.
He points to his own Sunday habit. Tau likes getting The New York Times home delivered to read over coffee and eggs, but not at full price. Every few months, when his introductory discount ends, he goes online and presses cancel. A screen then pops up and offers the same low rate for another 36 weeks. He clicks yes.
Cable companies and subscription services have long made those save-the-customer offers. Surveillance pricing would move that guesswork to the front end, before you ever buy. A company could use socioeconomic class, how much you typically spend on a credit card, and where you work, perhaps scraped from LinkedIn, to estimate what you might pay for a subscription or even for produce at the grocery store.
Regulators are paying attention, and at least one state has said companies that charge different prices should at least disclose it. Tau says the outcome is not settled, and shoppers and voters will help decide whether they will tolerate individualized prices, or whether some will willingly trade more data for discounts.
Questions people ask
Is it legal for a store to charge me more than someone else for the same item?
In most cases, yes. U.S. law generally lets sellers set different prices for different customers, with exceptions for illegal discrimination based on protected traits like race or sex, and for some wholesale rules. That is why regulators are now focused on disclosure, requiring companies to say when prices are personalized, rather than banning the practice outright.
Is this already happening when I shop online?
Parts of it are. Airlines, hotels, ride share apps, and online retailers routinely change prices based on demand, timing, browsing behavior, and location. What is newer is using a detailed personal profile, built from purchase history and outside data, to estimate one individual's maximum price rather than adjusting prices for everyone.
How could I tell if I am getting a personalized price?
Try comparing prices while logged out, in a private browser window, on a different device, or from a different location. Clearing cookies, turning off ad tracking, and declining to link loyalty accounts can also change the offers you see. If the price moves when only your identity changes, personalization may be at work.