Fixed prices are gone

For one hundred fifty years, since John Wanamaker put price tags on items in his Philadelphia department store in the late eighteen hundreds, fixed prices were the norm. That era is ending.

Technology supercharged overcharging

New technology is the biggest driver of the shift away from fair pricing. Big tech reinvented the rip-off by supercharging age-old impulses to overcharge and making it possible to squeeze more from Americans in almost every transaction.

Loyalty apps harvest your data

Loyalty programs are sophisticated data harvesting operations. Companies promise deals and discounts in exchange for personal data, but they are not holding up their end of the bargain, says Lindsay Owens, CEO of Groundwork Collaborative.

McDonald's knew your loyalty

When Owens requested all data McDonald's kept based on her app interactions, she received a five hundred fifteen page dossier that estimated a zero percent chance she would ever stop being a customer.

What surveillance pricing means

Surveillance pricing, or personalized pricing, changes prices based on personal information about you, not market conditions. It estimates your willingness to pay, which differs from your ability to pay, especially when you need something urgently.

AI will make it worse

Generative AI and agentic commerce are in early stages but showing warning signs. Walmart reports that Sparky cart totals are thirty five percent higher than non-Sparky cart totals, as AI supercharges impulses to upsell.

“Sparky cart totals are 35 percent higher than non-Sparky cart totals”

AI agents need rules

AI agents are marketed as tools to automate shopping decisions, but they risk backfiring for consumers. Owens says we are at an inflection point where regulation can require agents to work in consumers' interests, like realtors and lawyers do.

Laws are starting to pass

Federal momentum takes time, but dozens of pieces of legislation to crack down on surveillance and algorithmic pricing have moved at the state level this year. Some have passed and been signed into law in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Maryland.

Compare prices strategically

You can comparison shop the same item from the same company across different modalities: logged in versus logged out, in the app versus on the website versus in store. You can also change geographies using a VPN to find better deals.

Test prices with friends

Companies experiment on consumers through A/B testing. You can turn the experiment back on them by calling a friend to check their app, comparing prices, and having them purchase and Venmo you. Sit next to your spouse and both look at plane tickets.

Fighting back costs time

These strategies are useful but time-intensive, and time is valuable. Corporate America is also sucking that dry. Owens says it is not every consumer's job to duck and dodge and beat the machine. Raising your voice by calling Congress matters.

“it is not every consumer's job to duck and dodge and bob and weave and beat the machine”