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I wish there was a mention that 5 people can buy the same milk and all can each pay a different price (and none know what the other paid either) I always thoug
by losteverything 9y ago
I wish there was a mention that 5 people can buy the same milk and all can each pay a different price (and none know what the other paid either)
I always thought it would be something to charge a wealthy person more since they can afford it. With GO franchise i could charge $20 for milk to the teacher pensioner backed by my tax dollars; $0.50 to the poor mother of 3 kids, and $10k to jeff bezos. Then I could stop subsidising farmers.
Of course my points are extreme but we never had a way to charge different people this easily
- mtgx 9y agoI wonder if only poor people will visit such stores in the future, once the word of this gets around.
- epicide 9y agoYeah, all the people that this would affect negatively (as OC described) have the power to prevent it. It likely would work the other way around where the rich automatically get it deducted from their taxes, somehow.
- pdkl95 9y ago> all the people that this would affect negatively ... have the power to prevent it This is based on the incorrect assumption that the people being gouged by variable pricing are rich (or at least "not poor"). > (as OC described) The OC's pricing - like his patently incorrect view of teacher income - isn't based on reality. Being poor is very expensive[1][2]. The entire point of this new wave of price discrimination is to use modern data analysis to minimax how much each individual can be gouged. This is always regressive, because the poor do not have the same ability to shop around for better deals, buy in bulk, and other money-saving techniques that require up-front investment of time and/or money. [1] https://www.huffingtonpost.com/lauren-greutman/why-being-poor-is-more-ex_b_9194906.html https://www.huffingtonpost.com/lauren-greutman/why-being-poo... [2] https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21663262-why-low-income-americans-often-have-pay-more-its-expensive-be-poor https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21663262-why-lo...
- epicide 9y agoI completely agree with everything you've said. My point was that the OC's scenario couldn't happen because, if it were even on the table, they would prevent it from happening.
- pintxo 9y agoThereby allowing poor mothers with 3 kids to start a business as supermarket shoppers for Jeff Bezos types of people?
- janlaureys 9y agoBut then their prices would go up because their income goes up, pretty much crippling their business model.
- xya3453 9y agoThis is quite common in third world countries. Essentially, foreigners, whether expats or tourists, will pay a different price to locals for everything from street food to rent to government run tours. Local prices are displayed in the local language, foreigner prices in English.
- balls187 9y agoOne of my go-to lunch spots offers a discount if you have an in-state Drivers License.
- ebbv 9y ago> charge a wealthy person more since they can afford it. With GO franchise i could charge $20 for milk to the teacher pensioner backed by my tax dollars You think teachers are wealthy? Dude,... get some experience with reality instead of believing b.s. you read online.
- metamet 9y agoYeah, I don't know what type of world they live in. I know a lot of teachers, most of which work for 30-50k their entire lives. After an entire life of teaching/putting up with kids, I don't think it's unreasonable for them to be rewarded with an actual retirement. It's not like their pension allows for them to buy a new car, even. It's strange seeing this sentiment from an industry that routinely makes over six figures, many while still in their 20's or 30's. Teachers never come anywhere close to that in their entire career.
- losteverything 9y agoMy example is strictly NJ based. A different place 4 sure.
- maxerickson 9y agoThe checkout free experience doesn't magically exempt them from price display laws. Here a store has to display prices for a high percentage of the items on the shelves and if there is a discrepancy at the register the displayed price is the decider. It'd also be perfectly possible to implement different prices with a traditional barcode scanner. Just have a button on the register (or say, give a discount if the person signs up for a store card...).
- epicide 9y agoSo they display the lowest price they'd accept (could even be automated) and have the checkout try to change the price to higher values based on the customer. If the customer notices a discrepancy, they give them the lower price. They win out in the long run since it depends on the customer to notice the discrepancy and point it out. Any minor advantage at their scale wins out as a pretty big deal.
- stale2002 9y agoAnd then they get sued for breaking the law? What you described is called fraud.
- jonknee 9y ago> If the customer notices a discrepancy, they give them the lower price. They win out in the long run since it depends on the customer to notice the discrepancy and point it out. That kind of fraud is what the corner bodega does, not what Amazon does.
- backtoyoujim 9y agoAmazon offers free bodegas to anyone as long as they get a cut.
- pavel_lishin 9y agoThat's called fraud. I think a better approach would be to display an initially high price, and mention automatically applied coupons at checkout - or require the user to use their smartphone's app to apply the coupon.
- pintxo 9y agoBtw. is our current system of farm subsidizing that different? Subsidiaries by and large are paid from money collected through taxation. Anyone's level of taxation is ~based~ should be based on the personal income. So we actually have this, somehow, today. Without the need for every shop to actually know about the customers wealth level.
- chrisseaton 9y agoAre there no prices on the shelves in an Amazon Go store? Surely people want to know the price before they buy an item? Not having a checkout doesn't change that does it?
- losteverything 9y agoI wonder too. I assume they are electronic. So snowstorm- raise milk and bread.
- chrisseaton 9y agoSo the prices change based on who's looking at them? What if two people are looking at them at the same time? How does this work?
- userbinator 9y agoHow about the one who happens to be looking at it the "closest" (according to the algorithms)? That would pretty much immediately turn into a "I see you can buy it for a lower price, how about I pay you to buy it for me instead" situation...
- JoshuaRedmond 9y agoI suppose you could use lenticular screens like those used in some cars to avoid driver distraction[0 - old article but you get the point] or for the 3D effect in the Nintendo 3DS. This might be getting a bit silly though... [0] - https://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2008-12/mercedes-benz-splitview-clever-lcd-screen-keeps-driver-informed-passenger-entertained https://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2008-12/mercedes-benz-sp...
- bloat 9y agoYes there are prices on the shelves. https://www.recode.net/2018/1/21/16913984/what-does-photos-amazon-jeff-bezos-seattle-new-no-cashier-line-grocery-story-amazon-go https://www.recode.net/2018/1/21/16913984/what-does-photos-a...
- tiredwired 9y agoWealthy people buy the cow.
- TheOtherHobbes 9y agoWealthy people invest in a fund that has tax-sheltered elements operating in the global cow sector.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- ChiliDogSwirl 9y agoSo how much of my personal life do I need to hand over to a faceless corporation so it can decide how much I ought to have to pay for milk? Just my annual income, or should it also take into account if I've had an expensive medical procedure recently? Or my number of dependents? The value of my stocks? Or if my breadwinning spouse just threw me out of the house? What a treat this info would be for the ad department.
- busyant 9y agoThis would send me back to the traditional grocery store.
- nordsieck 9y agoNot going to happen as long as GO has to compete with traditional grocery stores.
- Para2016 9y agoIf that system was ever popularized, rich people would just have poor people shop for them. More so than they already do I guess.
- deviationblue 9y agoI have such a visceral dislike of this. I don't trust algorithms to be fair (see multitudes of examples in Weapons of Math Destruction), or for algorithms to consistently work without interference from malicious actors. What something should cost should be it's "worth", however two parties entering in a transaction deem that. Or, worse to worst, I think there's a case for "vintage stores" if dynamic pricing goes live at brick/mortar stores--come one, come all, pay the same.
- haspoken 9y agoPoor people are not allowed in the store. A login to your Amazon account with the app on a smart phone is required to even enter the store.