Grocery prices - by AI
- Thread starter firegiver
- Start date
Its not a new thing and not limited to groceries.
Remember a couple years ago when Orbitz got busted charging Mac users more than windows users? The presumption was that Mac users could afford to pay more.
Personally i think it's premature to regulate. If you don't like instacart then go to one of the other grocery stores that does not use dynamic pricing. There are a myriad of choices.
Maybe one day we get to a place where regulation is needed, we just aren't close right now.
Remember a couple years ago when Orbitz got busted charging Mac users more than windows users? The presumption was that Mac users could afford to pay more.
Personally i think it's premature to regulate. If you don't like instacart then go to one of the other grocery stores that does not use dynamic pricing. There are a myriad of choices.
Maybe one day we get to a place where regulation is needed, we just aren't close right now.
Is there a way the administration could just regulate the international aisle? 
I've noticed that sometimes when I order items from Amazon on my phone, the prices are higher than when I order on my desktop. I looked into it and and was surprised to learn that they use personalized "dynamic pricing" that uses your IP location, browsing history, login status, device type and even time of day to tailor offers, all to find your maximum willingness to pay.
Like one of the guys said in the video, it's a devilishly dark art.
Airlines have been doing this for years. Ideally the FTC would ban this, though I can see it being a slippery slope. How would you justify eliminating this practice yet still allow a business to not have transparent pricing (like a car dealership or any other often negotiated product)?
I take a few things from this, first of all thanks for posting.
1. don't use instacart
2. while Ms Khan was concerned about wealth transfer from shoppers to corporations, if the pricing algorithm
charges either what you can pay or what you're willing to pay, my assumption would be that the higher earners, can or willing to pay more, are paying higher prices, and the low earners are just the opposite. So to maximize profits the wealth transfer is from the higher to the lower earners.
3. dynamic pricing is the future, like it or not
4. Maybe Biden nor Trump are responsible for the higher grocery prices. One of those interviewed said this pricing technique took off during COVID
As an aside, I take auto train back and forth from Florida. It's king of dynamic pricing: further from travel date you book, cheaper the fare, and depending when you want to travel, prices change. For example, I'm headed back to Virginia on July 11th 2026. The price for July 13th was $400 more expensive.
from what I read so did a lot of people. And, I don't think prices and/or profits have gone down significantly since in the grocery store world.
So did the people who sold hospital supplies. I'm not sure what your point is?
Grocers are like all businesses who try to maximize profits. But here's the bottom line.
- Grocery stores like Albertsons & Kroger make less than 2% on sales. It's not like it was 2% and now it's 4%.
- If customers feel like they're getting abused they'll switch grocery stores.
How so? I assume more people ate at home but I don't see a huge spike in sales or profits at the two largest publicly traded grocery stores (Kroger & Albertsons)
Thew guy in the original video makes it sound like making a profit is a bad thing.
1:41 in the video - "With the primary goal of .... Maximizing profit". How dare they!
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Think they had record profits, did they not? And are buybacks, etc taken into account on the 2%?
(this is not something I really feel like fighting about etc, just remember seeing it back during covid)
a
according to AI you are right about grocery store prices during covid
It's easy to look up on Yahoo Finance or Market Watch
Kroger (profits in thousands, % of revenues):
Y/E 1/31/22 - $1,639,000 1.2%
Y/E 1/31/23 - $2,224,000 1.5%
Y/E 1/31/24 - $2,146,000 1.4%
Y/E 1/31/25 - $2,645,000 1.4%
Albertson's (profits in thousands, % of revenues):
Y/E 2/28/22 - $1,284,000 1.8%
Y/E 2/28/23 - $1,216,000 1.5%
Y/E 2/28/24 - $1,295,000 1.6%
Y/E 2/28/25 - $958,000 1.2%
Krogers profits were up last year and Albertson's profits were down. I don't know the details because they could have bought or sold some stores. The one thing that's reasonably consistent is that profits are less than 2% of sales. Stock buybacks wouldn't impact that.
FTC Releases Report on Grocery Supply Chain Disruptions
The Federal Trade Commission today issued a report on the causes behind grocery supply chain disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
What I was referring to.
Is it really a bad thing that grocery stores had record profit during the pandemic? Isn't what people wanted and needed ..... more groceries. And what did these grocers do? They provided more groceries. They stepped up to the plate and got it done.
Do we all think that these people would have put in extra effort and took on more risk (exposure to covid) for the same amount of money? Remember much of the rest of the world was hiding in their basements and working from home during that time. But the grocers got it done.
Everyone is talking like profit is a bad thing, but it is what makes the world go round.
Do we all think that these people would have put in extra effort and took on more risk (exposure to covid) for the same amount of money? Remember much of the rest of the world was hiding in their basements and working from home during that time. But the grocers got it done.
Everyone is talking like profit is a bad thing, but it is what makes the world go round.
We sort of went on a tangent tbh. I hadn't even said whether it was good or bad. Think Ned was saying that some things were out of Biden/Trump's hands, and I just supported that. Then sort of continued on a chain.
To me profit is not bad. Inflation is. I hate that we are pushing 3% inflation. I was encouraged to here Jerome Powell say yesterday that the feds goal is indeed to return inflation to the 2% level and he said confidently that we would get there. It may take a while but I hope that we get there sooner rather than later.
The problem is that we need explosive growth to get back to 2% inflation without reducing asset prices. Will AI and robotics provide that growth? That is the biggest story in the stock market right now in my humble opinion.
The problem is that we need explosive growth to get back to 2% inflation without reducing asset prices. Will AI and robotics provide that growth? That is the biggest story in the stock market right now in my humble opinion.
Yeah, I am not against it either. But I do think factors like things found in the FTC report should be part of the nuance required when looking at grocery prices overall. That is all.
They're already installing trap doors in those aisles, that lead to an ICE interrogation room. Because freedom and libertay.Is there a way the administration could just regulate the international aisle?
FTC Releases Report on Grocery Supply Chain Disruptions
The Federal Trade Commission today issued a report on the causes behind grocery supply chain disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.www.ftc.gov
What I was referring to.
some in the grocery retail industry seem to have used rising costs as an opportunity to further raise prices to increase their profits, which remain elevated today.
I struggle with this if they're taking about grocery stores. That data I've looked at simply doesn't support this statement. I wondered if they were talking about major suppliers to grocery stores so I looked at General Mills whose profit's have remained steady but not exorbitant. Tyson Foods had a good year making 6% on sales in 2022 but they actually lost money in 2023.
The pandemic also prompted some larger firms to consider buying manufacturing suppliers, which potentially threatens to make certain supply chains even more concentrated in the future.
I have no doubt about this. In fact they didn't necessarily need to buy suppliers. Back when cell phones were taking off my company couldn't get analog devices. Arrow, Pioneer, DigiKey, etc all said they couldn't get any and we had difficulty shipping products. But I know I could have gone to the mall and bought an iPhone with no problem. My point is the big guys have an advantage because they exercise more influence over suppliers. That's just life in the real world. That's why Walmart can sell for so much less than the corner grocery store.
I remember the toilet paper shortage and prices were higher. During the Bird Flu egg prices rose. Today we have a beef shortage and prices are very high. But these things along with supply chain disruptions are (or at least should be) temporary. But here's what I know. I mentioned Tyson foods whose employees are represented by the Teamsters union and they negotiated a 32% wage increase over 4 years. I think that's a far bigger reason why their prices are higher while profits remain flat. Everybody from port workers to auto workers to UPS drivers negotiated similar contracts and we're all paying for it. We're even paying for it at the McDonald's drive through where employees who made $11/hr a few years ago are now making $17/hr+.
I mentioned the severe wage inflation of unskilled labor particularly and has a few TDS folks rail against me
Wages will not come down on those jobs
Those jobs will be eliminated
Agree that those wages aren't coming back down.
Agree that some of those jobs will be eliminated but I'm not sure how fast. The big one will be self driving trucks. Some say that's only 3-4 years away but I'd be surprised to see it at any scale for 10 years. I think labor unions and state legislators will have this technology tied up for a while.
what's fascinating to me is that those who push so hard for higher wages, are then outraged when jobs are eliminated or costs go up.
It's almost like they never took a basic economics class or slept through it.
They slept in on their mommas basement
Never had to meet payroll
Pretty silver spoon in their mouth
What should be a real concern that I want to bring up but it is so complex it will be difficult for people to understand the enormity is the amount of CDL licensed truck drivers who are illegals who cannot read speak or understand English yet were passed through CDL schools particularly in Oregon Washington New York and California
We are talking like 150,000 drivers that probably make $100,000 a year driving a rig that costs like $250,000 with huge operating costs that generate billions in revenues
And that is many billions
This is a huge problem that is not being talked about
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It is a real problem but in Florida it's being talked about. We had a family killed by one of those drivers - couldn't speak or read english and crossed a highway service entrance to make an illegal U turn. Desantis raised a stink and led to discovering the mess created in California, which subsequently led to discovering the same lax procedure in the other states. The DoT got involved and threatened removal of federal funding
I have read that califonia is revoking about 18,000 licenses from these folks. That's a start
Just keep in mind that we've long had a persistent shortage of truckers, especially ones willing to do long-distance routes, so the market disruption will be substantial and will cause prices to skyrocket.
@dpic73 See despite our battles we actually share a real concern in many cases
Problem 1 is we need these drivers as if they all disappear who fills the void
That said something needs to be dine to address the lack of training education and competency of these drivers
This would be one case I would probably have some sort of visa issued and require additional training and the companies hiring them pay higher insurance rates
Yep its a huge problem and needs sober open minds to solve this
good ideas , but how many able bodied, unemployed people do we have who know how to drive? The long distance drivers can make 6 figures. I see Walmart advertising for drivers on just about every truck, and obviously there's jobs all these other non English speaking people are doing. We have people without jobs, companies who need people, schools which (supposedly) train drivers, seems like a good way to get some folks off food stamps.
Our shortages have been in the tens of thousands so if Americans wanted these jobs, they could get them. I saw that one in six truck drivers is an immigrant so there won't be anyone to take their place when they're removed.
we see things somewhat differently on people who can work. First of all I have no problems with a legal immigrant who can pass the tests with a driving job.
We have an employment participation rate of around 62%. So we have a lot of people not working. We put out a lot of money annually for some of our 38% in welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, and a multitude of other benefits. So we have people who can work. They might not be ecstatic about the job, but last I read, about 70% of Americans aren't ecstatic about their jobs either.
I don't have any problems with immigrants having those jobs. If they're here legally, they're entitled. If we can't fill the remaining jobs, find undocumented workers, train them give them work VISAs.
Hey I an all in on a solution.
Dragging probably 200,000 illegal CDL licensed drivers off the roads is the perfect solution
BUT IS IT THE BEST SOLUTION
Mrs Noem and Mr Duffy need to huddle and fix this
I don’t want PERFECT I WANT BEST
Problem is so many are not qualified but also many are qualified
etc
The US needs to set up some sort of something to figure this out
I don’t have an immediate answer mor have had time to dig into just how bad it is
Talking to some local 18 wheeler drivers US citizens have clued me in on DOT trans state rules and older trucks which many of these guys drive do not have the sophisticated electronic gear to monitor their hours/ speed/ locations/
@dpic73 Hey dude asking for a friend
Why don’t you deep dive and claw out details on this national crisis
Leave out politics
Talk about where we are at and suggest solutions
Prices didn't skyrocket before all these illegals arrived. Why can't Americans drive those trucks and earn 6 figures? Or minimally allow immigrants to apply for a temporary work permit with a requirement to be fluent in English?