You may have noticed that grocery chains across the country are rapidly rolling out Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs). These digital price tags can change instantly, making them appealing to big grocery chains like Kroger, Walmart, and Schnucks, who are putting ESLs in thousands of stores.
But behind these screens is a concerning reality: With the help of AI, ESL systems can collect your personal information. With access to your information, grocery giants can introduce “surveillance pricing” or charging different customers different prices based on who they are. This could mean a future where factors like race, gender, and financial circumstance could impact how much you pay at checkout. That’s discrimination, plain and simple. Everyone deserves the same price for the same product.
Additionally, ESLs could threaten the jobs of grocery workers, or at the very least, leave them to explain the company’s actions to rightfully angry shoppers. As America’s Food and Retail Union, representing more than 835,000 grocery workers across North America, we understand how crucial these workers are in keeping our communities fed and how disruptive ESLs could be for both workers and customers.
How UFCW is fighting back
UFCW is teaming up with lawmakers at both state and federal levels to push for meaningful changes for workers and consumers. Our goals are clear:
- Require stores to use clear, printed shelf prices that everyone can see and trust.
- Ban “surveillance pricing” so no one is charged more based on who they are.
- Give state attorneys general the authority to enforce these rules and allow consumers to take legal action if stores break them.
State legislatures across the country are actively working to protect their communities from the dangers of ESLs, introducing bills banning the use of electronic shelving labels and the practice of dynamic pricing in our food and drug stores. Their work is setting an important precedent across the country: Everyone deserves the same price for the same product.
The groundwork is laid – together, we can fight for legislation that works for workers and customers.