The Big Squeeze: Inflation as a Cover for Profiteering
Get ready for "dynamic pricing."
Prices are surging all over the world.
It's getting worse, not better.
Even as governments take credit for battling inflation, they do almost nothing to stop corporate price gouging. Stores like Walmart and Target have even started to remove price tags from their items, replacing them with bar codes that allow them to manipulate prices in real time. According to a story in NPR, "the new labels allow employees to change prices as often as every ten seconds." Industry leaders promise not to abuse this new technology, even as they brag about being able to charge us more for water during heat waves.
These announcements have blown up the internet over the last few weeks, sparking justifiable outrage.
This move has disturbing implications.
As one person put it:
"Hurricane coming? Price increase. Snow storm coming? Price increase. Heat wave coming? Price increase."
These moves always come with a cover excuse, that the changes will save resources or make our lives easier. Marketing experts are…