Tomorrow morning, a City Council committee gets the first look at a new proposal from Mayor Katie Wilson and citywide Councilmembers Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Dionne Foster, seeking to ban grocery pricing by algorithm. See the draft legislation here. From the slide deck prepared for the council meeting, an explanation:
Here’s what they say is the problem:
Here’s what they’re looking to do:
The proposal would only cover large stores and chains:
A news release just sent by the city elaborates, in part:
The Fair and Transparent Pricing policy will bar large online and brick-and-mortar grocery retailers from using sensitive personal information such as employment status, race, gender, social media posts, browsing history, chatbot conversations, or other similar data to set different prices for different customers.
Prices must be clearly posted and publicly available. Conventional coupons and discounts for seniors, veterans, and other similar groups are protected, as are other types of open and transparent discounts which were identified through conversations with advocates and local grocery business owners.
The policy was inspired by a growing body of evidence that shows personal information is used to price-max customers by squeezing prices as high as they’re willing to pay.
Here’s more on discounts that would be allowed:
And these types of pricing practices:
The full presentation says they’ve already been talking with industry groups as well as potential constituent groups. If this moves ahead, here’s the envisioned timeline:
Friday morning’s discussion is in the Human Services, Labor, and Economic Development Committee (of which District 1 Councilmember Rob Saka is a member), 9:30 am – the agenda explains how to watch, attend, and/or comment. This afternoon’s news release says the committee meeting will be preceded by a rally to kick off the proposal, 8:45 am at City Hall.