Kroger’s plans to roll out facial recognition at its grocery stores is attracting criticism from lawmakers, who warn it could lead to surge pricing and put customers’ personal data at risk
Kroger’s plans to roll out facial recognition at its grocery stores is attracting criticism from lawmakers, who warn it could lead to surge pricing and put customers’ personal data at risk
Kroger’s plans to roll out facial recognition tools at its grocery stores is attracting increased criticism from lawmakers, who warn that it could be exploited to increase the prices certain individuals pay for food and put customers’ personal data at risk.
In a letter Friday to Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) said the plans — which involve using facial recognition tools in digital displays to target advertising to customers and collect information on them — potentially pave the way for biased pricing discrimination.
“Studies have shown that facial recognition technology is flawed and can lead to discrimination in predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods,” Tlaib wrote in the letter, which was posted on social media Tuesday. “The racial biases of facial recognition technology are well documented and should not be extended into our grocery stores.”
Kroger is the largest grocery store chain in the country with nearly 3,000 stores and $3.1 billion in profits in 2023. Kroger and other retailers already use electronic shelving labels instead of paper labels to rapidly adjust prices based on a variety of factors, including time of purchase, where a grocery store is located and other data.
The plan to use facial recognition technology could allow the retailer to build individual profiles on customers, based on data like their gender and shopping habits.
In an August letter sent to McMullen about the same plans, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bob Casey (D-PA) said they were concerned about the chain building “personalized profiles of each customer, and then use those profiles ‘to determine how much price hiking each of us can tolerate,’ quickly updating and displaying the customer’s maximum willingness to pay on the digital price tag.”
The use of facial recognition tools in Kroger stores also raises concerns about how Kroger intends to “adequately” safeguard customer data, the Warren and Casey letter said.
“To be clear, Kroger does not and has never engaged in ‘surge pricing,’” the statement said. “Any test of electronic shelf tags is designed to lower prices for more customers where it matters most.”
Isn't that the same thing? It doesn't matter if you raise prices on demand or lower them, the outcome is the same - different pricing at different times.
This is all a misunderstanding! The high price IS the regular price. We lower the prices at certain times to benefit our customers, who we love so very much. This is totally not surge pricing!
Yeah see it's not surge pricing! We actually lower prices whentheresnobodyintheaisle so that the discounts are passed on to you! Also we list the lowered price in the ads and apps so when you come in you can be surprised by power of our tech! and the updated price
"We are just figuring out though"
"No, no, it's totally different to lower prices when fixed income people are shopping and at all other times leave them the same, our lawyers were very certain of that."
We need a law in the US banning the use of computer assistance for identifying humans. Hands down. It's not accurate, and it only emboldens people controlling resources.
I think they are absolutely, positively, going to breach their face database and everyone's purchase history all over the Internet.
I've been watching for an event like this with popcorn ready.
I've got a good/bad/terrible feeling that they're playing for keeps in the race to be the biggest consumer privacy headline public relations disaster.
Kroger also owns: Ralphs, Dillons, Smith’s, King Soopers, Fred Myer, Fry’s, QFC, City Market, Owen’s, Jay C, Pay Less, Baker’s, Gerbes, Harris Teeter, Pick‘n Save, Metro Market and Mariano’s.
Thank fuck I haven’t heard of a single one of those stores and have never shopped in them
Missed Fred Meyer, which is huge in the PNW.
I don't shop at any of those, mostly because it's not my closest grocery store. It is the biggest though, I just don't want to drive the extra 10 min to go there vs my local one w/ competitive prices.
We switched from Kroger to a couple of international groceries. It's hit and miss quality wise, but this way I'm only supporting at most a handful of greedy shitbags.
If companies can't protect the information they collect now, (a large portion of it gathered without consent), how are they going to protect even more information; and where can I opt out?....smh
The opt out comes in the form of a can of spraypaint.
Two options:
- wear something that prevents facial recognition (something like Reflectacles, for example)
- don't shop at Kroger
I'm doing the latter, but I'm probably going to pick up some anti-facial recognition stuff as well, just to screw with the various other orgs that do this (gonna try going through the airport w/ them as well the next time I travel).
Kroger owns a number of stores, making it even harder to not shop there: https://www.scrapehero.com/store/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Kroger_Company_USA.png
This is a privacy intrusion that should be banned nationally.
The US government should already be breaking up Kroger for its monopolistic practices.
I suspect most of the C Suite is simply waiting for whatever they see as the peak of their share price to sell off everything and move on to their next parasitic host.
Mask mandates may not be in effect but I can wear one to the grocery store. This is stupid and I will not participate.
Surge pricing=price gouging, there is no difference
Oh no, I accidentally smudged a little bit of paint over the facial recognition camera lens... Oops!
A Kroger spokesperson said in a statement that the company’s business model is built on a “foundation of lowering prices to attract more customers.” “To be clear, Kroger does not and has never engaged in ‘surge pricing,’” the statement said. “Any test of electronic shelf tags is designed to lower prices for more customers where it matters most.”
I know these PR people get paid a lot to tell bald-faced lies, but I just don't understand how they live with themselves.
In the USA, facial recognition isn't legal in some states (e.g. the company needs written permission from the individual to collect their facial data in Illinois), and other stores have had issues with facial recognition (e.g. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/12/rite-aid-banned-using-ai-facial-recognition-after-ftc-says-retailer-deployed-technology-without) so I'm not sure how Kroger think they'll succeed with this.
Honestly, they'll probably miss that and pay massive fines in Illinois. It seems to be the traditional approach by companies that get into facial recognition to also not bother to listen to anyone who could have told them not to.
And it definitely won't negatively affect people of color, at all, will it?
Well, they wrote some letters. There's nothing more the nations law makers can do to protect citizens from corporate greed and price gouging. /s
We need a large, well-organized movement to demand that the government add a right to privacy to the US Constitution.
There's no way lawmakers stop this, so anyone know a way to wear a mask in public without looking like a lunatic?
I haven’t stopped wearing an N95 in public since 2020. I’m not going to say nobody has ever been weird to me about it, but the vast majority of people are more interested in my colorful hat than my mask. YMMV depending on location.
That’s a good idea. I don’t shop at Kroger but it’s only a matter of time for others to try this.
You could just become a fan of Insane Clown Posse
Two choices:
- Medical mask and sunglasses (preferably those boxy ones people wear over regular glasses). Few people question medical masks these days.
- Embrace the lunacy, and wear whatever mask/facial covering you think is cool/funny. Life's short and a lot of people would do well to embrace harmless weirdness.
...attracting criticism from lawmakers, who warn it could...
Oh my, if only there were someone with the resources and authority to do something about it.
This is appalling.
So nice to live in the Balkans where prices are still on paper, and in some stores you can still barter depending on the quantity you're buying. 😄
Kroger is one of the more expensive grocery stores in my area. Less reason to go now. Aldi is the way
No lie, just don't go there. American ignorance is a huge reason why capitalism is failing us, and the media is a huge part of that.
If this goes through, the media should be plastering the news everywhere. And customers should follow up by quitting Kroger. But neither will happen. Kroger could put signs out front saying, "Fuck you. We're spying on your FACE.", and customers would just nod and go on inside.
Look at all these comments. Yours is the only one saying go elsewhere.
I've been pretty lazy about changing stores since they had the easiest pick up i had found in my area, but i guess this is the ass kick i need to make sure i never go back.
Sucks they own almost all the groceries in my area. But i can trust that it's not a monopoly, right?
Groceries prices deeeeefinately aren't inflated. Nope. All good here.
That might be ugly, but something like that...
We all need to wear little bowties that spritz semi clear paint into the cameras as we browse price tags.
Or can someone start a tick tok trend where the kids go to stores and eat these little devices off the shelves as a real "just prank bro"?
Also, remember that corporate rats do these things to give each other cover. Kroger has to be the face of bad guy this time, but don't you think for a second that Safeway and even the new "leadership" at Costco aren't prepping the same right now.
The key phrase to remember here is: Price Discrimination.
Stores already possess the technology to track anyone's shopping experience through loyalty cards. The "discounts" you get are really just a tax on everyone that doesn't participate, and the benefits to the company for having your data are worth potentially losing business from un-tracked customers. That's how valuable your data is.
So why aren't we seeing per-customer targeting? This is not to suggest that businesses are benign here, but rather, just cautious about outright per-customer discounts and other price manipulation. Custom coupons are kinda/sorta a part of this. IMO, the door is still wide-open to find ways palatable to the customer (and courts) while dialing everyone in.
In that context, all cameras do is make the system practically impossible to dodge. Considering how much stores value that kind of information, it makes sense they'd invest to capture 100% of their retail activity.
Thankfully that's not allowed in my country. I'd be so pissed.
Just don't shop at kroger. Problem solved. In some cases this may be the only available store but in those cases the prices are usually higher anyway. No matter the company operating the store
Nothing to see here
