This practice has been around for years, as an investigative reporter discovered in 2019 that the Target app would change item prices based on the location the user selected — but a recent poll shows that many Americans support banning the practice outright.
The new poll, conducted by GBAO Strategies, found that up to 68% of voters believe pricing technologies, such as price monitoring, will directly lead to higher food prices. 65% believe digital price tags, which allow retailers to update prices in real time, will similarly negatively impact consumers. Among survey participants, 67% favored banning these technologies outright. These results were also not skewed toward any one political party, as majorities in all three parties supported the ban proposal, including 67% of Democrats, 74% of independents, and 61% of Republicans.
Why Americans are against pricing surveillance
The main reason many Americans seem to oppose price monitoring is that it could directly affect grocery bills, at least according to this poll. However, there is another factor to consider here, which the Electronic Frontier Foundation says is even more important than how it might affect our bottom line: how it affects our private data. Pricing for surveillance relies directly on personal data that many believe should be protected as a human right. This data may include a person’s age, race, gender, and other details.
The worst part is that you may already have fallen victim to this new pricing model. A Consumer Reports investigation into an AI pricing experiment conducted by Instacart in 2025 found that users were offered different prices, with the overall difference sometimes up to 23%, depending on the user. Although the experience was highlighted in company marketing materials and in those aimed at investors, customers themselves were unaware of it.
Another algorithm-based system, dynamic pricing, which adjusts prices based on customer demand and inventory, has also become popular among retailers such as Amazon and Walmart. While not as data-driven as pricing monitoring, this method still allows retailers to examine what customers are browsing and purchasing to determine what they would be more willing to spend on. Some good examples of dynamic pricing include airline tickets and Amazon purchases, although some airlines, like Delta, say they don’t use your data. Fortunately, U.S. senators are already waging an offensive against support for these pricing methods.
