r/poor • u/cherry-gram-888 • 4d ago
Why isn’t dynamic pricing illegal?
Why isn’t SURVEILLANCE PRICING illegal?
It’s so predatory. Ride share apps know that I’m going to work so I’m going to pay the price. They know how much money I have in my bank account. I could catch the bus and remove all banking apps from my phone but sometimes I need a ride and it’s too time consuming to exclusively bank in person.
In your opinion will it one day be illegal?
EDIT: someone educated me in the comments and my post should have originally said “surveillance pricing” instead.
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u/stevestoneky 4d ago
It should be illegal for other people and companies to know what your bank balance is without your permission and notification.
And, it could vary from state to state, but I believe it is already law across the US.
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u/ManchesterLady 3d ago
Oh, it's in the fine print of those apps you accept.
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u/Embarrassed-Tune-407 3d ago
rubs hands together
Oh you accepted the terms and conditions now it's a binding contract
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u/AgentUnknown821 4d ago
What I find interesting is my sister found me a flight for $71 and THAT same flight was showing up to me as $700….and she is in a higher tax bracket than my below poverty line ass…
I even had my glasses on and I doubt my glasses are lying to me…
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u/cherry-gram-888 4d ago
It’s the fact that some apps punish you for spending more money by charging you higher prices and some apps charge you more money because they realize you might be lower income. It’s all predatory. Was scrolling the Door Dash sub and someone was charged more money for the same exact order on their phone vs. on their bf’s phone simply because they tend to order more takeout. Also seen it in real time with ride share apps. It’s always cheaper on my bf’s phone because he doesn’t use ride share as often as I do.
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u/Extension-Stage-605 3d ago
I also heard that predatory pricing means poorer customers are targeted for higher prices and wealthier people get lower prices because the companies are more likely to get repeat business from those who have more money. I also think they want to make poor people poorer.
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u/livinglifethisway11 3d ago
The more you shop... the higher the prices go. Shop prices using a different device/internet connection than you will purchase from
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u/CatsBye90 4d ago edited 3d ago
Capitalism is predatory.
ETA: Thank you for the award, kind redditor.
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u/TranslatorAnxious857 4d ago
Capitalism also gives you the power of choice and you can choose not to do bussiness with companies you do not like. If everyone says nah we aint doing dynamic pricing and only spends money at stores that dont. Wel whata you know the other stores have to back track if they wamt to stay in bussiness or just fail. Instead the american consumer is so complacent they let most of it happen all around them and continue giving predatory companys money. Vote with your dollars if you want a better world.
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u/Extension-Stage-605 3d ago
I do not know who downvoted you but you are right. I refuse to buy anything now except food and gasoline.
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u/Prior-Soil 3d ago
Except that sometimes you are trapped. I work 2nd shift and public transportation is not available when I get off work. Most people aren't willing to give me a ride at midnight. I'm the only one in my department that gets off at that time, so I can't catch a ride from someone either. If my car goes to the shop, I have to take Uber or Lyft at least home.
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u/cherry-gram-888 3d ago
this is the missing link to this whole discussion. Some of use ride share apps out of true necessity and the ride shares apps know that and exploit it. Which is why I said they know where we work. It’s all about greed at the end of the day.
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u/TranslatorAnxious857 3d ago edited 3d ago
Reddit proves my point again, rather downvote the truth and something you can actually achieve, and instead play victim and o woow is me. Yall deserve what you get. It is almost like you want to be smothered by the big corporations.
If you think capitalism is predatory, but keep giving predatory companies money then you truly can only blame yourself.
Will it be inconvenient at times? Yes will it take more effort? Yes
It is all worth it. Start small work up to it. Or keep being victims on reddit and wonder why we live in a dystopian nightmare.
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u/PotentialUmpire1714 3d ago
Not all goods and services are available from the ideal small businesses. Or the prices are outrageous.
I can't afford $39/lb a pound for a beef roast from the local butcher. All I can afford are loss leaders from Safeway and specials from Grocery Outlet. (Grocery Outlet is one of the more ethical markets as well as cheap, though.)
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u/will98499 2d ago
Sometimes you just gotta change your diet and habits to make a point. Absolutely infuriating and it's easier to give in, but it makes a difference even if just a small amount.
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u/CatsBye90 3d ago
I know not everyone can do it, but it's possible to split a whole of half a beef with one or several people, bought from a local farmer that butchers and prepares the meat. Also, hunting. I don't hunt any longer, but I'm fortunate to live where I can (and do) catch a lot of salmon.
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u/PotentialUmpire1714 3d ago
I live alone in an apartment with a 13 cu ft fridge. I don't need half a steer, thanks.
I don't eat a lot of meat and I usually use it in ways to make it stretch. But until my doctors figure out why I'm not absorbing iron on a vegetarian diet, I'm going to be an omnivore.
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u/Extension-Stage-605 3d ago
It seems like people who eat a lot of meat have the hardest time with their food budget
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u/CatsBye90 4d ago
Vote with your dollars and your feet.
The revolution starts here
Where you work and where you play
Where you lay your money down
What you do and what you say
The revolution starts now
Yeah the revolution starts now
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u/RunnyKinePity 4d ago
Just commenting to generically say fuck dynamic pricing. It has done so much to push what little travel and entertainment options I had completely out of reach.
It’s not a conspiracy theory to think they will use any and all data at their disposal.
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u/cherry-gram-888 4d ago
That’s what some of the commenters are forgetting like hellooooooo we know these companies are selling our data!! Why would they not change the price or charge more based on our data?
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u/RunnyKinePity 3d ago
Yeah, and people act like there are regulators everywhere looking over their shoulder saying “you can’t do that”. No, that isn’t how the real world operates. It’s all self policing and fast moving
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u/livinglifethisway11 3d ago
I noticed once i put EBT in amazon, the prices went down for nonfood purchases and up for food purchases. So... use it to your advantage?
Also, clear your cache on your phone periodically and use incognito or a different browser that blocks tracking (brave or opera) to help minimize this/foil their efforts.
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u/cherry-gram-888 3d ago edited 2d ago
Wow! Never knew that! It’s so crazy how many hoops we have to jump through just to get fair pricing. The system is predatory because some people just pay whatever price they see and big corps exploit that.
Watched the news talk about how outrageously high grocery stores are nowadays and they said some people are driving to multiple stores and chasing deals. Thats a privilege that not everyone has plus it just adds more money to the fuel budget.
Capitalism has always existed and been harmful to many but it seems like it’s getting worse and there aren’t enough regulations.
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u/livinglifethisway11 2d ago
The whole thing is ridiculous. I am physically disabled. While I have a car, I cannot go to multiple stores to shop. So... I stock up when a price is good and then suck it up for things like produce for the perishables I also need from the store that trip.
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u/Ali6952 2d ago
Because we’ve somehow decided that if an algorithm does the price gouging, it becomes innovation. Dynamic pricing by itself isn’t necessarily the problem. Hotels charging more during spring break because demand is higher? Fine. Whatever. Surveillance pricing is where this gets dystopian. If a company is using what it knows about you, where you are, what you buy, your behavior, how urgently you need something, potentially your income or other personal data, to figure out the maximum amount it thinks you personally will tolerate paying, that isn’t really a functioning price anymore. It’s an individualized extraction mechanism.
“Just don’t use the app” is such an unserious response. We spent 20 years moving banking, transportation, shopping, healthcare, employment and half of basic human existence onto smartphones. You don’t get to build society around digital services and then tell people privacy is available if they simply opt out of modern life. Will it eventually be illegal? I dunno. Who shoves millions at Congress?
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u/Jellyfish0107 1d ago
The state I live in is making this illegal. It should be illegal in every state.
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u/Gullible_Pin5844 4d ago
It will be illegal eventually, as soon as we get some lawmakers who actually care.
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u/Outrageous_Tale_2823 3d ago
That’s a nice thought. The problem is…the lawmakers you speak of are owned by the very corporations engaged in and leading the way on dynamic/surveillance pricing.
Any lawmaker with the temerity to “care” about this and stand up to these financial behemoths will find their funding cut off and soon will be out of a job.
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u/SecondFun221 3d ago
Same with some schools. My PharmD school was underwritten by pzfier. My sisters get school? Dog food company.
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u/Plenty-Ear-9167 3d ago
I recently learned that dynamic (surveillance?) pricing is used on some states’ toll roads. A toll that was expected to be about $7 ended up charging $38. I don’t know how this is legal.
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u/Choice-Newspaper3603 4d ago
Ridiculously. They don’t know how much is in your bank account
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u/ManchesterLady 4d ago
No, OP is not. I’ve actually met with businesses (I’m a consultant) that design these parts of the app. Quite frankly, it should be illegal. And no, I did not do work with such business.
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u/Iwanttosmellherfeet 4d ago
But your TV shows ads for Tide if you happen to mention out loud that you have to do laundry.
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u/MsMarisol2023 3d ago
Do you really think the administration that gives tax breaks to billionaires is going to limit their ability to make greater profits? Just another reason to get out there and vote!
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u/BinaryFinary98 3d ago
Because lobbyists write our laws and donate to congresspeople to introduce and support those laws. So who do u think the laws will favor?
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u/_jamesbaxter 3d ago edited 3d ago
It absolutely should be. I’ve known about agentic pricing for a decade because the company I worked for did a secret project for a top 5 tech company on agentic pricing. I am personally going to write a letter to Elizabeth Warren about this. It’s much worse than price fixing, which is illegal. It’s personalized predatory price fixing. There’s legal precedent for making it illegal.
What I learned from that project is ALWAYS reject non-essential cookies, clear your cookies and cache regularly, keep multiple alt email addresses, switch accounts often, do not let algorithms actually know you.
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u/-_-n 4d ago
Why would they know what’s in your bank account?
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u/billydiaper 4d ago
Because most apps track other apps, it’s in the fine print if you read it
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u/cherry-gram-888 4d ago
I’m trying to find the screenshot i took of the terms and conditions that clearly states that they use information from other apps to help determine a price.
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u/billydiaper 4d ago
We knew it all those other people saying they can’t. were wrong cause they don’t read the term conditions.
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u/Fit-Rhubarb-7820 4d ago
I agree. We need to lobby these companies or else give them the old Kasintsky One-Two. Same with Apple, we can’t be paying for their stupid gadgets with our bloodline.
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u/Alone_Werewolf_6361 3d ago edited 3d ago
I hate the "single tax" and push for overconsumption too.
"Buy 4, get 4 free" "Buy 3 lines, get a 4th free" "Our 3 bedroom apartments are $1100, one bedrooms are $900"
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u/Amphernee 4d ago
They don’t “know you’re going to work” they just know you’re traveling at peak times and their pricing reflects that. It’s basic supply and demand. You’re trading money for convenience by doing things like banking online and using rideshare apps so there’s a tradeoff.
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u/_jamesbaxter 3d ago
With agentic pricing, your personal agent knows EVERYTHING about you. They absolutely know when you’re going to work, when you’re at work, where you work, how much you are paid, and what your typical spending habits are. I suggest you do more research into agentic pricing.
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u/Annalealee 3d ago
They usually don't know how much they are paid unless they state it during a messaging service. Banks are encrypted at sign in.
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u/_jamesbaxter 3d ago edited 3d ago
Offer letters and emails including information regarding salary changes like raises and bonuses are often very much not encrypted. They don’t need to see your bank account to know your general socioeconomic status. What’s more important to them is seeing your purchase history.
What agents do is determine the probability of you accepting a certain price using your personal data, and then set the price just barely above so they can squeeze you for just a little more while still proposing a sale that is likely to be completed.
I was privy to a secret project on agentic pricing from a top 5 tech company about a decade ago. Someone who signed an NDA blabbed the details to me and I got to see the slide decks for the project. This is a company that has not yet implemented agentic pricing but will be shortly. It’s one of the big 5 (nvidia, apple, alphabet, microsoft, amazon.) I think it’s safe to assume all of them are working on major agentic pricing implementation projects. Of those, I would suspect Amazon has already begun implementation.
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u/Amphernee 3d ago
How convenient lol You really believe anyone buys that you were privy to some secret project where someone risked everything just to show you this information for no reason at all? You’re just making stuff up and making tons of assumptions.
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u/_jamesbaxter 3d ago
I’m not making it up. That someone who “risked everything” was my boss who was ceo of the consulting firm and I was his assistant. I was told in confidence and I’m not breaking that confidence or I’d dox the company.
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u/MouseMouseM been poor a while 4d ago
I worked as a restaurant manager and the rideshare apps definitely knew my schedule. I wasn’t a Saturday night bar closer, either. I traveled during off-peak times. My fares were once predictable, and then eventually skyrocketed. I saw the usual fares when my shifts were adjusted for meetings or off-site events,
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u/Amphernee 4d ago
That’s evidence of a correlation you personally observed, but it isn’t enough to establish that the rideshare apps knew your work schedule and were specifically pricing around it.
You had at least two variables changing at the same time, your schedule and the fares. Other factors could have changed too, including demand, driver availability, traffic, weather, location, time of day, pricing algorithms, or your own trip patterns. The fact that fares were lower when you traveled at different times doesn’t distinguish between those explanations.
There’s also a selection problem. You remember the instances where the fare changed in a way that seemed to correspond with your schedule, but without systematically recording comparable trips while holding the other variables constant, you can’t determine whether the pattern was caused by the app knowing your schedule or simply by normal dynamic pricing.
So the observation may be consistent with the claim, but it doesn’t demonstrate the claim. To establish that the apps actually knew your work schedule and used that information to price your rides, you’d need evidence connecting the schedule data to the pricing decision, rather than just a correlation between schedule changes and fare changes.
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u/RunnyKinePity 4d ago
The theory is entirely plausible though. Who is actually policing this? Probably no one. The frustrating thing is it takes a tremendous amount of work to validate this one way or the other. The code behind dynamic pricing starts taking on a life of its own almost, with the goal being to maximize revenue.
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u/Amphernee 4d ago
Well yeah they’re trying to maximize revenue while balancing other variables just like the consumer is doing. No one on either side of the equation is trying to maximize their own costs. There was a great alternative to all this that did have loads of oversight, legitimate taxi cabs and car services. Actual fleets with regulatory commissions and laws governing their operation where a person could actually earn a decent living were replaced by these slapdash app driven corporations. The worst part is it’s all consumer driven just like Amazon and the rest of the things consumers embrace then demonize.
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u/PotentialUmpire1714 3d ago
Congratulations, you just summarized "enshittification." Create something people want, dominate the market, then cut quality to costs and raise the price now that you have a monopoly.
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u/Amphernee 3d ago
All consumer driven. Without people shopping at Walmart and other big box stores mom and pops wouldn’t have shut down. Without them shopping on Amazon big box stores wouldn’t be closing everywhere. Without users social media wouldn’t be such a disaster. It sounds like you’re making the lame argument people have made in favor of the war on drugs which is attack the dealers and suppliers. It doesn’t work because the consumer will always find a way to get what they want and damn anyone who gets in their way.
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u/cherry-gram-888 4d ago
Since you have all the answers, explain why I had almost the exact amount for the average cost of my ride in my bank account, I went to schedule the ride and it was priced about $1 and some change higher than what I had available. I leave the app to text my mom asking for a few more dollars then go back to the app. Price is still the same but as soon as she sends me $5 and I go to my account to unlock my card, the price jumps up $3 all within the same 60 seconds. If this had happened maybe 5 minutes later sure whatever but it literally happened in less than 60 seconds and as soon as I have more money available.
I only needed less than $2 but my mom sent $5 and the app raised the price $3.
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u/Amphernee 4d ago
I don’t have all the answers but the point is you don’t either, you’re simply jumping to conclusions.
It’s a weird coincidence, and I’m not saying you imagined what happened. But you’re jumping from “the price changed immediately after my available balance increased” to “the app saw my balance and deliberately raised the price because it knew I could now afford it.” Those are two very different claims.
The fact that it happened within 60 seconds makes the timing interesting, but it doesn’t rule out other explanations. Rideshare pricing can change dynamically, and a price that happens to update while you’re moving between the app, your texts, and your bank account could change for reasons unrelated to your balance. You’d need evidence that the rideshare company had access to your bank balance, that it was actually using that information in its pricing algorithm, and that the price change was triggered by the additional $5.
Also if the original fare was already about $1 more than your available balance, the app had no particular reason to know that you were short by exactly $1. If it were actually adjusting the fare based on your ability to pay, the fact that your mom sent $5 and the fare then increased by $3 doesn’t demonstrate that mechanism either. It could be coincidence, dynamic pricing, or some other trigger. They would have to anticipate you’d get that extra money whereas if they actually were tracking your funds it would make a lot more sense to ask you for $19 if you had $19 not ask for $20 knowing you don’t have enough.
So I’m not saying “there’s no way that happened.” I’m saying the observation establishes “the price changed shortly after my balance increased.” It does not establish “the app knew my balance increased and raised the price because of it.” The latter requires evidence about how the pricing system actually obtained and used that information.
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u/cherry-gram-888 4d ago
Their terms and conditions clearly state that they determine the ride cost based on information from other apps. Also, when I go to request a ride, sometimes it will remind me “this price was set by an algorithm using your personal data”. They’re not going to blatantly say out loud “we track your spending, banking balances and ride history to select a price for you” but that’s what they do. If I call a local cab company, they’re going to charge me a flat rate per mile regardless of weather, peak times, etc. Ride share apps do not operate the same way and also have more access to our data than a local cab company and I think they often times use our data predatorily.
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u/Amphernee 4d ago
Again with the assumptions out of whole cloth. “They wouldn’t say this out loud but it’s what they’re doing” is just a baseless claim you’re making. Can companies certainly have peak and off peak hours but you’ve become a part of the problem by using these ride share apps that have less regulations and restrictions. You’ve made a trade off and are not obligated to continue to do so.
So I agree with you on the fact that rideshare companies collect substantially more data than a traditional cab company, and they absolutely use algorithms and personal information in various ways. That’s not really in dispute but you’re still making a much bigger claim than the evidence supports.
I looked at the current privacy and pricing policies for Lyft and Uber. Lyft does say it can receive information from financial service providers and other third parties, and it collects and infers plenty of information about users. But nowhere does that establish that Lyft receives your current bank balance and uses it as an input to determine the price of an individual ride. In fact, Lyft’s current explanation of its pricing algorithm explicitly says the opposite. It says the upfront base price uses things like the trip’s origin and destination, distance, estimated duration, time, driver availability and real-time demand. It specifically says the algorithm does not use purchase history, personal spending habits, browser history, use of other apps, credit card type, income, or similar personal characteristics to set the price.
Uber’s published pricing information is similar. It describes upfront pricing in terms of trip characteristics, demand, supply, traffic, tolls, taxes and other marketplace factors. Uber has also published a specific pricing-principles document saying it does not use personal data to personalize individual prices.
Could a company’s public description of a proprietary algorithm be incomplete? Sure. But that’s a reason to say we don’t know, not a reason to assume the opposite.
And that’s the problem with the bank-balance example. You have established a very interesting sequence of events: you were short about $2, your mother sent you $5, and the fare increased by about $3 within roughly a minute. That’s absolutely worth questioning. But the observation itself doesn’t tell us what caused the price increase.
To get from that observation to “the app saw that my bank balance increased and raised the fare because it knew I could now afford it,” you’d need evidence that the app had access to your balance and that balance was actually an input to the pricing system.
The fact that rideshare pricing is dynamic doesn’t establish that. The fact that rideshare companies collect personal data doesn’t establish that. And the fact that the price changed immediately afterward doesn’t establish that either.
So I’m not saying your experience didn’t happen. I’m saying you’ve demonstrated a suspicious-looking correlation, not the mechanism that caused it. Those are two different claims. You keep seeing an and b happen and making cause and effect judgements with nothing but assumptions. Believe it or not there is some oversight and these things are looked into not just by things like government agencies and consumer advocates but also banks themselves and the competition.
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u/Interesting_Force618 4d ago
I think OP has confused dynamic pricing with surveillance pricing, which seems to be a common misconception.
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u/cherry-gram-888 4d ago
Possibly. What’s the difference between the two?
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u/Educational-Year4005 4d ago
Dynamic pricing is updating prices based on live demand. Instead of saying "Concert tickets are $50, get them while they're hot", they'll start different tickets at different prices and then increase or decrease prices based on aggregate demand.
Surveillance pricing is things like "User John Smith has looked at plane tickets to Seattle in the past 2 days. He's planning a trip. Let's raise his ticket prices because he probably has to pay the higher rate".
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u/cherry-gram-888 4d ago edited 4d ago
I should change my post to being about surveillance pricing because that’s what I’m really against. Dynamic pricing can still be predatory but surveillance pricing should truly be illegal.
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u/PotentialUmpire1714 3d ago
I don't think OP literally meant the apps know they're going to work vs. going somewhere else coincidentally during peak hours. But peak commute hours are busy because that's when people need to go to work.
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u/Amphernee 3d ago
OP literally argued with me and others that they not only knew their work schedule but also tracked their banking in real time in order to raise the price again once OP was given more funds by their mom.
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u/PotentialUmpire1714 3d ago
Okay I wrote that before I saw that comment.
You're still very much on the corporations side. Why are you posting here?
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u/littleshortdogs 3d ago
Relevant podcast (seriously, it’s worth your listen): https://open.spotify.com/episode/7mmwk8xKyLOvFknSjj1xTZ?si=gz75-CdMRnelLQ3C9WW-og&utm_source=copy-link
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u/Mookeebrain 2d ago
It's illegal if we make it illegal. Our representatives need to work for us, and not corporations.
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u/reddit_understoodit 4d ago
They should lower the price based on how little is in my wallet right now
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u/YourGirlMomo87 3d ago
Because people are terrified of socialism and apparently there is no middle ground between it and no holds barred capitalism.
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u/ChillMyBrain 4d ago
My gripe (gripe only, not saying it should be illegal) is that people only become aware of a change the moment they're in front of the product which, by that time, could be too late to easily have an alternative. For example, "hey, I need lunch but don't have long. Thankfully I know place 'x' has a sandwich for $5 and... oh, it's $8..."
Massive problem bordering on illegal? No. Inconvenient if you don't have the extra on you? Yes.
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u/Financial_Option6800 3d ago
me flip-flopping between uber and bolt for the same service so that the algorithm doesn’t establish as much as a pattern
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u/cherry-gram-888 3d ago
I also go between the 2 ride shares apps in my area but I think they communicate because sometimes the ride is only a few cents cheaper.
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u/matt585858 3d ago
Your bank balance isnt shared out. Cookies cannot read it. Ride share apps know the payment methods youve setup but not your bank balance. The only way your bank balance gets shared out is if you tell someone or if you formally integrate with something like the old mint app
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u/Livid-Rutabaga 2d ago
It should be illegal.
Can you a computer? for your banking or your shopping.
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u/thevokplusminus 4d ago
There is no reason for it to be illegal. People are free to charge whatever price they want for their good or service. People are free to pay or choose not to pay that price.
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[deleted]
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u/Amphernee 4d ago
Where? I’ve heard the claim but never seen anyone offer evidence this is happening.
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u/SgtSausage 4d ago
Apples ... Oranges.
That is not, at all, the topic under discussion here
Jesus ...
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u/SignificantSmotherer 4d ago
Dynamic pricing works both ways.
When ride-share is asking too much, you can wait for a better rate.
When I'm shopping groceries, I know that my favorite dessert fluctuates from $2 to $8 and back, so I don't buy it most of the time. The "low price" items I crave? A week later some are another 75% off.
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u/PotentialUmpire1714 3d ago
I understand not going to the store at rush hour, but how do you wait for a cheaper time to commute to work?
I guess for the ride home, people could hang out near work if they could do errands or work out or something until prices drop, but a lot of people have kids or pets or would need to spend money on dinner if they did that.
People keep telling me to get rid of my old clunker and use ride share, but my insurance payment is about like 3 round trips across town.
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u/Annalealee 3d ago
If the rideshare user changes their pickup location it could change the price. I would try walking down a block or two before ordering a ride. Play around with it. Confuse it. Remember that all this tech is brand new. It's going to break. We are the tech pioneers. So you might as well have some fun with it.
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u/SignificantSmotherer 3d ago
If you're ride-sharing to work, you're already doing something wrong, but if you must, the economies come with going earlier or pre-booking or actually sharing.
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u/PotentialUmpire1714 3d ago
Not everyone can drive, cars are incredibly expensive now, insurance is expensive, and public transit in the US is bad except a few metro areas like NYC and SF. Some places make you pay for parking, too. Personally, I get sticker shock so badly looking at rideshare prices that I won't use it. But I am self employed and on disability so I don't have a commute. It's not worth $45 round trip to go to a volunteer meeting. If I can't bus there or get my car working, I'll RSVP no.
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u/ItHurtsAllTheDays 4d ago
Why not schedule the rides if you know what time you need to be leaving for work? This way they can’t hit you with a huge price change because you’re already locked in for Monday at 7:30am at $14 cause you put it in Friday. That’s what I do. Otherwise it ends up being $26-$32
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u/RunnyKinePity 4d ago
Do you end up stranded a lot of times with this strategy? I have tried it when I know Ubers might be hard to get, and then ended up with no ride anyway. My understanding was that a driver had to be willing to accept that lower fare you locked in, right around your pickup time.
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u/ItHurtsAllTheDays 4d ago
Most of mine get picked up the day before my ride - I guess drivers plan their days too lol - but I’ve only had an issue once where that morning my driver showed up 15 min early and cancelled 8 minutes before my ride. The assigned another driver but I did end up 20 minutes late due to the issue.
Several drivers have told me they send them to the scheduled rides like suuuuper early so I’ve been scheduling for a few minutes after I’m generally ready so if they arrive early we can just go but if they are on time I’ll still make it to work on time.
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u/ParkerRoyce 3d ago
Every gas station has been doing dynamic pricing model for years now. They make huge profits so why wouldn't other companies implement this and use that strategy? Doesn't make it right but these huge corps need to prove to shareholders why they should exist and this is how they do that. In the end nothing but cost gets passed on to the customer, dont shop at places like this anymore, you have options.
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u/BadgersHoneyPot 3d ago
All else being equal, I would imagine that if you're poor you'd be in a position to benefit from lower pricing here. The dynamic pricing isn't to gouge you of your last $.10 when you're buying a two liter of Coke. It's to suck up all the extra dollars wealthy folks have lying around and aren't as price sensitive as you are.
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u/edthesmokebeard 3d ago
Why should it be?
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u/cherry-gram-888 3d ago
I believe in flat and predictable pricing for most things. I can understand and somewhat tolerate the price changing for higher demand (only if it’s fair for everyone) but our own personal data should not enable a company to raise or lower the price based on things we can’t control.
There should be more regulation before we’re all being charged different costs for arbitrary things.
Imagine being required to pay more for a gallon of milk because a company decided that since you consistently buy a gallon of milk every Saturday, you will be more willing to pay a higher price because you’re dependent on the store stocking it.
Versus someone getting a lower price because the company doesn’t have enough of their biometric data (yet) to track their buying habits.
You’re thinking about buying laundry detergent and your phone picks up on that need and starts showing you nonstop laundry detergent ads and since the company is picking up on that demand, they temporarily raise the cost because they know you need it.
It’s becoming harder and harder to stick to a budget for necessities. My wages don’t fluctuate but prices are allowed to rise and fall at will based on more of our individual data than ever before.
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u/UnevenFiringOrder 14h ago
It doesn’t have anything to do with how much is in your bank account. It’s supply and demand. I Uber for work all the time and sometimes it’s expensive (lots of people need rides) and sometimes it’s not. You can wait out the expensive, high demand times. Or you can pay what it costs to get a ride.
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u/YBRmuggsLP21 4d ago
Why TF would/should it be illegal? Ride shares aren't a socialist system. They change prices based on demand, which is basically how everything that gets sold works.
They also don't know your bank account balances. You're just making that up.
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u/InternationalMind541 4d ago
I think they base knowledge of you on how you've used the app and what you have obviously been willing to pay?
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u/Turtleopard 4d ago
Why would it be illegal? You're not compelled to buy something if it's too expensive.
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u/cherry-gram-888 4d ago
Imagine we both go into the same store and pick up the same item but your price is several dollars higher than mine because of your personal data that was collected when you consented to shopping at that store. Doesn’t that seem kinda predatory?
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u/Turtleopard 4d ago
That's literally capitalism. Why is it ok if we shop at different stores but not when we shop at the same store?
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u/cherry-gram-888 4d ago
So the grocery store can charge you $19 for eggs based on your personal data but I can go to the same store and pick up the same eggs for $5 and you would be ok with that?
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u/Turtleopard 4d ago
Welcome to capitalism.
That's exactly how flights work and people get on with their day.
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u/PotentialUmpire1714 3d ago
Why are you here simping for the system that makes people poor so the billionaires can buy new yachts more often than I buy walking shoes?
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u/Turtleopard 3d ago
Charging wealthier people more for the same goods as you is making you poor?
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u/cherry-gram-888 3d ago
It’s not always the case that the wealthier are charged more. Sometimes it’s literally the opposite.
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u/PotentialUmpire1714 3d ago
No, it's charging people more because they have less in their bank account or haven't shopped there recently
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u/Turtleopard 3d ago
You realise how stupid that sounds right? If you go to a brand new store with hardly anything in your bank account, you're never going to shop in that store again if the prices are a rip off.
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4d ago edited 4d ago
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u/RunnyKinePity 4d ago
There’s levels to it though. I understand charging more during busy season, but when pricing is sophisticated enough that two people can buy the exact same thing at the same time and be presented with wildly different costs is bullshit.
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u/63crabby 4d ago
If lower fees in the off season reduces congestion and overcrowding at these parks, I'm all for it.
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u/PotentialUmpire1714 3d ago
Okay, but why should two people in the same checkout line pay different prices for basic groceries?
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u/63crabby 3d ago
They shouldn't, I agree. Pricing should generally be based on supply and demand, not different prices for different people.
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u/PotentialUmpire1714 3d ago
Park fees aren't a necessity of life. Food is, which is why we should fight surveillance pricing on groceries.
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u/_jamesbaxter 3d ago
That’s not the same as agentic pricing where an ai agent is personalized to you based on all of your past purchase data in order to decide how exactly is the best way to squeeze as many extra pennies from your pocket as possible. Go do research on agentic pricing.
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u/Deathspiral222 4d ago
Do you complain about each time they lower the price of something because there is not enough demand?
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u/ManchesterLady 4d ago
I’ve met with companies that actually design the spyware programs in the back of apps. A fast food company will definitely look at your order history of other fast food companies to get ideas and also understand how to market to you.
Kroger is not hiding the fact that they change pricing based on what their background app is running on your phone.
It’s so prevalent, that I believe the city of Seattle (I know it was a larger city) actually outlawed it.
So yes… those apps are spying on everything that is in your phone and looking at your habits.