r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Cyberspace_Sorcerer • 3d ago
I just want to know the price...
I had to go and scan it at the self checkout to know the price.
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u/Signal_Profession_83 2d ago
Get used to it, this is where we’re headed. “How much for this?” “Well that depends, how much have you got?”
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u/PickledPeoples 2d ago
At that point we need to collectively just walk away and go somewhere else and not put up with this bullshit. I know it's a lot easier said than done but definitely worth the shot.
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u/Signal_Profession_83 2d ago
Tbh I expect the labels will be written will read as a percentage of whatever finances are attached to an individuals social ID. This will be national. Once they get those cards/ social system through I give it no more than a decade afterwards and there won’t be another option.
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u/cyrusthemarginal 2d ago
"please hold still as the AI processes your shoes and haircut to evaluate a proper price for you"
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u/Immediate_Wolf_7993 3d ago
Yeah that’s quite infuriating! I see a lot of stores are slowly adapting to scan for price system. This is very dishonest since they can alter prices remotely and digitally!
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u/P1xelHunter78 2d ago
And they’ll track you on the app so they know what you’ll pay. Customer to customer pricing models.
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u/KarmaCollect 2d ago
The funny part is you can already do that with electronic shelf labels… on the label!
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u/Mariuszgamer2007 2d ago
I saw an employee one day manually changing the prices by tapping on the prize tags nfc tag with their android zebra scanner
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u/Rookie_42 2d ago
Nope!
If they’re not displaying a price, I’m not buying it.
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u/Creative-Painter3911 2d ago
Take everything without a price up to the cashier to check the price then decide that nope, don't want that.
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u/Competitive-Elk-5077 2d ago
Take that minimum wage worker!
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u/Creative-Painter3911 2d ago
They get the same pay regardless of if they just price check or ring purchases out.
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u/Dry-Town3117 2d ago
The fun think is that it’s printed on an e-inc display made for changing the prices whenever they feel for it.
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u/M23707 2d ago
Since it is a scan code — price will change for each person.
Delta is changing airline seat prices for each person .. imagine every item price is tweeked according to your spending habits, inferred need, day of the week, etc…
Companies will be able to squeeze even more profit from us.
/s
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u/Dapper_Special_8587 2d ago
I heard that there was an airline that was considering scraping social media posts/emails and messages so that if you were experiencing a family emergency they'd charge you more if you had to fly because you're likely to pay whatever the cost in that situation. I'm hoping that's not true but also it wouldn't fucking surprise me given the dystopian hellscape we exist in
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u/Dapper_Special_8587 3d ago
Visible prices in store are part of our subscription service, please subscribe for as low as £5.99 a month to receive in-store pricing. Scan the QR code to begin! /s
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u/n0_n4m3_666 2d ago
I think that's just the new Background which you'll see if they did not insert the actual price tag.
Just an AD for their app. You don't need to scan to see the price. They simply forgot to put the tag inside/ recently changed Position of the product.
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u/rumplescrumpskin 2d ago
Yeah i’ve seen this before and found an employee and told them and they fixed it.
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u/FilipinoRich 3d ago
My grocery store tried to do that…i picked up everything in sight and went to a cashier…i’m not in a rush but my most used line that day was “how much? No, no thanks.” Must’ve been hundreds if dollars of unwanted perishables because i didn’t know the price
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u/jeffa_jaffa 2d ago
Oh wow, you sure shoes that retail worker who had absolutely no part of the decision making process & who probably hated the system every bit as much as you!
I’d have just walked out again, rather than needlessly making life hard for someone who had no say in the matter
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u/Jam-Stew 2d ago edited 2d ago
The retail worker makes the same amount per hour regardless, but what I love about this form of protest is that it peacefully wastes the labor time of the business owner and THAT can effect real change.
Because the alternative
toof never listing prices and requiring an app to discover them is that it opens the door to granular level dynamic price discrimination. Businesses love to use harvested data on all of us to get us to pay the maximum we are willing or able. THIS is what they want to normalize.15
u/newphonehudus 2d ago
I mean. If you're not going to download the app. Its your only choice for finding the prices of the items.
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u/HarveyH43 2d ago
The worker is likely to be paid by the hour and shouldn’t care.
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u/SecretaryFast1692 2d ago
paid by the hour means they can’t fix it, and that this commenter was giving issues to the wrong people, but not that they shouldn’t care.
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u/Creative-Painter3911 2d ago
Means the lines back up and the managers need to get more people on registers or other customers start leaving, costing the store money.
The only way they will listen and change is if they lose money.
Cashier gets the same wage whether they check out 10 people or check prices for 1 person.
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u/KnightRyder 2d ago
That would leave no feedback.
Imo, this would be best as it's not only the customer leaving feedback in the proper channels, which is probably going to be ignored, the employees send feedback up the chain.
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u/Successful-Form4693 2d ago
How does this help anyone? You just created an issue for workers that didn't make that business decision.
You're just telling everyone you're an asshole?
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u/SecretaryFast1692 2d ago
yup they’re boldly bragging about either not understanding who’s in charge of things like that so they complain to average employees instead of corporate, or they do understand and they’re boldly bragging about being a dick💀
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u/yoursledgehammer 2d ago
I went to a car dealership recently that had all the car prices like that. I left.
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u/HedgehogElection 2d ago
I'm going to assume there was a malfunction in the e.ink sign because the sign is in German and in Germany, there's a little thing PAngV or Preisangabenverordnung which requires stores display final prices AND basic prices (like per kilo or per liter etc.)
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u/Cyberspace_Sorcerer 2d ago
I hope this was a malfunction yeah.
Also, switzerland :>
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u/HedgehogElection 2d ago
I'll go down an information rabbit hole on price display laws in Switzerland now! Don't look for me!
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u/SvedkaMerc 2d ago
I’d imagine so. ALDIs has the same issue but they don’t have the QR code. Just says something like “Enter price something something.”
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u/Gamingwelle 2d ago
It must be. It's the download link to the app, not the code "containing the price".
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u/superduper87 2d ago
Eventually someone will put a QR code over those codes that link to fake pages to steal your login info or make you download mallard and do all sorts of fun stuff....can't digitally hack a piece of paper.
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u/Troglodytes_Cousin 2d ago
This is some bullshit - as lidl uses E-ink displays for displaying prices - they can be updated realtime.
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u/Lejoskee 2d ago
The E-ink would be the same for everyone, the price online could vary from customer to customer, depending on their spending habit, budget and urgency. If the business knows you do your groceries on wednesday and buy a lot of, lets say, fish, they would up the fish prices for you in that time window and so experiment with thousands of customers on how much they could be able to charge for a product on that specific day.
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u/onepacc 2d ago
Even if it's just to scan the app to get the advertised price
I've literally dumped full shopping carts three times because
it's not just a password, they have multiple extra requirements like 14 characters, special characters etc.
which makes it really forgettable and the process of changing it is also multiple steps not possible to do in a queue.
Not really missing anything, their loss, but I'll come back if they get the hedgecutter in shops next spring.
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u/Standard-Zone-4470 2d ago edited 2d ago
The displays are probably in a service mode or in standby. Maybe they replaced the products below or displays itself and have to update the system. Or maybe they lost connection to the controlling unit or need to be charged and therefore went in a standby like mode.
Edit: if they would want to get you to look the price up, they probably wouldnt link the app, without any advice to look up the price online.
(id like to point out that this is a Lidl in D/A/CH region, and such systems are not known/ used here.)
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u/Jack-Innoff 2d ago
If I ever see this at one of my stores, I will take every item to the till to be price checked (by a cashier, I want to waste their time). Thankfully I live in a city that would probably riot if they tried, so I should be safe for the foreseeable future.
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u/jeffa_jaffa 2d ago
The next option is to just not shop there. What’s the point in making life unnecessarily had for the employees who had nothing to do with making such a stupid decision?
I get the frustration, I really do, but it’s important to aim it at the right people.
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u/Jack-Innoff 2d ago
It's not really making their jobs harder though, it's the same thing they do all day. What I'd be trying to do, is cost the store more than it's worth.
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u/newphonehudus 2d ago
If its your closest or most convient store. I bike to my grocery store and its the only one that has sidewalks that go mostly all the way to it.
And I knwo some people that live in food deserts where the next closest grocery store is almkst an hour away
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u/Miamithrice69 2d ago
If they try to adopt this just rip those price tags off the shelf
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u/Jack-Innoff 2d ago
That could actually work. If every person only rips a few off, it isn't worth pursuing the vandalism charge, but it will cost the store much more than it's worth to keep them.
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u/rosiebeehave 2d ago
Do you have an alternative? If grocers are doing this where you are, they are engaging in dynamic pricing and you should not give them your business until that practice stops. I hope you have other options where you are!
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u/Thy_OSRS 2d ago
These are e ink displays too. Usually WiFi connected to some controller. Did you ask them?
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u/ExternalSelf1337 2d ago
This is going to backfire on these stores immensely when people stop shopping there. Even if my favorite stores started doing this I'd never go back, and I barely even pay attention to prices when I'm buying stuff anymore. The majority of people do not have that luxury and will not want to be scanning every single thing they consider buying.
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u/fledder200 1d ago
Take it, go to the register with all the items you would like te price for. Say you don't want it of the price doesn't fit you. Say that they should display the prices next time
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u/ForlorneHorse 2d ago
I wonder how it works if you use a hand scanner to scan you shopping on the go. I know Rewe has this in Germany.
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u/maledivianer 2d ago
This is false information, this is the spacer / screen saver for the ESL price tags. An Employee forgot to scan the label / price tag to the product.
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u/HackedwAxe2Grind 2d ago
Don't lidl usually put the prices ABOVE the products?