Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, joined by city council members Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Dionne Foster, announced a new grocery affordability policy on Friday morning aimed at curbing so-called surveillance pricing, according to FOX 13 Seattle. The officials, along with supporters, gathered for a rally at City Hall ahead of a meeting of the council's Human Services, Labor and Economic Development Committee.
Supporters argued that grocery prices keep climbing and that corporate grocery stores need to be held accountable. Food prices have risen to the point that some people are taking on credit card debt just to buy groceries, they said. The rally framed the effort as a matter of basic fairness for working families struggling with the cost of essentials.
At the center of the proposal is a practice known as surveillance pricing. Supporters said corporate grocers are using invasive technology such as Bluetooth sensors and beacons to track shoppers, along with black-box algorithms that try to guess the maximum price each person is willing to pay for basic necessities. This, they argued, is not fair pricing but mass data surveillance used to extract extra revenue from working families.
Under the proposal, grocery retailers would be barred from using personal information to set different prices for different customers. That includes data such as a shopper's employment status, race, gender, social media posts and browsing history. The policy would also require that prices be clearly posted for all shoppers to see.
Not everyone backs the measure. A lobbyist for the Northwest Grocery Retail Association spoke against the ordinance, saying that while her members support prohibiting the use of personal information to increase prices, the measure should be carefully crafted. She warned that it should not unintentionally restrict the discounts and rewards programs that help families, renters and other consumers save money.
The association's representative added that getting the policy right the first time matters, because unintended consequences could mean fewer savings opportunities for the very consumers the ordinance is meant to protect. No vote was taken during Friday's meeting, and the committee is set to reconvene on August 21.