Technology has given corporations the ability to charge different people different prices for the same item.
As if inflation wasn’t bad enough, some grocery stores are using new technology to hike prices based on personal information.
It’s called “surveillance pricing,” and Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition, and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), have introduced the Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act of 2026.
It turns out that corporations have been able to use data-collection technology to create your personal profile. Along with mobile apps, electronic shelf labels, facial recognition, and other biometric technology, it gives them the ability to charge different people different prices for the same item.
If passed, the bill will prohibit surveillance pricing in grocery stores; require grocery stores to disclose the use of facial recognition technology; ban electronic shelf labels in large grocery stores; and establish an enforcement mechanism to hold corporations accountable.
“In New Mexico and across the country, Americans are struggling to put food on the table,” Lujan said. “Congress must act to ensure that technologies are being used to improve the lives of Americans, not increase their grocery bills.”
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