John,
Did you know that corporations are purchasing massive amounts of your personal information, then using it to determine whether they think you’ll pay more for an item?
That’s right! By using facial recognition technology in the store, or through mobile apps and online shopping, corporations are creating personal profiles of each and every one of us—and then determining what they think we’re willing to pay for any given item.
This is known as surveillance pricing, and it could mean that you’re paying a different price for a bag of grapes or a box of Corn Flakes than the person next to you in line.
Corporations are also using something known as surge pricing to raise prices on items that might be necessary in that moment. Through the use of electronic labels, they can raise and lower prices at will. If it’s raining outside, maybe they raise the price of an umbrella or rain poncho. If it’s hot outside, they might raise the price of water or ice.
This is an outrageous example of corporate greed--especially at a time when 47 million Americans, including 7 million children, are food insecure. Grocery prices have already skyrocketed by 28% since 2020, and charging needy families more is unconscionable.
That’s why I’ve introduced the Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act and I’m co-leading the Stop AI Price Gouging and Wage Fixing Act to address our country’s affordability crisis and protect people from corporate greed.
Add your name as a grassroots co-sponsor of these policies today to help struggling families and hold greedy corporations accountable.
The Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act would:
prohibit surveillance pricing in retail food stores, providing narrow exceptions for discounts for students and seniors;
require food stores to disclose the use of facial recognition technology;
ban electronic shelf labels in large retail and grocery stores;
require the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) to enforce these bans and hold corporations accountable.
I will keep advocating for working families and the majority of Americans who are living paycheck to paycheck. Thank you for demanding Congress put the needs of everyday people over corporate profits.
With you in this fight,
Rashida
