Maryland’s Surveillance Pricing Ban: What It Means
Maryland just passed a law that will quietly reshape American retail. Starting October, the biggest grocery stores in the state — anything over 15,000 square feet — can no longer show different prices to different shoppers based on data the store collected about them.
A gallon of milk will cost the same to every shopper in the store, regardless of what your phone has told the algorithm about your zip code or your spending habits.
It used to be so simple — the price tag said the price that applied to everybody.
When big retailers started using customer data apps, loyalty programs, and location tracking, they started showing different prices to different people. The fancy term for it is surveillance pricing. The plain term is “they change what they think they can get from you.”
Maryland just said no. All those other states are moving in the same direction. The practice is on its way out, at least at the grocery scale.
Independent retailers don’t do this. They never have. This has always been the kind of retail you run — and now it’s starting to become a competitive advantage.
Same price for everyone, every day. It’s not a feature. It’s a value system.
You might want to put a small handwritten note at your register: “We charge the same prices for all customers, every day. We appreciate you.” People might ask about it. Have your staff ready to explain that some retailers have been showing different prices to different people, and you don’t.
That used to be normal. Now it’s a value.
xoxo,
❤️ AmyFay
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