Why Your Prices Are Higher Than Your Friends
For generations, posted prices made shopping feel predictable: Shoppers generally saw the same price for the same product and could compare it across stores.
Then came dynamic pricing. Airlines adjusted which fares were available as seats filled. Now prices for rides, tickets, and groceries can shift while you shop. But when two people see different totals, what explains the gap?
Companies have long used group pricing, too — think student discounts. Online, it can be harder to tell which group you’re in.
Experts worry companies could use data about you to set a price based on what they think you’ll pay. That’s personalized pricing. When personal data is used to determine the price, critics call it surveillance pricing.
For this “So Expensive” investigation, we ran pricing experiments, dug through patents and government records, and examined companies including Uber, StubHub, McDonald’s, and Walmart to find out: Are companies creating prices just for you, and could that mean you’re paying more?
Watch our complete collection of So Expensive videos: https://bit.ly/4kmOD52
00:00 – Intro
02:04 – From Price Tags to Dynamic Pricing
08:43 – Group Pricing
15:02 – Shift to Personalized Pricing
23:49 – The Loyalty Trap
28:42 – Credits
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#dynamicpricing #surveillancepricing #personalizedpricing #costofliving #consumers #soexpensive
WATCH MORE FROM SO EXPENSIVE:
How Amazon’s Low Prices Raised Prices
https://youtu.be/62VYumto5Jc
How AI Data Centers Are Making Everything More Expensive
https://youtu.be/-4dc6907JYY
Why Uber Is More Expensive … For Some People
https://youtu.be/gnjVqeBoaqs
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Is This The End Of The Price Tag? | So Expensive | Business Insider
