Walmart dynamic pricing, its coming!!

[SL6827]

I noticed since their Disney trip is over they moved on to complaining about stores.

 

[Genie+]

‘Convenience’ pricing doesn’t bother me much. Like buying chips - $3 or $4 for the huge bag at supermarket, then once in a while we’ll buy a small $3 bag at QuickChek. There can be added value for convenience. I was at a hockey stadium a few weeks ago and the only hamburger on offer was a double with bacon wrapped in foil for $16, nothing else included. The only french fries available came with chicken tenders, also ~$16. Spontaneity surcharge lol. Spend time planning better or spend dollars for convenience.

What I absolutely abhor lately is how frequently electronic charges are erroneous. This year alone I’ve had almost a dozen over-charges or duplicate charges $100+. Last month 3 wrong billings totaling $2k that were like pulling teeth to get resolved. In my eyes this is theft. Companies running consumers in circles in order to correct overcharges… I must assume this is partly intentional. This needs to be addressed. Too easy for companies to charge wrongly and then put the onus on consumers to prove erroneous. It’s happening all-the-time now.

 

[SL6827]

As I said, I think it will take a few years. I mean, Wendy's had admitted that this was thier plan a while back, until too much bad PR came about. But, after others successfully implement it, so will they. And every other business that can. I remember laughing at all the naysayers with Disney will never, ever charge for Fast Pass. Still laughing at those for that one.

 

[RivShore]

I think this is an overreaction. Kohl’s has had these digital price tags forever. They don’t do dynamic pricing. I think this makes it easier for Walmart to update prices and make it easier for the buyer to clearly see the product and the price associated with that product. There is too much competition for them to do surge pricing. Target is already gunning for them on groceries, and Amazon is there for everything else. Hysteria at its finest.

Exactly.

This is all about improving labor efficiency and yes, eventually needing less employees, not surging pricing and destroying their low price reputation. Que the outrage over Walmart mass layoffs due to the new price tags! LOL

 

[RivShore]

As I said, I think it will take a few years. I mean, Wendy's had admitted that this was thier plan a while back, until too much bad PR came about. But, after others successfully implement it, so will they. And every other business that can. I remember laughing at all the naysayers with Disney will never, ever charge for Fast Pass. Still laughing at those for that one.

Apples and Orangebirds, Disney was never ever known as a low price leader in anything.

 

[RivShore]

What I absolutely abhor lately is how frequently electronic charges are erroneous. This year alone I’ve had almost a dozen over-charges or duplicate charges $100+. Last month 3 wrong billings totaling $2k that were like pulling teeth to get resolved. In my eyes this is theft. Companies running consumers in circles in order to correct overcharges… I must assume this is partly intentional. This needs to be addressed. Too easy for companies to charge wrongly and then put the onus on consumers to prove erroneous. It’s happening all-the-time now.

What kind of vendors are you seeing these problems with? We all probably need to keep a better eye on this stuff.

 

[RivShore]

As I said, I think it will take a few years. I mean, Wendy's had admitted that this was thier plan a while back, until too much bad PR came about. But, after others successfully implement it, so will they. And every other business that can.

All Amazon has to do is say they will meet or beat Walmart's price every time and either they put Walmart out of business or Walmart quickly puts a stop to the surge price fiasco.

 

[Genie+]

What kind of vendors are you seeing these problems with? We all probably need to keep a better eye on this stuff.

One was Jetblue. We had purchased ‘Even more room’ seats at a cost $240 for 3 ppl. Plane got changed that morning and we were bumped into regular seats. Lol was told ‘maybe’ we’d get a refund. Never got it. Chat - not resolved. Message system - not resolved. Call- not resolved. 3rd call - found out you need to ask for Escalation Dept. This is where to find employee with solid experience. She not only corrected, but found my husband actually bought it twice on the same flight. 90 minute phone call and $480 returned. The other messed up thing is Jetblue has no receipts. Luckily I kept my boarding passes and was able to go through ou 3 JetBlue cc’s to look up payment dates, etc.

Port Authority parking EWR. Paid $500 reservation. Billed again from card on file - duplicate.

Port Authority parking JFK. Paid $1000 reservation to park 2 weeks. 1am flight, we accidentally arrived a few hours before booking started. That attendant gave us a ticket to pay upon leaving to cover the few extra hours - $38, which he said just pay that when leaving. Because the vehicle plate never checked in after midnight for the original paid reservation, they re-billed our card the $1000 upon leaving. Duplicate.

Definitely keep your eye on electronic charges. The kind lady at Jetblue said she was just charged someone else’s chiropractic year subscription rate. Her doctor, not her bill though! It’s gotten out of hand how easily it’s just whoopsie for all these businesses. I’d mind less if it didn’t take hours each time to fix it. WDW did it to me twice! We charged everything to magic bands, paid on checkout, and then they billed me again. Over $1k each time. 1st one was fixed. 2nd one they sent to collections - for something I already paid.

 

[RivShore]

One was Jetblue. We had purchased ‘Even more room’ seats at a cost $240 for 3 ppl. Plane got changed that morning and we were bumped into regular seats. Lol was told ‘maybe’ we’d get a refund. Never got it. Chat - not resolved. Message system - not resolved. Call- not resolved. 3rd call - found out you need to ask for Escalation Dept. This is where to find employee with solid experience. She not only corrected, but found my husband actually bought it twice on the same flight. 90 minute phone call and $480 returned. The other messed up thing is Jetblue has no receipts. Luckily I kept my boarding passes and was able to go through ou 3 JetBlue cc’s to look up payment dates, etc.

Port Authority parking EWR. Paid $500 reservation. Billed again from card on file - duplicate.

Port Authority parking JFK. Paid $1000 reservation to park 2 weeks. 1am flight, we accidentally arrived a few hours before booking started. That attendant gave us a ticket to pay upon leaving to cover the few extra hours - $38, which he said just pay that when leaving. Because the vehicle plate never checked in after midnight for the original paid reservation, they re-billed our card the $1000 upon leaving. Duplicate.

Definitely keep your eye on electronic charges. The kind lady at Jetblue said she was just charged someone else’s chiropractic year subscription rate. Her doctor, not her bill though! It’s gotten out of hand how easily it’s just whoopsie for all these businesses. I’d mind less if it didn’t take hours each time to fix it. WDW did it to me twice! We charged everything to magic bands, paid on checkout, and then they billed me again. Over $1k each time. 1st one was fixed. 2nd one they sent to collections - for something I already paid.

Wow, that is not good!!

I dread calling any 800 number for help from any company, it almost always takes forever and never ends well.

 

[Anthony1971]

I would see a retail store changing pricing as a logistical nightmare from the POS system to the employees needed to implement this, much less all the issues already mentioned. However it is a well known fact premade food does change as noone will pay full price for yesterday’s fresh sandwich or? Even sometimes after X hours. Gas stations have had digital signs for many years but are only allowed to change once a day after a certain time. Most fast food places around us have had digital signs for years so they can have the breakfast menu then change to lunch not to screw some unlucky hungry people out of a few bucks.
The entire travel industry has had surge pricing forever… don’t get the outrage… truthfully for food it would be a great idea to offer specials 2-4pm etc… they can then have more full time employees and not the unfortunate people that have to work 4 odd time hours a day when the store is busy. Employees get paid more store makes more and people who may be less fortunate get a decent meal for less.

 

[MillauFr]

I could see them using this to run unadvertised sales at random times. Anyone old enough to remember the kmart Blue Light Specials? Random rack of stuff with a blue light on top that would have big discounts until the rack sold out. This could be used for the modern version of that.

Yep. The Blue Light Special was dynamic pricing before it was ever called that. The airlines have been using dynamic pricing for years. Customers will adapt.

 

[MillauFr]

Wow, that is not good!!

I dread calling any 800 number for help from any company, it almost always takes forever and never ends well.

Agreed. I stopped doing business with many companies due to lousy customer service. Alaska Airlines on the other hand was the exact opposite. Seattle had a big snowstorm in December 2022 and our flight to Tampa was cancelled. I was able to rebook on the app into Orlando. They charged me $1,000 for doing so. I called customer service when I returned and they refunded all of my money. I will always book with Alaska no matter if they are charging more than Delta from now on.

 

[RivShore]

Agreed. I stopped doing business with many companies due to lousy customer service. Alaska Airlines on the other hand was the exact opposite. Seattle had a big snowstorm in December 2022 and our flight to Tampa was cancelled. I was able to rebook on the app into Orlando. They charged me $1,000 for doing so. I called customer service when I returned and they refunded all of my money. I will always book with Alaska no matter if they are charging more than Delta from now on.

Why have so many companies forgotten that the good customer service like that can create a customer for life? I suppose the public is to blame to some extent though, because we chase the lowest price even when we know the service will be worse - See Spirit/Frontier Airlines, and Walmart for that matter.

 

[SL6827]

Apples and Orangebirds, Disney was never ever known as a low price leader in anything.

But many believed it would never happen and it did.

 

[barkley]

All Amazon has to do is say they will meet or beat Walmart's price every time and either they put Walmart out of business or Walmart quickly puts a stop to the surge price fiasco.

amazon would have to have customer accessable brick and mortar stores to the extent of walmarts for people to go to OR a guaranteed means to ensure same day delivery before they could ever dream of putting walmart out of buisness. we have a large amazon distribution center near us but they've already tried and abandoned much of their in-house delivery due to the cost entailed (and even when they had it same day was not an option). if someone is in need of non perishable groceries, an otc med, some odd tool or a craft item for their kid's homework it might be less expensive currently on amazon but not convenient to wait 2-3 days to wait for ups or usps to deliver it (and then hope a porch pirate does'nt make off with it).

 

[Genie+]

amazon would have to have customer accessable brick and mortar stores to the extent of walmarts for people to go to OR a guaranteed means to ensure same day delivery before they could ever dream of putting walmart out of buisness. we have a large amazon distribution center near us but they've already tried and abandoned much of their in-house delivery due to the cost entailed (and even when they had it same day was not an option). if someone is in need of non perishable groceries, an otc med, some odd tool or a craft item for their kid's homework it might be less expensive currently on amazon but not convenient to wait 2-3 days to wait for ups or usps to deliver it (and then hope a porch pirate does'nt make off with it).

I think it’s regional. My husband is infatuated with ordering Amazon between 5-7am and getting delivery 10am-noon. A shocking amount of stuff can be ordered this way. Before our last vacation he ordered all sorts of crap stuff the morning of our flight and all of it arrived in time to pack, including time to wash the socks/clothes.

It’s crazy how many Amazon deliveries happen all day long around here. The neighborhood is spread out with houses set back, so amazon likely doesn’t get many claims for porch piracy. None from us after 10+ years of heavily using business Prime.

The 2 nearest Walmarts are ~10 miles away in opposite directions and always look busy. Doubt they’ll ever go out of business. They’ve tried to expand but local towns push back. Walmart can overwhelm rural communities so town councils aren’t eager to grant zoning. Why threaten the small businesses and add congestion when very few people even care to have one closer. Two is plenty! Lol.

 

[Uncle Coaster]

As I said, I think it will take a few years. I mean, Wendy's had admitted that this was thier plan a while back, until too much bad PR came about. But, after others successfully implement it, so will they. And every other business that can. I remember laughing at all the naysayers with Disney will never, ever charge for Fast Pass. Still laughing at those for that one.

I was also on the “one day WDW will charge for Fast Pass” team. Considering it took over 20 years from first introduction to creating a similar product that had a few, I don’t really take it as a W.

 

[SL6827]

I was also on the “one day WDW will charge for Fast Pass” team. Considering it took over 20 years from first introduction to creating a similar product that had a few, I don’t really take it as a W.

It's not a W for anyone to be honest. But ya, surprisingly they didn't do if sooner.

 

[Dakota731]

Walmart dynamic pricing is coming. I called it. Seen a video on You Tube about it. Corporate greed at its finest.

Anazon has done that for many years. Prices can change by the hour.

 

[barkley]

I think it’s regional. My husband is infatuated with ordering Amazon between 5-7am and getting delivery 10am-noon. A shocking amount of stuff can be ordered this way. Before our last vacation he ordered all sorts of crap stuff the morning of our flight and all of it arrived in time to pack, including time to wash the socks/clothes.

It’s crazy how many Amazon deliveries happen all day long around here. The neighborhood is spread out with houses set back, so amazon likely doesn’t get many claims for porch piracy. None from us after 10+ years of heavily using business Prime.

The 2 nearest Walmarts are ~10 miles away in opposite directions and always look busy. Doubt they’ll ever go out of business. They’ve tried to expand but local towns push back. Walmart can overwhelm rural communities so town councils aren’t eager to grant zoning. Why threaten the small businesses and add congestion when very few people even care to have one closer. Two is plenty! Lol.

the closest to us is just shy of 20 miles away but it is much further away for many of the rural communities it serves. there are a total of 4 in the non rural area near us but i don't think the company has any inclination to try and spread into the smaller towns. i think they've observed the loyalty small towns have to localy owned buisneses. local to us they have only to look at a large chain hardware store that invested a large chunk of change to build from the ground up a new location. lots of bells and whistles, lots of appealing sales/'loyalty' program...well the locals were far more loyal to the local hardware store that had been around for decades so despite higher prices they continued to shop there. less than 6 months after the grand opening the chain store was shuttered and their expensive building remains empty despite over a decade of activly trying to sell or lease it out.