Looks like e-ink. A thumb tack taped to your thumb should take care of these pretty quick and inconspicuously. Especially if people generally agree this is stupid and should be shunned.
this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
167 points (97.7% liked)
Technology
82188 readers
3303 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I've gotta wonder... How expensive are these little networked e-ink displays? Probably not super expensive, but they've gotta be more than a paper price tag. Definitely more of a hassle to replace when someone breaks them by running into them, accidentally snapping them off, etc...
already here. just ask the inflation (not an american)
I’m still not clear on exactly what triggers this. Is it phone location, because a phone number is linked to all your data (unless you’ve been gaming it for the last 5-10yrs)? Do I walk by with my phone and the price goes up?
Is it like goodwill? Does the price change as you’re checking out? Do I grab a 2lb bag of medium roast coffee beans for $13, and because buying it consistently for decades, it’s now $18 at checkout? But is still $13 for the guy behind me who decided to try whole bean over pre-ground?
If rich people turn off their phones before hitting the parking lot and poor people leave theirs on, does the entire store get cheaper?
If you take a pic with your phone of the “advertised” price does that mitigate sudden increases while checking out, if you’re even watching?
Does having your unemployed, deadbeat uncle or kid do the shopping from their phone make it cheaper for the household?
What are the triggers?
We've had them for quite some time. They don't change price for individual customers, I don't think they change the price in the middle of the day either. But, I guess, they can change the prices just before opening, like if the wether service forecasts a rainy day they could rise the price of umbrellas and raincoats. Cold? Hot chocolate and soups. Hot? Ice cream and cold drinks. Certain asshole died overnight? Champaign and confetti cannons through the roof. And so on...
Oh, you mean price gouging
Oh, no no no. It's called "capitalism". Supply and demand pricing at it's finest! /s
That's the personalized prices. That's step two.
This one is the digital price tags that let the store manager or corporate office instantly raise prices throughout the store for everyone.
I can imagine price stickers would update daily, and individual users would get personalized discounts on their app.
App-less buyers would pay the baseline price in the sticker, app users would pay less. Like existing loyalty card programs, but with more data collection
It’s going to be hilarious when these get hacked
Reminder that by law, if the price is listed wrong:
Sometimes the price of an item in store or online at the checkout may not match the displayed or advertised price in store or online. If this happens, even by mistake, the business must either:
- sell the product for the lowest price - either the checkout price, or displayed or advertised price, or
- stop selling the item until the incorrect price is corrected.
What law? In what country?
Australia, the country the article is talking about. That was a quote from the ACCC website.
The closest thing I can think of would be Quebec, they have some fairly strong consumer protections, but i don't know how far they would extend in cases like this
stop selling the item until the incorrect price is corrected
Not a lawyer but couldn't they just refuse to sell it to you? We all know it would be bullshit but couldn't a company say "Oh that minimum wage clerk made a mistake, but don't blame them, just an honest mistake."
Or is the law, if it's on the shelf, it must be honored?
They would have to refuse to sell to anyone. It would likely not be lawful to leave it on the shelf and sell it at the higher price to someone else who might not have noticed the discrepancy, until they fix up the shelf pricing.
I will institute my own "dynamic pricing" scheme if this ever happens
Is it really dynamic if the price is always "free"?
If the price changes for them specifically, yes. That's the entire concept they're pushing here.
surely negative numbers are in the cards? since we deserve the compensation for all the trouble
Wait for all the codeberg projects tryna break these things
Its much easier than you'd think.
Boycott the stores that use them, it might help them change their mind behind they become the norm.
This is Australia and I think 90% of grocery shops are either this one or the competitor
If my local store switches to digital price tags to do this I'm just going to gather as many as I can and flush them down the toilet.
It's a nice thought but good luck not getting caught on the 3k cameras in the store and following you to your car.
Security cameras in stores are kept purposely garbage so they don't get bugged by the police to provide footage to them. Unless something changed in the last decade since I worked in a retail joint.
Of course I wouldn't be doing it without some preparation.
My local Woolies has had e-ink tags for at least two years, maybe more. Between this and Coles hiring Palantir, we mostly shop at Aldi. Bunnings and Kmart using facial recognition as if it's no biggie as well. How long until they partner with CBA to check your credit card limit as you stand in front of the bananas to see how much you'll pay?
They're opening an Aldi's near me. I'm excited.
Aldi's is the shit. No bloat, no bs, just groceries. They don't have some stuff, but for the staples you're set. I usually go to the more traditional grocery store every 4th trip or so.
Those e-ink tags have been around in the UK for some time.
The displays are not the problem
Them updating on a whim is
The chain grocery store near us (Safeway) has had stupidly high prices since the pandemic. I decided I’m not going to shop there anymore unless I really have to. We are lucky to have a locally-owned, small chain grocery store very close to us. Prices are high but honestly not much if at all higher than Safeway and I’d rather pay a small premium to help them stay in business. Also I doubt they would ever opt into something like this stupid price scheme, but Safeway absolutely would and will.
Yeah, Safeway has been shitty for a long time. I'm fortunate like you that we have a wealth of independent grocers and small ethnic markets that are so much better. They're also a fair bit cheaper too.
It is a subsidiary of Albertsons after being acquired by private equity investors led by Cerberus Capital Management in January 2015.
Classic
Thanks. I hate it.
`Current-generation digital tags are cloud-connected and equipped with Bluetooth or NFC (short-range wireless technology used for contactless payments) to communicate with phones. A phone loaded with a shopping app can pass information to the tag about the user's identity.
The tag then briefly displays a personalised price when the shopper taps the phone.
Mr Oyefeso said retailers could also pair ESL with facial recognition, so that "prices change depending on who is in the aisle or looking at the shelf". `
Great hey, I think people will continue at woolies. The level of love for monopolies is crazy. But hey house prices are going up.
But wouldn't you be able to see the price change as other people walk by? That doesn't sound like something people would passively just be okay with. And what about when people are next to each other, what price would it display?
These have got to be hackable in a fun way
Firmware on these is pretty tight. They're usually using CC2510s or CC2530s. The CC2510 has a voltage glitch hack that you can use to attempt to read the contents via the DCOUPL capcitor, but it's not very effective and you can only read a few bytes per attack.
You can see a github some tools some have created here. Eventually someone is going to read the firmware off theses and be able to hack them, it's just a matter of time.
If they got batteries
I want them batteries
It’s obviously shitty and exploitive anywhere, but this makes food desserts even more of an issue.
Scummy ass companies making life worse for everyone to line their pockets.
They wouldn’t even be in financial trouble, they would just be less rich.
Hook it up with BT id you can't turn off in your phone - bada bing
In Spain we've had those for years now, and prices are as stupidly high in the stores with paper ones...
Finally! Cheap things when I don't need them