Pennsylvania lawmaker wants to keep companies from using dynamic pricing on essential items

Lawmakers in Harrisburg are looking at bills to tackle dynamic pricing. 

Consumers see dynamic prices on purchases like airfare, hotel rooms and concert tickets. It means when there's high demand and low supply, costs go up. 

State Sen. Nick Pisciottano's bill wants to make sure essential items like groceries are not next. In a memo, he hopes to prevent situations like AI algorithms hiking the price of items after people get off work.

"When we're looking at legislation that impacts dynamic pricing, it seems to be focused now on those areas of true consumer need, not just want," Point Park University marketing and sales professor Dr. Dorene Ciletti said.

According to her, it's a delicate balance for businesses and consumers. Businesses need to make money to stay afloat, but they don't want to erode trust with consumers.

"At the same time, consumers need affordable options, especially for things like groceries that are so critical," Ciletti said.

Stores like Walmart reportedly use digital price tags at more than 2,300 stores. Some fear it could lead to dynamic pricing. Local grocery chain Giant Eagle said it doesn't use dynamic pricing and doesn't plan to anytime soon.

This proposed legislation would prohibit dynamic pricing on essential goods.

"Ideally, dynamic pricing works most effectively when we find both that organizational and consumer value, where they intersect," Ciletti said.

The legislation is still in early stages. There are planned hearings on it next week.

KDKA reached out to Walmart about the fear of dynamic pricing with their digital price tags, but they could not comment. They did cite research saying digital price tags haven't led to surge pricing.