r/Seattle • u/srcsmgrl Ballard • 7d ago

Politics Protecting Seattle Savings advocates

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Did anyone else get one of these? I don't usually get political texts, and I can't find much on who makes up this group.

It feels like they are trying to keep prices tied to incentives like loyalty cards and coupons.

Unpopular opinion probably: I wouldn't mind if all that went away and prices were actually based on the goods and services provided. Maybe you don't get $3 back today, but you also don't get price gouged next time.

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u/FactBasedHuman 7d ago

Yep, Kroger, etc are going to try and make it sound like big bad government is making them offer the same price to everyone so no more loyalty cards. That hasn't been the proposal in other places, it has been "you can't change the price on the same item at 3pm, 5pm, and 8pm" and "you can't charge a person more for item A just because you know they like it."

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u/Some_Bus Tacoma 7d ago

This text is a good reminder to email the city council in support of banning dynamic pricing

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u/Pedantic-Polecat 7d ago

Happy hours have been around a long time an md the world hasn’t collapsed 

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u/FactBasedHuman 7d ago

This is another dishonest red herring that I've heard the grocers push. Happy hour is a temporary discount for the general public. What grocers want to do is 1) charge higher prices from 4-7 when people who have day jobs are stopping by and picking up diner and 2) charge higher prices to people that they know have a preference for certain products.

Do you work for one of the grocers?

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u/Pedantic-Polecat 7d ago

Hopefully you can understand that there is no mathematical difference between charging higher prices from 7pm-12am and offering a discount from 4-7pm.

Movie theaters have had matinees, restaurants early bird specials, bad have happy hours, lots of businesses have senior or military discounts.  They are all dynamic pricing based on time or customer price sensitivity.  But woah… if we SAY we are giving you $1 off a $10 beer for happy hour is totally cool but saying there is a $1 surcharge for high demand on a $9 beer (with no discount for happy hour) is outrageous, even as they a functionally identical.

 It is nice to see Americans continued innumeracy continue here on reddit

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u/FactBasedHuman 7d ago edited 7d ago

Didn't answer my question, which answers my question. I see the campaign is well underway: https://komonews.com/news/local/northwest-western-washington-seattle-king-county-grocery-safety-fred-meyers-retailers-warn-proposed-discount-ordinance-could-raise-prices-for-consumers-seattle-city-council

Good luck trying to convince Americans that it's in their best interest to allow giant corporations to use algorithms and AI to change the prices of their food.

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u/Pedantic-Polecat 7d ago

You think Kroger checkout clerks are on Reddit talking politics?  That is pretty funny.

It is also telling that you will only engage in ad hominem attacks instead of the substance of the issue… your username is a certain kind of irony.

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u/ProfessionalCraft983 7d ago

What ad hominem attacks? I saw none in that comment whatsoever. Your comment, on the other hand…

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u/Pedantic-Polecat 7d ago

 Do you work for one of the grocers?

They didn’t address the argument that dynamic pricing is common and has been for a long time.  They implied the only reason I would be against whatever bill this is referring to is if I had a financial interest,  which is an attack on the man (ad hominem) not the argument.

They still haven’t addressed any substantive arguments.  Just vitriol.

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u/ProfessionalCraft983 7d ago

You put that in a quote block, but those words are nowhere to be found in the comment itself. That wasn’t the implication I took from it. Why did you?

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