Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago

Economists praise "price discrimination" as "efficient." That's when a company charges customers different sums based on inferences about their willingness to pay. But when a firm sells you something for $2 that someone else can buy for $1, they're valuing the dollars in your pocket at half the rate of the other guy's.

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/06/24/price-discrimination/#algorithmic-pricing

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A busy 1950s grocery store. The scene has been altered: the massive, menacing, glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' hovers over the store, shooting red beams into the cash register. The store -- but not the shoppers at its front -- is suffused with red light. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
A busy 1950s grocery store. The scene has been altered: the massive, menacing, glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' hovers over the store, shooting red beams into the cash register. The store -- but not the shoppers at its front -- is suffused with red light. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
A busy 1950s grocery store. The scene has been altered: the massive, menacing, glaring red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' hovers over the store, shooting red beams into the cash register. The store -- but not the shoppers at its front -- is suffused with red light. Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
tasket
@tasket@mas.to  ·  activity timestamp 5 hours ago
@pluralistic I know this is due to a limitation in Mastodon, but please consider not posting entire articles in small pieces on fedi. A summary (even in 2 or 3 parts) with a link to your blog would suffice. Or you could put the entire thing in one post.

That way my TL would not get that "overrun with replies" look if I followed you. (I used to follow you...)

@Gargron#mastodon
pseyfert
@pseyfert@chaos.social  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago
@pluralistic uff, at the start of the article I thought: yes, I'm fine if the swimming pool charges me more than families (kids are expensive AF), more than students who don't have an income, etc. I'm fine to buy the social espresso in Italy and have a free espresso go to the next in need. I like fighting food waste by have the store lower the price of things that go bad soon (large choice for me. Low loss for the store for overstocking). (Not overly happy about small choice for the needy)
Jack William Bell
@jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago
@simon_brooke @pluralistic

Except, let's face it: the rich generally DO pay more, for better quality. (See the 'Sam Vines Boots Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness'.)

But there are a lot of people who do not properly differentiate between 'price' and 'value'.

What this is really about is soaking everyone, poor or not, for the most you can get from them at that particular moment. Sure, desperation is one factor, but I'm sure so is the fact you got paid today and feel temporarily rich.
maya_b 🇨🇦
@maya_b@hachyderm.io  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago
@jackwilliambell @simon_brooke @pluralistic

with the "first rule of business" typically being a variation of "never leave money on the table" means any seller will try to maximize profits, regardless of who they're selling to, or at what price point.

there are are also pricing strategies to drive consumers to "pick" a desired option. eg 3 similar things for sale: one cheap in all regards, one overpriced, and one "Goldilocks" in between option that has the best profit margin of them all.
Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago
Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago
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