At The Money: Is Technology Price Gouging Consumers?

Modern pricing strategies have evolved into a highly engineered science where corporations leverage artificial intelligence, surveillance data, and algorithmic optimization to maximize profits at the consumer's expense. Lindsay Owens, CEO of the Groundwork Collaborative and author of *Gouged*, explains that this shift moves beyond traditional inflation, utilizing tools that enable subtle, hidden price gouging. Notable examples include the RealPage Yieldstar algorithm, which facilitated rent price collusion among landlords, and Instacart’s dynamic pricing experiments that charged different customers varying amounts for identical grocery items based on their data profiles. These technologies often circumvent competitive market forces, as companies use granular consumer data—such as geographic location and purchase history—to extract maximum willingness to pay. This transition from simple cost-plus pricing to sophisticated, data-driven revenue management fundamentally alters the relationship between retailers and consumers, often undermining the transparency and competition once promised by e-commerce.