September 30, 2026 09:00 AM PST
(PenniesToSave.com) – A traveler trying to reach a funeral watched his JetBlue fare jump $200 overnight, and when he complained on Twitter, the airline’s official account suggested he try clearing his cache and cookies [5]. JetBlue later deleted the reply. In a statement to NPR, the company said the response was a customer service error, that it does not use personal information or browsing history to set individual prices, and that the suggested steps would not have changed the fare [5]. A congressional inquiry has since been launched, and a class action filed this year alleges the airline tracks customer data to set prices [5].
The episode captures a question more people are asking at checkout: is the price on the screen the same price everyone else sees? Lindsay Owens, CEO of the advocacy group Groundwork Collaborative, argues it often is not. Her book, Gouged: The End of a Fair Price and What That Means for Your Wallet, was released on September 29 [2]. Owens previously advised Sen. Elizabeth Warren and recently testified as a witness for Sen. Josh Hawley, and she describes the issue as nonpartisan [3].
Regulators, state lawmakers, and Congress are all weighing in at once [4]. For the average household, the practical takeaway is simple: two people can open the same product page at the same moment and see different prices [6], with neither one aware that the other offer exists [2].
Quick Links
- What Is Surveillance Pricing, and How Is It Different From a Sale?
- What Evidence Shows Prices Differ From One Person to the Next?
- Does Loyalty Still Pay Off?
- Is Shopping in Person Still a Safe Bet?
- What Practical Steps Can Help Right Now?
- How Are Lawmakers and Regulators Responding?
What Is Surveillance Pricing, and How Is It Different From a Sale?
The fixed price tag is newer than many people assume. Owens traces it to John Wanamaker, who put price tags on the goods in his Philadelphia department store in the late 1800s, and she notes that the practice was always a custom rather than a law [3].
Not every price change is surveillance pricing. Dynamic pricing moves with broad conditions such as supply, demand, inventory, or time of day, which is why rideshare fares climb during a rush and hotel rates shift with availability [4]. Personalized pricing is different because information about a specific person helps determine that person’s price or offer [4]. A third practice, price steering, leaves prices untouched but reorders products, which can put higher-priced items in front of certain people first [4]. According to Fox News, FTC research found that pricing tools can draw on location, browsing and purchase history, items left in a cart, demographics, on-site behavior, and even mouse movements [4].
Familiar discounts are not the target. Owens says senior, student, AAA, and AARP discounts, happy hours, and matinee tickets are forms of group pricing that economists have long accepted [2]. What concerns her is pricing aimed at one individual’s estimated willingness to pay. As she told Wired, “willingness to pay isn’t the same thing as ability to pay” [3]. Her examples include a last-minute funeral flight, a parent ordering children’s Tylenol overnight, and a fan paying top dollar for water inside a stadium [2].
Even the name is contested. The FTC under former Chair Lina Khan called the practice surveillance pricing, while the current FTC calls it personalized pricing [2].
The price tag was always a custom, not a law, and that custom is now under pressure.
What Evidence Shows Prices Differ From One Person to the Next?
The strongest recent evidence comes from online groceries. In December 2025, Consumer Reports, Groundwork Collaborative, and More Perfect Union reported that nearly three-quarters of the grocery items they tested on Instacart were offered at different prices to different people, based on 437 shoppers in four U.S. cities [4]. Fox News reports item gaps of up to 23 percent, a figure Owens also cites [5], while Gizmodo’s Matt Novak put the gap at nearly 25 percent [2]. Identical baskets varied by about 7 percent on average, and the researchers estimated the difference could reach roughly $1,200 a year for a family of four [4]. For households already fighting grocery costs, that figure is a reminder of why it pays to know how best to cut back on expenses.
Instacart disputes the annual estimate and says its tests were randomized and did not use personal information, demographics, or shopping history [4]. The company ended the item price tests in December 2025 and now says the same item at the same store at the same time carries the same price [4]. The investigation documented price differences but did not prove that personal profiles set them [4]. Owens says the tests ran on Eversight, a platform she says was marketed as letting companies run experiments without customers knowing [5].
Rideshares show similar gaps. In June 2026, Consumer Reports had 174 volunteers check more than 40 routes and found a median gap of 42.4 percent between the lowest and highest price groups across 30 routes [4]. Uber and Lyft both deny using personal data to set base fares, and the study could not rule out factors such as driver supply or traffic [4].
The pattern is not new. A 2014 Northeastern University study of 16 retail and travel sites found price discrimination or personalized results on nine, including member hotel rates at Orbitz and CheapTickets and steering toward pricier hotels at Expedia and Hotels.com, although most of the tests found neither [4]. Owens describes a separate study she says showed Expedia charging Bay Area users more for the same Manhattan hotel [5].
In July 2024, the FTC ordered eight pricing intermediaries, including Mastercard, JPMorgan Chase, Accenture, and McKinsey, to explain their practices, and initial findings followed in January 2025 [6]. Those intermediaries work with at least 250 clients [4]. Accounts of the findings differ. A Gizmodo deals feature says the FTC confirmed the practice is routine [6], while Fox News tech columnist Kurt Knutsson cautions that “seeing two different prices does not automatically prove personal data caused the change” [4].
Does Loyalty Still Pay Off?
Loyalty programs are pitched as a way to save, and many people sign up knowing they are trading data for discounts. Owens argues that companies are not holding up their end of that bargain [3]. She writes that Kroger’s precision marketing division generated at least $527 million in net operating profit in 2024, about 35 percent of the grocer’s total net income [2].
The concern was predicted two decades ago. In 2004, Duke economist Curtis Taylor warned that once loyalty programs went high-tech, firms would use purchase records to identify their most eager customers and charge them more [3]. Owens says that is what happens to predictable buyers: once a store sees someone as a sure sale, it has less reason to offer that person a discount [5]. Wired’s Reece Rogers requested the data McDonald’s kept from his app use and received a 515-page file estimating a zero percent chance he would ever leave as a customer [3].
Apps see more than finished purchases. Owens says they track what users click on, hover over, leave in a cart, and decide not to buy [5]. She also says Walmart reports that carts built with its Sparky shopping assistant total 35 percent more than other carts [3]. Data brokers can add outside information to the mix, including records drawn from loyalty and reservation systems [4].
None of this means rewards are worthless. It means they work best as a deliberate trade, and understanding how to use cashback and reward programs to your advantage starts with weighing each perk against the data it requires.
The more predictable a customer becomes, the less reason a seller has to offer that customer a deal.
Is Shopping in Person Still a Safe Bet?
Mostly, with some caveats. Owens says in-person shopping exposes buyers to less high-tech pricing, particularly at local, family-owned businesses that are not running algorithmic experiments on their customers [5]. She suggests calling a cab instead of using a ride app and phoning in takeout orders rather than going through delivery apps [1].
Large chains are changing, though. Electronic shelf labels, which let stores change prices at any time, are appearing at big-box retailers and grocery chains, and Owens names Sprouts among them [5]. She acknowledges the labels can reduce waste through timely markdowns, pointing to revenue management expert Bob Cross, who believed bananas should be discounted before they turn brown [2]. Her proposed compromise is one price change per day at 6 a.m., so every customer pays the same price that day [2].
Owens also points to patents that could bring personalized pricing into physical stores. She says Walmart was granted a patent for smart carts that could adjust the price of a complementary item, such as mayonnaise, once tuna is already in the cart [2]. She cites a DoorDash patent describing a 16-point index meant to gauge how agitated or hungry a user is, including how jerky their scrolling looks [2], and Delta’s partnership with Fetcherr, an AI pricing company [2]. Owens adds that TikTok videos have shown Walmart clothing items without posted prices [5].
Local governments are experimenting with their own responses. San Diego requires grocery stores to offer in-store alternatives, such as printed coupons, to digital-only discounts [2]. That kind of rule keeps a posted, predictable price within reach of anyone who walks through the door.
What Practical Steps Can Help Right Now?
Owens is candid that the burden should not fall entirely on individuals, and she acknowledges that these countermeasures take time [3]. That makes big-ticket purchases the best place to focus, such as flights, rental cars, and computers [1].
Start by comparison shopping within a brand, not just across brands. Check the same item logged in and logged out, in the app, on the website, and in the store, in a private browsing window, and with a virtual private network turned on and off [1]. A Fox News guide suggests checking a price while signed out before logging into a retailer or loyalty account [4]. NPR host Marielle Segarra says she has seen a rental car price swing by about $200 depending on whether her VPN was on [5].
Owens also recommends turning the experiment back on the sellers. Friends or a spouse can check the same flight or ride on their own devices, and whoever sees the best price can buy and be repaid through Venmo [3].
Trimming the data trail helps too. Clear cookies regularly, limit location and tracking permissions, and turn off sharing between apps [1]. Reject optional tracking cookies, use Do Not Sell opt-outs, and choose guest checkout when possible [4]. Privacy-focused browsers such as DuckDuckGo are another option [2]. A VPN masks location based on an IP address but cannot erase account history or app permissions already granted, and the FTC lists both private browsing and VPN use among steps consumers might try [4].
Being less predictable matters as well. Owens suggests varying brands, shopping times, and payment methods, including cash [5]. Finally, check price-history tools and read the fine print on discounts, because some deals require memberships, subscriptions, or automatic renewals [4]. Knowing the best ways to track your expenses keeps those commitments from quietly adding up.
Checking one price three ways before a big purchase takes minutes. Skipping it can cost hundreds.
How Are Lawmakers and Regulators Responding?
Fox News reports that the FTC published a proposed enforcement policy statement on personalized pricing on August 19, 2026 [4], while a Gizmodo deals feature places it in late August [6]. The FTC says it cannot ban the practice in every situation, but companies that fail to clearly disclose how personal data affects prices could violate federal consumer protection law [4]. The statement is not final, and unnamed retail and ad tech groups argue the surveillance pricing label overstates what most companies do [6]. Owens calls disclosure a limited first step and has questioned the agency’s seriousness [2].
Congress is showing interest from both parties. Owens says Hawley held the first Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the topic and is working on legislation with Sen. Richard Blumenthal [2]. Sen. Ruben Gallego and Rep. Greg Casar have introduced bills to ban the practice, and Sen. Mark Warner has circulated a draft AI AGENT Act that would require AI shopping agents to act in consumers’ interest [2].
States are moving at different speeds. Maryland’s law, effective October 1, bans personalized and dynamic pricing at grocery stores and third-party delivery services, according to NPR [1]. Owens says the same law contains provisions that would undermine consumer protections [2]. Connecticut and New Jersey have also passed laws [3]. Owens says Colorado’s bill was vetoed and New York’s awaits Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature [2]. She told Gizmodo there are more than 90 related bills nationwide [2], while telling Wired there have been dozens this year [3].
Owens also makes a market-based case. She argues that people who compare prices and walk from one store to the next are what keep prices competitive across the economy, and that personalized pricing weakens that discipline [2].
Final Thoughts
The single posted price served buyers and sellers for roughly 150 years [3], and visible prices are what allow competition to do its work [2]. Evidence that people pay different prices for the same thing is real and documented [4]. Whether personal data drives those gaps remains disputed, and Instacart, Uber, and Lyft deny using it that way [4], as does JetBlue [5].
The rules are still being written, with the FTC focused on disclosure and states taking different approaches [4]. Until the picture settles, the most reliable protection is a few minutes of checking before a big purchase. Compare the price across devices and accounts, limit the data handed over by default, and treat loyalty perks as a trade rather than a gift. Fair prices depend on informed buyers, and those habits keep a household in a stronger position no matter what Washington or the statehouses decide.
Works Cited
[1] Gharib, Malaka, et al. “How to Hide Your Spending Habits from Retailers (So You Don’t Get Ripped Off).” Life Kit, NPR, 29 Sept. 2026, www.npr.org/2026/09/29/nx-s1-5983457/4-ways-to-avoid-getting-ripped-off-according-to-a-pricing-expert.
[2] Novak, Matt. “If You Use Money to Buy Things, You Should Read This Book.” Gizmodo, 29 Sept. 2026, gizmodo.com/if-you-use-money-to-buy-things-you-should-read-this-book-2000816346.
[3] Rogers, Reece. “How to Beat Surveillance Pricing Before It Bleeds You Dry.” Wired, 29 Sept. 2026, www.wired.com/story/how-to-beat-surveillance-pricing-before-it-bleeds-you-dry/.
[4] Knutsson, Kurt. “Is Your Personal Data Changing What You Pay Online?” Fox News, 29 Sept. 2026, www.foxnews.com/tech/personal-data-changing-pay-online.
[5] Segarra, Marielle, host. “Worried You’re Being Overcharged When Shopping Online? Listen to This.” Life Kit, NPR, 29 Sept. 2026, www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5983674. Transcript.
[6] Gizmodo Deals. “You Pay More Than Your Neighbor on the Same Site: It’s Not a Bug, It’s the Default.” Gizmodo, 22 Sept. 2026, gizmodo.com/you-pay-more-than-your-neighbor-on-the-same-site-its-not-a-bug-its-the-default-2000815382.