from Hacker News

Kroger's Shopper Profiles: Why You May Be Paying More Than Your Neighbors

by johnshades on 5/21/25, 4:32 PM with 9 comments

• by duxup on 5/21/25, 4:37 PM

  >As a result of being deemed “non-loyal” to Kroger in his 62-page shopping profile, which CR obtained after Salem filed a formal request with Kroger through Oregon’s new data and privacy law, Salem is also likely to get fewer of Kroger’s best discounts.

  The limitation seems to be on discounts offered. This seems logical to me.

  Even where I work we offer some of our better customers some discounts on some things, because we know they make up for it in other ways.

• by legitster on 5/21/25, 4:45 PM

  > But many Kroger shoppers we spoke to don’t know that this information is even collected by the grocery chain.

  This boggles my mind. What do you think a loyalty card is even for?!?

  > “The way this data is being used is very clearly widening the gap between upper, middle, and low-income households, and unless regulators take action, it will only get worse,” says David Friedman

  This seems like a pretty wild assertion - the article itself presents the data collected as little more than a wild stab. The idea that different people get marketed different coupons is as old as the coupon itself.

  > For most of their food, the family opts for the lower-priced WinCo Foods, which is farther away.

  Shout out to WinCo foods. They are employee-owned, they don't do any coupons or loyalty cards, and all their prices are cheap cheap.

• by kylehotchkiss on 5/21/25, 6:00 PM

  Remember when they were trying to buy Albertsons? Glad they were able to demonstrate through actions that this was not going to lower prices for consumers.

  Also remember how Kroger spent a decade waddling their thumbs and not accepting Apple Pay?

  Kroger sucks. Boycott Kroger.