New 'digital price tags' at Woolies stun social media and spark fears of further inflation. Is this the new normal?​

Woolworths has introduced new digital price tags in some of its stores, and social media users are stunned.

The new tags, which are being trialled in a handful of locations across Australia, use a display technology known as 'e-ink', the same type as that used in ebook readers like the Amazon Kindle.

The new price tags are 'digital' and can be updated in real time. Source: u/swfnbc on Reddit​

Some social media users have praised the move, calling it convenient, efficient, and environmentally friendly.

"I've seen other types around the place, but these look pretty good. Saves printing a bunch of paper, and if these are e-ink based then very low power to run too", said one.

"I was thinking, theoretically these would be more environmentally friendly than constantly printing paper tickets, which you can guarantee aren’t being recycled correctly", echoed another.

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[terri]

This technology has been talked about for quite a while. The problem is it is expensive to introduce. However with the increase in sneaky ways to get around the paper tags, it will make sense to bring it in at sometime. The removable tags take time to remove and replace and, as is common, errors can be made when doing this. Only human. Introducing a technology to make this a bit easier and less time consuming is the next move for the big chains. But it will never be perfect. Nothing is. And I doubt it is about rippipng off customers. Just trying to stem the flow of theft.

 

[Elbe]

Oh, it's sad how many people see conspiracies in everything but the pandemic has been an eye-opener how many people are!!

As I've mentioned previously, I'm an IT nerd & I can reliably tell all the worry-warts a few things about retail & supermarkets in particular....... digital price tags have nothing to do with inflation & everything to do with technology. As mentioned in the article other countries, like France, have been using them for years. They are so we can eventually shop just by putting things in our basket/trolley and not have to go through a checkout at the end. They will become more & more common - and have to - as we move to the automated self service which the time poor demand. Supermarkets will also save a fortune on the physical ticket system - not just the actual tickets but the time it takes for staff to physically change tickets is astronomical. With the massive improvements to online shopping we will see more & more 'dark' (as in not customer facing) stores and the digital tickets streamline the online process - they've been in use in warehouses for over a decade & improving all the time.

And ..... if anyone thinks the 2 big supermarkets don't already track our shopping habits has not been paying attention the past 10 years. Using credit/debit cards, loyalty cards & online shopping - anything which is linked to our names - means they know everything already. Not to encourage paranoia, but unless you use cash you are not anonymous.