In a letter Friday to Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) said the plans — which involve using facial recognition tools in digital displays to target advertising to customers and collect information on them — potentially pave the way for biased pricing discrimination.

“Studies have shown that facial recognition technology is flawed and can lead to discrimination in predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods,” Tlaib wrote in the letter, which was posted on social media Tuesday. “The racial biases of facial recognition technology are well documented and should not be extended into our grocery stores.”

Kroger is the largest grocery store chain in the country with nearly 3,000 stores and $3.1 billion in profits in 2023. Kroger and other retailers already use electronic shelving labels instead of paper labels to rapidly adjust prices based on a variety of factors, including time of purchase, where a grocery store is located and other data.

The plan to use facial recognition technology could allow the retailer to build individual profiles on customers, based on data like their gender and shopping habits.

In an August letter sent to McMullen about the same plans, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bob Casey (D-PA) said they were concerned about the chain building “personalized profiles of each customer, and then use those profiles ‘to determine how much price hiking each of us can tolerate,’ quickly updating and displaying the customer’s maximum willingness to pay on the digital price tag.”

The use of facial recognition tools in Kroger stores also raises concerns about how Kroger intends to “adequately” safeguard customer data, the Warren and Casey letter said.

  • @HootinNHollerin
    link
    English
    26
    edit-2
    3 hours ago

    Kroger also owns Ralphs, Dillons, Smith’s, King Soopers, Fred Myer, Fry’s, QFC, City Market, Owen’s, Jay C, Pay Less, Baker’s, Gerbes, Harris Teeter, Pick‘n Save, Metro Market and Mariano’s.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      63 hours ago

      Missed Fred Meyer, which is huge in the PNW.

      I don’t shop at any of those, mostly because it’s not my closest grocery store. It is the biggest though, I just don’t want to drive the extra 10 min to go there vs my local one w/ competitive prices.

    • The Assman
      link
      fedilink
      English
      34 hours ago

      We switched from Kroger to a couple of international groceries. It’s hit and miss quality wise, but this way I’m only supporting at most a handful of greedy shitbags.

    • @Coreidan
      link
      English
      146 hours ago

      Thank fuck I haven’t heard of a single one of those stores and have never shopped in them

      • ArtieShaw
        link
        fedilink
        45 hours ago

        More of a hardcore Jewel/Osco shopper?

        No - I think Mariano’s and PicknSave would be competitors in that region. I travel a bit through the US, and I’m flummoxed. My Kroger discount card works more times than not, no matter where my work takes me and no matter which the local branding is.

      • @littletoolshed
        link
        English
        06 hours ago

        That’s not surprising, if you live outside of the US. Otherwise, I do have a follow up query for you 😅

        • @Coreidan
          link
          English
          46 hours ago

          I’m in the us. Must be a west coast thing.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            33 hours ago

            Kroger is big in the east, the others are bigger in the west IIRC. And OP missed Fred Meyer, which is big in the PNW.