You walk into a grocery store. You grab a carton of eggs. The person next to you grabs the exact same carton. You pay $4.79. They pay $3.99. Same store. Same time. Same product. Welcome to AI price gouging. In this investigation, we break down how algorithmic pricing moved from airlines and hotels… to Uber… to Amazon… and now into grocery stores — quietly. A December 2025 study with 437 participants found that 74% of grocery items tested had different prices at the same time for different shoppers. Some gaps reached 23%. Why? Because retailers now use behavioral profiling to determine what YOU are likely willing to pay. Purchase history. Coupon usage. Device type. “Shopping headroom.” Even phone battery levels. And with electronic shelf labels rolling out across thousands of stores by the end of 2026, the infrastructure for real-time physical-store price manipulation is already here. We cover: • How dynamic pricing started with airlines after deregulation • Why Uber’s surge pricing feels acceptable • Instacart’s “Smart Rounding” system • How AI segmentation groups consumers into price tiers • The RealPage antitrust case and why it matters • The three possible futures of algorithmic pricing The real question isn’t whether AI can set prices. It’s whether you’ll ever know if you’re seeing THE price — or YOUR price. ----- Learn how #BlackLine can help you take control of your financial operations: https://www.blackline.com ----- Chapters

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