City Council wants to keep the price right.
New York City could become the first city in the nation to block “predatory” high‑tech pricing tactics that silently raise costs for shoppers.
Council Speaker Julie Menin and Majority Leader Shaun Abreu have introduced two bills to limit “dynamic pricing” — where grocery prices change frequently based on algorithms — and ban “surveillance pricing” — where businesses use personal data to set different prices for different customers.
Menin argued that companies should not be allowed to quietly manipulate prices in the middle of an affordability crisis that is already pushing New Yorkers’ bank accounts to the brink.
“New Yorkers deserve transparency and fairness when purchasing essential goods, and the Council will make New York the first city in the country to take a strong stand against predatory surveillance and exploitative dynamic pricing practices,” Menin said.
Menin’s bill would make it illegal for most businesses to charge different prices to different people based on personal data.
That means a store could not look at a shopper’s location, browsing history or past purchases and secretly give them a higher price than someone else for the same item.
The proposal still allows discounts for certain groups like seniors, students or low income customers, as long as the rules are made clear to everyone.
A second bill, sponsored by Abreu, would bar grocery stores from raising the price of an item more than once in a 24 hour period.
The goal is to respond to the spread of electronic shelf labels powered by algorithms that can change prices many times a day.
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“Groceries are already expensive enough, and nobody should have to worry about the price going up when they’re still shopping,” Abreu said.
Both bills are framed as early steps to protect consumers before these technologies become more widespread.
“Corporations have algorithms and AI. Shoppers have a cart and a budget,” Abreu said. “We are acting now to protect New Yorkers before the technology gets ahead of the law.”
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