UFCW 663 member and Cub Foods E-commerce employee Hayley spoke at the state capitol with other members of UFCW to share why surveillance pricing and electronic shelf labels stand in the way of working families thriving.
Read her full statement here:
“I’m pregnant, and I’m concerned about surveillance pricing in grocery stores.
A month ago, I was shopping a customer’s online order. It included baby formula. If we didn’t have that particular formula in stock at the dependable price listed that the family budgeted for, the family may not have been able to get the product to be able to feed their baby.
I imagined the new parents driving from store to store to be able to find the correct formula that fits their budget. Then, as a mom to be, I pictured myself doing the same thing. Babies can be fussy when it comes to changing formulas, from crying, spitting up, to sleepless nights.
That’s when it hit me. If grocery stores are allowed to install surveillance pricing that can change from the beginning of a shopping trip to the end, how can families be expected to budget and thrive?
I’m due in August. We are so excited! I am doing everything I can to prepare to set my family up for a good start.
It’s not just families at the checkout counter who are at risk.
Surveillance pricing threatens our hours, and if companies automate pricing, they cut people who do that work. And then they cut hours in other departments. We need steady hours to be able to support our families.
I’m dependable, and I know that because I look in the mirror, and I show up for work everyday.
I know the feeling when something we rely on is threatened.
From the back stockroom to the dining room, grocery store workers provide reliable shopping experiences that help families thrive. Families count on us every time they walk through the grocery store doors, or open their app to shop.
And right now, families like mine who are budgeting for a new baby, who depend on good union grocery jobs, are counting on all legislators to protect us from surveillance pricing.
If you allow prices to shift and surge based on who we are, or where we shop, you are taking away families’ abilities to plan, budget, and make ends meet.
That’s not a small thing. It is the difference between a family feeling secure versus a family feeling squeezed. Ban surveillance pricing to protect grocery store workers and families.”
