Everything costs more because the algorithm says so: Tariffs and inflation dominate headlines, but personalized pricing is the real affordability crisis
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Our day-to-day navigation of prices rests on a comforting illusion—that we all encounter the same marketplace. In reality, this is happening less often. Firms have always had the right to set prices, but that process has become continuous and individualized: a ceaseless micro-calculation of how much you personally might be willing to pay for something. In a way, we’re all participating in an ongoing pricing experiment. And, like the best subjects, we barely realize it.
This new marketplace emerged, in part, because the tools to reshape it became cheaper, faster, and ubiquitous. For firms, price personalization—or discrimination—no longer requires building a proprietary system; it can be purchased off the shelf.
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Here’s how it works. Companies gather data from many routine digital touchpoints: web and app tracking (cookies, pixels, and device fingerprinting), geolocation from phones and browsers, and in-store sensors. Also involved are data brokers who sell detailed consumer profiles combining demographics, purchase histories, and online behaviour. After the initial lure with attractive benefits and promises of discounts, (“the hook”), you’re handed over to a surveillance infrastructure that mines data about your behaviour and willingness to pay (“the hack”) and then raises fees, cuts rewards, and traps you in the program by making cancellation difficult (“the hike”).
In theory, algorithms can offer discounts to price-sensitive shoppers too. But this isn’t necessarily what happens. AI-fuelled price setting can quietly steer those with the least power to shop around to higher prices and poorer quality goods, thereby deepening the burden on low-income households. When apps can infer when it’s your payday, what neighbourhood you live in, and aggregate your past purchasing habits, they can raise prices to your presumed desperation. For hard-up households or lone parents, that means a personalized penalty on being broke or time starved.
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For generations, we built guardrails around how sellers could charge buyers. But those rules were written for human decision makers not self-learning software. They were meant for a world of price tags and weekly flyers not millisecond-fast adjustments and invisible markups. Pricing systems, not tariffs or inflation, are fast becoming the real cost of living.
THE ESCALATING COST of living keeps making headlines and inspiring furious Reddit threads. Food prices remain a flashpoint, especially when it comes to coffee. But behind every grocery store gripe lies a deeper unease about whether wages are keeping up and the tariffs that continue to dominate economic news.
But the fixation on tariffs and inflation obscures a different shift revolutionizing pricing: algorithms. The Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project warns automated tools are reshaping what Canadians are charged for essential goods and services, including groceries and fuel. Companies can now use software to tailor prices based on everything from our browsing patterns, location, loyalty history, device type, and operating system. The same item can appear at one amount for you and another for someone else, depending on who you are, when you see it online, and what the algorithm believes you are willing to pay.
Here’s how it works. Companies gather data from many routine digital touchpoints: web and app tracking (cookies, pixels, and device fingerprinting), geolocation from phones and browsers, and in-store sensors. Also involved are data brokers who sell detailed consumer profiles combining demographics, purchase histories, and online behaviour. After the initial lure with attractive benefits and promises of discounts, (“the hook”), you’re handed over to a surveillance infrastructure that mines data about your behaviour and willingness to pay (“the hack”) and then raises fees, cuts rewards, and traps you in the program by making cancellation difficult (“the hike”).
Everything costs more because the algorithm says so: Tariffs and inflation dominate headlines, but personalized pricing is the real affordability crisis
...
Our day-to-day navigation of prices rests on a comforting illusion—that we all encounter the same marketplace. In reality, this is happening less often. Firms have always had the right to set prices, but that process has become continuous and individualized: a ceaseless micro-calculation of how much you personally might be willing to pay for something. In a way, we’re all participating in an ongoing pricing experiment. And, like the best subjects, we barely realize it.
This new marketplace emerged, in part, because the tools to reshape it became cheaper, faster, and ubiquitous. For firms, price personalization—or discrimination—no longer requires building a proprietary system; it can be purchased off the shelf.
...
Here’s how it works. Companies gather data from many routine digital touchpoints: web and app tracking (cookies, pixels, and device fingerprinting), geolocation from phones and browsers, and in-store sensors. Also involved are data brokers who sell detailed consumer profiles combining demographics, purchase histories, and online behaviour. After the initial lure with attractive benefits and promises of discounts, (“the hook”), you’re handed over to a surveillance infrastructure that mines data about your behaviour and willingness to pay (“the hack”) and then raises fees, cuts rewards, and traps you in the program by making cancellation difficult (“the hike”).
In theory, algorithms can offer discounts to price-sensitive shoppers too. But this isn’t necessarily what happens. AI-fuelled price setting can quietly steer those with the least power to shop around to higher prices and poorer quality goods, thereby deepening the burden on low-income households. When apps can infer when it’s your payday, what neighbourhood you live in, and aggregate your past purchasing habits, they can raise prices to your presumed desperation. For hard-up households or lone parents, that means a personalized penalty on being broke or time starved.
...
For generations, we built guardrails around how sellers could charge buyers. But those rules were written for human decision makers not self-learning software. They were meant for a world of price tags and weekly flyers not millisecond-fast adjustments and invisible markups. Pricing systems, not tariffs or inflation, are fast becoming the real cost of living.
THE ESCALATING COST of living keeps making headlines and inspiring furious Reddit threads. Food prices remain a flashpoint, especially when it comes to coffee. But behind every grocery store gripe lies a deeper unease about whether wages are keeping up and the tariffs that continue to dominate economic news.
But the fixation on tariffs and inflation obscures a different shift revolutionizing pricing: algorithms. The Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project warns automated tools are reshaping what Canadians are charged for essential goods and services, including groceries and fuel. Companies can now use software to tailor prices based on everything from our browsing patterns, location, loyalty history, device type, and operating system. The same item can appear at one amount for you and another for someone else, depending on who you are, when you see it online, and what the algorithm believes you are willing to pay.
Here’s how it works. Companies gather data from many routine digital touchpoints: web and app tracking (cookies, pixels, and device fingerprinting), geolocation from phones and browsers, and in-store sensors. Also involved are data brokers who sell detailed consumer profiles combining demographics, purchase histories, and online behaviour. After the initial lure with attractive benefits and promises of discounts, (“the hook”), you’re handed over to a surveillance infrastructure that mines data about your behaviour and willingness to pay (“the hack”) and then raises fees, cuts rewards, and traps you in the program by making cancellation difficult (“the hike”).