🛑 We Need To Boycott This Immediately! 🛑

Alright everyone, please buckle up for this one because regardless of how you look, vote or live, this will likely impact all of us!

In Today’s “HubCity Newsletter”:

• 2026: The Year of Dynamic Pricing! 😨

• How It Works (And Why It’s Creepy) 👀

• Exploiting Indicators of “Wealth” 💸

• Stopping This From Becoming the Norm 🚫

Read Time: 3 - 5 Minutes (After reading please take a moment to answer our poll.)

😨 2026: The Year of Dynamic Pricing! 😨

Imagine walking into Kroger and seeing the person next to you pay $2.50 for a gallon of milk… while you pay $3.85. Not because of inflation but because the system knows you can afford it.

Big retailers like Walmart, Kroger, Sam’s Club, and Target are preparing to roll out a new pricing model across America and it’s not good news for everyday people.

It’s called dynamic pricing, and at first glance, it sounds like something that could help shoppers save money.

But the truth is, it’s the beginning of a system where prices change in real-time based on what companies think you can afford and it’s fueled by your personal data.

If that sounds creepy... it’s because it is.

👀 How It Works (And Why It’s Creepy) 👀

Dynamic pricing isn’t new. Airlines and Uber have used it for years. But what’s changing now is the depth of information being used and how everyday essentials like groceries, medicine, and diapers could be affected.

Many of you may have heard of the Target pregnancy story from 2012. A man’s daughter starts getting emails from Target for items that are catered towards pregnant women. The father, furious over this, goes to his local target and demands to speak with the store manager.

Long story short, the daughter was pregnant and Target was one of the first to know! Target knew this because of the amount of data that it had on her and remember, this was in 2012…that’s 13 years ago! (Full Story — > Forbes)

Here’s what these systems will look at:

• Your purchase history

• Your device type (yes, iPhone vs Android)

• Using Microphones for “Ambient Data” (Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri & Google Assistant and others.)

• Your location (grocery store in wealthy ZIP code? Higher prices.)

• The time of day (Shopping late at night = desperation = price hike.)

• Your search behavior and loyalty habits

• Your battery level*

• Your income level (types of credit/debit cards you have.)

• Your IP address (home vs work vs public)

• Even whether you’ve just been paid

Using all this data, stores will start assigning prices based on what “their algorithm” thinks you can afford to pay.

Many airlines are already testing out new A.I. algorithmic systems based on what they call “users willingness to pay”. The A.I. algorithm knows so much about you that it can determine the maximum price you are willing to pay based on ongoing data it’s collecting.

“John gets paid tomorrow, he can afford to pay an additional $150 for this flight.”

It’s not just unfair, it’s dangerous.

💸 Exploiting Indicators of “Wealth” 💸

Here’s where it gets scary…

iPhone users already pay more for things like Uber and DoorDash because they’re seen as “higher income.”

A 2017 study from Cornell University found that this also happens with hotels and travel sites. (Source)

But this same logic could soon apply to:

• Toothpaste 🪥

• Baby formula 🍼

• Cold medicine 💊

• Bread, milk, and eggs 🍞🥛🥚

Imagine you are making $45,000 a year. You and your family are going on a road trip. You have budgeted weeks for this trip but along the way you happen to go through an extremely poor county.

Now you are one of the highest earners and guess what, you will likely pay more while in that county!

Expect higher gas prices, grocery bills, & dinner prices while in that county.

But let’s say that you have a favorite brand that you’re loyal to.
You shop at this store every week! Well you can likely expect prices to quietly rise.

Got paid on Friday? Your Wendy’s order may increase, even though you bought the same exact meal yesterday.

They’re calling it optimization.
But let’s call it what it really is: price discrimination.

We want to be very clear, this isn’t capitalism…this is PURE GREED!

🚫 Stopping This From Becoming the Norm 🚫

This is why we need to act now. If we stay silent, this will become the new normal.

It doesn’t just punish the poor, it punishes loyalty, routine, and even urgency.

So what can we do?

• 🔌 Shop local, where pricing is transparent and fair.

• 📢 Speak up. Share this info before it becomes the default.

• 🛑 Support platforms that reject this kind of data exploitation.

📣 Why This Matters to Small Businesses

At Jacksontn.shop, we’re building a marketplace powered by real people, not algorithms. There’s no manipulation, no surge pricing, no secret algorithms.

Just people buying from people. Local food trucks, contractors, photographers, artists or boutiques, all with fair, upfront pricing.

This is the kind of future we want to build. One where you decide what’s fair, not a machine that mined your life.

If you're a local business owner, professional, or creative in Jackson or surrounding areas (Humboldt, Brownsville, Henderson, Lexington, Milan, Dyersburg, etc)…

👉 Consider signing up at Jacksontn.shop to become a future vendor and keep local business alive.