Imagine going to the grocery store and seeing no price tags on the shelves indicating how much items will cost. You get to the register and scan the item to see the cost at $4.50 even with a discount card. Meanwhile, the customer next to you, with the same discount card, rings up the exact same item, yet their price shows $3.50. Even more frustrating, if you are shopping online at home, you have no idea what price others are seeing for the same product. Why should one individual pay a dollar more for the same item? How are companies allowed to do this? This is the premise to a new trend in our economy - surveillance pricing.
 
Surveillance pricing is a more malicious, less transparent form of dynamic pricing, where companies use demographic characteristics such as age, race, or gender, or geographic characteristics like where you live, to determine how much to charge each individual. With the increase in data gathering on the internet, companies may be able to tell how much money you have left in the bank or how many times you have viewed the same item online when determining how much to charge you, as an individual, for a product.
 
Our economy and our ability to budget for our household depends on predictability, and we see a disturbing trend where predictability and transparency are in jeopardy if surveillance pricing remains unchecked. This is why I will be introducing legislation that would prohibit surveillance pricing. All Pennsylvanians deserve a fair, transparent market and I encourage you to consider co-sponsoring my legislation to provide that for our citizens.