Just use a browser that hides useragent
Comment on Shirley you cant be serious!
chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months agoThis makes me wonder whether there’s ever price discrimination going on. A system like this could give different prices based on what kind of phone you’re using if they wanted it to, and you wouldn’t necessarily know it.
yamapikariya@lemmyfi.com 10 months ago
owatnext@lemmy.world 10 months ago
While a valid point, it misses the possibility of people who may not know what useragent even means; it misses people who may not know that a website can identify what browser or device you are using.
Misconduct@startrek.website 10 months ago
This would be noticed and called out the literal second two people go together and have different devices. We don’t all just travel in packs according to our iOS lol
CosmicCleric@lemmy.world 10 months ago
If they notice the difference. They might be too busy socializing and not caring about the pricing that much.
kryptonicus@lemmy.world 10 months ago
How would this work though? You’re not ordering your food via the QR code link, you’re telling the waitstaff. Unless they ask you what price your saw, how are they going to correlate their variable price to a particular customer?
However, this would make it a lot easier to implement “peak pricing”. Their menu could automatically update based on time of day, or day of week, and certainly holidays.
docwriter@lemmy.eco.br 10 months ago
In some places, the QR link redirects you to a page where you can order itens without interacting with the staff.
Sotuanduso@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Wh… why would they do that?
I guess maybe if a phone company is secretly paying them to, but why would a phone company go to restaurants to give their customers lower prices? And even if they did, what do they gain from that if they don’t want anyone to know?
And even if they did, the waiter would also have to take note of what kind of phone the customers use, and give them the respective price on the bill. One slip-up could reveal the scheme.
chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
The idea behind price discrimination is that some customers will still buy the same product if it is offered at a higher price, while others will not. By figuring out which is which and offering them different prices, you can make more profit. For instance Uber is known to charge higher rates to customers with low phone battery, because they are probably more desperate and would be more willing to pay.
If a restaurant knows you have an expensive phone, they know you can probably afford more expensive meals and won’t walk out if the prices are too much. If you have a cheap phone, they might want to tone it down a little to avoid driving you away. They might be able to make more money by doing this.
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 10 months ago
If you’ve got a more expensive phone they’ll charge more because they assume you have more money.
Alternatively, if you’ve got a cheaper phone they’ll charge more so that they don’t have to cater to the “wrong type of people.”
GlendatheGayWitch@lib.lgbt 10 months ago
I saw an article on lemmy about this yesterday, though not sure whether I’ll find it again.
Hotels, flights, retailers already have an abundance of price discrimination. Target shows higher prices when your device is physically closer to a store and lower prices when you are further away. IPhone users tend to pay higher prices because they assume that since you had the extra money to pay for an expensive phone, you’ll be open to spending more at other stores.
Likewise, if they see your device or other devices on your network/near you making several searches for hotels/flights the price will increase.
It’s just another way to build greed into the system
Sotuanduso@lemm.ee 10 months ago
That Target one sounds definitely illegal.