How to Beat Surveillance Pricing Before It Bleeds You Dry
How to Beat Surveillance Pricing Before It Bleeds You Dry
如何在被“榨干”之前击败监控定价
I always feel like I’m overpaying whenever I buy something these days. I never seem to have access to the best coupons, and apps with algorithmically adjusted prices don’t exactly lower the cost of what’s in my cart. It feels like prices are constantly creeping up and my budget is being stretched thin. 如今，每当我买东西时，总觉得自己付了冤枉钱。我似乎永远拿不到最好的优惠券，而那些采用算法调整价格的应用程序，也并没有真正降低我购物车里的商品成本。感觉价格在不断上涨，我的预算也变得捉襟见肘。
These core frustrations were what drew me to Gouged: The End of a Fair Price and What That Means for Your Wallet. Author Lindsay Owens knows what it’s like to advocate for consumers’ economic interests. She’s the CEO of Groundwork Collaborative, a DC think tank and corporate watchdog, and previously worked as an economic policy adviser in Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office. 正是这些核心痛点促使我阅读了《被宰：公平价格的终结及其对你钱包的意义》（Gouged: The End of a Fair Price and What That Means for Your Wallet）一书。作者琳赛·欧文斯（Lindsay Owens）深谙如何为消费者的经济利益奔走呼吁。她是华盛顿智库兼企业监督机构“基础协作”（Groundwork Collaborative）的首席执行官，此前曾担任参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦（Elizabeth Warren）办公室的经济政策顾问。
Before the launch of her book, available now, we spoke about how software has been instrumental in changing how goods are priced, and how generative AI could make existing issues worse. Owens also shared a couple of tips for readers who want to claw back a fair price. 在她的新书发布之际（现已上市），我们探讨了软件如何在改变商品定价方式中发挥关键作用，以及生成式人工智能（AI）如何可能加剧现有问题。欧文斯还为那些想要争取公平价格的读者分享了一些建议。
The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 以下对话经过编辑，以求简洁明了。
WIRED: The era of fixed prices for goods and services already feels like it’s in the rearview mirror. How did we get to this current cultural moment where costs are so variable? 《连线》：商品和服务固定价格的时代似乎已经成为过去。我们是如何走到今天这个成本如此多变的文化时刻的？
Lindsay Owens: It turns out we all got a little too comfortable with the fixed price. We’d had it for 150 years, since John Wanamaker stuck a price tag on the items in his department store in Philadelphia in the late 1800s. Maybe we just assumed it was a law, but it was actually a norm. 琳赛·欧文斯： 事实证明，我们对固定价格已经习以为常了。自19世纪末约翰·沃纳梅克（John Wanamaker）在费城的百货商店里为商品贴上价格标签以来，我们已经习惯了150年。也许我们只是想当然地认为这是一种法律，但实际上它只是一种惯例。
It is under attack, if not gone. I think the biggest contributor to the end of a fair price is new technology. There was, of course, always an impetus to overcharge, but new technologies have supercharged that impulse. Big tech reinvented the rip-off. They supercharged these age-old impulses, and they made it possible to squeeze more out of Americans in almost every transaction. New technologies are the cornerstone of this shift. 这种惯例即便没有消失，也正受到冲击。我认为导致公平价格终结的最大推手是新技术。当然，商家一直都有多收费的冲动，但新技术极大地强化了这种冲动。大型科技公司重塑了“宰客”方式。它们放大了这些古老的冲动，使得在几乎每一笔交易中从美国消费者身上榨取更多利润成为可能。新技术是这一转变的基石。
An eye-opening moment for me earlier this year was when I requested all the data McDonald’s keeps based on my app interactions. I got a 515-page dossier that estimated a zero percent chance I’d ever stop being a customer. How can loyalty apps negatively impact what people pay? 今年早些时候，我经历了一个令人大开眼界的时刻：我要求麦当劳提供基于我应用交互所保留的所有数据。我收到了一份515页的档案，其中估计我停止消费的可能性为零。忠诚度应用程序如何对人们的支付金额产生负面影响？
Loyalty programs are sophisticated data harvesting. Most of us kind of know that. We enter knowing it’s a bit of a devil’s bargain. We are giving up a lot of data, but we do it in exchange for the promise of deals and discounts tied to our loyalty. It turns out they’re not holding up their end of the bargain. 忠诚度计划本质上是复杂的“数据收割”。我们大多数人对此心知肚明。我们加入时就知道这有点像“魔鬼的交易”。我们交出了大量数据，以换取与忠诚度挂钩的优惠和折扣承诺。但事实证明，他们并没有履行承诺。
In 2004, a Duke economist named Curtis Taylor put out a piece asking what would happen once companies could buy and sell records of what shoppers purchased. He said that once loyalty programs go high-tech, firms will use those records to identify their most eager customers and charge them more. The effect was that consumers would pay a price for their loyalty. I think his warning rings true today. 2004年，杜克大学经济学家柯蒂斯·泰勒（Curtis Taylor）发表了一篇文章，探讨当公司能够买卖购物者的购买记录时会发生什么。他指出，一旦忠诚度计划实现高科技化，企业就会利用这些记录识别出最热衷的客户，并向他们收取更高的费用。其结果是，消费者将为自己的忠诚度付出代价。我认为他的警告在今天依然振聋发聩。
Could you explain what you mean by surveillance pricing? 你能解释一下你所说的“监控定价”是什么意思吗？
Surveillance pricing is a technique that’s at the intersection of two things Americans hate: getting preyed on and being ripped off. It’s a colloquialism for something you might have learned about in economics class called personalized pricing. This is the idea of changing prices not based on market conditions, not based on demographic groups. In first-degree price discrimination, the company uses information about me personally to decide and estimate my willingness to pay. 监控定价是一种处于美国人最痛恨的两件事——被当作猎物和被宰——交汇点的技术。这是经济学课上可能学到的“个性化定价”的通俗说法。其核心理念是：价格的变动不再基于市场状况，也不再基于人口统计群体。在“一级价格歧视”中，公司利用关于我个人的信息来决定并预估我的支付意愿。
Importantly, willingness to pay isn’t the same thing as ability to pay. Maybe you need something urgently—you’re a mom in the middle of the night with a sick kid, and you need Tylenol on your doorstep in the morning. There are all sorts of reasons why you might be desperate. 重要的是，支付意愿并不等同于支付能力。也许你急需某样东西——比如一位半夜照顾生病孩子的母亲，急需第二天早上送到家门口的泰诺（Tylenol）。你陷入困境的原因可能多种多样。
You mentioned earlier that software innovations are a major driver of these changes. Do you see generative AI as exacerbating existing issues? 你之前提到软件创新是这些变化的主要驱动力。你认为生成式人工智能会加剧现有问题吗？
Absolutely. Agentic commerce is not ubiquitous quite yet. We’re in the early stages, but the early warning signs are flashing. Walmart says Sparky cart totals are 35 percent higher than non-Sparky cart totals. These new technologies are supercharging age-old impulses to upsell you, to get you to purchase an add-on, to make sure you leave with the item instead of coming back tomorrow. 当然会。代理式商务（Agentic commerce）目前尚未普及。我们正处于早期阶段，但预警信号已经闪烁。沃尔玛表示，使用“Sparky”购物车的总额比不使用该功能的购物车高出35%。这些新技术正在强化那些古老的冲动：向你推销、诱导你购买附加产品、确保你当场买下商品而不是明天再来。
AI agents are often marketed as tools that can help automate your online shopping decisions. How else could this kind of outsourcing of decisionmaking backfire for consumers? AI代理通常被宣传为可以帮助自动化在线购物决策的工具。这种决策外包还有哪些方式会适得其反，损害消费者利益？
We’re at an inflection point. We can quickly move to regulate this and require agents to work in consumers’ interests, as other agents in our economy work in consumers’ interests. 我们正处于一个转折点。我们可以迅速采取行动进行监管，要求这些代理机构以消费者的利益为出发点，就像我们经济中的其他代理人（如房产经纪人）必须维护消费者利益一样。
Your realtor has to work on your behalf. Your lawyer has a best-interest standard or a fiduciary standard even in some cases. 你的房产经纪人必须代表你的利益。你的律师则有“最佳利益标准”，在某些情况下甚至有“受托责任标准”。
The cost of living and affordability crisis is making life hard for Americans. These new technologies are making consuming and shopping exhausting. Once you imagine layering in fighting off a snake oil salesman, then you realize consuming is about to be completely different. 生活成本和负担能力危机让美国人的生活变得艰难。这些新技术让消费和购物变得令人精疲力竭。一旦你想象一下还要时刻提防“江湖骗子”，你就会意识到，消费模式即将发生彻底的改变。
In the US, do you see laws banning surveillance pricing happening primarily on the state level, or will federal decisionmakers get more involved? 在美国，你认为禁止监控定价的法律主要会在州一级出现，还是联邦决策者会更多地介入？
It’s a little of both, right now. I worked for Senator Warren as a staffer, and I just testified on behalf of [Senator] Josh Hawley on this issue. So, I think this issue is a nonpartisan one. 目前两者兼而有之。我曾担任沃伦参议员的幕僚，最近还代表乔什·霍利（Josh Hawley）参议员就此问题作证。因此，我认为这是一个跨党派的问题。
Obviously, federal momentum takes a long time; there’s been more movement at the state level. We’ve seen dozens of pieces of legislation to crack down on surveillance and algorithmic pricing this year. Some of it has passed and been signed into law in states like Connecticut, New Jersey, and Maryland. 显然，联邦层面的推动需要很长时间；州一级的行动更多。今年我们已经看到数十项旨在打击监控和算法定价的立法。其中一些已经在康涅狄格州、新泽西州和马里兰州通过并签署成为法律。
How can I beat surveillance pricing? What strategies can I try, even if it’s a Sisyphean effort? 我该如何击败监控定价？即使这是一种“西西弗斯式”的徒劳努力，我能尝试哪些策略？
From the bottom of my heart, I do not believe it is every consumer’s job to duck and dodge and bob and weave and beat the machine. There are some ways to fight back, like calling members of Congress. Look, I think raising your voice is important. 我发自内心地认为，不应该让每一位消费者都去躲避、周旋、挣扎并试图战胜这台机器。确实有一些反击的方法，比如致电国会议员。听着，我认为发出你的声音非常重要。