Why You Might Be Paying More for Groceries: Understanding and Blocking Surveillance Pricing

On December 9, 2025, "More Perfect Union" and "Consumer Reports" published a video:

"We Had 400 People Shop for Groceries. What We Found Will Shock You." - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osxr7xSxsGo

Here's part of their video description:

"EXCLUSIVE: We uncovered a secret corporate scheme to raise grocery prices.

We found that Instacart is using AI algorithms to charge customers different prices for the same items. The scary part? It's not just online. It's in physical grocery stores, too."

Upon watching this, I decided to write a letter to More Perfect Union thanking them for their work, and offering the next step: How can people protect themselves and perhaps avoid some of this surveillance pricing.

Hi More Perfect Union Team,

I'm David, and I'm a Privacy Advocate. I support the protection of consumer personal privacy, arguing that individuals have the right to be free from surveillance, enabling them to make personal choices and express their true selves.

I really appreciated your recent video "We Had 400 People Shop For Groceries. What We Found Will Shock You." detailing your investigation into Instacart and the greater problem of surveillance pricing! It did a great job exposing how algorithmic pricing and data collection are reshaping grocery costs—however, it may leave people wondering:

“Okay, now what do I do?” and I'd like to help.

Larger efforts in regulating what these companies can do are absolutely needed. In the meantime, I put together a concrete set of tips you could offer in a follow-up video/article/email to give viewers something actionable. They’re focused on two goals:

1. Reducing how much data feeds the pricing algorithms
2. Making it harder for companies to put people into high-price buckets

I'm not looking for any credit, any money, any shoutouts, or referrals, and none of the services recommended below are affiliate links; just please pass this info on. I have a passion for helping people understand that there's more they can do and that we don't have to just "accept and live with this" Surveillance Pricing lifestyle.

Now, on to the ways we can help ourselves, our friends, and loved ones...

Practical Pricing‑Protection Tips (accounts, data, and tracking)

Overall, the best way to protect ourselves & prevent our behavioral and shopping data from being used in this model is simple: don't give it out in the first place. Most of these tips below are in service of that goal.

• Buy Local - this may seem different than all other tips, but it's true. If you don't like these large corporations having all of this money to put you in a bucket to raise your personal grocery prices, buy at a locally owned store instead. We vote with every dollar we spend. If we spend elsewhere, companies will take notice. Remember how the stock market was completely shaken up by a lot of individual investors buying into Gamestop stock? There is strength in numbers.
• Buy with cash - shopping in-store, with cash, is the most private way to shop. Think about how much information you are required to give up every time you swipe your card or purchase something with a card online:
  • Your money, Your First and last name, Your email address, Your phone number, Your billing address
  • Compare that to paying with cash: just your money
  • ☝️ This is why we get so much spam emails and calls: it's because we give this information out whether we know it or not just by going about our daily lives
• What if I can't pay cash because I have to buy it online? - Fantastic question, use a virtual credit card through a service like Privacy(dot)com - https://www.privacy.com/
  • Privacy(dot)com allows you to create virtual cards. A virtual card, sometimes called a temporary card number or anonymous card number, is a credit or debit card number that can be created through a website or mobile app, and does not come with a physical card. Virtual cards can be utilized for most online purchases to mask your personal and financial information. Oftentimes, you can set a maximum spend or charge limit on the virtual card to prevent yourself from being overcharged. Some virtual cards will also lock to a merchant to prevent the card from being used elsewhere if the merchant is breached.
  • ☝️Pro Tip - this service is available with a free plan. If you purchase a Pro plan, they even offer digital versions of these virtual cards compatible with Apple/Google Pay so you can use them in person too!
• Use a privacy‑respecting browser with strong tracking protection (e.g., Firefox with uBlock Origin, or Brave) - on phones, tablets, and computers to block ads and limit behavior tracking across sites.
  • Fun fact, if you use Brave on your phone, it blocks all Youtube video ads, allows you to lock your phone while a video is playing AND download videos for offline viewing when traveling - it's basically YouTube premium for free
  • Even the FBI recommended in December of 2022 that citizens install an adblocker for their own security to avoid scammers and hackers
• Avoid linking accounts together - don’t use “Sign in with Google/Apple/Facebook” for shopping; create a separate login.
• Limit location services on your devices: only grant precise location to apps that truly need it (e.g., maps); set others to “approximate” or “never,” since fine-grained location can influence what prices and offers you’re shown.
• Use a reputable (emphasis on reputable) VPN when browsing and price‑checking to break the link to your real location/IP and sometimes surface different pricing patterns by region.
  • Here are three solid, privacy-focused VPN options:
    • Proton VPN
      • Based in Switzerland with strong privacy laws and a no-logs policy.
      • Open-source apps and independent audits.
      • Good overall speeds, streaming support, and a usable free tier for light use.
    • Mullvad VPN
      • One of the strongest “minimal data” models: no email needed, anonymous account numbers, cash/crypto payment options.
      • Strict no-logs stance and open-source apps.
      • Simple, flat pricing with a focus on privacy over extras or marketing.
    • iVPN
      • Transparent ownership, strong privacy policy, and no-logs approach.
      • Offers features like multi-hop and robust tracker/advertiser blocking.
      • Clear, detailed documentation about how they handle data and security, aimed at privacy-conscious users.
• Browse and price-check in Brave or Firefox - then log in only if you actually buy. Keep in mind that the price might go up after you login because they know everything associated with your account
• Create a separate “shopping-only” email - for grocery/delivery apps to keep it siloed from your main digital life.
  • Use a throwaway gmail account OR
  • MySudo is an app that provides full-blown "Sudos" or other personas for segmenting parts of your digital life, such as your shopping. You can make a dedicated email (phone numbers too) that you only use for shopping. This helps "break the trail" of these companies tracking you from site to site.
• Skip loyalty accounts - when you can for groceries and delivery apps, unless the discount is clearly large and public.
• Regularly clear cookies and site data - for major shopping and delivery sites.
• Limit app tracking on your phone - deny “allow app to track” prompts and turn off ad personalization for grocery/delivery apps in system settings.
• Use guest checkout - whenever it’s offered instead of logging in.
• Don’t connect banking or card “rewards data” to shopping or delivery apps that want to read your purchase history.
• Use your loyalty number only when it unlocks obvious, advertised sale prices, not vague “personalized offers.”
• Turn off personalized deals/pricing in app settings (disable “personalized offers,” “personalized pricing,” or “use data to improve offers”).

An Important Note

Most of these protections are front-loaded: you do a bit of setup once, then they mostly run in the background. Some require habit change and will take some time, and that's okay! Installing a privacy‑respecting browser with uBlock Origin or Brave, choosing a VPN, tightening location and tracking permissions, and fixing app settings (turning off personalized offers, avoiding linked logins, using a separate shopping email) are all one‑time or very occasional tasks. After that, your day‑to‑day habit shift is simple: use Brave or Firefox (set them as the default), connect to your VPN when possible (especially when using public wifi), prefer guest checkout when possible, be selective about loyalty accounts, and sanity‑check prices across apps/stores once in a while.

One important caveat: after major system or app updates, it’s wise to quickly recheck key permissions and settings, because sometimes updates quietly turn certain options back on or add new defaults. Apple and Google both have built‑in tools (in iOS and Android settings) that let you review all app permissions in one place; if you see something you didn’t intend to grant, turn that permission off again or delete the app so it stops feeding the surveillance pricing model. A 5‑minute review every so often keeps your protections intact. Those small changes help blunt surveillance pricing and quietly restore a lot more privacy to your own life—and to the lives of friends and family if you help them set it up too.

Further Reading/Listening:

Carey Parker is a Cybersecurity & Privacy Advocate, Author, Podcast Host, Speaker and operates a great website for the everyday person called "Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons." - https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/

On March 16, 2026 Carey interviewed the individuals who conducted the study on Surveillance Pricing.

Podcast Episode Link: https://podcast.firewallsdontstopdragons.com/2026/04/13/identity-resolution/

"When you shop online or through an app, do you ever wonder if you’re being charged the same as someone else for the same thing? Even controlling for things like shipping address and local taxes, it turns out that today it’s not uncommon for pricing to dynamically change based on factors that may not seem fair. This is called surveillance pricing. Justin Brookman (Consumer Reports) and Eric Gardner (More Perfect Union) recently performed a study on this practice using Instacart, and the results were eye-opening."

I highly recommend trying some of these tips and listening to Carey's podcast episode. And, as always, if you got some value from this, please share it with friends and family!

Until the next one,

David Einslow