Severna Park Voice

Posted 1/21/26

If you have noticed higher prices at your favorite grocery store lately, you are not alone. The average weekly grocery bill increased by 4.2% from 2024 to the middle of 2025, according to data-driven online publisher Visual Capitalist.

Governor Wes Moore stopped by bulk food retailer BD Provisions in Severna Park on Tuesday to share his plan to address “dynamic pricing” and the use of surveillance data to inform individualized pricing in Maryland grocery stores. He expects the Protection from Predatory Pricing Act, which he is introducing during the current 90-day legislative session, to shield Marylanders from “invasive data practices and unpredictable price spikes that make their grocery bills more expensive.”

“Marylanders deserve to know that the price they see on the shelf is the price they will pay at the register,” Moore said. “Our administration is laser-focused on protecting Marylanders from skyrocketing costs. At a time when Marylanders are already stretched by the rising cost of groceries, housing and everyday necessities, we must ensure that new technologies are not used to drive up the bill for working families.”

The Protection from Predatory Pricing Act responds to the retail industry’s increasing adoption of electronic shelf labels, which allow stores to change prices instantly. Several major retailers have begun transitioning to the new technology to streamline operations and reduce the labor of manually updating tags. The change to electronic shelf labels creates the potential for “dynamic pricing,” where the cost of basic household goods could surge based on the time of day, the weather, or granular consumer data – allowing stores to calibrate price increases to extract maximum profits at the expense of consumers.

The Protection from Predatory Pricing Act prohibits the use of dynamic pricing by requiring grocery store prices to remain fixed for at least one business day. It also bans the use of surveillance data — information derived from observation or inference about a consumer’s behavior or characteristics — in automated decision systems to set individualized prices, ensuring that electronic shelf labels are not used to implement surge pricing strategies that hike costs on consumers.

Moore’s proposal builds on the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act of 2024 by specifically targeting the intersection of data surveillance and essential goods pricing. Under the new legislation, violations would be treated as an unfair or deceptive trade practice under the Maryland Consumer Protection Act. The Office of the Attorney General would enforce the measure, with merchants subject to civil penalties of up to $10,000 for a first offense and up to $25,000 for subsequent offenses.

“Maryland families work hard to put food on the table for their families,” said Marceline White, executive director for Economic Action Maryland Fund. “The cost of groceries is making this harder and harder to do. Grocery store chains are using shoppers’ personal data to charge different prices to individuals for the same bag of groceries. We commend Governor Moore for introducing the Protection from Predatory Pricing Act to address this practice and create a level playing field for Marylanders to shop for the same goods at the same price.”

The Maryland Retailers Alliance argued that retailers do not set prices based on individual consumers’ personal data, identity or purchasing history. Dynamic pricing, the group said, is used by retailers to adjust prices uniformly across all shoppers based on factors such as supplier costs, seasonality, promotions and market competition — not personal consumer data.

Those views will be subject to debate during the ongoing legislative session. BD Provisions owner Debra Saltz expressed gratitude to Moore for recognizing the issue, especially with the rising costs of food nationwide.

“My business is proud to have transparency with regard to pricing,” Saltz said. “All of our prices are clearly marked and don’t change depending on the weather or shopping habits of our customers. But as a consumer, I also have to shop in grocery stores that use these unfair practices. This is important legislation.”