At The Money: Is Technology Price Gouging Consumers?

At The Money: Is Technology Price Gouging Consumers? (October 14, 2026)

Lindsay Owens, CEO of the Groundwork Collaborative and author of the bestseller "Gouged: The End of a Fair Price—and What That Means for Your Wallet," joins the At The Money podcast to discuss how technology has transformed price gouging in modern markets. Owens explains that while price gouging is not new, technology has made it faster, more subtle, and harder to detect.

In the past, setting prices was a straightforward process: companies calculated their costs, added a profit margin, and set the price. However, today, pricing has become a highly engineered science. Companies employ pricing consultants, physicists, and AI specialists to optimize their pricing strategies and squeeze more money out of consumers.

Owens highlights several ways technology has supercharged old pricing tricks. She cites the use of advanced pricing systems, such as dynamic pricing and electronic shelf labels in grocery stores, which enable companies to adjust prices in real-time based on demand, competition, and other factors.

One particularly egregious example Owens discusses is the YieldStar algorithm, used by RealPage, a company that provides revenue management software to landlords. YieldStar allowed landlords to coordinate price increases, creating a minimum rent floor and stifling competition. This form of price collusion was made possible due to the ease of sharing data and coordinating through technology, even in markets with numerous competitors.

Owens argues that the integration of technology into pricing mechanisms has fundamentally changed the business landscape, leading to a shift in the infrastructure of fair competition. She emphasizes that the new pricing infrastructure, driven by advanced algorithms and software, has made it easier for companies to engage in price gouging and undermine a fair market.