Are Walmart digital price tags for surge pricing? What to know in DC

Walmart has introduced digital shelf labels to thousands of its stores, and by 2027 all of its locations will use the new technology.

But what are they — and should shoppers be worried that they are tied to surge pricing?

Here's what to know for Washington DC Walmart shoppers.

What are Walmart's digital shelf labels?

Walmart said in March that 2,300 of its locations were already using DSL's, which the retailer says "are designed to help ensure accurate, consistent pricing, while helping associates save significant time by eliminating the manual task of changing prices."

Walmart said the change will allow its workers to spend more time helping customers and keeping stores organized.

"People should be ready to see the positives," Amanda Oren, the vice president of industry strategy for grocery at RELEX, told USA Today in 2025. "Based on history, it shouldn't be an issue."

Changing prices on items throughout stores often took workers days to complete, but Walmart says it can now be done in minutes digitally.

Within the next year, all of Walmart's 5,200 stores are expected to have the technology.

CNBC reported digital price tags can also be found at Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh and Kroger.

The technology has brought concern to lawmakers, including  Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and then-Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who wrote a letter in 2024 to Kroger's then-chairman Rodney McMullen.

“Digital price tags may enable Kroger and other grocery chains to transition to ‘dynamic pricing,’ in which the price of basic household goods could surge based on the time of day, the weather, or other transitory events — allowing stores to calibrate price increases to extract maximum profits,” the lawmakers warned.

Will digital labels be used for surge pricing in DC?

Walmart insists its digital shelf labels "do not interact with shoppers or collect any information about them."

The labels, including those in DC, are not currently used for dynamic pricing. Other retailers have said they do not engage in the practice either.

“The basic economics of grocery retail is that they want to acquire customers and retain customers,” Ioannis Stamatopoulos, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told CNBC. “It’s silly of them to risk upsetting you over gaining a few extra cents on an ice cream when it’s hot outside.”

Some lawmakers have taken action to help ensure there is no surge pricing.

Nearby in Maryland, legislation was passed last month that would ban stores from engaging in dynamic pricing, becoming the first state to do so.

And earlier this year, U.S. Senators from New Mexico and Oregon introduced the Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act of 2026, which would ban corporations from using new technologies to increase grocery prices.

“We must protect Americans from price gouging and from billionaire corporations abusing folks’ personal information just to charge higher prices," said Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., who co-sponsored the bill with Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M. "The Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act cracks down on this corporate greed—in the store and online—putting people over profits.”