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Seattle City Council voted 7-2 on Sept. 22, 2026, to ban large grocery chains from using shoppers’ personal data to set individualized prices, making the city the first in the country to pass a comprehensive ban on algorithmic grocery pricing. The measure, Council Bill 121267, now heads to Mayor Katie Wilson, who proposed it, for her signature.
What the ordinance actually bans
The Fair Pricing and Transparency Ordinance prohibits grocery retailers with 20 or more locations worldwide — a threshold that pulls in chains like Kroger-owned QFC and Fred Meyer, along with Safeway and Albertsons stores across King County — from using data such as a customer’s race, gender, location, employment status, web-browsing history, social media activity or chatbot conversations to set what that individual pays for the same product. It also covers third-party delivery platforms like Instacart and mixed-use retailers such as Target.
The bill exempts independent grocers below the 20-location threshold, including Seattle-based PCC Community Markets, which operates 16 stores. Traditional discount categories — senior, veteran and student discounts, and standard loyalty-card pricing — remain legal under the ordinance. Retailers will also be required to disclose the criteria behind any discounted prices and to clearly display prices in stores.
The 7-2 vote
The bill was sponsored by Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck and co-sponsored by Councilmembers Dionne Foster and Rob Saka, built on a proposal from Mayor Wilson. Councilmembers Bob Kettle and Sara Rivera cast the two “no” votes. Kettle introduced several amendments to narrow the bill’s scope; all were rejected except one requiring the city to compile annual impact reports on the ordinance’s effects.
Rivera, who represents District 4, said she supports banning algorithmic price increases but voted no because she believes the ordinance’s language could sweep up standard loyalty programs. “I support a ban on algorithmic pricing; grocery stores should not charge people based on their personal information,” Rivera said, adding that she thinks the issue would be better handled at the state level so grocers can’t simply relocate stores outside city limits.
Mayor Wilson said the vote “will make Seattle the first city in the country to take on algorithmic price discrimination for groceries.”
What grocers say
The Northwest Grocery Retail Association pushed back on the bill’s scope before the vote. “If a retailer uses your personal information to charge you a higher price, that should be illegal, full stop,” said Amanda Dalton, the association’s president and CEO. But she argued the ordinance conflates raising prices with lowering them through loyalty discounts and coupons: “Should information about what you buy also be prohibited from being used to help you save money?” Dalton said the law’s line between banned price discrimination and permitted loyalty pricing needs more clarity before retailers can comply with confidence.
No grocery chain named in the ordinance’s scope — Kroger, Albertsons/Safeway or Target — issued its own public statement on the vote as of publication.
Who backed it
UFCW 3000, the union representing grocery workers across the Puget Sound region, and MLK Labor both backed the ordinance, along with Consumer Reports and the digital-rights group TechEquity Action. “Passing the strongest ban on AI-powered price-gouging on groceries feels historic,” said Kristen Wilder, a grocery worker who testified for the bill. Grace Gedye of Consumer Reports framed the core issue for shoppers: “The price you see shouldn’t be different based on who you are.”
Consumer Reports research cited during the council debate found algorithmic pricing experiments have driven price increases as high as 23% on some products when retailers factor in personal shopping data, a gap researchers estimated could cost a family roughly $1,200 a year. Reporting on the bill also cited a case in which a Kroger customer’s data profile ran 62 pages.
What happens next, and what it means at checkout
The ordinance does not take effect immediately — it moves next to Mayor Wilson’s desk for signature, and the city has not yet published a specific enforcement start date. Once in effect, the city can pursue enforcement against violating retailers, and the ordinance also creates a private right of action, meaning King County shoppers who believe they were charged a personalized, data-driven price could sue directly.
For now, shoppers at Seattle-area QFC, Fred Meyer, Safeway and Albertsons locations will not see an immediate change at the register. The practical test will come once the mayor signs the bill and the city sets rules for how retailers must document and disclose their pricing criteria — the detail Dalton and the grocery industry say remains unresolved.
