The Hidden Fee in Your Grocery Bill Has a Secret Name, and It’s ‘Dolphin’
Credit card companies are quietly calling a new transaction surcharge after the ocean’s smartest scammer—and it could be costing you up to $15 extra every time you buy bread. Starting next month, over 40 major U.S. retailers will test a “dolphin dynamic pricing” model, where prices on staple items like milk, eggs, and toilet paper spike by exactly 11.4% between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., the exact hours most working families shop. Why the nickname? One leaked internal memo compared the pricing engine to a dolphin that “surfs the wave of demand without anyone noticing.” Your wallet just lost its life vest.