The rent is too damn algorithmic — DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb is investigating RealPage, a company that helps landlords set rent prices, for potential antitrust violations
Attorney General Brian Schwalb is investigating RealPage, a company that helps landlords set rent prices, for potential antitrust violations.
The rent is too damn algorithmic — DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb is investigating RealPage, a company that helps landlords set rent prices, for potential antitrust violations::Attorney General Brian Schwalb is investigating RealPage, a company that helps landlords set rent prices, for potential antitrust violations.
I would much rather have to deal with digital tags then stupid paper based ones. If they were done properly it should just be a simple "update price" and it sets to both. With paper tags you have employees that don't update all locations so you get discrepancies.
And with digital tags they can update at any time, so unless you've got a video camera running to price that bread was $3.99 and not $4.99 when you picked it up off the shelf...
They commonly don't reflect the actual price at checkout. It's difficult for consumers to track and catch, and be if apathy (they didn't get around to changing the prices which are sometimes volatile) or malevolence, it's still an issue.
Is it really antitrust if the algorithm correctly concludes that you can effectively charge infinite money for basic needs like food, shelter, water, healthcare that humans need to survive?
The issue is that it sets the same prices for all its clients, so they all move in tandem. The more clients in one area using it, the stronger the profit for everyone because their prices move in lockstep. It creates the prices via its collision mechanism.
This is the same thing as those parties colluding to all raise their prices in tandem, they have just outsourced the collusion.
Yeah, competitors setting their prices collectively is classic trust. The fact that they all hire a contractor who writes software to set the price, that doesn’t change anything. This is trust and it is against current law.
Totally agree with this or at the very least penalize anything over a single rental property (in addition to their residence) so that middle class people can still benefit from this while rental corporations get penalized heavily.
I know someone who worked for them back in the day and let me tell you. Every scummy thing I read I have no proof of but from what I know of the company I believe.
Any kind of algorithm used for type of thing is going to be trying to increase rents. If enough people all use the same algorithm, price fixing is what you'll get.
It's not necessarily malicious intent, it's just the way the software works, which opens the discussion about the role of using algorithms in rent calculations in general.
Its a business model that advertises artificial price inflation for its special club of users, but it only affects the poors. This could go either way.
We should force apartments to be run as non-profits similar to utilities with strict rent price regulations. Would this discourage new housing? No, it would just shift from developers building rentals to developers building condos.