And it's a term that Betty Lin-Fisher doesn't use in her reporting.
Definition: Wall Street Prep
Headline: USA Today, 12/10/2025
Instacart has "turned the simple act of buying groceries into a high-tech game of pricing roulette. When the same box of Wheat Thins can jump 23% in price because of an algorithm, that’s not innovation or convenience, it’s unfair," Owens said in a press release. "Americans shopping for groceries aren’t guinea pigs and shouldn't have to pay an Instacart tax." A new investigation by a group of consumer groups finds that Instacart is experimenting with prices, with some prices coming in 23% higher at the same store, same time and item.
Investigation found 74% of grocery prices were different
Groundwork Collaborative, Consumer Reports and More Perfect Union conducted an independent experiment involving 437 shoppers in live tests in four cities earlier this year.
Volunteer shoppers simultaneously added 20 grocery items from a specific grocery store to their Instacart shopping carts and researchers analyzed the prices. The tests were done at Safeway and Target locations in North Canton, Ohio; Seattle; St. Paul, Minnesota, and Washington. A follow-up test also evaluated two products at other Albertsons, Costco, Kroger and Sprouts Farmer Market locations, which found similar price experimentation, but the results were not included in the study.
According to Merriam-Webster, the first known use of 'rip-off, as in rob or steal or cheat or defraud, occurred in 1966
Other coinages from the same year include:
- acidhead
- blitzed
- cold call
- granny classes
- Hare Krishna
- head shop
- hedge fund
