Strengthening identification is a non-starter until the US has something similar to the GDPR, and the surveillance industry has been massively reigned in. Right now it's a feature that the average person balks when asked for personal identifiers like social security number, otherwise things like grocery store discount cards would insist on positive identification. If we had a universal smartcard for ID, imagine having to swipe it for every single fucking transaction.
Apropos of nothing, but I really wish grocery store discount cards were illegal, even though taking a usually anti-government / authority stance I find it really hard to justify as a law. It's completely ridiculous how every major grocery chain cranks their prices up 20-30% unless you opt into their surveillance.
I totally agree on the annoyance and also where you're coming from. Although I'd probably focus more on requiring sale and other product prices to be published online in a semantic format. Ultimately this sale game is an attempt to frustrate the market and create inefficiency.
The wider surveillance issue should be addressed with a GDPR equivalent. What bona fide use do they have for knowing my identity and analyzing my individual purchases? None!
FWIW you can usually get the sale prices by asking the cashier to swipe the "store card" or periodically getting a new nym.
