[ghufran_syed]

You’re assuming the price goes up as you approach, but it could equally go down - the whole point of “coupons” is to charge people more if they value time higher than money, and lower prices to those who value money more than time (usually lower income people). All other things being equal, a store would like more money, but raising prices reduces amount sold after the store already bought it and paid for it to be displayed, increasing the chance it is eventually wasted. You might find that stores regularly lower prices significantly towards the end of the day, or just for poorer customers, in order to reduce wastage. For those calling for regulation, the assumption is always that our analysis is so complete and obviously correct that regulation is justified - is there a reason we couldn’t actually wait and see if there are problems before trying to “solve” them?

[stuaxo]

We shouldn't wait and see because it is clearly going to cause issues for the people who are already in a precarious state.

Stores already regularly lower prices at the end of the day without this.