For those just wanting a summary. Nobody is updating the price tags on the shelf. So when you get to the register, it rings up at a higher price. And if you never look at your receipt then you’ll never know you over paid.
It a lot of states it’s easier to pay the fine than to hire someone to come regularly update the price tags. Error rates in most states are capped at 0.5% to 2%. However, in the example store they talk about in the story, the error rate was 23%. Which is wild. But given that the fine is just $5,000 per inspection, they’re likely making more money in the long run.
in my state if it rings up higher you get one item free up to $20. for each diff item. during covid when TP was restocked I got a TON free because they kept stuffing the overstock onto the shelves without paying attention.
What if I told you all stores overcharge for their products?
This is for incorrect sticker prices.
true, but some are much worse than others
The article essentially says the reason is that price tags aren’t being updated to reflect the prices in the computer system. I’d be interested to see if any items ring up cheaper at the register, or if the error is always coincidentally in favor of the store.
Which is against the law you are legally entitled to the lowest advertised price. If it’s lower on the self then it rings you are as theconsumer Entitled to the lowest of the prices.
The rare occasion I’ve even noticed this, the difference is usually under a dollar. Probably intentionally, so it’s less likely to be noticed. In practice it doesn’t mean much for someone purchasing fewer higher ticket items.
In a dollar shop though, that’s inverted. The fifty cent difference between tag and register adds up a lot faster for many low priced products. Just like grocery shopping, it’s easy to overlook an extra dollar or so here and there, but on products that are only a dollar or so, suddenly you’re spending significantly more.
Soon enough, when every price label is digitized and controlled by a automated machine that guesses customer income by scraping our purchase history, this problem will be even worse.
this aint news
