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Michigan elected a new governor whose term began this month, in his State of the State speech last week, he proposed ending the law here that requires item pricing (individual items for sale must have a price tag attached) and that way, the prices would be only visible on the shelf or display, meaning when we got to the checkouts we would be at the mercy of the scanners to ring up the "correct price"....

He says Michigan is one of only two states, the other being Massuchusetts (and food items only there) that currently use item pricing. That was really a surprise to me, as I have traveled to other states and purchased items there off the shelves and if I remember correctly individual items in many places WERE marked with price tags.

Anyhow, our new leader here (Snyder) say that by ending the laws requiring item pricing, stores will have lower labor costs, and pass the savings onto the consumers. I say BULL ROAR, without price tags on items how will the consumer know if they are being overcharged at the checkouts? When you buy a cart full of groceries, how the heck are you going to remember the shelf price of that 77 cent can of tomato soup you have under the other stuff in your cart? When it rings up $1.19 at the scanner, how are you going to know you are being overcharged?

The scanner law here says if you are overcharged for an item--I will use that can of soup for an example--if the price tag says 77 cents and the scanner charges you the $1.19, you are entitled to what is called a "Michigan Bounty", which is the overcharge refunded, plus ten times the overcharge (in this case 42 cents or $4.20) plus and additional sales tax charged on the 42 cents difference. The maximum that can be refunded under the 10X law is $5.00. Michigan does not charge sales tax on food items, meaning that incorrect price charged on the can of soup would cost the store $4.66 which I would be paid. I will relate my experience at a K-mart store that happened one time if this thread generates any interest.

Scanner errors are usually in favor of the seller and not the consumer...now, if they take away the item pricing laws here how are customers going to know if they are being ripped off or not? I cannot fathom why 48 other states have eliminated item pricing laws...and what I really want to know is, how much money in labor costs are the stores going to save using the changed laws, and how much of it is going to be passed on to the consumers? Is it going to be enough to compensate me for the times the scanner overcharges me at the checkout counter?

I DOUBT IT. :frown: :thumbdown:

Please post your thoughts and or experiences. Thanks.

I personally would have them check the prices before I purchased it and keep the line occupied for a long time.:laughing: Seriously though I can't imagine why a government official would be trying to cut back labor hours when so many need the work.

Jd,doesn't WALMART and maybe a few others have this "price checker" machine located throughout the store?I've never used it but have seen others.Unfortunately Kansas has a sales tax on food which is sad because it hurts low and fixed income folks. russ

There will be a significant cost associated with requiring item pricing and that cost will necessarily be shifted, to a large extent, to consumers.

If there's no requirement to post prices on each item, stores can still elect to do it that way. Consumers would be free to choose to shop at stores that post prices on each item -- and if enough of them demanded it, some stores would accommodate them.

I wonder if there has been a study of the old Michigan law -- how did it influence consumer prices and the willingness of business to locate in the state (affecting consumer choice)?

I find it annoying when I can't figure out the price of something but I believe that errors at checkout are rare.

Pricing scan errors are extremely rare...
If there is a discrepancy, I am fairly sure the merchant is not doing it deliberately...
The need to price every item (and then change the price on every item) is not reasonable. If you don't believe it go into your walmart around 2:00 AM when they are restocking, it is very congested, and busy... If they had to mark, or remove & remark, each item... It would be beyond congested, They would need to shut down to restock and reprice. Go in some time, no one is wasting time... everyone is going full tilt and it stays that way through the stockers complete shift.
If they needed more people, there is hardly space for the people and pallet loads that they are dealing with now... If they shut down, that is very inconvenient for those that shop AFTER midnight... and costs have to be passed on as a price increase, stores main cash source is from sales.

With a BOUNTY being paid for a pricing error... I know I could keep track of all the pricing in my cart... even if it meant me noting the price myself... heck if they are going to pay me 10 times the error if I can find it ... I'm suddenly paying more attention... as I bet they are... :smile:KennyV

Hi

I disagree that there is not pricing scan errors every time we go to the grocery store there dam computer scanner is off on a item or two. I don't know if its the person that put the price in the computer or what but it's alwalys off, then if you say something the clerk checking you out looks at you like you cheap stake just pay the price because i don't want to have to over work my brain to change it usually school kids We have to watch them like a clock, this is smaller business local and a bigger grocery store in Sioux Falls SD. I think they do just to make a little more profit on sales

I'm not sure when the law changed here. In fact, in my mind, I guess I've even forgotten it used to be different, but now that you mention it, it's usually when things are on special and placed off the shelves that we get prices on them. We just look at the plastic tag that is affixed to the shelves. It names the product and the price.

KennyV said:

Pricing scan errors are extremely rare...
If there is a discrepancy, I am fairly sure the merchant is not doing it deliberately...
The need to price every item (and then change the price on every item) is not reasonable. If you don't believe it go into your walmart around 2:00 AM when they are restocking, it is very congested, and busy... If they had to mark, or remove & remark, each item... It would be beyond congested, They would need to shut down to restock and reprice. Go in some time, no one is wasting time... everyone is going full tilt and it stays that way through the stockers complete shift.
If they needed more people, there is hardly space for the people and pallet loads that they are dealing with now... If they shut down, that is very inconvenient for those that shop AFTER midnight... and costs have to be passed on as a price increase, stores main cash source is from sales.

With a BOUNTY being paid for a pricing error... I know I could keep track of all the pricing in my cart... even if it meant me noting the price myself... heck if they are going to pay me 10 times the error if I can find it ... I'm suddenly paying more attention... as I bet they are... :smile:KennyV

Click to expand...

Kenny, pricing errors do happen and they are usually in favor of the seller...just read an article in todays newspaper that says a recent study determined that the cost of item pricing in Michigan adds 2.2 billion dollars a year to the retail business. Oh wow, I wonder about that, our new governor is a former businessman and he has a lot of cronies in the retail business who are pushing to eliminate item pricing. Yeah, and who thinks the stores will put the staff who no longer have to mark prices to work elsewhere, FAT CHANCE, they will just eliminate more jobs.

And if you are hoping to get a bonus for finding incorrectly scanned items in your cart, what recourse do you have when the scanner says 89 cents when you clearly remember the shelf tag saying 79 cents? With no price marking on the item, your only solution is to have the store employee go back to the shelf and look at the price there. And what happens when you pick up an item that is on the wrong shelf because it's almost identical to the items that belong there...like having a 28 ounce can of sauce placed with the 15 ounce cans, the labels look the same...are you going to notice? I sure wouldn't most times.

Eliminating item pricing is a stupid idea, the 2.2 billion $$ the retailers save will go right into the pockets of the CEO's and shareholders, no way will they lower prices for the consumers.

Here in NY there is no bounty, but every store will give you the item for the shelf price. and some will pay you double the difference. This Christmas one store had mis-shelved a number of similar items, hanging products under signs with the wrong prices. You could not tell by reading the shelf tag that it was the wrong item - you had to turn it over and look at the UPC code. When we pointed out the error, they gave it to us for the shelf price. (Then they went back and restocked everything under the proper price tags!)

As for watching the price of each can of soup, when you purchase the same items week after week (like groceries) you get to know the prices, and will notice when something is not right.

I never buy the same groceries from week to week, my shopping list may have one item on it out of 35 to 50 on the list (like 2 percent milk) that is an item I always buy. But the item pricing law goes far beyond groceries, I buy hardware and tools, my wife buys craft supplies and shoes. Without a price tag on items there is no way to keep track of the price. Here is a laugh about item pricing: About ten years ago I went to the local Kmart to buy a case of 12 quarts of Mobil oil. It was on sale, the scanner overcharged me. I went to the service counter and they gave me a hard time about the refund and the $5 bounty I was owed. Well they ticked me off, I took the oil to my car and went in and purchased another case, went thru the same headache at the customer service counter and got my $5 bounty again, took the oil out and went back in and repeated the experience, this time the store manager showed up, she said are you trying to defraud us by doing this, I said no I think you are trying to defraud your customers by overcharging them this way. Well her face turned beet red and she slammed my $5 on the counter and said "very funny" and I took the oil to my car and WENT BACK IN and a crew was pulling the oil cases off the shelves. I went back to the counter and asked can I get a raincheck for that oil it looks like you are sold out. If looks could kill I would have been dead and buried.

I'm surprised to see some people saying they don't here about scanners making mistakes. I hear about
it a lot. I think you should always be alert. It seems when I let down my guard I pay for it. I've also notice
incompetence at all levels anymore so you really got to be checking things more closely more than ever.

As for pricing I don't buy a whole lot at one time so as not to be able to keep track. But I think everything
should have a price on them....cubby