How to Ensure You Pay the Price You See on the Shelf

With historic rises in food prices this year, at least one North Texan is paying close attention to the prices of her groceries at the register.

Read on for expert advice to help ensure you’re not overcharged.

CUSTOMER SPOT CHECK

On a recent trip to the store, Susan Alterman said she kept a close eye on prices she read on the shelf.

“I just decided I would spot check some prices on things that I bought,” said Alterman.

She reached out to NBC 5 Responds with what she found.

Alterman snapped photos of the shelf prices on a couple of bags of chips at $3.24 and 3.26 each. She said each rang up for $3.68 at the register. Alterman took a photo of the $2.98 shelf price for loaf of bread. Alterman said it scanned for $3.24 at the checkout counter.

Alterman said she pointed out the discrepancy to an associate who made a price adjustment so Alterman paid the lower price. The experience, she said, added up to a lesson in paying attention at the checkout.

“These prices I caught were just one percent. Forty cents here, 40 cents there, but where does it stop?” asked Alterman.

ADDRESSING OVERCHARGES

“I definitely don't believe this is a deliberate act. Is it negligence? Probably, yes,” said Edgar Dworsky, founder of ConsumerWorld.org.

Dworsky, also a former Massachusetts state assistant attorney general, said overcharges aren’t new.

“I wrote the item pricing law in our state that gives consumers the free item, and that was back in 1987,” said Dworsky. “When I say overcharging has been going on for decades, it really has.”

But, as inflation squeezes budgets, you may notice the difference.

Walmart, the store where Alterman shopped, told NBC 5 Responds, in part, it’s committed to selling products at the price shoppers see on shelves. It also said it’s testing an enhanced electronic shelf labeling initiative and improved handheld app capabilities to help associates with price confirmation and adjustment when needed.

“We also encourage customers to bring pricing inaccuracies to our associates’ attention, and we will happily address the matter,” Walmart wrote in an email to NBC 5.

Dworsky said digital signs can help with consistency, but customers should ensure the signs reflect sales that brought them into the store.

“The data is fed both to the cash register and to the shelf side from the same database. So, if someone didn't put this week's sale into the computer properly, it's going to be wrong in both places,” explained Dworsky.

In Texas, the Department of Agriculture enforces rules about weights and measure, which includes overcharges.

Commissioner Sid Miller said around 300 inspectors visit grocery stores in the state: either responding to consumer complaints or checking store scales and price scanners.

“Most of the time, it is a clerical error,” said Miller. “Even if it's a buy one, get one free, the clerk put it out on the shelf, put up the sign and somehow communication didn't get to the cash register.”

Miller said stores could face a civil penalty of up to $500 dollars for each violation and each day the violation continues can be considered a separate violation.

Statewide, the agriculture department said it’s responded to three complaints about misrepresentation of price, a term that includes discrepancies in prices on the shelf or advertised prices, since September 1. Of the three complaints, one lead to enforcement action.

It logged 22 complaint inspections fiscal year 2022. Thirteen of them lead to enforcement. The state noted two complaint inspections in fiscal year 2021 with one leading to enforcement.

Dworsky said consumers may consider self-checkout to help catch errors and alert the store if there’s a discrepancy so you pay the lower price.

“Consumers just really have to be alert. Don't assume the price you're getting charged is the right price,” said Dworsky.

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