Watching the Scanner

By dolphinpod (Guest Post)

My job is pricing at a major grocery retailer. Often it is not "computer error". Computers update the prices at set times and it is the job of an individual to manually change the stickers/ labels/ signs etc. Usually they are preprinted and delivered to the store in advance or printed on demand. In a grocery store 100's of prices change in a single day. If a tag/sign/ or sticker is missed it is Human error, not computer error.

By Lee (Guest Post)

At Asda (UK branch of wallmart) if they scan something wrong, they refund the item, give you the item free and a £2 gift voucher. needless to say we shop there a lot, usually very early of late night when the cashiers are more likely to make mistakes

By Guest (Guest Post)

Is there any such law in the Pennsylvania state that the wrongly scanned food items should be given Free? If so, how to obtain a copy of it.

By

dustyrose

If your items scan the wrong price at Publix ( I only buy the stuff on sale that week there) and you catch it, they will give you one of the item for free. (Then you have the option to either wait for the correct prices to be hand entered on others of the same or putting the same ones back).

When I was a cashier back in 2001 for them, I'm in such a habit of watching my groceries being scanned that I would watch the prices of the items my customers were getting charged and if it was wrong I would do the Publix Promise! Several customers thanked me.

By

valleyrimgirl

I have made it a regular thing to review my grocery receipt before I leave any store. It is much easier to go to the customer service desk with the item in hand now than once you get home. I have been in stores here in Canada where they just gave me the difference back as to how much they owed me but also have been in a store where the item was totally free because the item did not scan the same as the price on the store shelf. Please check your receipts, too!

By (Guest Post)

When you see a wrong price, please don't blame the cashier. I have been a cashier and CSR for several years and we do not have anything to do with the pricing. We don't even know about it until a customer points it out. So please, be polite when letting us know.

By (Guest Post)

I don't know about other areas, but in Michigan it is a law that if the scanners are wrong, you have 30 days to take the item back and they have to give you 10 times the amount (that it is wrong) back, up to $5.00 (plus you keep the item). It would be worth checking out the scanner laws in your state and yes, a lot of times, you need to point this out to them as they don't offer this info.

By syd (Guest Post)

Items FREE up to $3.00 on computer errors.

Usually, when the computer scans a wrong price, if you ask, "do I get it FREE since it was a computer error", they give it to you FREE up to $3.00 value.

If you don't ask, they will not tell you!

The stores that honored this are Wal-Mart, Safeway, Giant Food, K-Mart (not sure if they still do with their problems) ... Food Lion corrected the price and gave me an extra box of cereal FREE.


It pays to speak up.