Here is one for the consumers!

The Boston Herald ^ | Wednesday, November 20, 2002 | A Boston Herald editorial

[Radix]

Anyone who has ever gone trolling the aisles of a Home Depot on weekends in search of just the right light bulb or tub of plaster and been grateful to get it at a fair and reasonable price might see an upward climb in those prices in the days ahead.

[Radix]

Consumer zealot costs us

A Boston Herald editorial Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Anyone who has ever gone trolling the aisles of a Home Depot on weekends in search of just the right light bulb or tub of plaster and been grateful to get it at a fair and reasonable price might see an upward climb in those prices in the days ahead. And when you do, just thank Colman Herman, the consumer-oriented gadfly who just settled a class action suit against the chain for an estimated $3.8 million over the issue of item pricing. Herman didn't like the fact that unlike supermarkets, Home Depot didn't stamp a price on every one of its millions of household items, thus putting it in non-compliance with the state's item-pricing regulations.

Complying with most of those regs (OK, each and every bolt and screw won't have to be priced) will cost the chain about $20 million over the next three years, company officials estimate. Well, guess who will pick up the tab for that?

The regulations, created by the attorney general's office under the terms of the state's Consumer Protection Act, date back about 32 years - long before the advent of big-box discount stores like Home Depot or Costco. They need desperately to be updated so that stores really can maintain their bargain prices and zealots like Herman can't add to consumers' bills.

[Radix]

The price tag is bigger than the nail!

[anobjectivist]

It's ok because Home Depot is a Big mean corporation that kills children and opresses minorities.

[cmsgop]

Thanks for the Info,........I have to buy a couple of Doors tommorow.....

[Bob Buchholz]

Herman didn't like the fact that unlike supermarkets, Home Depot didn't stamp a price on every one of its millions of household items, thus putting it in non-compliance with the state's item-pricing regulations.

Sounds like Herman isn't the problem but the idiots that passed the item-pricing regulations. You can't very well reap the savings afforded to scanning and bar-coding if you still have to invest the labor in individual item pricing. Most states have long ago figured that out.

[JustAnAmerican]

Personally I do my shopping at the local Ace hardware. Even though HD's prices are lower. Mainly because Ace's supplies are about 80-90 percent American made(at least the one by me), whereas HD's are 90-99 percent Made in China and the like. So this will in no way effect me or the most of the people I know, but the sooner we pass some Tort reform the sooner this type of nonsense will stop.

[hillsborofox]

Send your "thanks" to Mr. Herman:

Colman M. Herman
Phone: 617-298-1008
1200 Adams St
Boston, MA 02124-5756

[Onelifetogive]

The regulations...need desperately to be updated...

Why does the "land of the free" need regulations concerning whether each individual item is marked? Maybe the whole idea of this kind of regulation should be rethought.

Or better yet!!! Maybe we should apply the "takings clause" of the Bill of Rights. The governmental entity that passes this crap should pay to put the prices on.

[Publius6961]

This is the latest incarnation of the sand maggots and their sympathizers as to why we should never attack any Middle East countries.

Wish I could take the time to list all the different attempts that have been made to influence Americans' attitudes towards this subject.
None have worked so far.

[gnarledmaw]

A sniveliberal beats up on a Chinese outlet warehouse...

No dog in that fight...

[JonH]

This law is costly to all the Massachusetts retailers and the consumers pay the bill. There is no other state that requires that the items be priced individually. At this point, I think t hat it is pretty well proven that the bar codes and scanners are more accurate than the old methods.

The law in Massachusetts was passed "to protect consumers". In reality, it was a democrat controlled legistature's gift to local labor unions. Kind of like the railroad union's "feather bedding" jobs.

[montag813]

Somene post Herman's address and phone number, along with his lawyer's, so we can "express our feelings" to them.

[supercat]

The law in Massachusetts was passed "to protect consumers". In reality, it was a democrat controlled legistature's gift to local labor unions. Kind of like the railroad union's "feather bedding" jobs.

Not sure about the Massachusetts statute, but my understanding is that some such statutes were passed to prevent shopkeepers from either having different retail prices for different classes of customers (based on racial or other criteria), or from having certain items which were "surprisingly" more expensive than others.

Since in most states having individual items price-marked was merely a means to the above ends, most state legislatures have allowed other means of allowing customers to ascertain the prices of items without need for sales assistance.

[HiTech RedNeck]

most state legislatures have allowed other means of allowing customers to ascertain the prices of items without need for sales assistance

I've noticed (in IL) more stores having these price check stations in the last few years. Only problem is you usually have to find someone who works there to tell you where they are! If I were king, I would require these to be marked with a yellow pole reaching to the ceiling.

[HiTech RedNeck]

but my understanding is that some such statutes were passed to prevent shopkeepers from either having different retail prices for different classes of customers (based on racial or other criteria), or from having certain items which were "surprisingly" more expensive than others.

Or where the shelf price doesn't match what will get rung up at the register. Bar codes are accurate alright -- they infallibly call up whatever the store's computer says, which may be out of date or sloppily entered. Shoppers with good memories not infrequently catch discrepancies between these prices and the shelf prices, and most of these are in the direction of charging too much. Shoppers with bad memories? Tough luck.

[supercat]

I've noticed (in IL) more stores having these price check stations in the last few years. Only problem is you usually have to find someone who works there to tell you where they are! If I were king, I would require these to be marked with a yellow pole reaching to the ceiling.

Actually, many stores do have them well marked, if you know at what height to look for them.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Dunno. I do know that in densely laid out stores like Menards, Wal-Mart, Dominicks, and Jewel-Osco they fade into the general busy scenery. That lump on a pole might as well be a store telephone or another display for all I can see from a distance, if I can see the lump at all. That's why I'd like to see them identified in bright color reaching to ceiling level.

[Focault's Pendulum]

If I were king, I would require these to be marked with a yellow pole reaching to the ceiling.

Boy would I like to take this statement out of context.

[HiTech RedNeck]

OK, what trap of humour have I just stumbled into?

[supercat]

That's why I'd like to see them identified in bright color reaching to ceiling level.

Once you find a price scanner, study the pole. In the stores I've been to, there's generally something on the pole (well above the scanner, and visible from all four sides) that marks that the pole has a scanner on it.

Such markings also exist for things like courtesy phones, fire extinguishers, etc.