Here is one for the consumers!

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

[Focault's Pendulum]

Nah....I won't do it. Your stuff is usually intelligent and written with good intent.

However...next time...I just won't be able to pass it up.

Just sigh a breath of relief I haven't pinged some of the other "boy..I could have some fun with that one" fun loving Freepers.

I would be remiss, if I didn't warn you...that you are now on secret We can abuse this one without retribution ping list.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Whatever. I don't want to have to be a retail-layout maven in order to find one of the stupid customer price scanners. I want the same thing in Wal-Mart that I get in Walgreens. The same thing in Menards as in Michaels.

[Willie Green]

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.

Like the chain stores keep their computers updated with the current price?

No thanks.

I absolutely HATE it when the price on the shelf says one thing, and the scanner at the check-out says something compeletely different.
(Yup! You guessed it: HIGHER at the check-out 99 times out of 100)
Then the check-out clerk has to stumble around for 10 minutes to verify the price that was back on the shelf, holding up the check-out line.

MUCH more convenient when the price is properly marked on each product.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Whatever. It does save the customer money if the store has the flexibility to put 100 items on sale for a week without having to twice re-tag 10,000 pieces of merchandise to do it. Smart carts with their own scanners, radio linked to the store's computer, would be an answer to the problem. The customer will then know how the price will ring up. In fact it might work TOO well for stores that have a "rings up right or it's free" policy... canny customers will comb the aisles looking for items that don't ring up the same as their shelf tag!

[JonH]

My understanding is that the excuse in most states was concern about the accuracy of actual prices charged. In fact, the automated price files proved more accurate than manual entry. All states except MA dropped the requirement for individual item pricing. Further, many stores have a policy that if there is a price error in the scanning process, the customer get the product free.

By the way, how would the computer know which class of customer is making the purchase that is being scanned? This is particularly true with the new scanning stations that do not require store personnel.