Price Tags: Antiquated Or Consumer Friendly?

Interlochen Public Radio | By Linda Stephan

Published March 11, 2011 at 12:00 AM EST

<a href="mailto:rickp@mprn.org">By Rick Pluta</a> Michigan's retail pricing law requires individual price tags on everything from canned food to lumber. Now, the state is poised to repeal it. The law was passed 30 years ago to try to protect consumers from being overcharged in checkout lines. Retailers have been trying to get rid of it ever since. Michigan's item pricing law was enacted in the 1970s just as electronic scanners were becoming commonplace. No other state has a law this expansive. Massachusetts requires item pricing for groceries. Consumers like this law, and it was once-considered untouchable. But now with a new Republican governor and emboldened G.O.P. majorities in the Legislature, Michigan is on the verge of repealing it. Comparing Tags Against Receipts Retired construction supervisor John McKenzie isn't happy about that. He says price tags ensure that he knows the cost of something before he buys it, and that he's being charged the correct price in the checkout line. McKenzie says he also double checks the price against his store receipt when he gets home. "If you don't have that price tag on there, how do you know what that item was priced at back at the store? I mean, we've all picked an item off the shelf and when we get up there the item rings up differently," he says. Michigan's pricing law allows consumers who find a mistake to collect a bounty of up to five dollars per error. Retailers also face fines for not putting price tags on items. Five years ago, Wal-Mart paid a record fine of $1.5 million dollars here. A Pricey Fuss For Business Big retailers say the law is expensive for stores and for shoppers, although no one can say how much consumers might save if the law is repealed. Smaller stores say it fails to take their needs into account. As Musician Mike Daniels shows off a guitar on the showroom floor of Marshall Music, owner Dan Marshall says his store complies with the law - mostly. There are some things, small or thin items like woodwind reeds, guitar picks, and drumsticks, that it makes no sense to price individually. "We've got an entire display of drumsticks and in each bin, the price is clearly marked, but on each individual stick, they're not." Marshall says, in some cases, labels would cover up package information that customers care about. "Truth be known, practicality trumps law in some cases, and we're in violation of the item pricing. Not maliciously, simply because it's so impractical and unnecessary," he says. Marshall's not alone. In Michigan, the price tag law may be the most widely ignored law since the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit. Mistakes Rare Retailers say scanner technology has improved since the law was enacted in the 1970s and mistakes are rare. At Kroger, a supermarket chain that was cited in 2009 for violating the item pricing law, it's time to go shopping. "Welcome, valued customer..." I have a store discount card, and the scanner registers the savings automatically. At home I check my receipt against the prices. Six eggs for a $1.29. They scanned at $1.29. Clementine oranges. No price. I noticed at the store they were $3.99 and that is what they scanned at." Out of 10 items checked, each scanned correctly, or at a discount. The Right To Compare Retailers think they've made their sale to the state's political leaders that's it's time to close the books on Michigan's one-of-a-kind price tag law. But, John McKenzie says I'd have no way of knowing I got the right price without price tags to check against the receipt. "There's no technology available today that can do everything that simple, inexpensive price tag can do," he says. Polls suggest about half of Michigan voters agree with McKenzie. But they'll have no recourse if they want to go to the ballot to change the law. The measure before the Legislature has a provision that makes it immune to voter rejection by referendum.