Q: I got overcharged at a SuperTarget — the register price was higher than the shelf price — and was told the grocery store was the only place it was free when this happens. Who checks scanner accuracy and are the results public?— Hal Kelley, Highlands Ranch
A: The Colorado Department of Agriculture annually tests thousands of cash-register scanners and scales to ensure their accuracy.
They do this verification by randomly checking the prices on a sample size of 25, 50 or 100 items, depending on the size of the establishment.
The inspection information and results are available publicly via the Colorado Open Records Act. The data, however, are not on the agency’s Internet site.
A shelf price is not mandatory. Nope. While it is in other states, a shelf price in Colorado is merely a customer convenience.
However, the shelf price must reflect what is charged at the register. Otherwise it violates state law regarding price misrepresentation and a store can find itself with a $100 fine for every item — such as six boxes of the same cereal — that rings up that way.
Most times the discrepancy is simply a computer oversight or glitch, state officials say. In fact, it’s more likely a register will undercharge for an item than overcharge and that’s reflected in years of inspections.
The $100 fine is the only punishment a store can face for disparate pricing. There is no state law requiring merchants to either honor the lower of the two prices or to provide it for free — not even grocery stores.
Some stores — King Soopers is one — have a policy of not charging for an item whose scanned register price doesn’t match the one on the shelf.
So what to do if you’re overcharged? Tell the store manager and show him the discrepancy. He should honor the shelf price or face the $100 fine if you report the store to the state.
To complain about a store, contact the division of weights and measures within the state Agriculture Department.
