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Ask anyone who works a retail customer service counter in Michigan, and they can tell you a horror story about Michigan's scanner law.
Basically the law is for people who don't trust UPC code scanners. It's meant to prevent supermarkets from reaping enormous profits by scanning cans of corn at 39 cents when they're supposed to be 35 cents.
The jist of the law is that if a customer finds a product that scans at a higher price than it's supposed to, they may demand a payoff from the retailer. The amount of the payoff is ten times the difference in prices. If something's supposed to scan at 2.50 and it scans at 3.00, the customer gets $5.00. The law limits the award to a minimum of $1 and a maximum of $5. The retailer is not required by law to pay, but they can pay to avoid further legal action.
So that the customer can tell whether they're being ripped off by a scanner, every item in the store must be marked with the correct price. Every can of corn, every music CD. (There are a few exceptions built in, and items that go on sale are exempt: they don't have to be marked down and marked up again at the end of the sale). The state Attorney General's office audits stores, especially around Holiday season and especially in election years, and stores that are found to be out of compliance are heavily fined. Of course, most of the violations are just ticketing errors, since in most stores all the pricing has to be done by hand, by imperfect humans.
When I was a Merchandising supervisor, I dreaded price increases on batteries. We have literally thousands of battery packages in the store, and if the price goes up, every last one has to be hunted down, the old price blacked out and a new price attached. Of course, when the Attorneys General brags about how their office is protecting customers, they don't mention the higher prices that must be charged to cover the labor of ticketing all those items.
Customers are well-versed on those parts of the law that result in them getting free money. Most are not so aware of the $5 limit, so you get lots of SCs looking for huge handouts from a big mis-mark. My favorite was a customer who came to me and showed me a product that was marked at $6.99, when the actual price was $4.99. I explained that the scanner law didn't apply since he wasn't being overcharged. I thought I was getting through, but when I finished he just gave me a scowl and said, "So you mean I'm not going to get anything from this?"
Basically the law is for people who don't trust UPC code scanners. It's meant to prevent supermarkets from reaping enormous profits by scanning cans of corn at 39 cents when they're supposed to be 35 cents.
The jist of the law is that if a customer finds a product that scans at a higher price than it's supposed to, they may demand a payoff from the retailer. The amount of the payoff is ten times the difference in prices. If something's supposed to scan at 2.50 and it scans at 3.00, the customer gets $5.00. The law limits the award to a minimum of $1 and a maximum of $5. The retailer is not required by law to pay, but they can pay to avoid further legal action.
So that the customer can tell whether they're being ripped off by a scanner, every item in the store must be marked with the correct price. Every can of corn, every music CD. (There are a few exceptions built in, and items that go on sale are exempt: they don't have to be marked down and marked up again at the end of the sale). The state Attorney General's office audits stores, especially around Holiday season and especially in election years, and stores that are found to be out of compliance are heavily fined. Of course, most of the violations are just ticketing errors, since in most stores all the pricing has to be done by hand, by imperfect humans.
When I was a Merchandising supervisor, I dreaded price increases on batteries. We have literally thousands of battery packages in the store, and if the price goes up, every last one has to be hunted down, the old price blacked out and a new price attached. Of course, when the Attorneys General brags about how their office is protecting customers, they don't mention the higher prices that must be charged to cover the labor of ticketing all those items.
Customers are well-versed on those parts of the law that result in them getting free money. Most are not so aware of the $5 limit, so you get lots of SCs looking for huge handouts from a big mis-mark. My favorite was a customer who came to me and showed me a product that was marked at $6.99, when the actual price was $4.99. I explained that the scanner law didn't apply since he wasn't being overcharged. I thought I was getting through, but when I finished he just gave me a scowl and said, "So you mean I'm not going to get anything from this?"
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