Canadians get item free (up to $10 CDN) if mis-scanned

[jake75]

How to reduce your cost of living.Check the Price! You may get more than you bargained for!November 28, 2005 -- Attention holiday shoppers. Pay close attention when your purchases are being scanned at the check-out. If the scanned item is higher than the shelf price, you can get it for free, up to a $10 maximum. This is one of the key features of the Scanner Price Accuracy Voluntary Code, which is endorsed by the Competition Bureau. Over 5,000 retailers across Canada are Voluntary Code participants.The Code applies to participating retailers across Canada, except in Quebec, where a similar policy exists under the Consumer Protection Act and is enforced by the Office de la protection du consommateur. The Code evolved from the collaborative efforts of the Competition Bureau and the Scanner Code Committee, which is comprised of the Retail Council of Canada, the Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores, the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, and the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors. It was implemented in 2002, and applies to all scanned Universal Product Code (UPC) and Price Look Up (PLU) merchandise sold in participating stores -- with the exception of price-ticketed items and goods such as prescription drugs, which are not easily accessible to the public. Did you know that...you can receive immediate refunds on incorrectly priced items from cashiers? all participating stores are required to display signs at cash registers and at entrances? if you are not satisfied, you may register a complaint with the Scanner Price Accuracy Committee by calling 1-866-499-4599?The Competition Bureau as well as the Consumers Council of Canada works with the Committee to ensure that consumers benefit from and are knowledgeable about the Code. Scanner price accuracy is an important criterion for maintaining consumer confidence.For more information about the Code or to obtain a copy, visit any of the following Web sites:Competition Bureau http://www.competitionbureau.gc.caRetail Council of Canada http://www.retailcouncil.orgCanadian Association of Chain Drug Stores http://www.cacds.comCanadian Federation of Independent Grocers http://www.cfig.caCanadian Council of Grocery Distributors http://www.ccgd.ca Consumers Council of Canada http://www.consumerscouncil.com The Competition Bureau is an independent law enforcement agency that promotes and maintains fair competition so that all Canadians can benefit from competitive prices, product choice and quality service. It oversees the application of the Competition Act, the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, the Textile Labelling Act and the Precious Metals Marking Act.For general enquiries, please contact:Information CentreCompetition Bureau1-800-348-5358

[Mavrik]

Wal-Mart canada has been like that for a while, at least when I worked there. We had to watch people trying to change price lables or say they found the item on a shelf with a different price tag... bunch of free loaders lol.

[Kari]

Wal-mart here is like that as well--if the price isn't right, it's free if it's less than $5, or you get $5 off, or something like that.

[IMakeVibes]

Rite on! Just make sure u pay attention at the checkstand.Albertson's does that if an item scans for more than the shelf price, but I think thats just here in California.I was on the other side of that for a while. I worked for Albertson's (formerly Lucky) and I was in charge of all the pricing in my store. Price mis-matching can happen for many reasons. Usually, the price it scans for is the correct price and it just didn't get changed on the shelf or display, but not always.

[jake75]

But to get it free I bet you have to ask for it - if you just say "that's the wrong price" they probably just say sorry and rering at the right price. Wal-Mart recently got some bad press in the US on prices ringing up wrong but there were more items that rang up under the right price than over. I don't think any retailer would deliberately do that because it's too easy to get caught. The "thumb" on the scale is less obvious.

[IMakeVibes]

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »But to get it free I bet you have to ask for it - if you just say "that's the wrong price" they probably just say sorry and rering at the right price. Wal-Mart recently got some bad press in the US on prices ringing up wrong but there were more items that rang up under the right price than over. I don't think any retailer would deliberately do that because it's too easy to get caught. The "thumb" on the scale is less obvious. Usually that is the case jake75, if you want it for free, you have to ask. And here in California, it doesn't apply to liquor, dairy or tobacco products (you get it at the lower price, but not for free).And no, the retailers don't do it on purpose, atleast not the large chains. But there are literally hundreds and maybe even thousands of price changes every week (prices go up, prices go down, things go on sale, things come off sale, things stay on sale but the sale price changes, new items come in, items are discontinued, etc.). Usually most of the prices are done at corporate level and sent to the stores alone with shelf tags and display signs. Well, sometimes people inputting the prices make mistakes. A lot of times those errors aren't caught until it is caught at the register. There are many reasons that prices on the shelf and the register don't match. I'm not sticking up for any of these companies, but, having done that job for a few years, I can appreciate just how difficult it is to have the prices at the register and the prices on the shelf match.I would always cringe when there was a rumor that the Department of Weights and Measures was coming around doing scan checks. Fortunately that never happened in my store. Depending on how bad the errors are, they have been know to fine the company pretty heavily and in the worst cases, take them to court.