cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/53855582
NEW YORK – The Federal Trade Commission has sued the bargain chain Dollar General for what it characterized as “long-running deceptive pricing practices” by charging customers more once they reach the register than the prices that are displayed on shelves and in advertisements.
Twenty states joined in the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. It said that Dollar General failed to correct the issue despite what it said was “extensive corporate knowledge of the problem.”
“Dollar General has betrayed the trust of millions of American consumers and imposed significant financial harm on communities and consumers who are already struggling to make their paychecks last,” wrote Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Dollar General, based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville, did not immediately return a request for comment from The Associated Press.
you’re thinking of sales tax being added at the register. this is someone else.
Genuine question: What is the difference?
Made up numbers as an example:
Say you see something on the shelf with a $5 tag, and you know the sales tax is 10% in this area. You would calculate in your head that the price is a total of $5.50.
When you get to the register, the item rings up for $6, so with tax, you pay $6.60. This isn’t a “computer error” or a “price change they missed”, they are doing this on purpose to make money and hoping people don’t notice. If you’re only buying one item, you’ll see it easier, but if you by several items and your total is off couple dollars you might not notice…
On top of that, there’s typically one employee in the whole damn store, so if you do tell them something is wrong now you’re the Karen holding up the line over “just a dollar” while they have to go to the back of the store and verify what the shelf says.
It’s a combination of illegal business practices and social engineering done for profit by a major corporate entity, and I hope they burn for it.
Truthfully I don’t think Dollar General is doing it on purpose. I think they run their stores with such a minimal staff the price tags don’t get changed. Still their fault and still greed, but different reasons
I think that’s exactly what they want people to think so that they get away with it.
That’s a shit strategy since it’s still effectively the same crime
But it gives them plausible deniability.
“We didn’t steal all that money on purpose, we’re just so short staffed we made ‘mistakes’. We’re going to keep our millions of dollars and ‘promise’ to ‘do better’ once the government gives us a fine of a stern look and a finger waggle.”
Sales tax is expected to be added to the base price at the point of purchase, and the legislated tax rate is - ostensibly - public knowledge in whatever municipality the store is in.
If the prices on your items’ shelf tags are accurate, as is legally required, you can sum up all your items’ base prices, apply your locality’s tax rate to that subtotal, and get an accurate total before hitting the checkout.
This article is about the shelf tags or labels being out of line entirely with the base prices the register pulls out of the system, which is obviously illegal basically everywhere. You can’t display one price and surprise customers at the register with a different, higher price. This has nothing to do with sales tax added at the register and not shown on the tag.