Yes, it is. And I’m fairly sure they are by law required to set that price and adhere to it. They can’t say it’s one price on the package, and then a different, higher one at the point-of-sale.
A retailer can change the price as often as they want. But the labelled/advertised price is, I’m 99% sure, the one they are required by law to charge at the point-of-sale.
If the price charged at the register is more than the advertised price, I’d call that a blatant example of overcharging and there’s no gray area.
If the only price visible to the customer is the one on the package, and there is none other nearby on a sticker or poster, I’d say that’s false advertising. It’s up to the OP to tell us if he overlooked something on the shelf.
They’re not saying it’s any price. The price pre-printed on these packages was the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price. Meaning that it’s a price that the manufacturer is suggesting the retail stores sell the item for. The store then decides “should we sell it for MSRP, higher, or lower?” and prices the item accordingly.
Once the store posts their retail price, then yes, they should honor it. The OP made no mention of whether the store displayed its price alongside the item; though, in my experience, CVS is nothing if not over-labeled. Or is that Rite Aid? One of them has giant flashy yellow price tags everywhere.
I’d agree. Except, in this case, we have no idea whether the retailer posted an advertised price or not. The only thing we know is that the OP was assuming that the MSRP was the retail price; it turned out to be 4 cents higher.
And, so far, no one is disagreeing with the notion that a retailer should honor their advertised prices.
I expect a store to clearly set out the price of a product on the shelf, and use that price at the checkout. Where I am, to advertise one price but charge another higher price is misrepresentation, and is a porvincial offence: Ontario Consumer Protection Act s. 14 (2) (11). Since we have that law, when discrepancies occur, the clerk simply charges the posted amount and makes a note of the need to change the advertised price.
It seems odd to me that a store would rather piss off a customer over a few cents than simply swallow the loss until the product can be re-priced by the store.
I don’t know, Q. Seems to me, if the only price visible is the suggested price…
To my knowledge, this is the case in the US, as well. But the OP wasn’t advertised one price and charged another (that we are aware of) – the OP assumed the pre-printed MSRP was the retail price.
Who says there’s a need to re-price? It could very well be that the MSRP is 75 cents, and the store has chosen to sell them for 79 cents. It could also very well be that the store has a sign underneath the item that says “Little Debbie Apple Pies – 79 cents” and the OP just missed it or ignored it.
Why are you assuming that the only price visible is the MSRP?
So far, not even the OP is suggesting that he was overcharged, or that there was any kind of misrepresentation going on. His beef seems to be:
That stores are able to sell items at any price they wish, even if it’s more than the MSRP.
…then assumption is the mother of all fuckups?
The MSRP is not an “advertised price,” and I don’t think the OP has said that the price on the package was the only price visible to the customers. I doubt that it was.
I have a bad habit of making assumptions, I guess. You see, I assume the cashier or manager would, after making up stuff about misprints, and pointing out the fact that it is just a ‘suggested price’, would just point to the real price and say, “See? 79 cents! Haveanicedaycomeagain!”
ETA: Q.E.D, you make me sick! Laughing at myself isn’t as fun as it sounds.
It’s Not Rocket Surgery!, would you please clarify whether there was only one advertised price (that of the MSRP), or if there were two advertised prices (that of the MSRP, and also that of the retailer’s price printed/stickered on or beside the products)?
I had assumed from your OP that the only advertised price was the MSRP printed on the box, and that the higher price was never posted/advertised on or beside the products. Please tell me if I was mistaken.
Maybe she would have if the OP hadn’t stormed off in a petty huff before she got the chance.
Agreed. I took from the context of the OP’s post that it was, though. I fully acknowledge that it may very well not have been.
I don’t suggest that the law where you are is the same as the law where I am. Where I am, the price on the product is the advertised price, regardless of whether the manufacturer or the retailer put it there.
That’s why where I live, for example, where books routinely come with MSRPs on them, the bookstores must re-price by crossing out or covering over the MSRP on each and every book if they wish to advertise a price different than that advertised on the books by the manufacturers.
Advertise may have been the wrong choice of words there. “Listed,” perhaps?
Basically, if a customer is looking at an itenm on a store shelf, deciding whether or not to buy it, and the only visible price is the MSRP listed on the product itself, the retailer, I think, may be required by law to sell at that price.
Somethings, I think, mitigate against this, like if the shelf label had merely fallen off and was laying on the floor. Or if the stocker had missed that one item with the price label gun (which many retailer still use), or if it is an obvious case of misprint, like a car with an MSRP of $29,000 being listed as $29.00.
I’m not sure CVS can call “misprint” on .75 when it retails at .79.
I think that, regardless of the situation, the “misprint” exchange was an example of a CSE (a “Customer Service Excuse”). Not at all uncommon, these are things that the cashier will make up on the spot that sound right, just to get you to stop asking questions.
There was a grocery store in London, Ontario, that routinely did this sort of thing. Of course when there were differences between the advertised/listed/shelf price and the till price, the till price was always higher. After half a dozen instances of this, I reported them to the Consumer Protection section of our Ontario Ministry of Government Services. I expect something must have been done, for that was the last time I came across such a problem at that store.
Dio, I know you hate where I work (think WM*) but heck yeah, the clerk has the power to change the price, esp when one is marked & it’s just a few cents difference. I won’t say what the limits of our discretion is, tho.
One of the greeters at my local WM is an annoying little shit. Do the clerk’s there have the power to price sticker his forehead?
shhhhhh yes, we do, but don’t let it get out.