My Two Texas Cents Worth From Wal-Mart

My one reader, in Tyler, Texas, may remember me complaining about Wal-Mart's Thieving Milk Scam. Two weeks ago I bought a gallon at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in North Richland Hills. A huge sign spelled out $1.98 a Gallon. But the milk rang up at $2.00.

And then a week later it happened again, at my nearby Wal-Mart Supercenter. And now, this afternoon, at that same Wal-Mart, same thing.

That's today's receipt with 2 pennies on it.

So, today after I paid 2 bucks for milk that Wal-Mart had led me to believe cost $1.98, as I walked past Customer Service I saw there was no line. Okay, it's worth it to me to go through this aggravation, I thought to myself.

Afterall, when Wal-Mart or Krogers or Albertsons make a pricing mistake they refund what you paid. Sort of their penalty for first off, having the price wrong, and second off, the customer taking his time to fix it.

It took the befuddled Minimum Wage Moron about a minute to process what I was saying. I told the MWM that this same price mistake occurred at other Wal-Marts. I asked if the prices are controlled from some central location, like the dark dungeons of Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. She told me that that is the case and that mistakes are constant.

The MWM then proceeded to hand me the 2 pennies you see in the picture. To which I said, "Has the policy changed? I thought you got the price refunded if Wal-Mart made a pricing mistake."

Not anymore she told me. Only if the mistake is over 3 dollars.

Huh?

Has Krogers stopped the refund policy too? I've long noticed Krogers no longer has a sign touting the refund policy. Now with Krogers and its constant mistakes, that could get expensive.

I'm guessing the fast and loose pricing mistake policy may be a Texas thing. This is not exactly a consumer protection friendly state.

I don't know if it is still the case, because I've not lived there for 10 years, but in Washington, I am pretty certain it is still true that you can call the State Attorney General's Consumer Hotline with a complaint such as, "I've bought a gallon of milk in 3 different Wal-Marts with the priced marked at $1.98 but ringing up at $2.00."

A few years back K-Mart, in Seattle, got assessed a $1.5 million fine after agents found multiple chronic pricing errors.

The reason for the refund policy, such as exists in Washington, is it gives the stores a very good incentive not to make mistakes. The reason such mistakes are seen as possibly criminal, in other, more enlightened states, is due to the way it rips off the consumer. You see something on the shelf and make the decision to buy it based on what you believe the price to be. Then at checkout, if you are buying a lot of stuff, you may not even notice it rang up wrong til you get home, or maybe never notice.

How is it that Wal-Mart has been system-wide making this milk pricing mistake for weeks? Am I the first to complain? It's very easy to think two cents don't matter. But how many gallons does Wal-Mart sell a day? Enough to make two cents add up to serious money? Two cents may not sound like much, but it's a 1% increase in what I thought I was paying.

Why is it that all the time I've been shopping at Sprouts Farmers Market, a place where I buy way more than I ever do at Wal-Mart, or used to at corrupt Krogers, has never made a mistake? One thing, I think they pay their help well, as in they are all very good. When you check out at Sprouts you see a sign touting Sprouts philosophy of doing business. It's easy to see that they are true to what Sprouts spouts.

Another grocery store where I buy a lot and where there has never been a price mistake is at Hong Kong Market in Arlington's Chinatown. Even though we don't speak the same language, the checkout people are always so polite and efficient.

So, the problem has to be a function of the corporate culture of the store. And its management.

With Wal-Mart dropping the refund if they are wrong policy, and Krogers likely having dropped it, as well, I'm guessing this is why the pricing errors have now gone epidemic. Maybe it's part of the reason why Wal-Mart was one of the few non bleak retailers in the previous quarter.

Well, there you have it. I'm done whining now. For now.