House bill loosens product price tag laws for retailers

A House bill already sanctioned by a legislative committee would allow stores, including supermarkets, to stop putting price tags or stickers on items if they install self-service price scanners in some aisles.Consumer protection advocates say the proposed law makes it easier for retailers to short-change customers, creates potential hassles at the checkout, and reduces penalties for stores that violate current item-pricing laws.Supporters of House Bill 4858, including Rep. Steven Walsh, a Lynn Democrat and chairman of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business that approved the bill last month, claim it improves consumer protection and reduces bureaucracy.”It’s the strongest piece of consumer protection legislation in the country,” said Walsh. “If the wrong price comes up at the checkout, you get the item for free, up to $10. If it costs more than that, you get $10 off the item price.”According to Walsh, 48 other states have eliminated pricing systems that don’t promote technology. “Groceries here are 10 percent higher than anywhere else in the country, and that’s because there’s an extra step involved for our retailers when it comes to individual product pricing. That’s why a gallon of milk here costs $3.59 and not $3.29,” he said. “The best thing you can do for consumers is give them groceries at a fair price.”Under the present pricing system in Massachusetts, grocery stores must individually price items. Retailers selling non-food items do not. Increasingly, more stores are turning hybrid by selling both.The state attorney general’s office and the state Division of Standards and Consumer Protection both enforce pricing laws.”The AG’s office doesn’t need to act as the regulatory agency over food stores. Our goal is to create one pricing system that can be enforced by the Division of Standards, and if necessary, the AG’s office can be called in,” Walsh said. “Any electronic system would be strong and tight and include large shelf prices. Our aisle scanners would be aggressive in that they would be closer together in the stores in Massachusetts than in other states.”The bill requires one aisle scanner for every 5,000 feet of retail space. In Connecticut, it’s 12,000 square feet.Not everyone shares Walsh’s enthusiasm for the bill.”Some retailers are always trying to loosen requirements on price disclosures,” said Deirdre Cummings, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group. “This bill is more of the same kind of tactics that have been tried in the past. In it are 16 new exemption categories, such as items discounted for the week or on sale. The price of those items would not even be in the aisle scanning machines.”Under the present law, price tags must be affixed to items and a per-unit price tag to the shelf on which it is displayed.”There are significant penalties for retailers who fail to comply. This bill changes those requirements and substitutes aisle scanners,” said Cummings, noting that in supermarkets, the scanners would be located in every second or third aisle. “Unfortunately, scanners are notorious for not working. Besides, if the item is on sale, it doesn’t have to be in the scanner. That means if the sale price is $1.09 and it pops up as $2.09 at the register, the customer must first of all remember what the sale price was among the other 80 items in their cart, and then tell the cashier, who then must verify the sale price by sending somebody to check it. It’ll hold up the line at the checkout.”Cummings noted countless surveys show that consumers like price tags. “Given these tough economic times, shoppers need more and better price disclosure, not less,” she said. “This bill is a one-sided, anti-consumer piece of legislation benefiting retailers at the expense of consumers.”According to Cummings, the bill would require stores to put a small price label or sign at the point of product display, but unlike the current law, they would not have to make the price at le