I'd like to see shelf price labels brought back

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
They were a common feature in grocery stores up until COVID. I really would like to know what I am paying before I get to the checkout. I bought a loaf of Arnold oat nut bread today and it rang up $5.29. If I had known, I would have looked for a less expensive alternative.

Even stores that still have them are often in error. Family Dollar had mini chocolate morsels where the shelf tag said $4, but you have to buy two bags. I put 2 in my cart and they rang up $4.99 each.
 

These days I find it extremely rare to have a pricing discrepancy between the posted shelf price and the actual cost of an item.

I find that I’m the one that is usually at fault for misunderstanding the terms of the weekly special pricing.

I do like it when stores have a scanner available for customer use to check prices.

The local Walmart has them scattered through the store.

If there is a major difference, I’m not at all shy about having the item removed at the checkout.
 
debodun said:
Perhaps it's a regional or store chain policy whether prices are displayed or not. I may have to look online to get their prices which are posted on their web site.
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<me being jaded> Personally I suspect stores don't want it to be easy to comparison shopping, they know shoppers will stand there in the isle and look up a product right then and there. That's what I do if I think the price is too high, and has led me to instead buy non-perishable grocery items instead from Amazon. In the case of the Coffee Mate creamer- I pay $2 per container less on Amazon when I buy a box of six.
 
debodun said:
They were a common feature in grocery stores up until COVID. I really would like to know what I am paying before I get to the checkout. I bought a loaf of Arnold oat nut bread today and it rang up $5.29. If I had known, I would have looked for a less expensive alternative.

Even stores that still have them are often in error. Family Dollar had mini chocolate morsels where the shelf tag said $4, but you have to buy two bags. I put 2 in my cart and they rang up $4.99 each.
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Or...I hate it when something like grapes are bagged up and the sign says something like $2.39/ pound only there's 5 pounds in the bag and you have to break them up and try to figure how many grapes are in a pound. Then there's always the part, you don't know who's handled the grapes before you.
 
If I am not mistaken, it is illegal in my state for stores not to post prices. Weights and measures will fine them if they find too many items not marked or too many price variations. Whether the state has enough time and resources to enforce the law is another matter. I am also noticing electric pricing labels in Walmart and a couple of the grocery stores I shop at also.
 
MountainRa said:
My problem is I sometimes can’t read the price label on the shelf. Either the print is too small or I have to lean at an angle that doesn’t work with my bifocals. I have vision issues with glaucoma. I usually walk away from an item if I can’t determine the price.
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Well if possible without tearing the price label I will pull it off the shelf to see better.
 
MountainRa said:
My problem is I sometimes can’t read the price label on the shelf. Either the print is too small or I have to lean at an angle that doesn’t work with my bifocals. I have vision issues with glaucoma. I usually walk away from an item if I can’t determine the price.
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I don't have Glaucoma but I still struggle to see the prices on the shelves because they're so tiny most of the time...
 
I just saw a video on YouTube on the topic of price labels. I’m pasting the link here. I hope it’s ok to do that.
. It’s called Goodbye, Price Tags. Hello, Dynamic Pricing. It’s from the New York Times Opinion, New York Times.
 
MarkinPhx said:
I am also noticing electric pricing labels in Walmart and a couple of the grocery stores I shop at also.
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I’ve heard of that yet haven’t seen it.

Sometimes I see a price that looks great but doesn’t feel real. I’ll take a photo and be extra careful at the till. If it doesn’t ring up as shown, I get it corrected. Then I may be in the same store the next day and the incorrect price is still displayed.

We have store fliers where the ad price should be honoured. Doesn’t always happen and depending upon the amount, I may just put it back. I’ll hold my ground.

Obviously I have too much time on my hands to fuss about these expenses. I think of it as saving the working folks with less time to spare from being ripped off. 🤭
 
I won't shop at stores with no prices on shelves. Liquor, snacks, candy tend not to have prices at small stores.
Some people don't care, but I figure that the price is higher. If it was low, then it would be shown clearly.
Special hobby markets won't show prices because it is expensive! Hundreds or even thousands for something
like a valuable antique or stone. The decimal points are omitted.
Tiny print, bottom shelves...cannot read it...managers don't care if you do. These are low profit, less popular things
on the bottom. Every single detail in chain stores is figured out, I think, all deliberate, every price and sign. Produce...
is it by the pound or item?
 
Prices change so frequently now, the store can't keep up putting new shelf tags out every few days. It seems every time I go in the grocery, there's some stock clerk there with an electronic scanner doing price manipulations.
 
debodun said:
They were a common feature in grocery stores up until COVID. I really would like to know what I am paying before I get to the checkout. I bought a loaf of Arnold oat nut bread today and it rang up $5.29. If I had known, I would have looked for a less expensive alternative.

Even stores that still have them are often in error. Family Dollar had mini chocolate morsels where the shelf tag said $4, but you have to buy two bags. I put 2 in my cart and they rang up $4.99 each.
Click to expand...
Agree with you 100 %%%% Seeing it more and more in Walmart now too. I like a surprise once in awhile BUT not at check out.
 
I never understood why Americans allowed shelf pricing that didn't include tax.; so what it says isn't what you necessarily have to pay. I always thought of it as a uniquely American quirk.

That said, as someone noted earlier, paper labels of any type are indeed on the way out. They are installing digital tabs now. These can be updated centrally. So, if a product goes up by a penny, someone sits in an office and enters the new amount, and the label automatically updates.

The fear is that grocery stores are heading toward using "variable pricing". That is, when a product is in high demand, the price will increase. When a product is not selling, it will go down. This is what is used today in, say, concert ticket pricing.
 

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