Meijer Ripping Off Their Customers
Much like I will no longer spend money at Best Buy, my wife does not like to spend money at Meijer and this afternoon she was reminded why.
About two weeks ago, I had received a coupon for a free half-gallon of Meijer-brand Moose Tracks ice cream courtesy of FreeMoneyFinance. Today we swung by Meijer while we were out shopping to redeem the coupon and pick up our free ice cream.
The shelf price for the ice cream indicated that the Meijer-brand Moose Tracks sells for $2.99. The kids grabbed a carton off the shelf and we proceeded to the self-checkout lane. We scanned the carton of ice cream and the price rang up for $3.09 - ten cents different than the shelf indicated.
Not a big deal as I had a coupon so it was going to be free anyway. We scanned the coupon and noticed that the value of the coupon only rang up for $2.50. Correct me if I am wrong but $2.50 does not equal $3.09 - meaning the free ice cream wasn’t free at all.
Now the issue with the coupon may be a matter of geographical differences, so in some areas a carton of Moose Tracks may retail for $2.50 or less. So I can understand why the coupon may have differed from the actual retail price.
However, how does Meijer explain the fact that their shelf price is different than the price that rings up at the register?
This is the exact reason that my wife does not like to shop at Meijer as she noticed this happens quite frequently. On a single item the difference of $0.10 does not seem all that significant. But think about how many people shop at a single Meijer store each and every day - that $0.10 really starts to add up. If you consider all of the Meijer stores across the country, this small discrepancy between the shelf price and the register price could be adding millions to the bottom line for Meijer.
Could it just be our local store that has this problem with their prices? Anything is possible, but somehow I doubt that to be the case.
The next time you shop at Meijer, pay close attention to the shelf price of your items and the price that rings up at the register.
You may be getting ripped off by Meijer and not even realize it.
Meijer consistently does that in our area too, you have to watch your receipt like a hawk. Maybe a store-wide policy of over charging?
I’m not familiar with the U.S law regarding this but surely shops have to honour advertised/shelf prices?
That’s interesting that it appears to be common in your store, but even more interesting that it happens elsewhere (Mika’s store) and definitely seems to b a corporate trend. Now the question is whether or not it is intentional or if there is some other reason for this consistennt problem.
$0.10 doesn’t seem like much, but if you have 150 items in your cart (and there are a lot of people who do) and even 1/3 of them are marked up like that, that’s an extra $5.00. Plus if you look at how much that adds up to for a large number of customers, someone is definitely makin’ some extra.
Sounds like a cheap trick, unless it was somehow an oversight on someone’s part.
No matter what country you are in, this is unethical and I hope that someone in Meijer is reading this blog and the comments and come out with some damage control and apologies. This could well snow ball into a major lack of faith and this is not something that they would want.
I am sorry this is a serious problem. Being a Meijer Store Director I emphasis this problem. I am sorry for any incovenance in your shopping experience, and that this is a human error problem. Please continue to shop at Meijer we are sorry for any inconvence this may cause to any individual. We like to have a problem free propt checkout and great experience. Thank You,
Spencer Harris
Spencer, thanks for taking the time to comment. What area of the country are you a Meijer Store Director? Can you explain what you mean about the human error problem?
Is the problem that the shelves are being labeled incorrectly? Or are the items scanning incorrectly? We pick up one or two things from Meijer from time to time if it is more convenient to stop there but our normal grocery shopping is done at other stores right now.
Since I work in retail, though not at Meijer, I can understand how this can happen. Human error is basically meaning that there was probably a price change (increase) and the department lead or manager activated the new price (being more) before they changed the shelf tags and labels. This would definitely explain your situation. I hope this has helped to clarify. Most cases I run across, it is in the customers favor, where a decrease in price has happened and rings up that way, but it is priced higher.
I’ve worked in retail as well, and while I can understand what you are saying and know that it does happen - it seems to happen far too often at Meijer to say that is the cause.
Thanks for sharing your experiences!
That’s strange. I believe I’ve heard that grocery stores tend to err on the side of underpricing.
Oddly, I’ve had this happen with a coke rewards coupon. The coupon would pay for a coke that is $1.35 or less, where a coke was selling for $1.59.
I’ve noticed this too and think that it is understandable. It’s the difference between shelf price and register price that is really disconcerting (did I spell that right?)
@Mika :: Thanks for the feedback. After noticing it a few times, my wife had enough and has decided to shop at other stores in the area as a result.
@JP :: I haven’t researched laws but in my experience the policy varies from store to store. Some will honor the advertised price even if it is wrong while others will stick to the price that rings at the register and you can take it or leave it.
@Nick :: Hearing that others have experienced the same thing makes me think it is more than just an innocent accident. For the most part, we have voted with our feet and shop at other stores whenever possible.
@Ed :: Thanks for the feedback.
@Erik :: Yeah, I can understand the issue with the coupon as prices do vary around the country and the coupon has a specific dollar value assigned. In some cases, the product cost will be more than the coupon value. But the discrepancy in the shelf price and register price is more alarming.
I’ve run into this problem too. Funny how offended the checkers get at how offended we are when the price is magically wrong at the register.
While my experience with Meijer has been limited, I get this all the time at home.
Has anyone ever noticed that the ooops just seem to ALWAYS be in favor of the grocer.
I’ve noticed that major retailer are just as bad as the grocery stores, just more subtle.
Liz