Price Gouging?

ReenieHJ

I stopped by the store today to see if they had bread on the shelf. They were well-stocked so I picked up a couple. I usually go to the bread outlet store and buy them for 1.79 a loaf but since they're closed now I figured I'd have to buy them at regular price. The package said suggested retail price 3.99. But when I got home I saw on the receipt they're 4.99 a loaf?? Plus they had avocados on sale for .99 in the flyer but I saw a sign saying they were 1.99. So I picked up one because I didn't know what they cost. The cashier charged me 2.49 so I questioned her; she said the sign said 1.99. So I said, yes, but this week they're supposed to be on sale for .99, which she found in the flyer to be true. So she asked someone else and they said they're not honoring sale prices. She did charge me the .99 finally.

Really??? Is anyone else finding this in their locality?? And how can any store, in good conscience, do this??

This store has always been my small town go-to store but I'm rethinking my loyalty now. I'll be going on Sunday to do my weekly shopping and will bring my receipt and question them on the bread. Grrrr

kshama2001

I don't know what state you're in but the California attorney general is warning business to not do this: https://www.abc10.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/ca-attorney-general-issues-price-gouging-consumer-alert-following-coronavirus-state-of-emergency/103-a11eb0cb-2e87-456b-a797-1de455559d80

California law states that price gouging is illegal during a declared state of emergency. In general, stores that carry certain supplies—such as food, emergency supplies, and medical supplies — cannot charge more than 10% of the price of that item before the declaration of emergency.

Google [your state] plus "price gouging"

I reported an Amazon listing for this a few hours ago. They had two packages of yeast, which would normally cost $1.00 to $1.25 each (so $2 - $2.50 for the two) listed for $23.99. The listing has been made unavailable for sale already.

I reported it two ways:

1. Report an Issue > Other Product Details > Price Issue and wrote "This is price gouging due to the coronavirus. This normally would cost $2 - $2.50."
2. And via chat with customer service. I also mentioned "This is price gouging due to the coronavirus."

PKM0515

Honestly, I wouldn't consider this price gouging. They are hiring extra workers, cleaning more than ever, having to throw stuff out for various reasons. Workers are working overtime. Some other things I don't want to go into, but which are really sad.

By me most places are temporarily increasing pay by $2, as well they should. These workers are putting their lives at risk, imo.

kshama2001

Massachusetts isn't as clear but here it is: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/update-price-gouging-massachusetts

I haven't seen price gouging at Shaw's, Walmart, Market Basket or Whole Foods.

Unavailability, yes, price gouging, no.

kshama2001

SaraKim17 wrote: »

Honestly, I wouldn't consider this price gouging. They are hiring extra workers, cleaning more than ever, having to throw stuff out for various reasons. Workers are working overtime. Some other things I don't want to go into, but which are really sad.

By me most places are temporarily increasing pay by $2, as well they should. These workers are putting their lives at risk, imo.

You can't put out a sale flyer advertising a product for $0.99 and then sell it for $2.49.

@ReenieHJ did they have big signs all over the store disclaiming "Sale prices not in effect?"

My supermarkets had big signs on the doors and all over the place saying "No rain checks will be issued" and "No returns allowed."

missysippy930

Our state (Minnesota) attorney general’s office has been very busy with price gouging complaints. I posted in here about a week ago about a store selling a 36 pack of toilet paper for $89.99

Really sad.

yirara

Haven't seen anything like it here. Shops are well stocked. I'm in a European country.

MelanieCN77

Hol' up... the bread outlet store?

Tell me about this magical place.

ReenieHJ

kshama2001 wrote: »

SaraKim17 wrote: »

Honestly, I wouldn't consider this price gouging. They are hiring extra workers, cleaning more than ever, having to throw stuff out for various reasons. Workers are working overtime. Some other things I don't want to go into, but which are really sad.

By me most places are temporarily increasing pay by $2, as well they should. These workers are putting their lives at risk, imo.

You can't put out a sale flyer advertising a product for $0.99 and then sell it for $2.49.

@ReenieHJ did they have big signs all over the store disclaiming "Sale prices not in effect?"

My supermarkets had big signs on the doors and all over the place saying "No rain checks will be issued" and "No returns allowed."

No signs in this particular store about anything, none that I saw anyways. In other stores I did see no rain checks allowed. I'll have to check their FB page again and see if they've changed their policies.

And Melanie, the Boyeau-Fassetts bread outlet store is kind of like an overstock of the other store's bread aisles. Whatever doesn't get sold at the regular stores, they'll gather up and bring to the outlet store. I can always get bread, bagels, English muffins, chips, pretzels and a bunch of other things for much cheaper than regular store prices. But, it's closed now because bread is always sold out anyways.

Thanks for all the info; I was just wondering. I guess this is a learning and adjusting curve for all of us.

psychod787

kshama2001 wrote: »

I don't know what state you're in but the California attorney general is warning business to not do this: https://www.abc10.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/ca-attorney-general-issues-price-gouging-consumer-alert-following-coronavirus-state-of-emergency/103-a11eb0cb-2e87-456b-a797-1de455559d80

California law states that price gouging is illegal during a declared state of emergency. In general, stores that carry certain supplies—such as food, emergency supplies, and medical supplies — cannot charge more than 10% of the price of that item before the declaration of emergency.

Google [your state] plus "price gouging"

I reported an Amazon listing for this a few hours ago. They had two packages of yeast, which would normally cost $1.00 to $1.25 each (so $2 - $2.50 for the two) listed for $23.99. The listing has been made unavailable for sale already.

I reported it two ways:

1. Report an Issue > Other Product Details > Price Issue and wrote "This is price gouging due to the coronavirus. This normally would cost $2 - $2.50."
2. And via chat with customer service. I also mentioned "This is price gouging due to the coronavirus."

Use beer yeast. An ale yeast works great... people are probably not gouging beer making supplies....

lx1x

Go to another store...

Talan79

In Maryland, the governor spoke a few days ago and said they will go after businesses who are price gouging during the pandemic. Look into reporting them. Perhaps your state will do something about it.

corinasue1143

What about a new product. Specifically home made hand sanitizer, $10 a bottle?

hist_doc

You can't put out a sale flyer advertising a product for $0.99 and then sell it for $2.49.

@ReenieHJ did they have big signs all over the store disclaiming "Sale prices not in effect?"

My supermarkets had big signs on the doors and all over the place saying "No rain checks will be issued" and "No returns allowed."

I’m afraid they can. There’s no law that guarantees advertised prices that are printed, posted, etc. typos occur all the time, especially when circulars go to press. Some stores choose to honor prices that might be mislabeled but they aren’t legally required to do so.

AnnPT77

hist_doc wrote: »

You can't put out a sale flyer advertising a product for $0.99 and then sell it for $2.49.

@ReenieHJ did they have big signs all over the store disclaiming "Sale prices not in effect?"

My supermarkets had big signs on the doors and all over the place saying "No rain checks will be issued" and "No returns allowed."

I’m afraid they can. There’s no law that guarantees advertised prices that are printed, posted, etc. typos occur all the time, especially when circulars go to press. Some stores choose to honor prices that might be mislabeled but they aren’t legally required to do so.

Depends on where you live. I'm not going to go into all the details, but the law here (Michigan) is generally that they have to honor the price on the shelf/sign. Misprints in flyers require posted corrections (usually not all that prominent, may just be signage at customer service, but it's there.)

lynn_glenmont

hist_doc wrote: »

You can't put out a sale flyer advertising a product for $0.99 and then sell it for $2.49.

@ReenieHJ did they have big signs all over the store disclaiming "Sale prices not in effect?"

My supermarkets had big signs on the doors and all over the place saying "No rain checks will be issued" and "No returns allowed."

I’m afraid they can. There’s no law that guarantees advertised prices that are printed, posted, etc. typos occur all the time, especially when circulars go to press. Some stores choose to honor prices that might be mislabeled but they aren’t legally required to do so.

There's a difference between a single typo and not honoring any of the prices you've offered in a flyer, just because you've decided not to, and not even telling customers until they arrive at the cash register. This sounds like a bait-and-switch violation ("nope, we don't have any $1 avocados, just $2.49 avocados") in addition to a possible price-gouging violation.

I don't know what's going on in our local groceries, as I haven't been in one for two weeks, which was before they closed the schools and dine-in restaurants around here. I'm not planning to go this weekend, either, although I guess I'll have to bake bread, as all I have left is rye (don't fancy spreading peanut butter on it) and some wraps. Probably should cook some beans and some grains, as well. Getting pretty low on fresh produce, but I've got frozen and canned veggies and frozen and dried fruit. Going to try to hold out until I need something I really don't want to try to do without, like toilet paper.

ReenieHJ

AnnPT77 wrote: »

hist_doc wrote: »

You can't put out a sale flyer advertising a product for $0.99 and then sell it for $2.49.

@ReenieHJ did they have big signs all over the store disclaiming "Sale prices not in effect?"

My supermarkets had big signs on the doors and all over the place saying "No rain checks will be issued" and "No returns allowed."

I’m afraid they can. There’s no law that guarantees advertised prices that are printed, posted, etc. typos occur all the time, especially when circulars go to press. Some stores choose to honor prices that might be mislabeled but they aren’t legally required to do so.

Depends on where you live. I'm not going to go into all the details, but the law here (Michigan) is generally that they have to honor the price on the shelf/sign. Misprints in flyers require posted corrections (usually not all that prominent, may just be signage at customer service, but it's there.)

I don't know the VT. law but it sounds like what Michigan does. They've always honored whatever prices are posted, even if an old sign was forgotten to be removed. And I have seen the same signage about misprints that you're talking about. I'll check to see if they've replaced the 1.99 sign with .99 tomorrow. The cashier asked the produce stocker so I'm not sure he knew either. To my knowledge, they've never done it before like that and I've been shopping there for 45 yrs. My feeling is that everybody stressed, nobody knows which end is up/down and prices just hadn't been adjusted.
It's not a real biggie, considering today's world, but it did leave me with an off feeling about the store.

kcmcbee

missysippy930 wrote: »

Our state (Minnesota) attorney general’s office has been very busy with price gouging complaints. I posted in here about a week ago about a store selling a 36 pack of toilet paper for $89.99

Really sad.

Need to name this store and post it everywhere! Everyone deserves to know anout stores that do this.

fluffygoodas

Happening in Canada too. Very sneakily too. Normal sale prices higher, or no sales at all, yesterday a high end supermarket got dragged on the news for selling lysol wipes for $29.99. Rationed grocery too. 2 items each for food, 1 paper product. For a large family like mine, i have never spent more money on essentials. Very frustrating given what we are facing.

psychod787

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01MZ87RA5/ref=sspa_mw_detail_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For bread in a hurry. It's what us country boys use when we make.... huh... high potency hand sanitizer...🤥

bmeadows380

lx1x wrote: »

Go to another store...

for some folks, that's not an option as there isn't another store to go to within an hour's drive.

Chef_Barbell

Here in NYC... I only noticed the high priced stuff was all that was left on the shelf. My local supermarket was not honoring the sale price on eggs and posted a sign accordingly.

missysippy930

kcmcbee wrote: »

missysippy930 wrote: »

Our state (Minnesota) attorney general’s office has been very busy with price gouging complaints. I posted in here about a week ago about a store selling a 36 pack of toilet paper for $89.99

Really sad.

Need to name this store and post it everywhere! Everyone deserves to know anout stores that do this.

It was on the local news and reported to the attorney general’s office. Everyone here that watches local news saw it.

bmeadows380

One thing that I've noticed in my area is people complaining of price gouging; however, what is happening is that these people normally buy the store brand, lower priced versions of bread, toilet paper, etc. The store brand and lower priced items went out of stock first, so the only thing left are the high priced name brand items like charmin, and the higher end version at that. Since these people never bought the name brand high end things before, they never paid attention to what the price on them was, and now that they are being forced to buy those items as they are the only ones available, they are shocked at the cost and claim price gouging.

for instance: the last time I bought toilet paper, the only thing that was available was kleenex ripple. I had no idea what the price was on that because I usually bought store brand, so I never glanced at the tag for the kleenex or the charmin. It was an eye opener to see that the typical price was $7 and up for a pack!

Katmary71

I second items I usually buy cheaper versions of are gone and only the higher priced ones are left, like $10 yogurt. The biggest store item gouging is toilet paper. It's not food but I was going to order 15lb and 20lb weights last week and they were $35 so I debated as I usually use them at the gym, this week they're either sold out over $75. That's really irritating me! With groceries it's necessary though so that bugs me more.

lemurcat2

I had the opposite issue -- I normally buy more expensive peanut butter (peanuts and salt only) and for my delivery order they had to substitute Jif for it (if I'd noticed I would have rejected it and just made some nut butter from the nuts I have on hand as I don't really care for regular peanut butter, but oh well). Also, when I checked about 10 days ago to see if 7-11 still had toilet paper (they had been fully stocked the week before, when the grocery stores first started having trouble keeping it on the shelves), they were out of all the namebrand stuff and only had their 7-11 brand, which is cheaper. I'm not saying this is the case across the board here, as I haven't been to the grocery store for a while.

cwolfman13

I'm not noticing any price gouging where I'm at. I am noticing that often, the cheaper stuff is being sold out and more expensive brands are what is remaining on the shelf. I bought sandwich bread a week ago and the shelves were pretty void of store brand breads and other cheaper brands...we eat Dave's Killer Bread, and it's more expensive and there was plenty on the shelf.

For the most part, our stores seem to be getting back to some semblance of normal as the initial panic seems to have subsided.

spiriteagle99

I noticed a small sign at the entrance of our small local grocery that said that advertised prices in the sales flyer would not be honored. Those flyers are made up months in advance, so I can understand that the sales items might not be available now, but I agree they should honor the prices if the flyers were mailed out to customers or if the price is on the shelf. I haven't checked our usual grocery store (a big chain) to see if they are honoring their sales prices.

missysippy930

bmeadows380 wrote: »

One thing that I've noticed in my area is people complaining of price gouging; however, what is happening is that these people normally buy the store brand, lower priced versions of bread, toilet paper, etc. The store brand and lower priced items went out of stock first, so the only thing left are the high priced name brand items like charmin, and the higher end version at that. Since these people never bought the name brand high end things before, they never paid attention to what the price on them was, and now that they are being forced to buy those items as they are the only ones available, they are shocked at the cost and claim price gouging.

for instance: the last time I bought toilet paper, the only thing that was available was kleenex ripple. I had no idea what the price was on that because I usually bought store brand, so I never glanced at the tag for the kleenex or the charmin. It was an eye opener to see that the typical price was $7 and up for a pack!

I buy store brand toilet paper and paper towels. I’ve noticed the opposite here. The big brands are sold out, and if there’s any on the shelves, it’s store brand. This has been true for the past few weeks. Mostly empty shelves, but today, they had 1/2 dozen cases of store brand toilet paper, no paper towels of any kind. 8:30 in the morning. The people I noticed, had only one package in their carts, no hoarding. We live in the country and have a septic system so single ply only. I actually prefer store brand paper towels. I found a few packages, single roll at Target. Bounty Essentials .99/ roll. No eggs or egg beaters at grocery store, but they had them at Target, limiting to two dozen per customer. Higher than regular price, but under $2.00/dozen. Daughter said they were $3.00/ dozen yesterday when she shopped, in St Paul, MN. We’re about 50 miles south of her. Fully stocked bread shelves today. Everyone I encountered today seemed in good spirits and cordial, obeying the first full day of lockdown.

corinasue1143

In Oklahoma, we are supposed to bring gouging to the AG’s attention. Anything over 10% above normal price. He says they will be prosecuted. I think it’s helping to keep gouging down.

When I went to buy bread, the entire bread area was full of Pepperidge Farm. Definitely not my favorite brand. About 4X higher than the cheap stuff. No bagels, English muffins, French bread, etc. Just plain white sandwich loaves. Under the circumstances, I was glad to get it.

lemurcat2

cwolfman13 wrote: »

For the most part, our stores seem to be getting back to some semblance of normal as the initial panic seems to have subsided.

From the reports I've heard, that seems to be the case here. A friend just went to the TJ's nearest to me and said it was (well, with respect to stock) back to normal and even had some hand sanitizer. I don't need anything so am fighting my desire to go to the grocery store just to have somewhere to go.