Pricing act tagged for change
Two bills could usher in electronic shelf sign system
detnews.com
Jul 12, 2002
By Karen Talaski / The Detroit News
TROY -- A two-sided attack is under way against Michigan's item-pricing act, which seeks to protect consumers by requiring clear price displays and individual price tags on most products in stores.
Two separate bills are under review by the Michigan legislature that would amend the pricing act, also known as the Pricing and Advertising of Consumer Items act, or Act 449 of 1976. In the House of Representatives, bill No. 5544 would allow retailers to replace individual tags with a sign that displays the item's name, description and price. At the same time, the Senate is considering bill no. 1211, which would allow retailers to use electronic shelf tags to display the price in place of individual paper tags.
Among the bills' advocates are retailers such as The Home Depot Inc. and manufacturers including NCR Corp., which produces a product known as NCR RealPrice, an electronic shelf labeling system. And the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a think tank in Midland, came out this month in favor of the electronic price labeling, saying the new technology saves money for both retailers and consumers, who benefit from reduced labor costs at grocery stores and the like. "If you can make it cost effective to change prices more often, there's no doubt that's going to benefit consumers," said Prof. Victor Claar, an economist at Hope College in Holland and co-author of the Center's viewpoint. However, critics say the state's law is still the best defense against retailers manipulating prices and consumers at the same time.
Retailers have fought Michigan's item-pricing act since its introduction in 1976, said Richard Gamber, executive director of the Michigan Consumer Federation in Lansing. "They say we're behind the times. I say we're ahead of the times," Gamber said. "Without a price tag on an item, a consumer is powerless to spot scanner errors." Gamber also notes that Home Depot, one of the bills' defenders, has been cited for violating the item-pricing act at least twice over the past five years.
Claar said consumers in other states, such as his native Pennsylvania, do fine without individual item pricing. Retailers even offer rewards to consumers who notice errors, encouraging people to find and fix them. Cost has been one of the main reasons retailers have been slow to adopt electronic shelf labeling -- a store with about 20,000 items would have to make a $100,000 installation investment. But NCR's Pete Bartolotta notes that the devices are usually paid for in reduced labor costs within 18 months.
This sort of labeling also avoids the infamous "price check" when an item fails to have a tag on it, Bartolotta said. "They ultimately help the consumer and the retailer," he said.
You can reach Karen Talaski at (313) 222-2319 or at ktalaski@detnews.com |
