Utah Retail Checkout Scanner Study Shows Consumers Should Continue Their Vigilance At The Checkout Stand

News Conference set for 10:00 am

A national study of the accuracy of retail checkout scanners shows that consumers should continue to pay attention to pricing at the checkout stand. According to the study, conducted by the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, one out of every 30 items checked was mis-priced. Half of these errors were undercharges and half were overcharges.

A news conference is scheduled for 10:00 am, December 16, 1998 at the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food Building, 350 North Redwood Road, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Utah was among 36 states and the Virgin Islands that participated in the survey conducted in the Fall of 1998. The types of stores checked were, grocery, hardware, sporting goods, toy, variety, office supplies, mass merchandise, department stores, convenience, and others.

The survey in Utah showed that just over four items out of 100 were scanned incorrectly. The acceptance level is two items out of 100. The Utah survey involved 37 inspections of 22 stores. A total of 2061 items were sampled with an error rate of 4.17 percent. Forty four of the items sampled were over charges and 42 of the items were under charged. The 4.17 percent error rate places Utah 25th out of 37 states who participated in the survey. Montana ranked first out of 37 states with an error rate of .64%. Indiana ranked 37th with an error rate of 8.86%.

"Many of the stores we surveyed had perfect or near perfect scores. Other stores had error rates that are higher than we are comfortable with, and we will work with those stores to correct the problem," said Kyle Stephens, director of the Division of Regulatory Services. In general grocery stores scored better than general merchandise stores. Stephens reminds consumers that while most stores strive for zero errors, there are times when mistakes happen. Consumers should be aware that mistakes happen and they should monitor the scanner at check out time. Stephens says the division will conduct follow up surveys soon, and take action against stores that remain above the 2 per cent error rate.

More information on the national scanner survey is available on the Web at: www.ftc.gov.

Posted December 16, 1998