Are You Being Overcharged When You Shop?

What’s the county Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures done for you lately? Well, it’s probably saved you some money at the checkout stand by keeping an eye out for pricing errors made by scanners. And these days, a .

Consumers are two times more likely to be overcharged than undercharged when businesses make pricing errors, making it important for people to double-check their shopping receipts, San Diego County officials announced Thursday.

A quarter of more than 1,100 businesses inspected during the last seven months had pricing errors, according to a statement from Robert Atkins, director of the county Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures (AWM).

In Santee, over just more than two years, seven pricing errors at six shops have been caught overcharging by the County, and fines were levied against the owner (see list of fined businesses below).

The AWM inspects thousands of businesses and price-scanning machines each year. During the last seven months, inspectors from the Scanner Awareness Program checked the scanned prices of more than 18,000 items at more than 1,100 businesses and found there were $3.38 in overcharges for every $1 in undercharges, Atkins said.

Nancy Appel, the AWM’s supervising inspector, says there are a number of ways pricing errors can occur, including the computer database not being updated to reflect sale prices and prices being entered incorrectly into the computer database.

Consumers are encouraged to talk to store managers or employees before leaving the store if they believe there has been a pricing error. People may also file a complaint by calling 888-TRUE-SCAN (888-878-3722).

Businesses fined between Jan. 1, 2009, and March 1, 2011, for pricing errors:

Updated March 8, 2010 to change the previous Smart & Final listing in the table to Henry's Farmers Market, which is more correct. Smart & Final was listed in the data because Henry's is a subsidiary of Smart & Final.