Target made an error in their pricing

[AshA4]

Once in a while I'll find a penny or some loose change on the ground, I think "Find a penny pick it up all that day you'll have good luck" but now maybe I should feel guilty after reading this thread.

:banned:

 

[Buster Bodine]

An issue like this is always going to be a muddy one, some will see it black, some white, and others in infinite shades of gray. Maybe my stance on this will make you think I'm a bad person, maybe not.

Stores like Target and Wal-Mart engage in highly predatory marketing and pricing practices. They enter a new market with prices so low they actually take a loss on many SKUs and in the process, kill a lot of local small businesses. Then, when the small businesses are all gone, the prices soar skyward because they know their customer base has no other choice than to pay the price or do without.

I look around my home town and see only one independant pharmacy still in business.
I see half a dozen large buildings that used to be grocery stores standing empty. I see two K-Marts slowly rotting away, driven out of business by Wal-Mart and I see Target refusing to enter our area because we have not one but two WM Super Centers in town. They call it "Market Saturation" but what it really means is we're being screwed as hard as we can be.

Yes, I understand the finer points of honor, honesty, and ethic. Yes, I understand how negatively affecting the profit margin results in dropped SKUs. But when I see these modern day corporate robber barons picking our pockets, turning our downtown areas into deserted wastelands, depressing our economy and job markets, I have to give a quiet cheer every time they screw up and the little guy gets a tiny little bit back.

I'd have tried to buy every single one they had in the store and then gone across town to see if the same condition applied at the other Super Center. Call it situational ethics if you like but I just can't get very worked up over the thought of the victims getting a little bit back from the thieves.

 

[Brighteyez]

I don't see any gray here at all. Being able to take advantage of, or being offered a lower price, due to a pricing error on the part of the retailer is a bit of good fortune that benefits both the retailer and customer by giving the customer a price break and provides the retailer with the opportunity to correct their pricing. It's that simple.

Conspiring with another person to attempt to profiteer from that act is a different story. In our state it falls under burglary in addition to any charges of fraud or larceny.

And I've never seen anything in the Penal Code that says that it's okay if the victim is a business named Target (Marshall Fields, Mervyns, whatever else they own) or Wal*Mart.

An issue like this is always going to be a muddy one, some will see it black, some white, and others in infinite shades of gray.

 

[Empath]

The defining "line" was contained in this statement:

But when I asked her if I could get more, she said she couldn't do that.

Justifications, and trying to beat the change on the machine has to be measured against those words.

 

[Buster Bodine]

I don't see any gray here at all.

Others do.

The more arrogant one, I just shut up by responding with "That's mighty nice of you since the state law requires it."

So I guess the big difference between you and me are thus...

I would happily take advantage of a hypothetical mistake (Its never happened to me.) made by a large predatory corporation, you would not.

You are intentionally rude and nasty to a low to minimum wage employee just trying to do their job, I am not.

Obviously sir, the moral high ground is yours.
:goodjob:

 

[Brighteyez]

I don't recall any large chain store training their employees to intentionally lie to customers, that's almost always by their own motivation or the direction of their immediate supervisor (who would also be what you describe to be a low or minimum wage employee.) That does differ from a smaller business where an employee may indeed be told/ordered to lie (and steal).
There's also no gray area here with pricing, nor is there a hypothetical mistake, the requirements are very clear as to what price a consumer must be given when there is a discrepancy between the scanner and the posted price. That part may vary in your state.


Insofar as advocating theft and creating a fabricated justification because the victim is a large retail corporation is one of those attempts to compare apples with oranges

Others do.



So I guess the big difference between you and me are thus...

I would happily take advantage of a hypothetical mistake (Its never happened to me.) made by a large predatory corporation, you would not.

You are intentionally rude and nasty to a low to minimum wage employee just trying to do their job, I am not.

Obviously sir, the moral high ground is yours.
:goodjob:

 

[JonSidneyB]

I am dirt poor...but every ill gotten gain from an evil corporation hurts us all, and I do think some are evil.

 

[Brighteyez]

Of course it does, no corporation or it's stockholders is going to absorb the loss from shrinkage, they're going to pass it on to the consumer in the form of operating costs.

And it's not limited major corporations, it's pretty much the cornerstone of any business. The mom&pop grocery store is going to pass on the cost of their shrinkage to their consumers as well, along with requiring a larger profit margin for their smaller volume of sales, in the name of 'convenience' (hence the term convenience store?).

every ill gotten gain from an evil corporation hurts us all,

 

[JonSidneyB]

corporations try and utilize all of their assets if they can. Idle cash is an evil. There will be one less job, one less object produced. Even if the company was the most benevolent on earth or evil. The effect is the same. We live be serving each other. If we spent our time only cheating each other, there would be nothing to cheat each other out of.

 

[AshA4]

"I see two K-Marts slowly rotting away, driven out of business by Wal-Mart"



I think that was Martha Stewerts fault...

 

[InfidelCastro]

I think that if it's marked at a certain price, by law they have to sell it to you at that price. They can't change the price back when it gets to the register. Will get them in big trouble, so a store will most likely sell a small ticket item to you at a too good to be true price, rather than risk upsetting someone and getting an attorney (or attorney general) involved.

 

[hyperslug]

Tsk, if only you scanned it at one of those little price check kiosks they have all over the store. You could have brought 'em all to the register the 1st time around with a clear conscience.

 

[beefbowl]

whenever the price on the shelf is lower than the price at checkout i never get the benefit of the doubt at any Target. they always send someone to take a look at the price because i could be lying. when they get back they never apologize for the a) wrong price, and/or b) making me wait fifteen minutes. when Target gives the consumer the shaft (probably thousands a day throughout the US) for not looking at his receipt its ethically okay. but when the consumer tries to hold Target to the advertised price its a "slippery slope". meh, i say Target should invest in a better computer system that updates prices so that this stuff doesn't happen.

 

[bole64]

when Target gives the consumer the shaft (probably thousands a day throughout the US) for not looking at his receipt its ethically okay. but when the consumer tries to hold Target to the advertised price its a "slippery slope".

There are probably errors due to cashier error, but you make them sound intentional. Cashiers do hundreds of transactions a day, and it gets tedious. To be perfect on every transaction is pretty tough. On the other note: If it was your money and your product, wouldn't you want to be selling it for the right price. Sure, target makes a lot of money, but if they just accept what the guest says every time, I would expect them to go out of business in no-time.

 

[peekay331]

An issue like this is always going to be a muddy one, some will see it black, some white, and others in infinite shades of gray. Maybe my stance on this will make you think I'm a bad person, maybe not.

Stores like Target and Wal-Mart engage in highly predatory marketing and pricing practices. They enter a new market with prices so low they actually take a loss on many SKUs and in the process, kill a lot of local small businesses. Then, when the small businesses are all gone, the prices soar skyward because they know their customer base has no other choice than to pay the price or do without.

I look around my home town and see only one independant pharmacy still in business.
I see half a dozen large buildings that used to be grocery stores standing empty. I see two K-Marts slowly rotting away, driven out of business by Wal-Mart and I see Target refusing to enter our area because we have not one but two WM Super Centers in town. They call it "Market Saturation" but what it really means is we're being screwed as hard as we can be.

Yes, I understand the finer points of honor, honesty, and ethic. Yes, I understand how negatively affecting the profit margin results in dropped SKUs. But when I see these modern day corporate robber barons picking our pockets, turning our downtown areas into deserted wastelands, depressing our economy and job markets, I have to give a quiet cheer every time they screw up and the little guy gets a tiny little bit back.

I'd have tried to buy every single one they had in the store and then gone across town to see if the same condition applied at the other Super Center. Call it situational ethics if you like but I just can't get very worked up over the thought of the victims getting a little bit back from the thieves.

you're smoking crack if you really believe walmart has higher prices than your local mom and pop. also walmart not only has lower prices, but greater selection than your mom and pop.

 

[InfidelCastro]

I can understand the hate of either Walmart or mom & pop shops for various reasons, but what is with the negativity directed towards crack???

 

[beefbowl]

they are not cashier errors. i'm talking about when the price on the shelf along with the corresponding upc rings up at the checkout a different price comes up than what is on the shelf. for example, i took a bottle of wine marked 6.99 for a 1.5L and it rang up for 10.99. i told the person that it was 6.99 on the shelf. a person went to check the price and sure enough the price that rang up was wrong. basically, the price information was not correct either at the register or on the shelf. i run a business and the first thing i do is make sure the price advertised is the same as the price sold. if it isn't for whatever reason its MY fault. and i should go out of business.

 

[AlexGT]

As for Wally World having greater selection.....Hmmm... Not in the flashlight aisle....

AlexGT

 

[Brighteyez]

The computer doesn't determine the price that is scanned. The price is entered either manually, or from the manufacturer/distributor electronically (where it was also entered manually.)

meh, i say Target should invest in a better computer system that updates prices so that this stuff doesn't happen.

 

[nemul]

The girl said that couldn't be right because she knew it was a new item. She checked and they were supposed to be $19.99.

I was thinking, what if it would have rang up for $29.99? i'm sure she would have check to see if it was overpriced... :\