L.A. Leads in Overcharges Survey

Los Angeles County reported the state’s highest level of overcharges by checkout scanners in a recent survey of counties that highlights what a consumer advocacy group said Thursday is a steadily increasing problem of pricing errors and over-rings at supermarkets and other retail operations.

The California Retailers Assn. immediately branded the report “inaccurate and misleading� and based on improper inspection procedures.

In its report, the California Public Interest Research Group said recent data from county weights and measures departments around the state show that 4.1% of retail scanner transactions between July 1, 1996, and Oct. 20, 1997, resulted in overcharges. A total of 1.6% of scanner transactions resulted in undercharges, said CalPIRG spokesman Jon Golinger.

Although the amount of each overcharge is small, Golinger said, “it adds up, and consumers as a whole pay for it.�

The inspection results cited by CalPIRG came from routine checks as well as investigations spurred by specific consumer complaints about individual stores. Because Los Angeles County is more aggressive than most in tracking down scanner errors, that may partly explain its place at the top of the list among California’s largest counties, Golinger said.

In L.A. County, 4.4% of items were overcharged, compared with 1.2% in Orange County during the nearly 15-month period. But the county also conducted 1,506 routine inspections and 173 investigations, compared with Orange County’s 62 routine inspections and 17 investigations.

California Retailers Assn. President Bill Dombrowski said the CalPIRG report “extrapolated misleading conclusions and made wild accusations� based on anecdotal evidence.

“Retailers value their relationship with their customers above everything else,� Dombrowski said. “To contend that retailers are not doing enough to guarantee scanner accuracy is simply not true.�

The report contradicts a study conducted in seven states last year by the Federal Trade Commission that found that the number and dollar value of undercharges exceeded the number and dollar value of overcharges, Dombrowski said.

A study by the state Department of Food and Agriculture of 300 supermarkets and other retail outlets found that California consumers were overcharged on 2.2% of transactions and undercharged on 1.5% of purchases in 1996.

The FTC report used inspection procedures developed by the National Conference on Weights and Measures, which are not used in California despite urging by the retailers association for their adoption. CalPIRG is pushing for a statewide scanner inspection program paid for by retailers.