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115 sats \ 1 reply \ @Signal312 OP 13h \ parent \ on: Do you see this in your country? Grocery stores price items to confuse shoppers econ

I just did some research - it turns out that Walmart has been fined for this before:

https://morristownminute.town.news/g/morristown-nj/n/264441/walmart-pay-164-million-settlement-over-alleged-unlawful-pricing-practices

The allegations state that Walmart violated New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act (CFA) and Unit Pricing Disclosure Act (UPDA) by inaccurately displaying unit prices for various grocery products. The UPDA mandates grocery retailers to present prices using standardized units such as per quart, per pound, or per 100 sheets, enabling consumers to compare prices of differently sized or packaged items easily.

During inspections in early 2023, OWM identified over 2,000 instances where incorrect units of measurement were used at Walmart stores, often varying within the same product category, complicating price comparisons for shoppers. Previous inspections in 2021 and 2022 had already resulted in $226,950 in fines for similar violations.

Just to be clear - I'm not saying the government SHOULD be monitoring this. Apparently displaying the unit pricing is mandatory, but making it easy to understand is not as mandatory (at least in some states).

Interesting that Walmart has been fined about this issue, and still continues to do the exact same thing. I guess they're constantly making judgements on issues like these, as to whether they pay more in fines, or make more with these (semi-deceptive) practices.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 13h

Good enough for me.

Yeah, they must have realized that they can move some products at higher margins, as long as consumers can't do the unit comparison.