THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 12, 1995 TAG: 9510110143
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Morsels
SOURCE: Ruth Fantasia
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
WHEN IS A pomegranate a papaya?
When it's being rung up by a cashier who doesn't know the difference.
With the introduction of scanners to supermarkets, we thought the number of errors in our grocery bills would go down. However, an informal survey of shoppers revealed these frequent mistakes:
Produce is prime for overcharges or undercharges because the variety is vast and there are no UPC codes for the cashier to scan. Recently a cashier charged my husband $1.99 for a papaya when the purchase was a 79-cent pomegranate. We've also heard of yellow and red bell peppers rung up as green peppers, Roma tomatoes rung as vine-ripened tomatoes, and tree-ripened nectarines rung as the lower-priced, machine-picked fruit.
Meat and deli counter items are also subject to errors. Because clerks must punch in the price per pound on the scale, the chances of being mischarged are increased.
Be aware that scanners don't always ring up a sale price.
Watch out for price increases on older items. I once paid a dime more than the sticker price on a bag of cookies because the manufacturer recently had increased the price.
Smart shoppers can take precautions to receive a more accurate grocery bill, including:
If you can't see the price display screen, ask the cashier to turn it so you can.
On the conveyer belt, group items most subject to error, and pay attention to those prices as they are scanned. by CNB