Scanner Overcharge Fee

Monday, February 05, 2007

We all know how frustrating it is to swallow a capricious fee. Wouldn’t it be great if we could charge stores fees of our own?

In Michigan, you can. If a store’s price scanner overcharges someone in Michigan, the shopper can charge the store ten times the overage, or up to $5. But here’s where it gets really interesting: the shopper is also empowered to enforce the law at the point of sale.

Michigan’s “Item Pricing Act” allows shoppers to levy the fee at the register, and the store must settle in cash, not store credit. This has been characterized as the “Consumer Deputization Act” since it lets consumers enforce the law on the spot.

Other states have taken notice of Michigan’s innovation. Arizona is introducing a bill this week (HB 2665) that would extend these rights to AZ consumers, including the power to collect the fees at the checkout stand.

In most states, stores have to submit to occasional audits or inspections by the state Department of Weights and Measures, and enforcement is as rare as a lightning strike. Some stores have very liberal scanner overcharge policies of their own, which some shoppers have exploited to the nth degree. But the Michigan model offers a very simplified (and unbureaucratic) correction to scanner overcharges. In fact, many Arizona Republicans have supported the consumer-friendly bill, viewing it as an opportunity to shave a layer of bureaucracy from the state apparatus. Nine of the 10 sponsors of HB 2665 are Republicans.

Now, if we could just figure out a way to charge credit card companies a late fee for mailing the bills late…

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