The price control police are on alert and may be coming to a grocery store near you. That is because today the Bureau of Standards began inspecting grocery stores in the city to check if you are getting what you paid for. 7NEWS accompanied them on one such inspection this afternoon and Keith Swift has the story.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This bag of brown sugar says it weighs 3 pounds but it actually only weighs 2.97 pounds – a small difference but it means the consumer isn’t getting what he or she has paid for. Might not sound like much but to Luis Cho from the Bureau of Standards says it is.
Luis Cho, Technical Assistant - Bureau of Standards
“This is necessary in order for the consumer to actually get what they are paying for because they are spending their money so what we’re basically looking at is the consumer’s interest – that they are getting what they are supposed to be paying for.”
And to ensure you do, Cho does random inspections. He did one this afternoon at the Popular Supermarket – a new store opened in July on Central American Boulevard. Cho had all he needed in this kit - these are weights amounting to 40 pounds which he used to test the scales. The scale next to the cash register was up to mark and so was the scale in the back room –where flour, rice, and sugar are weighed and bagged.
He then headed into the supermarket where he found most bags off by a fraction or two of a pound which is within the margin of error but still unacceptable.
Luis Cho,
“We won’t want to short the customer a couple ounces when you are charging for the net weight, whether it be one pound, two pound. That is what I am checking for, that the persons actually weigh in the correct amount and it is priced at that price and the person actually gets what he is paying for.”
Keith Swift,
What have you guys been finding?
Luis Cho,
“Well I would say majority of the time is that the items are less than what they are supposed to be.”
Keith Swift,
So customers are being cheated out of goods?
Luis Cho,
“To a certain extent but as I told the merchants, they need to be consistent in their weighing because if you notice just now I went through some items and some are correct and some are not.”
And that is probably why there was low consumer confidence in the shoppers we spoke to.
Keith Swift,
Are you concerned that when you go pick up a bag of rice and it says 5 pounds that it is 5 pounds?
Shopper #1,
“No I never check so I don’t know if it really has 5 pounds in there. I just go on the number that’s written on it and all those things.”
Keith Swift,
You trust them that they will give you what it says on the package?
Shopper #1,
“Well no because everybody is smart. It looks like they set the scale and all and so if you even query it and you put it on the scale, you will see it has what they said but it doesn’t have that because they are doing the thing.”
Jules Vasquez,
You appreciate the fact that they are checking up?
Shopper #1,
“Well I like that because they might catch some of them with their pants down.”
Shopper #2,
“Certain stores, certain supermarkets you go I guess you have a little confidence sometimes that you are getting the correct amount but I don’t know because people do things with their scales and all kind of things right now so you don’t know what is what.”
Luis Cho says there were minor concerns at Popular Supermarket and the owners welcomed it.
Victor Nandwani, Popular Supermarket
“We prefer for them to feel good and can say this is the correct thing. Sometimes they come in and they want to check and I don’t mind, I say for them to come and let them know that we are selling the things correct. So it is very good, it is very good to know. They should do it with all the stores because people come to me and say at other stores they are not getting the correct amount and so it is very good and I don’t mind if they keep on checking.”
The inspections will continue of grocery stores will continue. If you have a consumer complaint you can contact the Bureau of Standards toll free at 0-800-2-TELL-US. The Bureau recently concluded inspections of gas stations in the city. Cho says they found no egregious violations although a few gas stations had their pumps locked until they were re-calibrated.
