The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services(NCDA&CS) has fined four stores — in Forsyth, Mecklenburg, and Moore counties — for price scanning errors.
“Scanner errors cost consumers money,” Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said in a press release. “With the holiday season approaching fast, our Standards Division remains vigilant in inspecting stores across the state to ensure consumers are not being taken advantage of.”
The NCDA&CS periodically conducts surprise inspections of businesses’ price scanner systems to check for accuracy between the advertised prices and the prices that ring up at the register. If there is more than a 2 percent error rate on overcharges, the store manager and the inspectors discuss the results, and a more in-depth follow-up inspection is conducted later. Undercharges are also reported but do not count against a store.
If the store fails, follow-up inspection penalties are assessed. In addition to penalties, stores in violation are subject to re-inspection every 60 days from the last inspection until the store meets an error rate of 2 percent or less. If the store fails re-inspection, additional penalties may be applied.
In the third quarter of 2024, the following four civil penalties were recorded.
Family Dollar (Forsyth County) at 1425 Waughtown St. in Winston-Salem was fined $10,000 in quarter three for two failed inspections – one in July and one in September. An error rate of 4.33 percent on 13 overcharges on 300 item lots was found upon both inspections. This follows an initial inspection of the store in November 2022, which saw an error rate of 22 percent for 11 overcharges in a 50-item lot. Error rates ranging from 8.67 percent to 4.33 percent on overcharges in 300-item lots were found during follow-up inspections in January, April, June, and August, as well as in October of 2023.
Also in Forsyth County, Circle K at 1400 Union Cross Road in Kernersville was fined $1,140 after failing inspection in August. Six overcharges on a 100-item lot had a six-percent error rate. This is in addition to the initial inspection in May, which found three overcharges on a 25-item lot with an error rate of 12 percent. The store will be re-inspected.
A Family Dollar (Mecklenburg County) at 4455 Central Ave. in Charlotte was fined $4,340 in quarter three for failed inspections. The initial inspection in June found a 5 percent error rate on five overcharges on a 100-item lot. A follow-up inspection in July found an 8 percent error rate for 24 overcharges on a 300-item lot. Another inspection in September found an error rate of 4.67 percent for 14 overcharges on a 300-item lot. The store will be reinspected.
Advanced Auto Parts (Moore County) at 1800 North Sandhills Blvd. in Aberdeen was fined $495 after failing inspection in July. The initial inspection in June found three overcharges at an error rate of 6 percent on 50 items. A follow-up inspection in July found nine overcharges at an error rate of 3 percent on a 300-item lot. The store was fined $495. The store passed inspection in September with a zero-percent error rate.
The NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services urges shoppers to pay attention for discrepancies between advertised prices and product costs at check out.