5 ms·

If it's just a mistake then they are not bound to sell it for that price. Especially if everyone else can easily recognize it as a simple mistake of where the d

If it's just a mistake then they are not bound to sell it for that price. Especially if everyone else can easily recognize it as a simple mistake of where the decimal is.

civilized 5y ago
Some states have laws [1] to this effect: > The store must honor the price in the advertisement, even if it is wrong, until they correct the misrepresentation using the same advertising medium and/or by corrective signs in the store. > Items sold in a grocery store must ring up at the lowest displayed price. Food stores that are in the waiver program must offer consumers one of the items free if it scans higher than the lowest advertised price. [1] https://www.mass.gov/guides/a-massachusetts-consumer-guide-to-shopping-rights https://www.mass.gov/guides/a-massachusetts-consumer-guide-t...
- orangepanda 5y ago
  How does that work with sales tax not being included in the displayed price?
  - civilized 5y ago
    The website is an explanation of the law, not the actual law itself. I'm sure the actual law does not require sales tax to be included in the displayed price.
  - stonemetal12 5y ago
    Since he specifically mentions grocery stores, groceries aren't taxed.
    - mminer237 5y ago
      TIL that's a thing. Illinois has a lower tax rate on groceries but still taxes them. Also, grocery stores sell a lot more than just groceries.
      - stonemetal12 5y ago
        Cool, TIL grocery taxes exist.
      - bombcar 5y ago
        State sales tax laws are all over the place; in many states the general idea is "don't tax necessities" which leads to silly things like buying a sandwich is tax free (like socks in Minnesota), but if you ask them to warm up the sandwich BEFORE sale it is taxed. If you ask them to warm up YOUR sandwich after sale, it's tax-free.
    - irrational 5y ago
      Or it could be a state like Oregon where there is no sales tax on anything.
- andrewf 5y ago
  Is this actually a misrepresentation? Does anybody reading the sign not understand what it's trying to communicate?
  - metadat 5y ago
    The sign is perpetuating the idiocracy epidemic.
    - simulate-me 5y ago
      Which interpretation is idiotic? Being able to take in complex signals from the environment and form an instructive opinion is the foundation of human ingenuity. Given that the bananas obviously aren't on sale for $0.0019, it seems idiotic to me ignore alternative explanations for the sign.
      - moate 5y ago
        >> Given that the bananas obviously aren't on sale for $0.0019, it seems idiotic to me ignore alternative explanations for the sign. "It's a banana Michael. What could it cost, 10 dollars?!" You say "obvious" but I don't think that means what you think that means. Why is it obvious? Why would it be impossible that a store sells bananas at a loss in order to pull people in (what people in sales call a "loss leader")? If you don't buy bananas regularly, why couldn't you assume this is just a great deal? If there were a sign advertising 5 bananas for a penny (or whatever) with no asterisk, fine print, or mention that "terms may apply", I would be livid if I couldn't take advantage of that price.
        simulate-me 5y ago
        I'm only speaking from my own personal experience, but I've never seen bananas priced at less than 1c each in the grocery store. I've also seen people misplace decimal points frequently. So, based on the thousands of times I've been to dozens of grocery stores, I'm using pattern matching to deduce that almost assuredly it's more likely that a banana listed as costing "0.19c" refers to $0.19 not $0.0019. If you ever encounter a true sub-cent banana in a retail supermarket, feel free to reach out to me and I'll be the first to admit I was wrong.
johnklos 5y ago
It's not a mistake if they do it repeatedly and they continue to do it even after they're made aware of it.
sibit 5y ago
IANAL but I did spend the past year working for a company that generated and printed strips and sale tags for several major retailers across the US. We had to be pretty careful with our security because if someone accessed our system and generated a sale tag offering high-end items for $1 our customers (stores) would be obligated to sell the item for the price displayed on the sign/tag.

If it's just a mistake then they are not bound to sell it for that price. Especially if everyone else can easily recognize it as a simple mistake of where the decimal is.

civilized 5y ago

Some states have laws [1] to this effect: > The store must honor the price in the advertisement, even if it is wrong, until they correct the misrepresentation using the same advertising medium and/or by corrective signs in the store. > Items sold in a grocery store must ring up at the lowest displayed price. Food stores that are in the waiver program must offer consumers one of the items free if it scans higher than the lowest advertised price. [1] https://www.mass.gov/guides/a-massachusetts-consumer-guide-to-shopping-rights https://www.mass.gov/guides/a-massachusetts-consumer-guide-t...

orangepanda 5y ago
How does that work with sales tax not being included in the displayed price?
- civilized 5y ago
  The website is an explanation of the law, not the actual law itself. I'm sure the actual law does not require sales tax to be included in the displayed price.
- stonemetal12 5y ago
  Since he specifically mentions grocery stores, groceries aren't taxed.
  - mminer237 5y ago
    TIL that's a thing. Illinois has a lower tax rate on groceries but still taxes them. Also, grocery stores sell a lot more than just groceries.
    - stonemetal12 5y ago
      Cool, TIL grocery taxes exist.
    - bombcar 5y ago
      State sales tax laws are all over the place; in many states the general idea is "don't tax necessities" which leads to silly things like buying a sandwich is tax free (like socks in Minnesota), but if you ask them to warm up the sandwich BEFORE sale it is taxed. If you ask them to warm up YOUR sandwich after sale, it's tax-free.
  - irrational 5y ago
    Or it could be a state like Oregon where there is no sales tax on anything.
andrewf 5y ago
Is this actually a misrepresentation? Does anybody reading the sign not understand what it's trying to communicate?
- metadat 5y ago
  The sign is perpetuating the idiocracy epidemic.
  - simulate-me 5y ago
    Which interpretation is idiotic? Being able to take in complex signals from the environment and form an instructive opinion is the foundation of human ingenuity. Given that the bananas obviously aren't on sale for $0.0019, it seems idiotic to me ignore alternative explanations for the sign.
    - moate 5y ago
      >> Given that the bananas obviously aren't on sale for $0.0019, it seems idiotic to me ignore alternative explanations for the sign. "It's a banana Michael. What could it cost, 10 dollars?!" You say "obvious" but I don't think that means what you think that means. Why is it obvious? Why would it be impossible that a store sells bananas at a loss in order to pull people in (what people in sales call a "loss leader")? If you don't buy bananas regularly, why couldn't you assume this is just a great deal? If there were a sign advertising 5 bananas for a penny (or whatever) with no asterisk, fine print, or mention that "terms may apply", I would be livid if I couldn't take advantage of that price.
      - simulate-me 5y ago
        I'm only speaking from my own personal experience, but I've never seen bananas priced at less than 1c each in the grocery store. I've also seen people misplace decimal points frequently. So, based on the thousands of times I've been to dozens of grocery stores, I'm using pattern matching to deduce that almost assuredly it's more likely that a banana listed as costing "0.19c" refers to $0.19 not $0.0019. If you ever encounter a true sub-cent banana in a retail supermarket, feel free to reach out to me and I'll be the first to admit I was wrong.

johnklos 5y ago

It's not a mistake if they do it repeatedly and they continue to do it even after they're made aware of it.

sibit 5y ago

IANAL but I did spend the past year working for a company that generated and printed strips and sale tags for several major retailers across the US. We had to be pretty careful with our security because if someone accessed our system and generated a sale tag offering high-end items for $1 our customers (stores) would be obligated to sell the item for the price displayed on the sign/tag.