Bait & Switch Wine Retail??

I was grocery shopping at my Kroger Superstore recently and I always peruse the wine selection. In the close-out shelf I saw a few discounted bottles including 2 Beringer 2015 Res. Chardonnays. Marked down to $32 from $50, I picked them up and went to the self-checkout. The woman overseeing the self-checkout could not scan them for the discounted price but could sell them for the $50 price. I did not understand her reasoning but may try again at customer service and at least try to get a better explaination!

It's probably simply that the discount price wasn't registered in the checkout system's database. I would hope that the self-checkout assistant reported the problem to management.

-Paul W.

Paul's explanation is most likely: over here if a supermarket checkout rings up a price higher than the shelf label says a manager is called and if the shelf does have a lower price then that price is honoured, no ifs.

Sometimes it's because the shelf price hasn't been updated at the end of a promotion and the manager will remove the lower price label, but the lower price is still honoured

[Jenise]

Exactly--just takes a manager's override. Been through that a few times.

Do self-checkout systems have the same management override capability as conventional cash registers? I don't use self-checkout.

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

Do self-checkout systems have the same management override capability as conventional cash registers? I don't use self-checkout.

-Paul W.

Yes, once you get someone to come over...just takes patience.

[Jenise]

What David said; it's just that (understandably) not everyone's entrusted with that superpower where alcohol's concerned.

The clerk should have called over a manager with override authority (and whoever marked down on shelf should have entered in system as well).

Not great service, they should honor the price (ethically and probably legally).
But doesn't resemble bait and switch (where you advertise an attractive price for an item to get the customer in the store, then try to switch them to another product, generally with higher margin).

At least in Massachusetts stores are required by law to honor the shelf or sticker price on an item.

One of the sketches in the Firesign Theatre CD Eat or Be Eaten involves a retail store called the Bait and Switch Shop. It sells worms and lighting control hardware.

-Paul W.