GOVERNOR PATRICK SIGNS NEW PRICING OPTION LAW FOR FOOD STORES

- Monday, July 09, 2012

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• Article 429 : Big Y Donates $75,000 to Superstorm Sandy and American Red Cross Disaster Relief
• Article 431 : CREDIT CARD LITIGATION UPDATE:
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• Article 436 : MFA Newscan January 21, 2013
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• Article 478 : MFA NEWSCAN UPDATE MARCH 11, 2013
• Article 480 : MASSACHUSETTS FOOD ASSOCIATION NEWS SCAN UPDATE 4/1/13

On Tuesday, July 3, 2012 Governor Patrick signed into law legislation that will allow food stores to apply for an option to utilize technology for price disclosure to increase price accuracy. (Chapter 138 of the Acts of 2012)

“This new law does not do away with the requirement that food stores place price stickers on items they sell, but merely creates an option for them to instead utilize technology throughout their stores for price disclosure” said Christopher Flynn, President of the Massachusetts Food Association, a trade association that represents the Commonwealth’s grocery and supermarket industry.

“Massachusetts was the last state in the nation to require price stickers on most items sold in a food store” said Mr. Flynn.  “Now if they wish they can annually apply for a waiver to the sticker requirements and utilize today’s technology to increase pricing accuracy, as long as certain consumer and employment conditions are met.  If they don’t wish to meet the requirements of the waiver, they can continue to follow the state’s present pricing laws.”

Massachusetts food stores were at a competitive disadvantage with other bordering states and other retailers that do not require a price sticker on items they sell.  The sticker requirement left room for human error, with fines as high as $200 per item for a missing or mispriced sticker.  The new law now allows them to utilize the same technology that non-food stores and out of state supermarkets use to disclose an item’s price.

Under the new law, a food store will have to sign a yearly affidavit that there will be no job loss due to the implementation of this technology in lieu of stickers, and meet several stringent requirements to protect consumers or face fines and lose the ability to utilize the technology.  They would also have to revert back to placing stickers on items they sell.

“This is a win-win situation for consumers, with the benefit of more accurate pricing and less human error of price disclosure in food stores” said Mr. Flynn.  “Other states such as Connecticut that have allowed this price disclosure technology have received no consumer complaints while increasing price accuracy for shoppers in their supermarkets.”

The law will go into effect on January 1, 2013.