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Egay Uy

 

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MY son Jose and I shopped at a supermarket the other day.  Among other items, we bought one can of seasoned bread crumbs which was on display and priced at P81.50.  At the cashier, I estimated the total purchase we made at less than P1 thousand.

To my surprise however, the cash register showed I had to pay more than P1,400.  I recall having seen an item priced at more than P400 as encoded by the cashier. So I checked.

It turned out that the repacked tamban dried fish that was supposed to cost only P24.25 was registered at an “increased” price of more than P200.  After verifying that there was an error in the manual encoding by the cashier, the error was rectified right there and then.

After I paid the total amount of P710.50, we checked the cash register ribbon or official receipt.  It was when my son Jose noted that the price of the can of bread crumbs was priced at P99.50.

He recalled that the price in the display shelf was only P81.50.  He then rushed back to the shelf and took a photo of the display and the shelf price tag. I also took a photo of the official receipt.

The cashier called the supervisor who rectified the error, explaining that the prices of their goods were already adjusted upward by their Manila office so their cash registers already reflected the increased price.

I told the supervisor that they should update their shelf prices because customers could be misled into paying more than what they think they were buying.

What the supervisor did was considered the price of the bread crumbs to be at P81.50 (old price as shown in the shelf price tag) even as the supposed price already increased.  This is consistent with Section 81 of the Consumer Act of the Philippines (RA 7394).

The supervisor added that they will charge the difference of P18 to the merchandiser for not immediately updating the shelf price tag of the item.

I asked the supervisor if they would really charge the difference to the employee.  When he answered yes, I told him, “Dili nako kuhaon ning deperensya nga P18 kung imo man lang pabayron ang empleyado pero seguroha ninyo nga updated inyong price tags para dili maglibog inyong mga customer.”

I was amazed at how quick the supervisor had to say that the difference would be charged to the employee. I have heard reports of stores immediately charging costs to their employees whenever errors are committed, which are probably done without due process.  In their lingo it is usually called “voucher-an.”

The Department of Labor and Employment may have to look into this practice.

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