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Dollar-stores overcharge customers while promising low prices

(www.theguardian.com)
510 points bookofjoe | 2 comments | 07 Dec 25 14:37 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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JSR_FDED ◴[07 Dec 25 15:10 UTC] No.46182225[source]▶
23% of items are rung up at a higher amount at the register than what it says on the shelf, yet North Carolina law caps penalties at $5,000 per inspection, offering retailers little incentive to fix the problem.

In other words, regulatory capture at its finest, over the backs of the poorest in the country.

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gessha ◴[07 Dec 25 16:39 UTC] No.46182983[source]▶
What this calls for is an Amazon-style optimization of inspections. Given X inspectors and Y locations, what is the most optimal routing to optimize for coverage and penalty collection?
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1. terminalshort ◴[07 Dec 25 20:23 UTC] No.46184790[source]▶
Better optimization would be to make everybody an inspector. You catch a store doing it on video and report it to the agency, you get 50% of the fine.
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2. Paradigm2020 ◴[08 Dec 25 00:53 UTC] No.46187087[source]▶
In Australian supermarkets when the price of the item is wrong you get the item for free. (At least it was like that in 2011). Cashiers would run into the store to go fix the price tag.