Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the House on January 27, 2011

Click here to view bill details.

 I believe the item pricing is a great thing. I think it will help the economy because I know several people that feel if they pick up an item at a store that they may be considering purchasing and it doesn't have a price available will just put it down rather then go searching for a store associate to check the price. It would be fine if the price is posted on the shelf but that's not always the case. I think that the price of an item should be posted by law even if not on every item.

This law has been most helpful is shopping at any and all stores. Even with the law, some items remain unpriced. Please do not repeal this law.

However, if it is repealed, then there MUST be a replacement law that prices MUST be posted (with fines if not) for the shelving. Clothing and other ambiguous items MUST still be required to be individually marked.

As a consumer, I purchase more because I know the price and I don't need to ask. Previous to this law, I would leave without making a purchase if I couldn't determine the price without assistance.

And the Governor pays off his debt to the grocer's lobby.

Old one-term Rick is toast.  Ditto for majority Republicans.  Trample item-pricing today.  Destroy the budget tomorrow.  You can have the most business-friendly state in America, but if nobody wants to live here, what good's it going to do?

 This is one of the dumbest bills ever. Meijer has not been pricing things for years. Larger signs are not placed in front of the correct items. Smaller labels 1" X 2" are hard to find, they are either not there or not in front of the correct item.  You have no idea of the cost until you get to the register. Then you don't know if that is the real price when it scans because of the few items that are priced the price on the item scans at a different price than what the item is marked. I do not have enough time to hunt down the price checker scanners located in the store which do not work most of the time. How is anyone to know if they are being ripped off at the register? Believe me Meijer is notorious for marking items one price and when scanned at the register the item rings up a higher price. Then you have to argue with the cashier because they don't believe you. If items were individually priced the consumers would know if they are being ripped off at the register. This is one of the main reasons I do not shop at Meijer.

It's about time that this retarded law was stricken down. First off all this law does is show how stupid the legislature thinks people are. Are you serious that you can't look at the shelf and read the description and understand if what your holding is the same thing?  I've worked retail for 15 years and I gotta say I am thrilled that this archaic law is being pushed towards repeal.  I understand that some things will be put in the wrong place..but I got news for you that's usually the customer that doesn't care that someone else has to clean up after them.  I am pretty sure some items will still need to be priced...and it will make it harder for dishonest people to pull price tags off one product and place on another to get a "mispriced" item discount..and yes it does happen. Hell most people don't understand the law in the first place.

 I went to Meijers last week and they had a pallet of tissue in the center isle.  There was various size and kinds of Meijers, Puffs and Kleenex tissue and not a price on a single item. 

The sign above it said "From $1.00"   We don't need things to be worse then they are now!

The scanner was on the other side of the store and I cannot see taking each item over there.  I am not going to buy a $300-500 phone with a scanner app.  So how am I going to know how much something cost?  I guess I waste my time taking thing to the front and having the clerk put them back because I don't have enough money to pay for the groceries.  This law will also be responsible for laying people in the food industry off, when we need them in there paying taxes that support road repair, salt on the roads, etc.  Now they will just be taking from the system.

The only retard here is SNYDER.  Obviously not a man who has ever shopped on a budget.

Just wondering out there...how much money does a person have to make before they don't care how much something costs and just put it in their cart?

 I guess you want it to get worse.

I went to Meijers last week and they had a pallet of tissue.  There was various size and kinds of Meijers tissue, various size and kinds of Puff tissues, various size and kinds of Kleenex tissue and not a price on a single item.  The sign above it said "From $1.00"  The scanner on the other side of the store and I cannot see taking each item over there.  I am not going to buy a $300-500 phone with a scanner app.  (sorry Verizon or whomever) So how am I going to know how much something is?  I guess I waste my time taking thing to the front and having the clerk put them back because I don't have enough money to pay for the groceries.  This law also lays people in the food industry off

Responding to And that's how the Governor pays off his debt to the grocery lobby.  Many of us think this.  Why would he chose to put something like this in his address? 

 Laying people off will have absolutely no impact on taxes not going to road repair, salt, etc.   Income taxes go to the general fund and not to roads.    Gas taxes are used for roads in the State of Michigan.  Sorry to have to destroy your point but that is how it works.  

 Because it adds unnecessary cost to the business that is strapped with unnecessary burdensome governmental regulations.  Checkers dont read the itemized prices on the product.   They are scanned to reduce time spent at the checkout counter.   This reduces cost to the retailer and helps keep products priced reasonably.   Like it or not businessess do not price these items for free.    They pass the cost on to you the consumer.   The more costs that are eliminated the cheaper the product is to you.   You should be thrilled about this unnecessary regulation being eliminated.

Here's a thought for all of you who are opposed to this law because you think stores won't post prices clearly; don't shop at places that don't post prices clearly.  Individual item pricing drives costs up for consumers and I don't like paying more than I have too.  It's about time you all take responsibility for yourselves and learn to shop without relying on the false security of a nanny government!

So what if all or most of the stores decide not post prices? Basic consumer protection laws are not "nanny state" or "socialist". The commerical sector needs rules, too.

This is a good repeal. The law was outdated. Item pricing was so that people didn't get ripped of at the regester with employees entering in the price by hand. Nowdays, most stores are run by computer where the item is scanned where inventory and price go on the screen.

Plus, if your a smart shopper who always checks prices and your getting ripped off somewhere, you won't continue to shop there. It is in the best intrest of the shop to sell items at a lower price so that you return to the business. Any business(wo)men will tell you it takes 5x the money and effort to get new costumers than to keep old ones.

joethecabdriver:

The commerical sector needs rules, too.

The commercial sector has rules.  They are called the rules of supply and demand.  If having prices posted is important to consumers, it means there is a demand for stores who price products.  When there is a demand in a free market, it is ALWAYS filled.

 

Your statement "Item pricing was so that people didn't get ripped of at the regester with employees entering in the price by hand." is incorrect. Item pricing was instituted because the barcode industry was in it's infancy and was unreliable in scanning the code. The system is now better and more convienent, however the pricing is still put in a data base by someone manually which allows for human error. The people who stock the shelves will still have a job, but the person who enters the stock into the retailers system and assigns the profit margin to the product can and still will make mistakes leaving the consumer at the mercy of the retailer. Also there is also a law in Michigan which protects the consumer which will now be unenforceable because the consumer will not know if the scanned price is correct. Once again, business has leveraged their will against the people through poor legislation.

it wouldn't do you any good to have a scanner app anyway when it comes to item pricing in a store, you would need access to their inventory database which I'm sure Meijers is not going to make an app for.

I'll bet you do a lot of shopping at Walmart too eh? Good thing they buy most of their goods from China to save you and your neighbors lots of money and jobs.. 

Too bad this failed. Whether you support item pricing or not, it would have been beneficial to find if employment from this remained the same, increased, or decreased. This is a change that will impact employment. It's foolish not to find out how.

 

BobBobb:

You can have the most business-friendly state in America, but if nobody wants to live here, what good's it going to do?

I'll want to live here.

 

bourner:

Whether you support item pricing or not, it would have been beneficial to find if employment from this remained the same, increased, or decreased.

It's irrelevant.  It probably will reduce the number of employees needed to put stickers on cans of peaches.  The cost of those employees will be reflected in savings to consumers which will be passed on to their families who will now be able to afford college for their children who will then be able create new companies that employ many more people in jobs that pay more than what it pays to put stickers on cans of peaches. 

If the objective is full employment, why not pass a law banning excavators?  Then when we build roads we can employ our kids with jobs digging ditches with shovels.  And hey, if that doesn't create enough jobs, we can pass a law banning shovels and make them dig ditches with spoons!

I really do try to be civil hear but, really, have any of you read anything about economics other than perhaps Karl Marx?  The ignorance of basic economics here is mind boggling and the fact that we have elected representatives that introduce bills like this drivel is even more so.

 

 

Really? You think we're going to save enough on those cans of peaches to put our kids through college? Whole new companies are going to come into existence because we saved a couple cents on chicken noodle soup? I guess I don't disagree with your overall point, but it's this kind of hyperbole--on both sides--that make issues like this difficult to discuss in a civil manner.

 I never shop at Walmarts...don't assume.

I shop at Krogers, they have union employees.

changeagent:

It probably will reduce the number of employees needed to put stickers on cans of peaches.  The cost of those employees will be reflected in savings to consumers which will be passed on to their families who will now be able to afford college for their children who will then be able create new companies that employ many more people in jobs that pay more than what it pays to put stickers on cans of peaches. 

Really? You mean the grocery stores will lower the price of food because they don't have to mark the products? They won't just pocket the savings?

gypsy:

Really? You mean the grocery stores will lower the price of food because they don't have to mark the products? They won't just pocket the savings?

Grocery stores have to compete and they have to profitable.  They will keep as much savings in profit as they can get away with.  The funny thing about competition is that it eventually forces them to lower prices because their competitor did so in an attempt to take more market share.  By increasing market share they can increase the amount of profit while actually lowering prices.

 I like regulations.  They keep people honest.  Well, some people.  Right now there is almost no one watching our meat supply in Michigan.  We could be eating sickly chicken and worse, giving it to our children.  I like clean water.  I like the bridges checked out now and then to make sure they are not going to fall on the cars below.  If I were one of the governors neighbors in A2, I would like to put an outhouse in my yard (if you listened to this years State of the State address)  next to the Govenors patio where he has his BBQs.  There are reasons they made laws for outhouses.  Why doesn't anyone check this stuff out before getting rid of a regulation?  What brought the law/regulation about is important too.

 ME TOO and for the same reason!

So what are the exceptions you were referring to? I thought that this law is active for a long time, I guess I was wrong. I wonder what kind of impact will this have on the free classified ads pricing politics...

I agree that there "must be a replacement law that prices MUST be posted for the shelving". When I was buying NFL Jerseys for my son I noticed all the clothing from a store were individually marked and I liked that, when I enter a store and they don`t do that I am very confused about the prices and usually exit the store without buying anything because I need to know the exact price.