Pet-supply stores have high price-error rates
7:39 PM 7/29/03
Jason Stein Business reporter

Three area pet-supply stores are giving customers the wrong prices at the checkout scanner, racking up error rates as high as 16 percent, a state official said Tuesday.

In all, the state Division of Trade and Consumer Protection raised concerns about scanner mistakes at 11 stores from five Wisconsin pet-supply chains.

The errors were detected as part of a survey in which state and city inspectors checked stores from nine retail chains to see if their scanners made mistakes by giving prices that were higher or lower than those listed in store aisles, consumer protection administrator Jim Rabbitt said.

As a group, the stores had a 5.8 percent error rate with an average overcharge of $1.75. Pet World Warehouse Outlet, 2148 W. Beltline, had an error rate of 16 percent.

"That's a pretty high percentage of missed prices. That's one of the ones we're concerned about," Rabbitt said.

Todd Hanson, a manager at Pet World, said there could be a lag time of one day before a price change in a company computer system was reflected in store aisles. Pet World has signed an agreement with state regulators to correct the problem and will be checking its prices twice as often, Hanson said.

"Nobody wants to wrong somebody. That's not the nature of our business," he said.

Two other stores in south central Wisconsin had error rates higher than the 2 percent limit allowed by state regulators - Petsmart, 2216 E. Springs Drive, and Petco of Janesville.

Jaye Perricone, vice president of customer service for Petsmart, said her company had increased employee training and the frequency of pricing audits at its Madison store to respond to the finding.

Pam Magnuson, general manager for Petco's Janesville store, said that the majority of her store's mistakes were for undercharging customers.

"I think we do a pretty good job of getting prices" right, said Magnuson, who estimated that her store made 1,500 to 2,000 price changes each week.

Several area stores passed the price inspection, including Animart at 5235 High Crossing Blvd., Mounds Pet Food Warehouse at 2110 S. Stoughton Road and in Janesville, and Preferred Pets in Janesville.