WHAT HEELS: Thumb On The Scale
A two-month undercover operation by the Los Angeles County Department of Weights and Measures has resulted in misdemeanor criminal charges against the Ralphs supermarket chain and its parent company Kroger Co. for have been criminally charged were charged Tuesday with overcharging customers on prepackaged and weighed products such as fried chicken, bulk coffee, salads and fish, false advertising and false labeling, reports the Los Angeles Times:
[I]nspectors visited 14 Los Angeles Ralphs locations and found 27 overcharge violations, officials said.
"Ralphs is taking money out of their customers' pockets," said Deputy City Atty. Don Cocek, who filed and is prosecuting the case. "It might just be 95 cents, but if you add that up over the number of stores they have times the number of times they sell that item times 365 days a days a year, this becomes a huge ripoff."
Many of the charges were for stores illegally charging for the weight of an item's packaging or for including the ice glaze on frozen products, such as fish, in the net weight. Many prepackaged items were also found to be under the labeled weight, officials said. …
The lawsuit lists 14 counts of false and misleading advertising, 18 counts of unlawful computation of value, nine counts of selling prepackaged commodities in less quantity than represented and 18 counts of false labeling.
The chain, which was fined $6,500 in 2008 and $10,400 last year for similar violations, could face new penalties of up to $256,000. Kroger may also get socked with a six-figure penalty.
Comments