Tag Switching

[Summerfly413]

I had a couple browse around my department for a little while, then they came to my register to check out. They had a large floor rug, that was it.

It had a clearance sticker, as well as a sign saying it was on clearance for $50. The clearance sign said it was normally $99. Also on the sign was the brand of the rug, which was correct.

I rung it up, and instead of $50, it rang up on sale at $75.99. When items are on sale an 'A' shows up next to the price, while clearance items show nothing, the same as normal priced items.

I was suspicious at that point. Obviously it wasn't on clearance. I was debating with myself to just go check the price(the rugs are right next to my department), or just call a manager.

I asked them "Did this rug come from right over there?" pointing at some rugs that were on sale. I knew the clearance rugs were behind the aisle I was pointing at and I couldn't see them, but I'd never seen the rug I rang up on clearance.

They didn't respond and just stared at me.

I called my manager, who got her fancy price gun to scan it. The normal price was $79.99(my computer only shows the sale price, not the price it was before).

So I told the customers "Oh, sorry, it's not on clearance. Did you still want it for $80?"(Don't remember the exact price after tax).

They said no and just left, not putting up a fight to my surprise.

I like tag switchers, they're easier to catch than someone switching packaging or something.

[casey13]

At least they were somewhat smarter than the last rug tag switcher I saw. Someone pulled the plastic covering off of a small back-to-school 3x5 rug and stuck it underneath the plastic covering on a larger rug that was about 10x15 or something like that. It looked stupid.

Do your clearance signs have a barcode on them?

[Summerfly413]

No, the signs have the clearance price, original price, and size and name(in the case of the rug). I think it has a KSN and department number, but all I could do with that is see the department(which I already knew) and the price(which I also knew).

[bainsidhe]

Around back to school time, Hellmart would sell cheapo rugs for dorm rooms at around $20. Someone checked out and was upset to learn their much-nicer rug was $100 and I wouldn't honor the $20 price. They claimed it was in the $20 bin, which is highly possible. Too many lazy customer toss things into bins because they're too lazy to walk one isle over. This is a common problem and really, not our fault. It can be misleading, but it is NOT false advertising and we try to correct the problem when we can. Besides, the customer should have suspected something was wrong because the $20 rugs are seriously cheap-looking.

The worst tag-switchers I encountered was when Media Play was closing their doors. Someone would take a box set and place a completely non-related tag on it, trying to get a super great price. Cashiers got in the habit of scanning the actual UPC instead of price stickers, because theft was rampant. So many SCs felt that store liquidation gave them the right to steal.

[ShinyGreenApple]

At least they were a little smarter than my first tag switcher. He took the sticker off of a $1.50 camping plate and stuck it on a George Foreman grill. He also took a 50 cent sticker and put it on an expensive kitchen knife set.

[mattm04]

MY first tag switched switched the UPC tag on the bottom, but not the tag on the top which had the correct item ad price. It was obvious when I scanned it and the register said..."CHEAP ITEM...2.99" and the Item I was holding said "GOURMET ITEM..10.99"