Scanner Overcharges Put at $480 Million

California consumers are being overcharged by more than $480 million annually by retail checkout scanners, as the rate of errors has increased, a state agency reported.

The Department of Food and Agriculture said a survey of 300 supermarkets and other retail outlets turned up pricing errors on 3.7% of items checked.

Dennis Johannes, program director for the department, said mistakes cost consumers an average of 22 cents for every $100 spent at retail stores--an amount totaling $484 million a year. “It may not seem like a lot of money to each individual, but it adds up to a pretty big amount,” he said.

Johannes said markets alone account for $114 million of the estimated overcharges. He based his estimate on retail sales reported for California in a 1992 Commerce Department survey.

A representative of the California Grocers Assn., a trade group representing supermarket chains, was unavailable for comment.

The survey, which is conducted every two years, covered food, discount, drug, auto parts and building supply stores. The overall error rate increased from 1994, when mistakes were found on 3.3% of items checked.

Johannes said the problem has worsened in the wake of budget cuts that have reduced the number of county weights-and-measures inspectors. The staff in Los Angeles County has been reduced to 35 from 80 in 1980, for example.

Despite budget cuts, the error rate in California is lower than the national rate of 4.82% reported by the Federal Trade Commission in October.

A state bill that would have assessed retailers up to $750 per store to finance a scanner inspection program was defeated last year. Johannes said there is talk of resurrecting the measure.

Separately, the Los Angeles County Bureau of Weights and Measures announced Tuesday that Chief Auto Parts had agreed to pay $34,732 in fines, penalties and costs to settle allegations that it overcharged consumers at 34 stores.

In addition, those locations, representing more than half the Chief Auto Parts stores in the country, were placed on three years’ probation, county officials said.

A representative of Dallas-based Chief Auto Parts was unavailable for comment.

According to the state survey, auto supply stores were error-prone, with overcharges occurring at about half of the 33 stores surveyed. The costliest mistakes for consumers occurred at drugstores, where overcharges averaged 48 cents per every $100 in purchases.