Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) is demanding answers from Kroger CEO Ronald Sargent in a recent letter regarding repeated instances of stores allegedly offering fake discounts, stating, "At a time when American families are facing high costs for essentials, unexpected food price increases can cause significant strain on family budgets."
According to Consumer Reports, many Kroger stores across 14 states have allegedly been charging customers full price for various items, including meat, vegetables, juice, rice, and alcohol, despite the products being advertised as on sale.
One-third of sales tags were kept on the products for ten days after discounts expired, while in five instances, products continued to be advertised as on sale 90 days after the original discount period ended.
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On average, customers were paying $1.70, or 18% more, than the product's listed price.
"At a time when American families are facing high costs for essentials, unexpected food price increases can cause significant strain on family budgets," Sen. Gallego said to Sargent, adding, "We write to urge you to create a plan with union partners to prevent overcharging from occurring in the future, compensate consumers who have been overcharged, and ensure sufficient staffing at stores to prevent overcharging."
Additionally, Sen. Gallego highlighted Kroger's apparent use of facial recognition software and digital price tags, which he said could facilitate surge pricing.
As a result, the Arizona Senator demanded that Sargent answer several questions addressing the overcharge issue, including whether Kroger was willing to possibly form a "tag integrity department" in partnership with affiliated labor unions and perhaps hire more staff to monitor sales more accurately.
Gallego also asked if Kroger would "commit to negotiating with union partners over hour increases for current union members and staffing level increases as part of present and future collective bargaining to prevent future overcharging issues" and if they would compensate customers who were wrongly overcharged.
