Don’t let scan scams steal your holiday cheer

The holiday season arrives, as inescapable as the tick of the clock, bearing with it an intricate dance of joy, obligation, and the quiet dread of commerce.

The streets teem with hurried figures, each one clinging to a wallet or purse, not as an instrument of exchange, but as a fragile barrier against the unseen forces waiting to exploit their haste.

For the holiday shopper, vigilance is not merely advisable—it is essential. Among the fluorescent-lit aisles and polished floors of retail establishments, the cold precision of cash registers and price scanners hides a darker truth. Imperfection—mechanical or human—is woven into the system. Errors, invisible to the careless eye, lurk behind promises of cheer and bargains.

Consider this: inspectors from the Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures scour the county’s shops year-round, examining the mechanisms of commerce with meticulous care. Over 1,420 businesses and 21,400 scanning devices are scrutinized annually. Even so, errors persist. From January to October of this year alone, nearly 20% of businesses inspected were found guilty of overcharging—a statistic both alarming and strangely inevitable.

Check those prices, many are wrong./File

The overcharges themselves are modest, almost laughable in their insignificance. A mere $1.52, on average, siphoned from each unsuspecting consumer. But what is $1.52? A rounding error? A fragment of a dollar? Or a harbinger of systemic betrayal? Multiply this figure across a season, a city, or a nation, and its weight grows. The cumulative effect is a quiet hemorrhaging of trust, a reminder that even the smallest indignities, repeated endlessly, can erode the fabric of our collective goodwill.

What, then, is the modern shopper to do? To shop is to submit to a labyrinthine process, to navigate a world where every price tag and every beep of a scanner could conceal deceit. To escape unscathed demands both strategy and suspicion.

Begin with awareness. Watch the display screens as your items are scanned; do not rely on the benevolence of the machine. Carry advertisements to verify that the prices promised are the prices charged. Know the law: stores must honor their lowest advertised, posted, or quoted price. Should discrepancies arise, confront them immediately—failure to act only emboldens the system.

But protection extends beyond prices. Plan your journey through this maze. Make lists, study advertisements, and compare options relentlessly. Spread your purchases over time, adhering to a strict budget to avoid succumbing to the seductive chaos of holiday sales. The illusion of urgency is a trap; patience is your armor.

And if the system betrays you, as it so often does, do not suffer in silence. Use the tools at your disposal: report unresolved errors through the County’s Tell Us Now app or contact the authorities directly. For in a world where even the scales are weighted against you, your voice may be the only force capable of restoring balance.

The holiday season demands not only your money but also your resolve. Check your receipts; check them again. In doing so, you reclaim a small measure of control in an otherwise indifferent machine.

Here are some other tips to help you shop smartly and safely:

Protect Against Overcharging:

• Always verify receipts and immediately notify store management of any price discrepancies.
• Stores are required to display the price of an item, as you are buying it, before the transaction is complete. Watch the display screen as your items are scanned.
• Take sales advertisements with you when shopping to verify prices.
• Know that stores cannot legally charge more than their lowest advertised, posted or quoted price.

Shop Smart:

• Plan ahead. Start watching for store sale flyers, flea markets, garage sales, clearance sales, etc.
• Make a list of what you need.
• Comparison shop with at least five different sources for the best values.
• Don’t buy everything at once. Establish a spending plan and timetable to buy what you need over several weeks or months to take full advantage of future sales and true bargains.
• Download and use the County’s Tell Us Now app to contact Agriculture, Weights and Measures, or call AWM at 1-888-TRUE SCAN (1-888-878-3722) or email to wm.awm@sdcounty.ca.gov to report overcharges you can’t resolve with a store.

For more information, go to Agriculture, Weights and Measure’s Consumer Protection webpage. And you can check out our archived video about scanner inspection program.