When you grab something off the shelf because it’s on sale, you expect to pay that sale price at checkout. That’s not what’s been happening at some of the biggest grocery stores in America. A recent investigation found that shoppers at Kroger and several other major chains have been paying full price for items that were supposed to be on sale. The average person ended up paying about $1.70 extra per item, and when you’re buying groceries for a family, those overcharges add up fast. These pricing mistakes aren’t random either—they’ve been happening for years across hundreds of stores in more than a dozen states.
Sale tags stay up long after the sale ends
The biggest problem is simple but frustrating. Stores put up bright sale tags when items go on discount, but then those tags stay up long after the sale is over. You see the lower price on the shelf, put the item in your cart, and don’t realize until you check your receipt later that you paid more. One mom in Ohio bought pizzas for her family because they looked like a good deal. The pizzas were supposed to be on sale, and so was the minced garlic she grabbed. When she got home and looked at her receipt, she realized she’d been charged 25 percent extra for the pizzas and 60 percent extra for the garlic.
Investigators who looked into this problem found over 150 different items with expired sale tags. Some of these tags were only a few days old, but others had been sitting there for months. One product’s sale price was expired by more than 90 days. That means someone put up a sale tag three months ago, and nobody from the store bothered to take it down even though customers were getting charged the wrong price week after week. The investigation sent secret shoppers to 26 different stores in 14 states, and they found the same problem everywhere they looked.
Kroger stores across the country have this problem
If you shop at Kroger, you might think you can just switch to a different store. The problem is that Kroger owns way more stores than most people realize. When you shop at Harris Teeter, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, Ralphs, King Soopers, or Mariano’s, you’re actually shopping at a Kroger-owned store. The company operates 2,700 stores under at least a dozen different brand names, making it the second largest grocery chain in America. That means this pricing problem isn’t limited to stores with the Kroger name on the front—it’s happening at all of their locations no matter what they call themselves.
Workers at these stores have been trying to warn people about this for years. Employees in Colorado who are negotiating with the company said pricing errors have been going on for a long time and management knows about it. One employee at a King Soopers store said it makes her feel terrible because many customers are older people on fixed incomes who don’t check their receipts carefully. They think they’re paying the sale price they saw on the shelf, but they’re actually being charged much more. State inspectors have also called out Kroger for high rates of price tag errors over the years.
The overcharges average 18 percent per item
When researchers calculated how much extra people were paying, they found the average overcharge was $1.70 per item. That works out to about 18 percent more than the advertised sale price. If you buy ten items that you think are on sale during your weekly shopping trip, you could be paying an extra $17 without realizing it. Over a month, that’s nearly $70 coming out of your budget that should have stayed in your wallet. These aren’t small differences either—some items were marked up by 60 percent or more over what the sale tag promised.
The items affected weren’t just one type of product. Investigators found expired sale tags on everything from Cheerios cereal to Mucinex cold medicine, from Nescafé instant coffee to dog food. Fresh items like boneless beef and salmon had incorrect pricing too. This shows the problem isn’t isolated to one department or one category of products. Whether you’re buying groceries, medicine, pet supplies, or household items, you could be getting charged more than what the shelf says you should pay.
Other major grocery chains have the same issues
Kroger isn’t the only grocery chain that’s been caught doing this. Albertsons, which owns Safeway and Vons, had to pay almost $400 million last year to settle a lawsuit in California. Customers accused the company of charging more at checkout than what the shelf tags showed. The lawsuit also found that some items sold by weight, like produce and meat, had less product in the package than what the label said. As part of the settlement, Albertsons has to reimburse customers up to five dollars if they get overcharged for grocery items going forward.
Walmart has also paid out millions to settle similar lawsuits about unfairly overcharging customers. Roundy’s, which is actually a subsidiary of Kroger, agreed to pay $1 million for product weight and labeling problems in Wisconsin. Investigators there found over 1,200 products where the actual weight was less than what customers paid for. One item was overpriced by more than seven dollars. When you add up Kroger, Walmart, and Albertsons together, these three companies control 57 percent of all grocery sales in America. That means more than half of the grocery shopping in this country happens at stores that have been accused of pricing problems.
Checking your receipt is the only way to catch these mistakes
Most people don’t check their grocery receipts carefully, and stores seem to be counting on that. When you’re loading groceries into your car or dealing with kids, the last thing you want to do is compare every item on your receipt to what you remember from the shelf tags. But that’s exactly what you need to do if you want to avoid paying too much. The small print on many sale tags includes store codes or dates that aren’t obvious to shoppers, so something can look like it’s on sale when the discount actually ended weeks ago.
Consumer advocates say people should pay the price that’s being advertised because that’s what the law requires. The real issue is that shoppers can’t trust that the shelf price is accurate anymore. If you do find an overcharge, most stores will give you your money back if you bring it to their attention, but you have to catch it first. Some states have laws that require stores to give you the item for free or provide extra compensation if they charge you more than the shelf price. Massachusetts was one of the first states to pass this kind of grocery pricing protection law nearly 40 years ago.
Companies claim the errors are honest mistakes
When confronted about these pricing problems, Kroger, Walmart, and Albertsons all say the overcharges were honest mistakes. Kroger put out a statement saying that claims about widespread pricing problems are “patently false.” But the evidence tells a different story. Hundreds of customers in at least six states have filed complaints about deceptive pricing at Kroger stores. Multiple class-action lawsuits have been filed by Kroger customers in California, Illinois, Ohio, and Utah over pricing errors. After the investigation was published, one day later Kroger announced it would hire 15,000 additional employees to “enhance the customer experience.”
Several Kroger employees said that after the investigation came out, managers told them to fix all the wrong price tags in a matter of days. This happened even at stores in Ohio where Kroger’s headquarters is located. However, when asked about this, Kroger disputed those claims and said it hasn’t issued any orders to systematically correct price tags. The fact that pricing errors have been documented for years at hundreds of stores makes it hard to believe these are all just accidental mistakes that nobody noticed.
These pricing tricks happen during already high inflation
What makes this situation even worse is the timing. Grocery prices have gone up significantly over the past few years because of inflation. People are already paying more for food than they used to, and every dollar matters when you’re trying to feed a family. Last year, Kroger executives actually admitted to using inflation as an excuse to raise prices more than their costs went up. While shoppers struggled with higher prices, Kroger reported record sales and profits in 2024. The company paid its CEO more than $15 million and spent $7.5 billion buying back its own stock to enrich shareholders.
Small pricing mistakes might not seem like a big deal to a massive corporation, but they can put real strain on households that are barely getting by. When you’re on a tight budget, an unexpected extra $17 on your grocery bill might mean you can’t afford something else you need that week. False advertising takes advantage of consumers who are already dealing with rising costs, and it gives an unfair advantage to companies that follow the rules. One former district attorney who worked on the Albertsons case in California said this kind of corporate behavior is especially bad when it involves essential groceries that people need to survive.
Limited competition lets big chains get away with more
One reason these pricing problems keep happening is because a few giant companies control most of the grocery market. When Kroger, Walmart, and Albertsons together handle 57 percent of grocery sales, there aren’t many other places for people to shop. If you discover that your local store has been overcharging you, switching to a competitor isn’t always easy because there might not be another grocery store nearby. This lack of competition gives these big chains more power to set prices however they want and less motivation to fix problems quickly when customers complain about them.
Consumer advocates say this near-monopolistic power is what allows grocery giants to get away with pricing tricks. When there’s minimal competition, companies face less pressure to treat customers fairly. Breaking up large corporations that dominate their industries could help create more competition and give shoppers better options. State and federal regulators also need to crack down harder on these pricing problems and enforce the laws that are already on the books. Some politicians are starting to pay attention—a U.S. Senator from Arizona recently sent a letter to Kroger’s CEO urging the company to fix its pricing errors and reimburse customers who have been overcharged.
Nobody likes feeling cheated, especially when it comes to buying food for your family. These pricing errors have been going on for years at some of the biggest grocery stores in America, affecting hundreds of products and costing shoppers extra money they can’t afford to lose. The next time you go grocery shopping, take a few extra minutes to check your receipt against what you expected to pay. Take photos of sale tags with your phone so you have proof if something rings up wrong. And if you do get overcharged, speak up and ask for your money back. The more people who hold these stores accountable, the harder it becomes for them to keep getting away with it.
