Some Bay Area Grocery Stores Still Overcharging Customers: Report

NOVATO, CA — Some major Bay Area retailers continue to overcharge customers despite paying millions in fines and penalties for earlier offenses, according to a new report.

As SFGate reports, inspections conducted at multiple Target and Safeway locations in Marin County found shoppers overpaying for food, drinks and personal products.

The latest issues came to light during a pricing accuracy check conducted annually by the Marin County Department of Agriculture/Weights and Measures (AWM). The department's 14 staffers perform regular inspections and respond to complaints, including allegations of retailers charging more than advertised for various products and gas stations "shorting" customers on fuel purchases.

Officials said multiple complaints investigated last year related to store-packed items sold by weight, where retailers failed to calculate the "tare" to subtract the weight of the packaging from the price as required by state law.

"When tare weights are inaccurate, it can result in overcharges to many consumers — they end up being charged for more product than they receive," the report said. "For example — a customer wants to purchase one pound of fish at $20 per pound. If the business packages this fish in one pound of packing and doesn't take tare, that customer would be charged $40 for one pound of fish."

According to SFGate, other recent violations included a Novato Safeway selling certain snacks, soap and coffee for an extra dollar, and a Target overcharging for cocktail mixers and containers. The same location failed several reinspections, the report found.

Marin County officials said businesses that fail price inspections are reinspected each month until they comply with state laws, and repeated or "egregious violations" can result in a fine or more significant enforcement through the District Attorney's Office. SFGate notes that Safeway paid more than $2 million to settle allegations it was overcharging customers in several counties in 2014, and Target paid more than $4 million in civil penalties over similar allegations in 2015.

Marin's latest consumer protection report named several businesses with current or past injections related to overcharging, including Safeway, Target, BestBuy, Whole Foods and 7-Eleven.

Overall, officials said 71 percent of Marin businesses met pricing accuracy requirements in 2023 — an improvement from 58.1 percent the year before — but inspectors noted some areas of concern.

"Despite that trend, we've noticed that retail stores in underserved, lower-income areas fail their pricing inspections more often than businesses in more affluent neighborhoods," said Scott Wise, the Assistant Agricultural Commissioner. "It's significant from a social equity standpoint because an overcharge causes greater economic damage to someone coming from a lower-income household than the same overcharge does for a more fortunate earner."

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