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 White Plains, NY - In the latest round of the county’s battle to force retail giant Kmart to comply with Westchester’s item pricing law, an administrative judge has ordered the chain to pay $1.564 million in penalties for more than 1,500 violations at its stores in Greenburgh and Yorktown.
In announcing the record fine, County Executive Andy Spano said, “Our law in Westchester is clear. All store items must be marked individually with a price. The judge’s decision sends a strong signal that enough is enough, and that Kmart will be held fully accountable for its failure to comply. Our law is particularly important in these bad financial times when everyone is concerned about prices. People need an easy way to double-check what they are being charged at the cash register.”
In contrast, Wal-Mart, earlier this year, after repeated fines, agreed to adopt a “Pricing Action Plan” that will include additional training for employees, adjustment of staffing levels to ensure that adequate resources are devoted to item pricing and internal audits.
The latest round of inspections by the Department of Consumer Protection on Oct. 17 and 23, 2007 found that 52 percent of merchandise on display at the Yorktown Kmart was not item-priced and that 48 percent of merchandise at the Greenburgh Kmart was not item- priced. A total of 1,564 unmarked items were found during the course of two inspections at each store. Unmarked items included packaged foods, sporting goods, automotive products and accessories, and household cleaners.
In setting such a steep fine – that maximum allowable under the law, $1,000 per offense – the administrative law judge noted that Kmart had had an opportunity to correct the violations in the six days that passed between the first and second inspection of each store.
Previously during the past seven years, the Kmarts in Greenburgh and Yorktown had been fined 21 times for item-pricing violations. Most recently, the Greenburgh store was fined $15,000 in June 2007, and the Yorktown store was fined $5,000 in January 2007.
“The latest inspections revealed that, despite the prior fines, Kmart was continuing to thumb its nose at our item pricing law,” said Gary Brown, director of Consumer Protection. “This penalty by the administrative law judge will, hopefully, force Kmart to come into compliance.”
Consumers with complaints about a store’s failure to item price should contact the Department of Consumer Protection by calling (914) 995-2155 or logging onto www.westchestergov.com/consumer.
Brown added, “We will continue to conduct inspections of retailers to ensure that consumers can verify how much an item costs and be sure they are being charged the correct price at the checkout register.”
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