Claims of Overcharging

Topic: Are You Being Overcharged?
Purpose Statement: To Persuade
Thesis Statement: We must put a stop to stores overcharging us and take action by reporting any violations.
Attention, Need, Satisfaction, Visualization, and Action.
Introduction
(Attention)

1. Could you use an extra $350 every year?
2. $350 is the amount that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimates that each adult consumer loses due to mistakes made by stores.
3. These mistakes occur at checkout counters at grocery stores, drugstores, and a variety of other retail establishments. Most stores use scanners to scan bar codes, and if the scanned price is more than the posted price in the store, then the consumer is overcharged.
4. Claudia Farrell of the FTC gives some examples: recently at an office supply store in Florida, a consumer bought a surge protector for $53.99 and the advertised price was $17.99, that’s a $36 overcharge.
5. At an auto-parts store in Seattle, a customer bought a set of wrenches and overpaid by $20. At a grocery store in Michigan, a man bought a bottle of wine and was overcharged $4.
6. Can we put a stop to these overcharges? Yes and today I urge you to help put a stop to these overcharges and report violations.
   Transition: Let’s take a look at why we need to take action.
   Body (3-5 Points Only)
   (Need)
   I. Overcharging is frequent, it happens every day in the United States.
7. According to the New York Times, Americans lose an estimated 1 billion to 2.5 billion dollars every year due to errors in scanner pricing.
8. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Chicago’s Department of Consumer Services did an investigation and found that 78 percent of the drugstores in the city overcharged customers with price-scanning errors.
9. The Associated Press reports that in a recent one-year period, the Arizona Department of Weights and Measures investigated 1,335 cases, and in one-fourth of the cases, the scanned prices were higher than those posted in the stores.
10. Steve Meissner, a spokesperson for the Arizona agency, says that the problem doesn’t lie with the technology of the scanners.
11. The employees of the store are supposed to keep the database up to date with correct prices but if the prices are incorrect in the database, then there will be mistakes at the checkout counter.
    Transition: Now what should you do about this problem?
    (Satisfaction)
    II. You should report the stores that overcharge you. Some people think that you should just ask for a refund. You should get a refund but you should also go one step further and file a complaint.
12. If you go to this web site–consumeraction.gov–you can see a list of local and state agencies. You can send them an e-mail message or make a phone call.
13. If an agency gets a lot of complaints about a particular store, they can investigate and issue a fine.
14. Let’stakealookatsomeexamplesofagenciesinaction:
    i. The Arizona Department of Weights and Measures assessed penalties totaling $100,000 to stores in a 12-month period. According to the Progressive Grocer magazine, authorities in Wisconsin fined the Roundy’s Supermarkets $44,000 for checkout scanner violations in the state.
    ii. In California, the nation’s second- largest grocery store chain, Albertsons, was slapped with a fine of $1.85 million for scanner overcharges in the California stores.
    III. When businesses are assessed a fine, it’s often a wake-up call that prompts them to clean up their act.
15. Kathleen Thuner, a commissioner for San Diego County, California, recently assessed a fine of $540,000 against a sports equipment chain for repeated violations. The fine caused the company to take immediate steps to correct the scanning procedures.
16. Thuner gives credit to citizens who complain, she says her office relies heavily on consumers, and she urges every consumer to report overcharges.
    Transition: Let’s look at the details of a particular case. It will let you visualize how taking action can bring rewards for you and your fellow consumers.
    (Visualization)
    IV. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, three years ago, L.A. County started a scanner overcharge reduction program. Throughout the program they noticed a lot of complaints about a Home Depot store in Lancaster.
17. They sent in an undercover inspector who purchased a three-gallon bug-sprayer. They charged him $34.97 and the advertised price was $12.15.
18. They issued a fine of $4,000, and they also made them put signs in their windows admitting that they were caught overcharging customers. The fine and the embarrassing signs made the store change their procedures.
19. L.A. County officials said that in the first three years of the program, 1,500 stores were fined. This caused an immediate decline in the number of overcharge cases. And the consumers saved an estimated tens of millions of dollars a year.
    Transition: Now let’s review what we’ve covered.
    Conclusion
    (Action)
20. When companies clean up their act, we consumers no longer lose money. So, I urge you to all take action.
21. Look closely at your receipts and take note if you’ve been overcharged.
22. Reporttheoverchargeimmediatelytoalocalorstateconsumerprotectionagency.
23. Overcharging because of price scanning errors is widespread throughout the U.S. When citizens report the overcharges, they encourage government agencies to investigate, and then they can issue a fine.
24. If the stores are fined, then this is a wake-up call, and the stores change their act.
25. Ultimately you–the consumer–will benefit by not being overcharged in the future.
26. At the beginning of my speech, I asked if you could use an extra $350. The next time you’re overcharged, think of that $350 and issue a complaint.