News

Retail association urges change in food item pricing rules

May 4, 2011

According to Boston.com, the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, a trade association representing more than 3,200 merchants, is advising the state government to update item pricing requirements for food sellers.

"Massachusetts is the only state in the nation which still retains costly regulatory requirements that nearly every item in a food store must have individual price stickers, as opposed to other clear forms of price disclosure," the association said in a press release.

The association believes the requirements make the state's food retailers less competitive and that there must be a more cost effective way to satisfy pricing guidelines. Additionally, association officials said the individual price sticker requirement has been lifted on other retail categories, and food retailers should be relieved as well.

"For the past seven years, non-food stores have been permitted to utilize display prices combined with electronic self-scanners, as opposed to using hundreds of thousands of individual stickers. The result has been dramatically improved pricing accuracy, as well as more productive customer service,” said Jon B. Hurst, president of the association.