Settlement Reached With Wal-Mart,

Sam’s Club On Pricing Violations

HARTFORD — Connecticut Consumer Protection Commissioner Edwin R. Rodriguez announced the state has reached an agreement with Wal-Mart, settling item and unit pricing violations at six retail locations in Connecticut. Wal-Mart will pay the state $37,150 to settle the allegations, while making no admissions of wrongdoing.

“We are pleased to reach this agreement with Wal-Mart,” Commissioner Rodriguez said. “Connecticut’s pricing laws are in place to ensure a fundamental marketplace principle — that consumers can make informed purchasing decisions based on cost, quality, and convenience. “

Thirty-five Wal-Mart and/or Sam’s Club locations in Connecticut were inspected by Consumer Protection agents in recent months as part of routine economic compliance checks conducted by the agency. Of the 35 inspected stores, six were alleged to have been in violation of unit pricing regulations, and two of these were also cited for item pricing violations.

The affected Wal-Mart stores are in Bristol, New Britain, Norwalk, Southington, and Wallingford, as well as the Sam’s Club in Berlin.

Unit pricing is a term that identifies the true “per-unit” cost of items that are sold in multiple size packages. For example, when comparing the price of a product sold in a larger volume size (such as a gallon of liquid detergent) with a smaller container of the same product, the larger size will usually have a lower per-unit price than the same detergent sold in a smaller size.

Item pricing refers to Connecticut’s requirement that stores affix a price to each item of a “consumer commodity,” an item that is designed to be “used up,” such as a carton of milk, a package of soap, or a roll of plastic wrap.