Area Markets Violate Unit Price Law

Two local supermarkets, the A&P and The Store 24, are in direct violation of Massachusetts's unit-pricing law, The Crimson discovered yesterday.

The Store 24, at 1438 Mass Ave, and the A&P, at 988 Mass Ave, were found to have illegible, incorrect or missing unit-pricing labels on goods covered by the Unit Price Law. The law became effective in 1971 and is regulated by the Massachusetts Consumers' Council.

A similar survey conducted last month by East Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MassPIRG) found that one-sixth of all unit price labels in 41 supermarkets are torn, illegible, incomplete or confusing.

Cahaly's of Harvard Square, at 47 Mt. Auburn St., and the Broadway Supermarket, at 168 Broadway, are single stores owned by one person and are not included under the law. However, both stores would be affected by the revisions of the law currently proposed by MassPIRG and under consideration by the Massachusetts Division of Standards.

The present Unit Price Law states that "packaged commodities necessary for personal, family or household use to be offered for sale at retail...may not be sold in retail stores unless there is posted in a conspicuous place at or near the point of sale the price per pound, pint or other unit or measurement of contents and total sales price."

Managers of The Store 24 and the A&P said yesterday that complying with the Unit Price Law was costly and difficult.

"We have probably been somewhat negligent in keeping up the labels," Robert G. Gordon '60, Store 24 office director, said yesterday.

The Crimson survey showed that in The Store 24 no unit-price labels appear on frozen fruits and vegetables, frozen juice concentrates, cookies, dairy products, natural grain cereals, and several toiletries such as deodorants and toothpastes.

Only certain types of soups bear unit-price labels in The Store 24, and labeling is erratic on other products such as cheese and rice.

The A&P had not unit-price labeled such commodities as potato chips, pretzels, cakes and breads. Several brands of detergents and condiments also were not labeled.

In several instances, product prices had been raised, but unit-pricing labels had not been changed.

The law specifically states that all labels must be legible and clearly visible. In both stores, however, labels were mutilated, overturned and often hidden by other labels or boxes.

The A&P store manager, who refused to give his name, said that there was "no disregard" for the law in his store, but that it was very difficult to comply with the unit-price provisions. "We're trying to make every effort, but sometimes we get interrupted by customers or are in a hurry," he said yesterday.

"Sometimes we run out of a product, and in a rush, we put a different product in its place," he said.

In The Store 24, boxes covered labels, and all labels bore price per measure in asterisks which MassPIRG spokesmen have said are difficult for consumers to read.

The Massachusetts Consumers' Council, which regulates the law on unit-pricing, has charged the state-wide A&P chain with violations of the statute. Because the A&P agreed to correct the violations, no fines were assessed. However, if violations are found again, fines of several thousand dollars can be levied against the stores, Barry Wax, a director of the council, said Thursday.

MassPIRG has called for expansion of types of stores covered by the Unit Price Law, improvement of the required labeling procedures, and the addition of placards contrasting the unit price of similar products to facilitate comparison shopping.

Both store spokesmen said that more stringent unit-pricing would result in added work and expense for the stores.

Nevertheless, Gordon said he had never seen the unit-price labels used by consumers in his store. "I use them myself in the supermarket, but in stores like ours with restricted product lines and with higher prices, it's just not worth it. We just don't stock two kinds of peanut butter," he said