Electronic Price Scanners: Is the Price Right?

Consumer concerns about whether they're being cheated by electronic price scanners are leading law enforcement officials at the state level to step up inspections and enforcement, and have resulted in several state statutes either requiring that items be individually labelled with a price, or mandating that consumers be compensated when the price rung up by an electronic scanner does not match the price on the shelf. Can consumers count on electronic price scanners to ring up the correct price? If not, is a consumer more likely to be overcharged or undercharged?

The Federal Trade Commission will hold a press conference during National Consumers Week to help answer these questions by announcing the results of a study on the accuracy of electronic price scanners. The press conference will be held in room 432 of the FTC headquarters building, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., on TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1996, AT 12 NOON.

Speakers at the press conference will be:

• Jodie Bernstein, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection
• Joseph Goldberg, Chief Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania
• David Edgerly, Deputy Director of Technology Services, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Room 432 will open at 11:15 a.m. on Oct. 22 for camera crews to begin setting up.