Carbon7

At a Home Depot, a shopper browsing the clearance aisle spots several items originally priced at $150 marked down to $0.01. Curious, he takes four of them to self-checkout and scans them, each rings up for a penny. As he’s finishing, an employee rushes over and says he needs manager approval before purchasing. She walks away to get one. While she’s gone, he completes the transaction and pays. When she returns, she scolds him and tries to take the items back. Police are eventually called. After reviewing the receipt and rescanning the items, officers tell him the price stands and he’s free to leave with his purchase. It’s a tough balance between honoring posted prices and preventing system errors from costing businesses thousands. At the same time, once a transaction is completed legally, it becomes a matter of policy and fairness. Situations like this show how important clear pricing rules and calm communication, really are. If a store’s system rings something up at a penny, is the customer entitled to it, or does the store have the right to correct what may be a pricing mistake?