Archived Price adjustments for TMs?

[Castiel]

This may be 101 information, but I've been with Target for about 8 months and it's never come up so just looking to confirm with you guys. After I punched out for the day today, I went to do a little shopping and came across an end cap full of vacuums that were marked $24.99. I needed one, so I grabbed it. I went to check out, and it rings up $39.99. I explained about the sign and am sent to Guest Services.

I explained to the GSA behind the desk what happened and said that since the entire end cap is clearly marked $24.99, that should be the price. Now, this GSA doesn't particularly seem to like me for some reason and his attitude in general lately has been pretty crappy. He smirked at me and said Target doesn't allow price adjustments for incorrectly marker items for Team Members. Like I said, this has never really come up before, so this isn't something I've ever heard before. Is this true or was he just screwing me out of a good deal?

 

[Corrin]

Yeah it sounds like that GSA was just being a butt to you. That vacuum was definitely $24.99 until last night (because I bought one lol) and the signs should've been taken down obviously. It's not your fault that they weren't.

 

[Bosch]

This may be 101 information, but I've been with Target for about 8 months and it's never come up so just looking to confirm with you guys. After I punched out for the day today, I went to do a little shopping and came across an end cap full of vacuums that were marked $24.99. I needed one, so I grabbed it. I went to check out, and it rings up $39.99. I explained about the sign and am sent to Guest Services.

I explained to the GSA behind the desk what happened and said that since the entire end cap is clearly marked $24.99, that should be the price. Now, this GSA doesn't particularly seem to like me for some reason and his attitude in general lately has been pretty crappy. He smirked at me and said Target doesn't allow price adjustments for incorrectly marker items for Team Members. Like I said, this has never really come up before, so this isn't something I've ever heard before. Is this true or was he just screwing me out of a good deal?

He was being a dick, its a decent amount but you weren't trying to get a $1000 TV for half off. And I know my store does that shit all the time.. So I would have just changed it.. Then had the end cap changed..

TM's don't always know what pricing is on things. I know flow TM's who are clueless about anything other than stocking a shelf. It's all they do. Same with some backroom peeps..

 

[Bethy]

Agree you should’ve gotten the endcap price, but then are you still able to get the TM discount on top?

 

[fiddlesteinfip]

At my store, if an expired ad is left up, we can honor the price for TMs, as long as it’s one item and said TM doesn't always purchase merchandise they “found” with an expired tag up. If an item is in the wrong spot, then usually not. Once we had a TM try to claim a bounty (in my location if a price is marked wrong and the receipt has already printed, you can get a bounty of 10x the price difference or $5) and I think the LOD allowed that.

I think it’s up to the LOD’s and GS’ discretion case by case.

 

[GoodyNN]

My GSTL has told me the same thing, because "as a TM, I should know better". Except mine wasn't a sale sign, it was a regular white shelf strip.

 

[Dog]

Honestly, if the sign was still up, then they should have just given you the sale price - doesn't matter if you're a TM or not, when you're off the clock you're technically a guest. Your GSA should have just not been a jerk to you and be thankful that you even pointed out the sign (even if you did so because you were trying to challenge a price) so that he/she can have someone go take the sign down before anyone else tries to challenge the price

edit: I actually just talked to someone about this and they said we're not allowed to do any price challenges at all for team members which I didn't know whoops. Sucks though since the sign was still up and that's not your fault.

 

[Amanda Cantwell]

GSA was obnoxious however it is a HUGE red flag for AP if they see a price change for a ™ so the GSA could also trying to cover themselves.

 

[HRLady]

I explained to the GSA behind the desk what happened and said that since the entire end cap is clearly marked $24.99, that should be the price. Now, this GSA doesn't particularly seem to like me for some reason and his attitude in general lately has been pretty crappy. He smirked at me and said Target doesn't allow price adjustments for incorrectly marker items for Team Members. Like I said, this has never really come up before, so this isn't something I've ever heard before. Is this true or was he just screwing me out of a good deal?

Your GSA sounds like a jerk. However, what he says is true. My ETLs announced at a huddle that TMs can only purchase an item at whatever price it rings up for at the register. They said that TMs cannot receive a price adjustment for incorrect pricing signs of any sort. AP will be watching TMs for violations so make sure you don't ask for price changes or change prices for other TMs. No matter how much you could have saved, it is not worth getting fired over.

 

[Leo47]

As a strong believer in no-prices-should-be-changed-at-all, I agree with your GSA about not changing the price for you. Sure, the *old* sign said it was $24.99. (The sign probably had a date too). Well obviously it’s not $24.99. So it should be a matter of well do you want it or not. If it’s not ringing up at $24.99... then it’s not that price... so it shouldn’t be changed to that price because that’s not what it is. Idk just if I had it my way no prices would be changed, it’d just be like yeah sorry you thought that do you want it or not

 

[Planosss]

The GSA was not a jerk, it’s policy.

 

[TM2]

The GSA was not a jerk, it’s policy.

I'm not sure about it being policy, Ive never read anything official about it, but when I was a gstl I'd have done the same thing. Anything involving a TM I was super careful with. If I was calling the LOD to the service desk it was always for either a TM, or a guest who needed "someone bigger".

 

[Xanatos]

We aren't supposed to change prices for team members. And it makes perfect sense. We change it for guests because they get frustrated with the mistake and we want them to come back. We know that the register will ring it up at the correct price, but we still want the guest to be happy.

As team members, we know that the correct price will ring up at the register. We also know how to read signs to make sure we are looking at the correct item and that the sale is still active.

Basically, guests are dumb and emotional. Team members should know better. That's why we'll do it for one group and not the other.

 

[Anelmi]

Ok yes...but the endcap said one price and the OP/TM thought it was legitimately that price. She didn't pre-check on a zebra or have intel that it was marked wrong. If she gets to the register and the price is now $15 higher, she shouldn't have to pay it just because she's a TM.

 

[SallyHoover]

We aren't supposed to change prices for team members. And it makes perfect sense. We change it for guests because they get frustrated with the mistake and we want them to come back. We know that the register will ring it up at the correct price, but we still want the guest to be happy.

As team members, we know that the correct price will ring up at the register. We also know how to read signs to make sure we are looking at the correct item and that the sale is still active.

Basically, guests are dumb and emotional. Team members should know better. That's why we'll do it for one group and not the other.

That would be fine and dandy if Target always had the correct prices marked on the shelf and on the Target app. It is annoying enough that on a typical grocery trip, I need to spend an extra 10-20 minutes making sure the product matches the bar code it is on top off or the sale sign includes the flavor yogurt or whatever I am purchasing. It doesn't help that the target app has decided to go with "see store for pricing" for a number of grocery products. Even then the flat out shelf tags are not always the price that rings up and the price listed on my phone isn't always the price that rings up even though the App is supposedly telling me the price for my store. In produce the pricing changes sometimes multiple times per week but the shelf signs/or pricing update can take weeks to update. We had a sign of $0.39 for lemons for 2 weeks even though they had always been 59 cents. It eventually changed in the POS. The price for 20 oz soda's went up last year by 10 cents and it was over 2 months before the tags were changed. Most guests paid without saying anything. I reported the error through the price adjustment, to my GSTL and to a LOD but no one seemed to care. Yes it is only 10-20 cents but with the volume that Target sells that is deceptive sales practices brought on by laziness and complacency IMO.

I would like to be able to blame dumb and emotional guests but that really isn't the case 20-30% of the time and that really is an unacceptable percentage of transactions where guests who may not notice when checking out are being cheated. Although Target will "make it right" for guests who speak out, I get the feeling that they rely on guest picking up items that they think are on sale or at a specific price when they are not and hope that 2/3's of the guests won't notice when checking out and will pay the higher price. [end of rant]

 

[MrGSTLman]

So... I'm that GSTL (well, not THAT one... hopefully) who frowns on changing prices for TMs but I am doing it for mine (and the TM's) protection. Most say that retail theft and comes from the inside, and a lot of it is through price adjustments. I don't want to give that thought of impropriety on any end. I am also of the opinion that most TMs should know better and should not be using the store's mistake to their advantage, no matter how right they may be. I very rarely ask for price adjustments and frown when people do it for me (even at other retailers)

 

[GoodyNN]

We aren't supposed to change prices for team members. And it makes perfect sense. We change it for guests because they get frustrated with the mistake and we want them to come back. We know that the register will ring it up at the correct price, but we still want the guest to be happy.

As team members, we know that the correct price will ring up at the register. We also know how to read signs to make sure we are looking at the correct item and that the sale is still active.

Basically, guests are dumb and emotional. Team members should know better. That's why we'll do it for one group and not the other.

So when three full strips of white shelf signage says a gallon of milk is 1.97, but it rings up at 2.79, we're just supposed to eat it and pay more than what the *regular* price sign says in multiple locations? And yes, I know this is a whopping 80 cents. But it does add up.

 

[Xanatos]

Lots of responses, so this is to everyone: yes, as a team member you should be able to figure this out. 99.99% of these issues are because of old sales or because something was in the wrong spot.

As for old signs, you can clearly see the date on the sign. If the end cap is marked at a certain price, you should also realize that the correct price might be the one that is listed on the shelf label.

If something is in the wrong spot, you should be able to read the shelf label to realize that it's in the wrong spot. If something is much cheaper than you expected it to be, you should double check to make sure it's the right item.

If the shelf label is wrong, then yeah I can see someone doing a price adjustment for a team member, but holy motherfucking god damn shit, that is so exceedingly rare that we obviously aren't even talking about that. For those of you with your anecdotal "But that happened to me!" ok fine, take it up with your store, tell them to make the change and to yell at the price change team for fucking up or whoever did it.

As a team member, you know how to read a shelf label. You know how to read an ad sign. And you know when something is too good to be true. If it rings up at a different price, it's either your fault or the fault of a team member at your store. Go clock in and fix it.

 

[Planosss]

Ok yes...but the endcap said one price and the OP/TM thought it was legitimately that price. She didn't pre-check on a zebra or have intel that it was marked wrong. If she gets to the register and the price is now $15 higher, she shouldn't have to pay it just because she's a TM.

No, she doesn’t have to buy it. It rang up as the correct price, right? Why wouldnt she pay the correct price? Why shouldn’t she? It doesn’t matter what she “thought” . It rang up as the correct price, and thats that.

 

[IWishIKnew]

So, what about cases where the correct ad price is posted but the item was never updated to the sale price? Do TMs just get screwed out of ad prices because someone else screwed up?

I have gotten walkied from the front end for price challenges and confirmed that the DPCI matched the ad sign, and the ad sign was current, but the item was ringing up at the non-sale price. Seems like TMs shouldn't be punished for that scenario. Or if the shelf label was incorrect, there's no way for a TM (or front end person) to know at the time of purchase if the price had gone up and price change screwed up the signage, or the signage was correct but the price was never updated correctly in the system.

 

[Xanatos]

If the item is actually supposed to be that price, then sure, I'd be willing to bend the policy and change the price. The policy is in place for the 99% of the time when the price is correct, so it seems fair to change the price for when it's wrong.

 

[HRLady]

The GSA was not a jerk, it’s policy.

Planosss, was this in response to me? I am not sure. If yes, I didn't think that the GSA seemed like a jerk for following policy. It was more about the way he was interacting with Castiel. Like, was it really necessary to smirk at a fellow Team Member while explaining the policy?

 

[Greenie]

I've challenged the price when the price is labeled ON the item and it rings up higher.

I've always heard we aren't supposed to prove challenge, but nobody has been able to show me any written policy.

 

[IcePeasant]

In my state, it’s a matter of weights and measures for the guests in regards to price adjustments. Price adjust $15 or have us reported and have Weights and Measures come and fine us. I take the $15. I remember I had a guest price challenge a TV, $500 difference ‘cause the wrong sign was up, I tried wiggling out of it but couldn’t, everything matched up, and had to give it to them. Killed me and the LOD that day, made sure to write it in the closing email “KEEP TV SIGNS UPDATED”.

At my house, TMs usually price match, not adjust, so can’t speak directly on that. If it’s different than what they expect, they usually dish out the extra, contribute to sales, yada yada.

 

[NewCashierLT]

If the item is actually supposed to be that price, then sure, I'd be willing to bend the policy and change the price. The policy is in place for the 99% of the time when the price is correct, so it seems fair to change the price for when it's wrong.

I totally understand the implication that making adjustments for team members looks suspicious to AP, and I vaguely remember adjusting prices for team members when they scanned the item with the Target app and it came up less than what was coming up on the register, so I did what Xanatos did.
I really think that the GSA should have adjusted the price for you, and at minimum, the smirking and bad attitude was completely unnecessary and only serves to undermine their relationship with you and I wouldn't be happy with the way they acted.