Sat May 17 09:10:00 UTC 2025: Here’s a summary of the text and a rewritten version as a news article:
**Summary:**
Shoppers at Kroger-owned stores, including King Soopers and City Market in Colorado, are reporting widespread discrepancies between shelf prices and checkout prices, leading to overcharges. A union representing store employees, UFCW Local 7, conducted secret shopper trips and found significant overcharges, a concern echoed by reports from media outlets like The Guardian and Consumer Reports across multiple states. The union attributes the problem to understaffing, which hampers timely price tag updates, and is raising the issue in contract negotiations. King Soopers disputes these claims, while the Colorado Department of Agriculture and the Colorado Attorney General are looking into the matter, with the AG previously reaching a settlement with Walmart over similar pricing issues.
**News Article:**
**Shoppers Allege Widespread Overcharging at King Soopers and Other Kroger Stores**
DENVER – Customers are reporting widespread price discrepancies at King Soopers and City Market stores in Colorado, along with other Kroger-owned supermarkets nationwide, leading to concerns about overcharging during a time of high inflation.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 (UFCW), currently in contract negotiations with King Soopers, conducted undercover shopping trips at 50 Colorado stores in March. They found that the total cost based on shelf prices was nearly 16% lower than what was actually charged at the register – a difference of hundreds of dollars.
These findings are corroborated by reports from media outlets like The Guardian and Consumer Reports, which conducted similar tests in 26 Kroger stores across 14 states and the District of Columbia. Their investigations revealed over 150 instances of expired sale tags, resulting in average overcharges of $1.70 per item, or 18% higher than the advertised discount price.
“Our findings suggest the typical Kroger shopper ends up paying far more for what they think are discounted items,” said Consumer Reports.
UFCW Local 7 attributes the discrepancies to chronic understaffing, making it difficult for employees to update price tags promptly. “The tags are out of date and the reason they’re out of date is they don’t have the staff to pull the tags,” said Jim Hammons, UFCW retail director.
King Soopers has disputed claims of understaffing and downplayed the price discrepancies, stating the claims, “based on a limited number of isolated issues, do not reflect the seriousness with which we approach transparent and affordable pricing.”
However, the Colorado Department of Agriculture is now investigating the pricing concerns. The Colorado Attorney General is also aware of the issue, with UFCW Local 7 providing them with information from their secret shopper trips. In 2023, the Colorado Attorney General reached a settlement with Walmart over similar pricing errors.
“We’re not trying to take Kroger down. We’re trying to make better stores for our members to work at and for our communities to shop at,” said Kim Cordova, UFCW Local 7 president. “One of the union’s contract proposals is the formation of a pricing-integrity department.”
First Piper 