Whole Foods to Pay New York City $500,000 to Settle Allegations of Overcharging
The Whole Foods grocery chain said Monday it will pay New York City $500,000 to settle allegations that it overcharged customers for prepackaged food by mislabeling weights.
www.GlynLowe.com / CC BY 2.0
The Whole Foods grocery chain said Monday it will pay New York City $500,000 to settle allegations that it overcharged customers for prepackaged food by mislabeling weights.
Associated Press reports via The Guardian:
The city had said in June that its investigation tested 80 different types of pre-packaged food at Whole Foods and found mislabeled weights on every one. The overcharging included $4.85 for a package of chicken tenders and $14.84 for coconut shrimp, the city said.
The investigation generated national headlines, prompting Whole Foods co-CEOs John Mackey and Walter Robb to apologize in an online video. Still, Whole Foods said the bad publicity ended up pinching sales.
Mackey had previously expressed bewilderment over why “Whole Foods was singled out for this attention”, saying that he does not think the company’s track record on the matter is any different from other supermarkets. The grocery chain had nevertheless said over the summer that it would take steps to prevent overcharging, including training for workers, and pledged to give away products if customers discovered they were mispriced.
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It has been revealed that in addition to allegedly overcharging and mislabeling its products, the company is using prison labor at a base pay of just 60 cents per day.
Now that Whole Foods' tag-team CEOs Walter Robb and John Mackey have admitted that "inadvertent" mistakes were made in raising prices on products in New York City stores, it remains to be seen whether consumers will buy their explanation.
The chain's latest move is another strike against its holier-than-thou image.
Turns out comparing unions to herpes and raving against health care reform in The Wall Street Journal isn't great for business, at least when your business sells granola to progressives, hippies and other Truthdig readers. Whole Foods CEO John Mackey's efforts have earned him a boycott. Guess we'll just have to get our gluten-free almond cookies elsewhere.
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