Last night I went to my local K-mart to buy a game for my students to play at school.  I brought the game into work, and put it on my desk.

On the box, I noticed that there is a price tag.  I was struck at how rarely one sees an actual price tag these days.  With the advent of bar codes and scanners, price tags have become increasingly rare. 

(Strangely, as a marketing strategy, the tags on items at stores like KOHLs don't even reflect the actual price of the item for purchase.)

It looks like price tags will be increasingly relegated to the "Clearance" section (if used at all).

Soon to be extinct: The Price Tag


Comments
on Dec 01, 2005
Probably one of the reasons price tags aren't used anymore is that they aren't needed and aren't useful. At my job, the computer will only take either a UPC (either scanned or typed) or a product number. I guess it probably has something to do with how the inventory is updated; whenever you sell one of product number xxxxxxx, the computer somehow updates the inventory to have one less whatever that is. It can't say we have one less hammer if the only information it gets is $9.99. Plus they would need to change all the price tags on all the inventory when it goes on sale, then change it all back when the sale is over. It's easier just to change the price in the computer for xxxxxxx and the sign on the shelf.
on Dec 01, 2005
That all may be necessary for stocking and whatnot...but it drives me nuts to find something I want to purchase and NOT be able to find a price! This is happening to me everytime I go to the store now, Wal-Mart, Mall, wherever...the prices on some of the items I pick are absent.

I usually just put it back. They obviously don't want to sell it, at least not to me. If its something I really need I ask for the price but it irks me to have to do so.
on Dec 01, 2005
At least Wal-Mart has the price scanners so you can check the price. That means they realize it's a problem, though, and their way of fixing it is to make you walk all the way out of your way to find the scanner...
on Dec 01, 2005
That is one gripe that I have about Wal-Mart (as well as a few other stores). Those "price check scanners" are too few and far between.

One actual Wal-Mart gripe is those one-sided cart corrals. At each of the three Wal-Marts nearest my house, they have these one-sided cart corrals. (One per row.) It is a SERIOUS disincentive for people to put their carts where they belong after unloading them. They need to invest in double-sided cart corrals.

I'd bet that the rationale behind fewer cart corrals is to increase parking capacity, but since so many spots are occupied by empty carts, parking capacity actually decreases.
on Dec 01, 2005
That all may be necessary for stocking and whatnot...but it drives me nuts to find something I want to purchase and NOT be able to find a price! This is happening to me everytime I go to the store now, Wal-Mart, Mall, wherever...the prices on some of the items I pick are absent.


They aren't on the shelves?