COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A recently released investigation alleges the Ohio-based grocery chain Kroger frequently charges consumers full price for items advertised as on sale.
The research nonprofit Consumer Reports, alongside media outlets The Guardian and Food and Environment Reporting Network, recruited undercover shoppers to visit 26 stores owned by The Kroger Company across 14 states, including Ohio. The study included Kroger subsidiaries, such as Ralphs.
The investigation, which took place from March through May, found expired sales labels led to overcharges on more than 150 grocery items overall, by the average amount of $1.70 per item, or 18.4%.
“Our findings suggest the typical Kroger shopper ends up paying far more for what they think are discounted items – all during a time of inflation and economic uncertainty,” the report says.
One-third of the expired sales tags were out of date by at least 10 days, the investigation found. The undercover shoppers were overcharged for items including Cheerios, Mucinex cold and flu medication, Nescafé instant coffee, boneless beef, salmon and dog food.
Kroger has denied the allegations of widespread pricing errors, saying it regularly conducts price checks for the items on its shelves to make sure they are accurate.
“The Consumer Reports allegations boil down to misinformation, reviewing a handful of discrete issues from billions of daily transactions,” a Kroger spokesperson told NBC4. “It in no way reflects the seriousness with which we take our transparent and affordable pricing.”
The nonprofit and media outlets launched their investigation after learning that Kroger workers in Colorado, currently in union negotiations, alleged long-term price label errors. Kroger employees claim the reason for the pricing errors are cuts to staff and hours, resulting in there not being enough workers to manually switch out price tags, according to the investigation.
The report stated Kroger has “significantly cut the number of workers in most of its stores and the number of hours those full- and part-time employees work each week” since 2019, citing data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Some customers go beyond seeking a price adjustment when they find a mistake, with one Ohio couple taking the issue to the state attorney general’s office. A married couple filed three separate complaints through late 2024 and early 2025 about the Kroger in Belpre, claiming they have repeatedly caught the grocer ringing up prices higher than the advertised sales tags.
Customers in California, Illinois, Ohio and Utah have also filed class action lawsuits alleging pricing errors.
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