Derek and Allison Hadfield turned increasingly fed up at any time when they shopped for his or her household of 4 at their native Kroger grocery in Belpre, Ohio, a city of about 6,600 throughout the Ohio River from West Virginia.
Once they tried to economize by shopping for stuff on sale, they mentioned, most of the reductions vanished when Kroger rang up their carts at checkout. Private pizzas posted as on sale for $1 a bit rang up for $1.25 every. An 8oz jar of minced garlic listed on the low worth of $2.49 price $3.99 at checkout – a 60% leap.
“Virtually each single time I am going within the retailer, the listed worth of an merchandise is NOT what rings up on the register,” Allison Hadfield, who dwelling colleges the couple’s two youngsters, wrote in December in a grievance to Ohio’s lawyer normal. “I would like Kroger to cease screwing over individuals particularly when they’re the one retailer on the town!”
The household’s experiences will not be an remoted drawback involving a single retailer, an investigation of the grocery store large’s pricing practices by the Guardian US, Shopper Experiences and the Meals & Surroundings Reporting Community has discovered.
Kroger shops in a number of states, the investigation has revealed, present a sample of overcharging prospects by continuously itemizing expired sale costs on the cabinets after which ringing up the common costs at checkout – a apply that provides further burdens onto American households already struggling beneath the load of the hovering prices for eggs, meat and different groceries.
The investigation drew on “secret shopper” assessments in additional than a dozen states by the Guardian and its companions in addition to a separate collection of assessments by union grocery employees in Colorado. The investigation additionally drew on inner company paperwork, courtroom information, complaints to authorities authorities and interviews with prospects, employees and union officers.
The procuring assessments by the media companions discovered expired tags that resulted in overcharges in 14 of the 26 shops reviewed in Washington DC and 14 states, together with Arizona, Michigan, Oregon, Virginia and Ohio. The assessments in March, April and Might recognized greater than 150 objects with expired sale tags for which Kroger was charging greater than the sale worth – producing common overcharges of about $1.70 per merchandise, an 18% markup over the low cost worth.
On common, the expired low cost tags the assessments analyzed have been about two weeks old-fashioned, suggesting that 1000’s of consumers ended up paying extra for what they probably thought have been discounted objects.
At occasions, Kroger’s sale tags don’t clearly disclose {that a} low cost provide has ended. In some situations expiration dates are listed in small print and in others they’re famous in a company code that isn’t clear to people who find themselves not Kroger workers. Some prospects catch the issue at checkout or once they go over their receipts, however employees and union officers mentioned many busy buyers don’t discover the overcharges.
“It actually makes me really feel unhealthy as a result of a few of them are on fastened incomes and so they’re older. They’re not going to concentrate,” mentioned Pleasure Alexander, who works as a scan coordinator at a Kroger-owned King Soopers retailer in suburban Denver. “They assume that once they took it off the shelf, it was $2.50. They don’t know that they’re paying $3.75 for that one merchandise.”
Kroger, the nation’s second largest grocery retailer behind Walmart, is headquartered in Cincinnati and operates greater than 2,700 shops in 35 states beneath quite a lot of names, together with King Soopers, Harris Teeter, Ralphs, Fry’s Meals and Drug and others.
In an announcement, Kroger mentioned the worth tag errors recognized by the information organizations represented “just a few dozen examples throughout a number of years out of billions of buyer transactions yearly”.
“Whereas any error is unacceptable, the characterization of widespread pricing considerations is patently false,” the assertion mentioned.
Kroger didn’t present detailed solutions to a lot of the media companions’ questions on its pricing practices. The assertion mentioned the corporate is “dedicated to reasonably priced and correct pricing” and that it commonly conducts worth checks that assessment “tens of millions of things weekly to make sure our shelf costs are correct”.
With meals prices hovering from the grocery aisle to the drive-thru window, People are spending a better portion of their earnings to eat than they’ve in a long time. US meals costs climbed practically 24% from 2020 to 2024, leaving many People feeling offended, anxious or dejected about their journeys to the grocery store.
Andrew Knall, a highschool math instructor in suburban Dayton, Ohio, mentioned he looks like he’s “going into battle” at any time when he retailers at his native Kroger, as a result of he commonly will get hit with overcharges. “Like I’m on 24-hour missile watch right here and I’m going to get ripped off at any second.”
The Federal Commerce Fee, or FTC, has accountability for overseeing the grocery business, with the authority to take motion to cease unfair gross sales and promoting practices and block business mergers more likely to enhance meals costs. An FTC authorized problem final 12 months helped cease Kroger’s push to soak up a grocery store rival, Albertsons, in a deal the FTC mentioned would have led to larger costs and fewer decisions for shoppers.
In August, vice-president and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris promised to present the FTC the ability to impose the first-ever federal ban on price-gouging on meals and groceries. Her marketing campaign rival, Donald Trump, additionally promised to pressure meals costs down. However in December, as president elect, Trump mentioned it might be “very laborious” to deliver down grocery costs, and in March, as president, he fired two Democratic FTC commissioners referred to as aggressive advocates for client safety.
Throughout the Kroger-Albertsons merger battle, authorized filings revealed {that a} prime Kroger pricing guru wrote fellow executives in early 2024 that the chain had raised its costs for milk and eggs at a stage that was “considerably larger” than the rise in prices charged by its suppliers. Kroger mentioned the e-mail didn’t mirror the corporate’s “decades-long enterprise mannequin to decrease costs for purchasers by decreasing its margins”.
A grievance in October to Ohio’s lawyer normal from a Kroger buyer from suburban Cincinnati described how overcharges on particular objects on the money register have piled on prices on prime of the “outrageous costs” produced by the final inflation in meals prices.
“We simply spent $121 for 2 seniors for per week’s groceries,” the client wrote, noting that the invoice included an $8.07 overcharge on a frozen turkey. “We store there commonly and three out of 5 occasions we have now to right them on costs.”
Kroger mentioned its enterprise mannequin is “rooted in bringing down costs to draw extra prospects to our shops”.
‘Nothing modifications’
In Colorado, leaders of the United Meals & Business Employees Union (UFCW) Native 7 say that Kroger is absolutely conscious that wrong pricing is widespread at its King Soopers shops within the state. Employees and union officers say the corporate’s persistent understaffing is driving the issue.
Union officers say that some Kroger shops have tens of 1000’s of sale tags hanging at anyone time and – with out sufficient employees to take away expired tags – inaccurate tags keep on the cabinets for days and weeks.
When the job of updating sale tags doesn’t get completed, shoppers are “kinda left at midnight,” mentioned Alexander, the Kroger worker in Colorado. “You don’t know what you’re paying for.”
In its assertion, Kroger mentioned it’s “inaccurate to say the corporate decreased requirements or labor hours”.
“We deliberately workers our shops to maintain them operating easily whereas creating an fulfilling place to buy,” the assertion mentioned. “Our staffing choices are data-driven to stability workload and schedules.”
Kroger’s workforce fell from roughly 465,000 full- and part-time workers in January 2021 to simply over 409,000 in February 2025, based on firm filings with US securities regulators.
Employees and union leaders in Colorado say the overcharges have sparked rising anger amongst prospects, with some taking their frustrations out on cashiers and different front-of-the-store employees.
“I’ve witnessed verbal altercations nearly flip into fistfights,” mentioned Chris Lacey, a King Soopers service supervisor in Colorado. “Prospects are so annoyed and so at their wit’s finish with the pricing that they’re simply prepared to take it out on anyone with a King Soopers title badge on.”
In contract talks with Kroger, UFCW Native 7 has made the overcharging difficulty a key negotiating level, urging the corporate to create a “tag integrity division” inside every retailer and schedule extra hours for workers to drag down out-of-date worth labels.
Native 7 leaders outlined their considerations about overcharges in a gathering with firm officers in January. A transcript reveals that an government with the Kroger’s Colorado division questioned the effectivity of retailer workers, however acknowledged pricing errors and the impression on prospects. “If we’re not getting the job completed, that may be a completely different drawback for us,” she mentioned.
Union leaders in Colorado mentioned Kroger had completed little to handle the issue since that assembly.
“With these worth tags, we’ve informed them and so they haven’t even flinched,” mentioned Kim Cordova, Native 7’s president and worldwide vice-president for UFCW.
In March, Native 7 members carried out secret procuring assessments at greater than 30 King Soopers shops round Colorado. The outcomes, which the union shared with the media companions, confirmed greater than 300 expired low cost tags led to a median overcharge of just about $1, or practically 15%.
Kroger’s nationwide “Make It Proper” coverage permits workers to repair worth discrepancies on the spot, on a case-by-case foundation, which the corporate says permits employees to handle “any state of affairs once we unintentionally fall in need of a buyer’s expectations”. Colorado workers and union officers say store-level administration tells front-end employees to repair worth errors for particular person buyers who complain, however doesn’t do what must be completed to right the expired low cost tags which might be driving the issue.
“They go: ‘Simply maintain the client, cope with it, and we’ll repair it in a while.’ And that by no means occurs,” Lacey, the King Soopers service supervisor, mentioned.
In complaints to Ohio’s lawyer normal, some buyers described getting a runaround from the corporate once they raised considerations with Kroger representatives on the native shops and past.
“I’ve complained to the company workplace many occasions however nothing modifications,” a buyer from Columbus mentioned in December. A buyer from Dayton mentioned in October that he had noticed overcharges three weeks in a row however a grievance to Kroger’s company workplace “resulted in a canned response that supplied no answer”.
In Belpre, Ohio, the Hadfields informed the Guardian that Kroger workers confirmed to them that the shop was too poorly staffed to guarantee that sale tags have been updated. Kroger decreased workers on the Belpre retailer by 16% between 2019 and 2024, and decreased the common hours of those that remained, federal labor information reveals. Derek, a US Military veteran who served as an armored crew member in Iraq, mentioned one employee informed him “they’ve one particular person accountable for altering all the costs within the retailer and that’s why the costs consistently ring up completely different.”
The Hadfields have been so annoyed they filed three complaints with Ohio’s lawyer normal – one by Derek in November and two by Allison in late December and early January. Allison mentioned in her first grievance that “we are able to’t even get something resolved on the retailer as a result of they’re so understaffed it needs to be thought of abuse in the direction of their present workers.”
Two different buyers filed comparable complaints in 2024 with the lawyer normal’s workplace in regards to the Belpre retailer. “Actually each particular person I do know that retailers at Belpre OH Kroger has this difficulty,” certainly one of them wrote.
The lawyer normal’s workplace forwarded Allison Hadfield’s complaints to Kroger. In response, a Kroger government promised that firm officers would share her complaints with its native retailer director to “guarantee our workers are following correct process when eradicating and updating sale tags”.
On 1 Might, the Guardian despatched a reporter to the Belpre Kroger to see whether or not issues had modified on the retailer. The procuring check completed by the reporter discovered that – greater than three months after Kroger promised state officers it might be sure correct procedures have been being adopted on the retailer – expired sale tags and overcharges have been nonetheless an issue.
Six of the 11 expired on-sale objects the reporter bought resulted in an overcharge at checkout. The common overcharge on these six objects was greater than 12.5%.
Throughout Ohio
On the banks of Lake Erie greater than 200 miles north of Belpre, Ohio, one other Kroger buyer was wrestling with the identical issues across the similar time because the Hadfields.
Jim Howell was overcharged on 4 straight visits, he mentioned, at his native Kroger in Sandusky, Ohio, together with on the acquisition of six containers of vegan cream cheese.
Howell skilled as a chef and pays shut consideration to meals costs. He mentioned he obtained into the behavior of doing what he referred to as a “forensic accounting” when he obtained dwelling after every journey to the shop, checking what he had paid towards Kroger’s listed costs on the chain’s on-line app, which displays what prospects can be charged at checkout. He would tally up the errors, return to the shop together with his receipts, and get his a reimbursement.
“Nowadays, once I store,” he mentioned, “I simply stroll to the client desk and so they ask for my receipts. They know.”
However he thought that merely getting refunds was not sufficient. In November he went on a Fb group, “What’s happening in Sandusky,” to complain about Kroger’s pricing practices.
“Kroger is a behemoth, certainly one of America’s largest grocery retailers,” he wrote. “It’s best to have the ability to belief them on their pricing, not need to waste time auditing and getting points corrected.”
The publish obtained dozens of likes and replies, with many posters saying they’d had comparable issues on the Sandusky Kroger or different Kroger places within the area. “There are *all the time* outdated coupons and sale costs on the shelf,” one poster mentioned. “Has occurred to me dozens of occasions,” one other mentioned.
Customers from many different cities and cities throughout Ohio – the place business analysts say Kroger holds a dominant place within the grocery market – are additionally complaining. The media companions’ assessment of information from the state lawyer normal’s workplace recognized greater than 55 complaints since 2021 from Ohioans accusing Kroger of promising one worth after which charging a better worth at checkout.
Greater than half of those complaints – 30 – have been filed in 2024 and the primary three months of 2025.
A number of the complaints cited issues with a single merchandise. However others described repeated pricing points enjoying out over many visits that continued, in some situations, for a 12 months or extra.
“Each week prospects are being duped into considering some grocery objects are on sale,” a consumer from Cincinnati informed state officers in February. “The shop is stuffed with expired shelf tags displaying one worth and upon checkout [customers] are being charged a better worth.”
Andrew Knall, the Ohio schoolteacher, and his partner, Michelle Tomashot, mentioned they’ve been grappling with overcharges at Kroger for years.
In 2022, Knall wrote the state lawyer normal’s workplace to report that their household of three had been seeing overcharges “for properly over a 12 months now. My spouse and I consistently complain to the clerks and the managers there but it surely retains taking place … This occurs with canned objects, frozen meals, produce, pet food, and lots of different objects.”
A couple of 12 months later, the couple determined to do an experiment after Michelle did a morning store that, they mentioned, yielded 5 overcharges out of 10 objects bought. After she confirmed footage of the sale tags, she mentioned, a Kroger staffer fastened the overcharges on her invoice.
The couple returned later that afternoon and chosen the identical objects. The identical 5 overcharges, they mentioned, rang up once more – Kroger had corrected the issue on Michelle’s invoice that morning however, hours later, nonetheless had not fastened it inside its pricing methods or on its shelf tags.
She mentioned she informed Kroger workers that persevering with to overcharge prospects after being placed on discover is “referred to as stealing”.
The couple mentioned the issue has not slowed down since then – and that Kroger must take accountability for ensuring the costs on its shelf tags are correct.
“If that sticker is hanging beneath that merchandise, that’s what the worth is,” Michelle mentioned. “It’s their fault for not taking that sticker off.”
Throughout the nation
Kroger isn’t the one grocery store mega-chain to face allegations of unfair pricing practices. In 2024, Walmart agreed to pay $45m to settle a category motion lawsuit in Florida that accused Walmart of overcharging American prospects for meat, poultry, pork, seafood and bagged citrus fruit. In October, Albertsons, which additionally owns Safeway and Vons, agreed to pay an almost $4m civil penalty to settle allegations in California that the chain charged prospects costs larger than their lowest marketed or posted worth.
Walmart and Albertsons denied wrongdoing.
Kroger’s personal pricing practices have been flagged in lawsuits in a number of states. In Utah, Kroger paid a $2,500 settlement in 2019 to a consumer who accused the corporate of “falsely and deceptively charging full costs as a substitute of the marketed promotional pricing” lined by a Recent Values rewards program.
Lawsuits at the moment being fought in California, Ohio and Illinois declare Kroger shops soaked giant numbers of shoppers at checkout. The California case alleges the corporate raised costs of merchandise when buyers used grocery coupons and the Ohio case claims it gouged pharmacy prospects who’ve medical insurance by inflating the worth of generic medication.
The Illinois swimsuit alleges that the lead plaintiff, Lisabeth Gainsberg, repeatedly encountered overcharges when she bought on-sale objects at a Kroger-owned Mariano’s retailer in suburban Chicago – together with Slim Jim Sticks on sale for 92¢ every that have been rung up at $1.79 per stick. When she identified these overcharges, the swimsuit claims, retailer workers strung her alongside for half an hour or extra earlier than correcting the overcharges.
The swimsuit says she spent months urging the shop supervisor and company larger ups to repair the problem, however Kroger continued to cost extra for a lot of objects than its posted sale costs.
Kroger has denied wrongdoing within the case that was settled in Utah and within the present instances in Illinois, Ohio and California. Within the Illinois case, Kroger mentioned it “has not engaged in any misleading act”. It contends that Gainsberg has not produced any proof that “the worth discrepancies at difficulty have been something aside from random errors” in a state of affairs “the place perfection can’t probably be achieved”.
Past the courts, authorities regulatory companies are additionally listening to complaints about Kroger’s price ticket points. In March a consumer in Arlington, Texas, contacted the FTC to report that their native Kroger had been leaving out-of-date low cost tags up all through the shop, leading to overcharges, for about 5 years.
The patron mentioned they’d tried nearly all the things to cease the apply: they talked to retailer workers, Kroger’s company workplace, and the Higher Enterprise Bureau. However the buyer has “not acquired a passable response”, the FTC mentioned.
In Michigan, the place Kroger is dominant in metro Detroit, the lawyer normal’s workplace has acquired 229 client complaints about Kroger since 2020. In 25 of these instances, the lawyer normal’s workplace has discovered violations of Michigan state legislation regarding worth errors, overcharging and bait and swap ways, and returned practically $1,600 to Kroger prospects.
Kroger coverage permits for not more than 1% of worth tags to be incorrect, based on an inner firm doc obtained by the information organizations. At one Kroger-owned retailer within the western US, the doc reveals, an in-house audit of tons of of merchandise discovered that roughly 6% had incorrect worth tags straight resulting in overcharges.
In lots of instances, Kroger’s overcharges could seem small – just a few cents extra on one mislabeled merchandise, a greenback on one other. However these inflated costs add up in an period of huge worries about meals costs. In a MarketWatch survey in April, 63% of People agreed with the assertion: “It’s tough for me to afford groceries.”
The squeeze is very tight for decrease earnings households, which spend about 30% of their incomes on meals.
“Should you don’t care about cash, keep it up,” Jim Howell in Sandusky wrote in his Fb blast about Kroger’s pricing practices. “Should you do care about cash, you might need to jot your pricing down and do an audit. It provides up fast!”
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Analysis contributors to this story embody: Haley Parsley, Cait Kelley, Callie Lyons, Jules Feeney, Betti Johnson, Blandon Ray, Quincy Kelly, Katherine Smithyman, Hope Covey, Courtney Consolation, Harry Chandler, Nan Rothwell, Carter Smith, Madeline Nguyen, Brent Cunningham, Steph Quinn, Julian Mendoza, Ethan Bakuli, Sandy West, Juwan Holmes and Lee Roop.
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