Time to join 21st century

by Larry Meyer
MRA Chairman and CEO

Remember 1976? Bell bottoms, eight-track tapes, the Bicentennial, the presidential race between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter?

You may not remember what the retail industry was like back then. The very first bar code scanner had been installed only two years earlier, at a Marsh’s supermarket in Troy, Ohio. A pack of Wrigley’s gum was its first item.

Grocery stores were the first to invest in the new technology, but even by 1978, only about 1 percent of grocery stores used them. The lasers used in scanners were considered very high tech, and some customers actually feared accidents involving the small red beams.

Why the reminiscence? 1976 is the year that Michigan’s law requiring price tags on every item was passed. That law is still on the books, despite changes in technology that make 1976 look like a bygone era.

Some laws may remain current and useful for more than a quarter-century, but this isn’t one of them.
Promoting reform of the item-pricing law will be the focus of a renewed push in our governmental affairs department. Since Massachusetts finally revised its law last year, Michigan is the very last state in the nation to retain this archaic type of law.

If Massachusetts—a state known for consumer advocacy and strong labor laws—can pass this reform, surely it’s well past time that Michigan does the same. Interestingly, the labor movement in Massachusetts did not oppose the change. They can see it’s not really a labor issue.

Sticking a price tag on every nut and bolt in the hardware department is a colossal waste or our state’s retail employees’ time and talent.

As the issue comes up for public debate in our state, we can expect to hear some outcry from labor and consumer-advocacy groups.

Since we’ve been working on this issue for the past 25 years, we’ve heard all the arguments, which often amount to misunderstandings.

To those who fear it will allow retailers to reduce staff, you can explain that for companies with stores in several states, the human resources budget is the same—it’s up to stores to allocate that money.

A retailer with stores in Ohio and Michigan is not going to let Michigan workers go—the budget for wages is set. Without this law hamstringing retailers, the Michigan store can assign those employees to more valuable work, and both customer and retailer will benefit.

To those customers who hear from consumer groups that some customers will be perplexed, you can explain that shoppers in other states have had no notable complaints with the new systems. Further, revisions to the law will allow the latest technology that—together with stricter scanner accuracy requirements—will ensure greater pricing accuracy, not less.

Some retailers may choose not to invest in the technology upgrades and other changes that a revision of this law would allow. No problem.

If the changes we propose become law, your participation is voluntary. You can keep the system you have now and be held to current levels of scanner accuracy, or you can make changes and be held to stricter scanner accuracy.

For retailers looking to expand into Michigan, the current law is one more anti-business hurdle that keeps retailers and their jobs out of the state.

Back in 1976, newer technologies were just coming into use—technologies that resulted in huge savings due to improved efficiency and greater customer satisfaction. Similar technologies are here again, or just around the corner.

Will Michigan be able to play the retail game competitively in the next 25 years? Let’s hope that 2004 is the year that Michigan leaves the past behind and joins the 21st century.