Jewel Food Store Amazing Software Glitch; Purposeful Action or Programmer Stupidity?

Tuesday evening I purchased groceries at a local Jewel food store.

Hormel Cure 81 hams were allegedly on sale for $3.99 a pound. The sticker price said $5.99 a pound.

I asked cashier "Kim", the checkout clerk, and was told discounts were automatic, that I no longer needed to enter my phone number or present a card to get a the discount.

Kim notified me "the sale price was $3.99" and it was reflected on the receipt.

Well, it was, sort of.

Jewel Hormel Cure Ham Label



Please note the net weight of the ham at 3.61 pounds.

Next note the itemized Jewel receipt.



Supposedly I "saved" $10.84. That's quite the savings.

Please note "how" I save $10.84.

The weight on the sticker was 3.61 pounds (verified by me at home). The weight listed on the receipt was 5.42 pounds.

It appears to me that Jewel software assumed the price on the sticker was correct and then adjusted the weight of the product on the receipt to reflect the price on the label.

Is this crazy or what?

I called the Jewel store in question, they acknowledged the error, and will refund the difference.

OK, but what about potentially thousands of other customers who had the same problem and did not notice?

More importantly, what about the inane software program that changes the weight on the receipt to match the price on the label? Is this fraud?

I leave it to the reader to decide if this is purposeful action or programmer stupidity.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com