Michigan
Michigan price scanner law: Overcharged? You’re owed compensation. Here’s what to know.
Do you pay attention to shelf tags or other displayed prices on items you buy only to look at your receipt and discover it scanned at a higher price at the checkout?
If so, know you have a right to recover your loss, and a little bonus to boot, thanks to a Michigan law that’s been around, with iterations, for decades.
Michigan’s “Shopping Reform and Modernization Act” protects consumers when an item purchased scans at a higher price. The law took effect on Sept. 1, 2011, and replaced Michigan’s item pricing law of 1976, often called the nation’s most strict, that was in place for more than three decades.
With the new law, individual price stickers or tags were no longer required on just about everything sold in Michigan.
But in its place, under the new law, retailers were required to display the price near or where the product is displayed. But an actual sticker on the item indicating the price was no longer required.
Retailers, of course, applauded the move because they no longer needed to deal with the expense and costs of adding and changing price stickers to items.Those who opposed the law, according to several Free Press archives reports, cited that pricing individual items for customers to know what they are charged for the product.
Also known as the “Scanner Law,” the act allows for compensation to consumers when overcharged for an item, though with, of course, a few caveats.
With the holidays arriving, people are busy and it’s easy to overlook prices or not pay attention to receipts.
In addition, more stores from grocery retailers to home improvement stores, have more self-checkouts, relying on customers to scan their own items.
While it’s easy to scan, pay, and go, it’s a good practice to keep an eye on what the price of an item is, how much it scans for, and pay attention to receipts. Go over your receipt and make sure the items you purchased are scanned at the correct, displayed price.
While you may have a phone app to check a price, the Scanner Law requires retailers to display or clearly indicate the price of an item.
Here’s what to know
How should stores display prices?
- Prices can be on a price sticker, stamped on the item, or otherwise marked.
- Other ways to look for prices include signage, electronic readers, or any other method that “clearly and reasonably conveys the current price of the consumer item, to a consumer when in the store at the place where the item is located.”
Does it include all items?
- There are exceptions. Among the 13 items exempt from displaying the total price, according to the law, are items sold by weight or volume and not in a package or container, prepared food for consumption, unpackaged food items, cars and car parts, live plants, and live animals.
What must happen for consumers to trigger the Scanner Law?
- There is a price displayed for the item.
- The item is purchased using an automatic checkout, such as a scanner.
- A receipt describes the item and states the price charged for the item.
When to act if you are overcharged:
- You have 30 days after buying an item to notify (in person or in writing) the store or seller of your loss because you were charged more for an item than what was displayed.
- Once the seller is notified and within two days they are to compensate for the loss.
Here’s how consumers are compensated:
- Consumers (buyers) are given an amount equal to the difference between the price displayed and the price charged for the consumer item. For example, if the price of something is $1.59 and scans at $2.09, the difference is 50 cents.
- The buyer receives a bonus, also called a “bounty” of 10 times the difference that is not less than $1 and a maximum of $5. In the example above that would be $5. Note: If you bought multiples of the same item, the bonus only applies to one item not all of them.
- Using the example, the consumer would receive $5.50 as a total bonus.
- If a seller refuses to pay the consumer can take the seller to court and may receive up to $250 in damages and up to $300 in attorney’s fees, according to the law.
When the law or the bonus doesn’t apply:
- The scanning error is caught and corrected before the transaction is complete.
- The item is rung up by hand incorrectly and a scanning device is not used. This is considered human error and the bonus doesn’t apply.
- If an item is on sale but scans as the regular price, you are not entitled to the bonus because you were not charged a price higher than the displayed price.
- You are past the 30-day mark or no longer have a receipt.
Keep in mind, if a store doesn’t provide a bonus, it is not a violation. It does open the retailer, according to the Michigan Attorney General’s office, to “a private right of action by the consumer.”
You can download a scanner error bill of rights that explains the law. To report a retailer not in compliance with price display contact the Michigan’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development at 517-655-8202 or write to them at 940 Venture Lane, Williamston, MI 48895.
Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter. Subscribe to the Free Press.
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Black-legged ticks have been increasing across Michigan this summer, raising concerns about tick-borne illnesses like Lyme disease.
—> Michigan health officials alarmed by surge in Lyme disease cases
Researchers at Michigan State University say the large white-tailed deer population plays a key role in spreading these ticks.
To address the problem, MSU scientists are testing food capsules containing biomarkers to see if deer will eat them.
Each capsule currently includes corn, alfalfa, molasses, and a biomarker that helps track how many deer consume the capsules.
If successful, the capsules will eventually contain a vaccine to help deer build immunity to ticks, similar to how dogs are vaccinated.
The goal is to reduce the number of ticks on deer, which could lower the risk of tick-borne diseases for people spending time outdoors.
MSU professors describe this as an innovative method that could be a game-changer for controlling black-legged ticks and Lyme disease in Michigan. The capsules are being introduced in selected parks and land preserves in the Mid-Michigan area as part of the early phase of this research.
In the future, the team plans to add a drug or vaccine to the capsules to eliminate ticks on deer, aiming to stop the problem at its source.
—> 4 ways to protect yourself from ticks in Michigan, and 4 things to do after you’re outside
Copyright 2025 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit – All rights reserved.
President Donald Trump’s administration renewed its request Sunday for a federal appeals court to let him fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, a move the president is seeking ahead of the central bank’s vote on interest rates.
The Trump administration filed a response just ahead of a 3 p.m. Eastern deadline Sunday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, arguing that Cook’s legal arguments for why she should stay on the job were meritless. Lawyers for Cook argued in a Saturday filing that the Trump administration has not shown sufficient cause to fire her, and stressed the risks to the economy and country if the president were allowed to fire a Fed governor without proper cause.
Sunday’s filing is the latest step in an unprecedented effort by the White House to shape the historically independent Fed. Cook’s firing marks the first time in the central bank’s 112-year history that a president has tried to fire a governor.
“The public and the executive share an interest in ensuring the integrity of the Federal Reserve,” Trump’s lawyers argued in Sunday’s filing. “And that requires respecting the president’s statutory authority to remove governors ‘for cause’ when such cause arises.”
Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to the agency that regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has accused Cook of signing separate documents in which she allegedly said that both the Atlanta property and a home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, also purchased in June 2021, were both “primary residences.” Pulte submitted a criminal referral to the Justice Department, which has opened an investigation.
Trump relied on those allegations to fire Cook “for cause.”
Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor, referred to the condominium as a “vacation home” in a loan estimate, a characterization that could undermine claims by the Trump administration that she committed mortgage fraud. Documents obtained by The Associated Press also showed that on a second form submitted by Cook to gain a security clearance, she described the property as a “second home.”
Cook sued the Trump administration to block her firing and a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
The administration appealed and asked for an emergency ruling just before the Fed is set to meet this week and decide whether to reduce its key interest rate. Most economists expect they will cut the rate by a quarter point.
It’s an in-state matchup on Saturday, Sept. 13, as Michigan football (1-1) takes on the Central Michigan Chippewas (1-1) for the Wolverines’ second home game of the season.
After a loss on the road at Oklahoma last week in which Michigan struggled to generate offense, the Wolverines — and particularly freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood — are looking to sharpen their offensive skills against a weaker Chippewas.
They’ll have to do so without coach Sherrone Moore, however. The coach is serving the first of a two-game suspension sanctioned by the school for his role in the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal. In the interim, Biff Poggi will lead the Wolverines.
Michigan’s task will be to hone its skills on both sides of the ball, but with an emphasis on offense. The Wolverines struggled to run the ball last week and Underwood had difficulty connecting with receivers downfield as well. Central Michigan provides a perfect opportunity for Michigan to build its offensive cohesiveness before beginning Big Ten play.
Follow along below for live updates.
Michigan football vs. Central Michigan early availability report
Michigan – Out: QB Davis Warren (knee), OT Andrew Babalola (knee). Probable: DB Rod Moore (knee), DB Shamari Earls (undisclosed), DB Caleb Anderson (undisclosed). Questionable: TE Marlin Klein (right foot/ankle), DB Zeke Berry (lower body), RB John Volker (undisclosed), LB Jaydon Hood (undisclosed), RB Bryson Kuzdzal (undisclosed), RB Donovan Johnson (undisclosed), edge Devon Baxter, DT Ike Iwunnah (undisclosed), WR C.J. Charleston (undisclosed). Doubtful: OL Gio-EL Hadi (left ankle/foot)
Central Michigan – Missed Week 2: TE Rory Callahan, OL John Iannuzzi.
Matchup: No. 22 Michigan (1-1) vs. Central Michigan (1-1)
Kickoff: Noon Saturday, Sept. 13; Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor.
TV/radio: Big Ten Network; WCSX-FM (94.7).Looking for a free mini puzzle? Play the USA TODAY Quick Cross now.
Line: Wolverines by 27½.
Michigan football schedule 2025
Week 1: W, 34-17 vs New Mexico.
Week 2: L, 13-24 at Oklahoma
Week 3: vs Central Michigan, Saturday Sept. 13, noon ET (Big Ten Network).
Week 4: at Nebraska, Saturday Sept. 20, 3:30 p.m. ET (CBS).
Week 5: BYE.
Week 6: vs Wisconsin, Saturday Oct. 4, 12 p.m. or 3:30 p.m.
Week 7: at USC, Saturday Oct. 11, time TBD.
Week 8: vs Washington, Saturday Oct. 18, time TBD.
Week 9: at Michigan State, Saturday Oct. 25, time TBD.
Week 10: vs Purdue, Sautrday Nov. 1, time TBD.
Week 11: BYE.
Week 12: at Northwestern, Saturday Nov. 15, time TBD.
Week 13: at Maryland, Saturday Nov. 22, time TBD.
Week 14: vs Ohio State, Saturday Nov. 29, noon ET (Fox).
Contact Matthew Auchincloss at mauchincloss@freepress.com.
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