The world's biggest retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was found to be charging its customers in New York higher prices for Coca Cola products compared to what was stated in the national circulars.
In New York stores, Wal-Mart charged $3.50 for a 12-pack soda compared to what was advertised in their promotions which was $3.00. New York law prohibits false advertising and misleading prices.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said that the retail giant was breaking false advertising laws as they charged their customers higher than what they are advertising. Yesterday, it was announced that Wal-Mart had agreed to pay a penalty amounting to $66,000. According to the attorney general's findings, Wal-Mart's cash registers were not programmed to accept the proper promotional price. Wal-Mart did not give any comment on the validity of the findings.
Wal-Mart has been the subject of many scrutiny from the media because of its size. The American multinational retail company own and operates a large number of department and warehouse stores. This Arkansas-based company has over 11,000 stores in 27 countries. Just this year, Wal-Mart faced a number of allegations, including breach in food safety in their China operations last January and labor union issues in China last June. The company also spent around $173 million this year on expenses related to the ongoing investigations on bribery allegations and lobbying charges in Brazil, India, China and Mexico. These allegations not only contributed to a huge impact on the company's balance sheet but also dampened investor confidence.
Over Wal-Mart's years of operations, it has also been bombarded with several criticisms and allegations from numerous organizations, customers and labor unions on their business policies and practices, including the subject of racial and gender discrimination. Labor and employee relations has also been a subject of scrutiny as Wal-Mart was slapped with lawsuits on issues involving poor working conditions and low employee wages. In the light of the said accusations, Wal-Mart has denied any wrongdoings on these matters.
