"I Hear the Store is Saving Money."

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

"WAIT...they're paying you minimum wage?"

"I'm up for a raise soon." The young attendant at the Meijer self checkout took my embarrassing, late night grocery store rant in good humor.

"But...WAIT...wait...they're paying you MINIMUM WAGE?"

"A-yup."

I had just spent the past 15 minutes at the massive supermarket, trying to find a cat flea medicine that was actually priced as labeled on the shelf: "But....but....who on earth is benefiting from this new No Price Tag law thing, then?"

"I hear it saves the store money."

"Are they at least hiring more people?"

"No, I think the cut back the hours of the stock guys."

AAAARRGH!

"So....I just spent 15 minutes hunting down cat flea stuff that matched the marked price because of a law that saves the store money and the store isn't hiring more people, you're paid minimum wage to hear some guy rant at the checkout at 10 PM, and I'm STILL seeing my grocery bill go up...."

"Sorry." The young woman shrugged.

"No...no....it's not your fault. I'm sorry. I'm...I'm just ranting. Just being an ass. You know...I'd be a little better with it if I knew the folks here were at least paid more than minimum wage."

"I'm up for a raise soon!" The young woman smiled again.

"I hope it's huge. Okay...well, have a good night. Thanks for helping me get this cat stuff thing figured out."

-----> Michigan was sort of spoiled for the longest time. We had an excellent law that required stores to price each item individually, so that people could quickly and easily compare prices against the scan price at the checkout. The whole point was to give consumers as much information about their purchase as possible.

I never realized how much I USED those price tags until they were gone. Recently our Governor and conservative congress scrapped the consumer protection law, under the guise of "saving stores money" so those savings would get "passed on to the consumer" or "used to hire new workers."

But...so far none of that has happened. All it's done is make people wander around the store trying to find out how much their purchases are supposed to cost. Meanwhile, nobody is getting raises, consumer prices aren't going any lower, and stores slashed hours for stock clerks.

Great.

I was going to buy halloween candy at Meijer a few weeks ago, and went to the candy bin where a big yellow sign read "2 for $5". I reached in, grabbed a bag, went to the checkout...it scanned for $15! GRRR...went back...found another "2 for $5" bin....that bag scanned for $8.

I finally asked a guy chucking candy into the bins "Are those 2 for $5?" He looked at the sign and pulled it off..."no..."

Nobody wins with this law change.

Well.....I take that back. As the young woman said "I hear the store is saving money." Trickle down economics at work.

Join Us for Occupy Muskegon, Next Saturday.

Show your support for America’s future and the Wall Street protests this Saturday, October 15th , at Hackley Park at 10:00 AM. Cities and towns all over America are standing up to voice support for the Occupy Wall Street movement, holding local gatherings of their own. Chicago, Boston, and Seattle are doing it. Detroit, Lansing, and Grand Rapids are doing it. And now Muskegon, Michigan is joining its voice with people who want Washington to focus on regular, hardworking Americans.

Nearly one month ago, thousands of people started a long-term protest on Wall Street, frustrated that our leaders were not listening to ordinary Americans. The protests were born of a deep concern that our leaders are more focused on the interests of the banks and multinational businesses than the interests of American voters and mom and pop businesses.

The peaceful show of support for regular American workers has continued night and day since it began September 17th, and continues to grow in scope and size. More than 15,000 Americans assembled on Wall Street last Monday, with hundreds of thousands showing their support all across America in similar gatherings. Another 10,000 assembled in Seattle alone.

If you feel your voice no longer matters in America, join us at Hackley Park in downtown Muskegon, this Saturday, October 15th, at 10:00 PM, and make your voice heard with hundreds of thousands of others gathering across our nation.