Governor Snyder’s goal of abandoning Michigan’s 1976 Retail Price Scanning law is baffling to me. For a guy who has seemed to want to at least pretend to be bipartisan, he falls into a predictable category, by attacking what has been a popular consumer safeguard against fraudulent charges. It’s too early in his tenure to suggest that he’s trying to make points with wealthy constituents. However, dumping the law doesn’t seem to benefit anyone except retail business owners. It’s a fallacy that prices on goods will drop if price tags are eliminated. And as for the single Sound Off caller who suggested that we’re losing businesses to other states because of this law, think about it. All Michigan retailers have the same rules and therefore have no competitive advantages or disadvantages over other local retailers.

I’ve read comments from at least one retailer that said it wouldn’t have an effect on jobs and it will just save on the costs of labels. We’d have to be pretty gullible to believe that. The only real savings that retailers could enjoy by eliminating price tags would be to eliminate the salaries of those responsible for the tagging, at a time when we’re struggling to reduce unemployment.

A few years ago we moved our daughter to Texas to start a new job to achieve her goal of living in a warmer climate. Before we left her, we wanted to fill her pantry with food and other necessities. We went to the local grocery store and immediately noticed the lack of any price tags. Being frugal Michigan shoppers, we also struggled to even find shelf labels and it was very confusing. We hated it and I remember telling my wife and daughter how much I loved Michigan’s price law!

I’ve thought about why Governor Snyder lacks the knowledge of why that law is so valuable to Michigan shoppers and believe I know the answer. It’s not totally about politics and more about perspective. He is simply not the shopper in the Snyder family. I’m not saying that he doesn’t shop, but I seriously doubt he could ever be seen pushing a shopping cart overflowing with groceries with a shopping list in one hand and a stack of coupons in the other. That’s something my wife and I do together on a regular basis, so I can claim to be somewhat of an authority. I call it our “date-night”. A true shopper always compares can label prices, sizes and brands in an effort to find the best deals. Eliminating the price tags on merchandise will make that job extremely difficult.

Another confusing statement made by Governor Snyder was that Michigan is only one of 2 states that still require this supposed archaic practice. While he seems to imply that we’re behind the curve, I think we’re the leaders on this and other states are seriously lagging. Why is it too much to ask to have price tags on basic staples? I hate looking for new or used cars that lack price tags – please don’t make shopping for canned soup just as frustrating! Governor Snyder also said that savvy shoppers will use their smart phones as a barcode scanner. From what I’ve read, the industry is not there yet, but even if it were, I don’t own a smart phone and don’t plan to any time soon and resent the idea of having to spend money so I can look up the price of a can of soup.