C-Store starts putting price labels on all items

Until recently, more than 60 items sold at the C-Store lacked price labels.

Before April 7, when stickers were put on the items, customers could only check the price of these items at the store's checkout desk. Many refrigerated items, including all beverages and frozen foods, lacked stickers showing their prices. Other items, including packaged snacks, had price tags or prices printed directly on them. All school supplies and stationaries, which the C-Store purchases from the University Store in a departure from a previous non-competition agreement, also had price labels.

According to the New Jersey Consumer Rights Guide, all merchants in New Jersey who sell, attempt to sell or offer for sale any merchandise at retail must affix the total selling price to the merchandise. “This may be accomplished by plainly marking the item with a stamp, tag, label or sign clearly showing the total selling price may be located at the point where the merchandise is offered for sale,” the website reads.

In an interview with the Daily Princetonian that took place before the store started labeling all products, University Media Relations specialist Min Pullan said the absence of appropriate labeling was due to logistic difficulties.

“The C-Store carries close to two thousand items and we aim to have all those items priced and labeled. It is sometimes the case that items are missing labels for logistical reasons,” she said.

Most items scanned properly at the checkout desk, Pullan said. Pullan noted that the C-Store conducts regular checks to make sure that the price labels are not absent for prolonged periods of time.

“Items come in at different times and from different vendors, and we aim to have them all labeled,” Pullan said.“We work continuously to update the process for the products we offer.”

However, some C-Store employees explained to The Daily Princetonian that some items in the C-Store have not had price labels for at least a year and that when they suggested to management that price labels be made for refrigerated items the suggestion was disregarded. They further noted that the labeling for beverages occurred only very recently, and they were not given prior notice that the labeling would take place.

Senior Operations Manager at Campus Dining and Retail Service Anthony Procaccini, who oversees the C-Store and its management, did not respond to a request for comment.

Executive Director of Campus Dining Smitha Haneef explained that the newly-taped sheets were a logistical matter and that the lack of labelling was more of a logistical gap. She said despite the lack of labels neither items nor their prices have fluctuated in the past.

She declined to comment on how much time and effort were put into the recent labeling, and she added that in the C-store, the University addresses logistics as things come up.

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Students noted that they have previously found the lack of pricing disturbing.

“Not being able to see the prices of the drinks at the C-store was annoying since I didn’t know how much I was spending ’till the cashier rang it up. I feel as a college student on a budget it’s important to know the prices of what we desire to purchase so we can accurately gauge whether it is worth it to spend our precious funds,” Monica McGrath ’19 noted.

Emily Hahn ’16 said that she thinks not having prices listed on the items is deceiving.

“If something was more expensive than you had wanted to pay it would be awkward and maybe embarrassing for some to have to say you don't want to buy it anymore because it's too costly,” Hahn said.

Tyisha Griffiths ’19 said that she welcomes the Campus Dining's decision to label all items.

“Now that I'm not shopping blindly, I can spend more efficiently,” she said.

Sara Goodwin ’18 noted that she believes this is an important issue that needs to be addressed.

“Especially as a college student, it is necessary to know the price of items before paying in order to be able to budget and make wise decisions as to how we spend,” she said.

Pullan noted that the University’s C-Store serves as a go-to provider for students and that it always has been and will continue to be so.