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Photo: 123RF Every supermarket that overcharges for items should allow the customers to have them for free, the grocery commissioner says. Kiwis may be losing tens of millions of dollars a year due to supermarket pricing errors, according to the Grocery Commission. It's planning to force the major players to publicise customer complaints saying it will create a commercial incentive for supermarkets to make fewer mistakes. The biggest number of complaints to the Commerce Commission was from supermarket shoppers and most centred on overpricing, commissioner Pierre van Heerden said. The groceries sector was a $25 billion industry and had had years to perfect its system for charging, he told Morning Report. Examples of errors included charging normal prices for items on special or overchar...

It is time for supermarkets to step up over repeated pricing errors that may be making a big dent in pocketbooks for many, customers say. It comes after Consumer NZ found 65 percent of shoppers were noticing pricing inaccuracies at the supermarket and 12 percent were spotting them rather frequently. In Nelson, the shoppers RNZ spoke to were in the habit of checking their receipts. Liza recently took something back to the supermarket after she was charged the wrong price for it. "It was just something that had been reduced and I bought it for that reason, and I was fortunate enough to get a refund." But she said supermarkets could be doing more - especially given how expensive it was to get by these days. "My personal opinion is that people are doing it tough here in New Zealand and the [...

Photo: 123rf Auckland bottle shops are concerned they could go out of business if forced to close their doors at 9pm. The council has proposed stricter alcohol sale times for supermarkets and liquor stores across the region. It would also implement a freeze on new liquor stores in the central city and 23 other "priority areas" mostly in south and west Auckland for the next two years. The changes are part of a new Local Alcohol Policy for the city. The policy has been in the works since 2008 after South Auckland liquor store owner, Navtej Singh, was shot while working, dying in hospital the next day. A Karangahape Road business owner strongly opposed to the rule change said: "I don't think it's a good idea. Many customers want a drink on the weekend. If we close early it's going to be so ...