Rally in Worcester Against Overcharging at CVS Stores
Worcester News Tonight reports on the rally at a Worchester, MA. CVS on Friday over pricing irregularities at CVS stores. In the report (found here), several people present at the rally spoke about overcharging at CVS stores.
"CVS is by far the worst retailer in the state of Massacusetts for illegally overcharging customers. We've seen it here in Worcester," said Deanne Dworski-Riggs, of Cure CVS. She went on to say, "You know we've spoken with a former manager at CVS and they said they would rather pay the fines and continue to overcharge customers than address the problem."
One shopper interviewed for the report explained that she had been overcharged at CVS just the day before. "Yesterday I pay $3.49 for milk," she explained, "and they have a big sign for $2.89. Definitely they need to just have the right prices, just advertise the right prices, and when we go to the register, we pay for what we were told."
Worcester CVS stores caught overcharging [Worcester News Tonight]
Posted by Alex G. on July 27, 2009, 3:28 PM
18 Comments
Comments posted to the Cure CVS Blog are the sole property of the individual posting them, and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the Cure CVS campaign, Change to Win, its affiliated unions, or its leadership.
Hello,
We are beginning a campaign against CVS in regards to their unfair labor practices. There is significant evidence that they are receiving new york state tax dollars of approximately 4.75 million dollars without using NYS carpenter contractors. They are currently building a 750,000 sq foot distribution center in Chemung, NY.
We are concerned that they are keeping NYS residents outof work and undermining the established area standard wages and benefits.
We plan on beginning a full scale public awareness campaign including handbilling and large demonstrations with banners.
If you are interested in posting anything regarding our campaign or would like further information, please contact us at cnycarpenters@esrcc.org.
Thanks.
What does this have to do with anything? So the company doesn't want to pay overpriced union carpenters for the same quality work from non union nail pounders.
Who cares about your handbilling? I for one support CVS for frugal use of resources. Hope it rains when you are standing out there in front of your inflatable rat (which by the way was probably made in china by non union workers)
i have a complaint against cure cvs.
they bash on the fact that cvs "sells" certain purshasing information. i thought you might like to read this out of cure cvs terms and conditions.
"We may also provide personal information to third parties on a completely confidential basis to enable a third party to perform certain tasks, such as maintain membership databases or send email updates on our behalf. These third party providers are committed to protecting your privacy, and will not utilize your information for any other purpose but to provide the services which we contract for. We may share aggregate information, stripped of any personally identifiable information, to third parties to comply with various reporting obligations."
yeah thats right. cure cvs doesnt sell (BUT) they do give away your personal information to others if you give it to them. they want to criticize and yet do the same thing to their supporters. pity. pity. pity.
and yes charlotte, i agree with you :)
Charlotte-Are you a new york state resident?
If not, I can't see how your opinion on the union's work is at all important, since it's not your tax dollars going to waste.
If you ARE a NYS resident, can you justify 4.75 million of your hard-earned money going to employ workers who won't, in turn, put that money back into your economy? Do you not see the cycle?
Dear Yeah,
What are you smoking? How does building a large distribution center IN New York State NOT help the residents of New York.
So what if 50 union carpenters don't get to work on the project for 2 months(because thier bid for the work was too high)? After the building is completed and operational, 1000 New York State residents will have secure employment for years to come.
Your agenda is completely selfish. You want a 2 month job. CVS is committing to years of employment opportunities for hundreds of employees in a mostly rural area of New York State. I cannot think of a better way for the state to invest their tax dollars.
The Union as a whole is an extremely selfish and hypocritical organization. They are constantly deeming companies as "unfair" and discrimatory while failing to look at the bigger picture. CVS is a huge company. We are such a big company by turning profits. How is hiring several carpenters who are asking way too much to do a job that other legal New York citizens are willing to do for a more reasonable price a good business move? Obviously these Union managers have never actually ran a real business.
As a tax paying New yorker all jobs created by our dollars should be spend on local workers and contractors. CVS imports contractors from other states that are not paying area standart wages and may not be provideing health benefits, this is not what we expect when we commit to spending our tax dollars. As far as future jobs that is yet to be seen.
Future jobs in doubt? It makes a lot of sense for CVS to invest in a state of the art distribution center, then leave it empty. If that is your logic, I don't want you building the shed for my husbands mower, let alone a distribution center.
Or maybe they will import chinese workers, that would be cost effective. LOL
Two concerns, Nick,
#1 Most union managers are experienced workers. I imagine the carpenter union managers are former carpenters. No, they are not managers, but they don't need to be.
#2 the problem is that if CVS runs its "real business" by making carpenter jobs a thankless near-minimum wage job, there are no more paying jobs in the area. Sure, you can say CVS needs to remain competitive, but perhaps it can remain competitive through actual better business practices.
As it is, cheating skilled workers out of reasonable pay is not standard when it comes to large New York carpentry projects. So it is not as if "all the other businesses are doing it" in New York and CVS is putting itself at a disadvantage.
Instead, CVS is putting itself at an unfair advantage by treating workers poorly, and pretty soon all the other businesses will be having to "catch up" by also treating their workers poorly. I'm sure when that happens they will also hide behind the "competition" moniker.
Thanks to the frugal decisions made by CVS, stores have been able to keep hiring new employees and scale down hours slightly- instead of having to lay off and fire a significant amount of their staff. They look out for their own and I commend them for money-saving decisions such as this one. Get over it and move on.
Keep it up and no one will want to use your services.
What is America coming to? What ever happened to good old capitalism and freedom of choice? And what about good old American competition- competitive pricing and the ability for the consumer to choose which service is the best both in quality and financially?
The other guys realized they were competing for business and gave a better price. Your price was too high because you are greedy and money-hungry, as proven by your campaign against CVS.
It is really disappointing and discouraging to see your organization trying to bully companies like CVS because they are trying to cut costs during an economic crisis.
Your campaign is weak and pathetic. Give it up and offer a better deal next time.
ARGHH!! Why work to "cure" a corporate entity that you don't like? It's simple: SHOP ELSEWHERE. The strongest message to a for-profit entity is a drop in sales. You gain in the knowledge that you have boycotted the bad guys; they lose in the all-important sales revenues.
If you want to expend energy to "cure" something, pick schools, the environment, politics or your own family.
It's not even a union or non-union issue, it's the fact that new york state taxes should create new york state jobs. Simple as that. CVS made promises to NYS residents that they are now not keeping, and they shouldn't get away with this corporate green laden behavior.
Yet, half of you who support so-called capitalism and the freedom of choice will be the first to scream if you think your taxes are too high or being wasted. Guess what? They are being wasted. Perhaps it's time to see beyond what is good for a single person and realize what is good for a community as a whole.
CVS is overcharging all over the country - NOT just in Mass. As president of the Consumer Federation of California I have written to CVS Corporation twice about their deceptive and misleadign sales practices. They do not respond, so you know it is deliberate and calculated. The Attorney General of California needs to come down on them. Below is my latest leter.
September 18, 2009
CVS Corporate Headquarters
One CVS Drive.
Woonsocket, RI 02895
Sirs:
This is the second letter I am writing to CVS Corporation regarding deceptive and misleading price labeling practices CVS is employing in its stores. I wrote to CVS on August 29, 2009 (copy attached) about other deceptive practices but to date have not received any reply.
The most recent repeat experience I have encountered was once again, in CVS store #9980, in Folsom, California, where the shelf display for “Sensodyne Toothpaste” was advertised as, “Buy one and get second item at ½ price”. But, at the register I was charged full price for both items. When I questioned the price, the clerk went back to the shelf and brought back two tubes of “CVS Brand toothpaste” stating that this was the sale item not the “Sensodyne Toothpaste”. I escorted the clerk back to the shelf again and pointed out the shelf display ‘sale price sticker’ pasted right on the “Sensodyne Toothpaste” price sticker, which did not say “CVS Brand”.
To the credit of your sales clerk, he said it was an error and gave me credit for the ½-off price on the second item. However, the misleading shelf sticker was not removed from the shelf and I am sure some other consumer will wind up being deceived and overcharged.
In my earlier letter, I gave CVS the benefit of the doubt when I said, I did not know if these CVS procedures and practices were deliberately calculated or not and I called for CVS to correct these practices. Since there has been no response to this letter and these practices continue, I am now convinced and I can only conclude that they are deliberately calculated to deceive consumers.
Again, I call upon CVS to discontinue these deceptive and misleading shelf pricing tactics. I am also asking the California Department of Consumer Affairs and the Attorney General of California to look into these deceptive practices.
Sincerely,
James B. Gordon, Jr.
President
Consumer Federation of California
james, you have got to be kidding me. the sale sticker clearly says cvs brand. either an employee put it on the wrong item, or some sstupid little kid thought it would be just adorable to play with the stickers and move them around (i've seen that way too many times). you're writing to corperate over THAT?! Ha, and you wonder why you dont get a reply. Get a life.
As far as the overcharging for the milk deal is concerned, the sign clearly says "Prices starting at" which means... not all the milk is the same price. DUH! Lately the 2% has bee on sale fo $2.89.. so obviously the sign in the window has to be changed to $2.89, because it's the lowest price. Those fucking hindu people come into my store all the time, pissing and moaning because they're not able to comprehend anything, and I have to go through the process of returning their got-damn milk, and guess what they paid with originally... FOOD STAMPS! So 1/3 of my paycheck went straight to this "overpriced" milk. I hate the world and anybody no able to read a sign.
@ Jim --
SIRS? Really? There are no women that work in the CVS Headquaters, huh? Welcome to 2010, buddy. Maybe if you didn't address your letter in a horrifically sexist manner, someone would pay attention to you.
Actually "Miss", all of CVS' top executives are men and none are people of color. Pale, male and stale... just like thier milk, eggs, and baby formula. Save your feigned outrage.
Either way, what does any of this nonsense have to do with CVS breaking the law and overcharging consumers? I'm just in awe of how many people attempt to excuse, justify or distract from the real issue of corporate malfeasance and disreagard for the law and the public's health and safety.
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