CONNECTICUT COFFEE HIKES DRAW CALL FOR CRACKDOWN

LISA SAXTON

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Consumer backlash over recent hikes in coffee prices may be putting supermarket operators in Connecticut in some hot water.

The state's consumer commissioner said she was "inundated with consumer complaints" about retailers apparently changing prices of coffee that had already been placed on the shelf -- a practice that is a criminal offense under a 20-year-old state law, but not likely to be enforced by state police.

Now the commissioner, Gloria Shaffer, wants to have the law changed so that such practices would become a civil offense, making enforcement, through the imposition of fines, a more realistic proposition.

The uproar arose when retailers changed shelf prices on coffee in response to wholesale price increases tied to major coffee crop damage in Brazil.

Consumers contacted Schaffer's office reporting the changes. She said she has a "number of exhibits of coffee cans that have suspicious sticky spots," where older labels had been removed.

"I am asking the General Assembly to put authority for enforcement of the law into hands of the Department of Consumer Protection. It should be an unfair trade practice. There should be civil penalties, not criminal penalties, in my judgment -- just as we handle item pricing and unit pricing violations," said Schaffer. "I think it's a good law; it's designed to prevent profiteering."

Schaffer said supermarkets are not prevented by law from getting a higher markup on items that they paid more for, and the instance of widespread price hikes that hit the coffee category is not a common occurrence.

"We don't often find what has happened in the coffee market. But when this does happen, this law's specifically designed to protect consumers," she said.

Schaffer said she is advising consumers to watch out for evidence of changed shelf prices and bring it to the attention of store managers.

"If you see an item with two price stickers on it and you are being charged a higher price, or if you see evidence that a sticker has possibly been applied and removed, go to the manager of the store and inform him of Connecticut shelf pricing law.

"I have notified the supermarkets, in particular, to try to mediate it out in the store, so the consumer gets the benefit of the existing law," she added. Most of the handful of major chains with stores in Connecticut were unavailable for comment about the furor over coffee prices, and its possible aftermath.

Bill Vitulli, vice president of government and consumer affairs for A&P, based in Montvale, N.J., which operates in this state, said that "after wholesale coffee prices skyrocketed, some of the larger packages of coffee may have been advanced as much as $3 and $4."

Vitulli said he could understand consumer frustration over price hikes, especially if there were evidence of two prices on individual products.

"We have a policy, that if there are two prices on an item, we are required to charge the lower price," he added.

Grace Nome, president of the Connecticut Food Association here, told SN part of the problem is that Connecticut requires a label on each food item. That can lead to situations where retailers have products two or three different prices on a shelf at one once.

At the same time, Connecticut is the only state that has a law preventing retailers from changing that price once it has been put on the shelf. She deems enforcement of that law as discriminatory against supermarket operators.

"The law applies to [all] food sold in the state, but it's only us they go after, the big guys," she said.

She also noted that the only time that item price labels aren't required is if a retailer has an electronic shelf labeling system, which "is very expensive per store. That would discriminate against those who couldn't afford electronic shelf labeling and still have to mark every item."

Nome said the law also discriminates against food retailers as a group, while pricing at other types of stores goes unscrutinized.

"It's not applied to all products," she said. For example, during summer holidays gasoline prices take a hike, but the state does not fine petroleum retailers.

"If you bought a refrigerator in July, you're paying a different price than if you bought it in May, yet [the appliance retailer] may have purchased it at the same wholesale price. They're not being told, 'Don't change your price.' "

Schaffer countered that the state has "anti-gouging laws that can apply across the board, for example, if the governor were to declare a state of emergency. We're not picking on food. I believe, at the time, the legislature felt it was dealing with essential items and wanted to prevent profiteering."