Markets 
Well, that’s priceless.
An observant Dollar Tree shopper recently spotted a price checker in the aisles at their local store. In a post on the popular Facebook group Retail Dead or Alive, a space dedicated to “discussing retail of ANY kind,” a member posted a photo of the scanner.
“Never thought I’d see the day when you’d need a price checker at the Dollar Tree,” the poster wrote. The photo shows a Dollar Tree aisle with a price checker next to some boxes, ready to be scanned.
The tech shocked some shoppers who questioned why a store that was made famous for having items priced at $1 — I mean, it’s in their name — would even need a scanner. As usual, the post infuriated many and commenters flooded in.
One Facebook user wrote, “Sad sad thing lately. Never know if it’s 1.25, 1.50, 3, 5, 10 even. Ridiculous.”
“Dollar-inspired pricing,” another joked.
Shoppers are referring to the chain officially moving to a “multi-price strategy,” adding items for well over $1. The discount retailer hiked prices back in November 2021, adding items for $3 and $5.
Since then, shoppers can spot price tags reaching all the way up to $10.
The technology may not be new, though. Shoppers revealed that many states have been implementing the price checkers for several years — and some find them pretty handy.
“We have these in California. I’m glad. Whenever I see an item with a red sticker on it means it’s not priced as 1.25. So [the] scanner will show,” a Facebook user wrote.
In fact, Massachusetts added price checkers to every location after a law was passed back in 2012. Under the Item Pricing Law, food and grocery stores over 5,000 sq. ft. are now required to have at least one scanner in every store.
The law also removed individual sticker prices on store shelves. Before the change, most grocery items in Massachusetts had to have them attached to each item on store shelves. This became quite costly for stores and they found the change added some financial breathing room.
This meant that after the switch, stores no longer had to put price stickers on every item if they met the following requirements: displayed prices clearly on shelf labels, installed price-check scanners throughout the store and met state price-accuracy standards.
The Post reached out to Dollar Tree for a list of stores with price scanners but has not heard back.
For the savvy shoppers, Dollar Tree also has price scanners built into its app. The scanner allows customers to bypass the manual checkers completely and scan barcodes in the store from their own phone.
After downloading the app, shoppers just tap the “Barcode” icon in the Global Search Bar or tap on the icon in the Global Navigation Bar and start scanning. Just note that you’ll need to give your phone camera access for the scanner to work.
The items scanned will come up with the correct price; shoppers can then add them to a list called “My Favorites,” sort of like a virtual shopping list.
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