Scanner Guns: All Around, The Price Is Right

How do you get more bang for the buck?

You arm weights-and-measures inspectors with a gun.

No, no. Not that kind of gun. A scanner gun that will record shelf prices and generate a receipt-like printout, which can be scanned at the checkstand to verify that the shelf prices match those the consumer pays at the checkstand.

It saves time for inspectors, retailers and consumers who could be waiting in line at the checkstand.

And Seattle's five weights-and-measures inspectors need some help in the time-saving department. It's their job to do price verifications at hundreds of retail stores and to check 2,923 scales, 2,357 gas pumps at 146 locations, 842 city and county taxi meters, and 138 heating-oil-delivery trucks. They also check price systems and scales at fast-food restaurants and timing devices at Laundromats and car washes.

"We've even been asked how much beer there should be in a schooner," said Craig Leisy, supervisor of the inspectors in the consumer-affairs unit of the Seattle Department of License.

A `prover' truck

Seattle recently took delivery of a $80,259 high-tech, 22-foot-long, white "prover" truck that will be used to check the accuracy of gas pumps. The technology aboard will improve speed and accuracy in testing, minimize gas fumes for inspectors, and eliminate wrestling with five-gallon gas cans that weigh about 45 pounds when filled. The truck is expected to cut the inspection time at a station in half.

Sounds like a good deal.

Now about those scanner guns: Under the ground rules of price verification, an inspection of a large retailer requires a check of 50 to 100 items. If it's a manual inspection, the inspector writes down the SKU (stock-keeping-unit number), the UPC (universal price code), a description of the item, the shelf price and its location in the store. Sometimes all or part of the merchandise will be put into a shopping cart. Then a store manager puts it through a cash register like a normal purchase. After prices have been checked, a store employee has to return the merchandise to shelves.

Counting travel time for an inspector, the process shoots a morning.

Some stores will lend their scanner guns to an inspector, if they're not using it.

Until about a year ago no company was specifically manufacturing a scanner gun for inspectors.

Last week inspectors attending the National Conference on Weights and Measures in New Orleans saw demonstrations of a system tailored for them by Monarch Marking Systems of Orange, Calif. Monarch also makes systems for retailers including Nordstrom, Mervyn's, J.C. Penney Co. Inc., Sears Roebuck and Co., and numerous groceries.

Inspectors in nine California counties are using Monarch's system, according to Erica McConahay, a Monarch marketing spokeswoman.

So what kind of a review do inspectors give these devices?

Generally good, said Bill Stephans, deputy agriculture commissioner/sealer of weights and measures in San Diego.

Stephans says the device adds another half day to an inspector's time. The inspector punches in the shelf price and may enter the aisle location. The rest is automated.

If an inspector can do price checks with clipboard in hand at two large retailers a day, he or she can do three a day with a scanner gun.

The scanner guns with printing devices attached cost from $2,700 to $3,500; an inspector's annual salary ranges from $25,000 to $40,000 here. So buying half a day's time for the purchase of a scanning gun sounds like a bargain to me.

Leisy says there is a downside: Monarch's gun for inspectors can't do the same things as the stores' devices because of software differences.

But to Stephans in San Diego, there's an important reason for inspectors having their own scanning guns. His staff occasionally uses retailers' guns. "But I don't like it. You are using their equipment, asking for a special favor. I like to keep an arm's length away. I like to use our own equipment so we know it's accurate and in our control each and every day," Stephans said.

Under the manual-inspection system, Stephans' staff checked prices on 30 items in a store. Now they routinely do 50 to 100 items in less time. He thinks that's a bonus for the stores and consumers.

"We're in and out quicker and that pleases retailers, too. The longer the inspector is in the store the more stressful the situation will be for the store and the inspector."

------------------------------------------------------------------ Shelby Gilje's Troubleshooter column appears Wednesday and Sunday in the Scene section of The Times. Write to Times Troubleshooter, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111. ------------------------------------------------------------------