news-record.com

If you shop at Harris Teeter, chances are you're familiar with the grocery store chain's buy one, get one free deals.

An anonymous e-mail I received questioned whether it's the deal deal:

"One thing that bugs me is that whenever Harris Teeter has a 'buy one, get one free' offer, they never divulge the price of the item. Since Lowe's Foods and Food Lion list the unit price, I can't help but wonder if H-T is being a bit devious, i.e., jacking up the price when they put these items on sale."

Harris Teeter spokeswoman Catherine Reuhl responded in an e-mail:

"During our buy one, get one free promotions, the single unit price of the BOGO item is the regular selling price. Regular prices do vary by market; therefore we only show the buy one get one free logo. Of course, customers can always visit the store and look at the shelf tag on the product to learn the regular price of an individual unit."

I also asked the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' standards division, which inspects retailers to check for pricing errors.

Since 2006, seven Harris Teeter stores failed their initial price scan inspection, according to Jerry Butler, weights and measures program manager with the standards division.

Of those seven, all passed a follow-up inspection.

Butler told me in an e-mail there has never been a civil penalty issued against Harris Teeter for pricing errors since 2002. That's when he began working at the standards division.

Retailers who fail a follow-up inspection and exceed a 2 percent overcharge error rate can be fined up to $5,000.