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Walgreens.com Overcharged on Sales Tax in MA

Just before the holidays, MrConsumer spotted a bargain on Royal Dansk butter cookies at Walgreens.com and ordered 10 of them for pickup at his local Walgreens just outside of Boston.

In the ordering process, he noticed that inexplicably he was going to be charged $1.79 in sales tax on them.

Walgreens tax

Food in Massachusetts is not subject to sales tax except in restaurants by law.

*MOUSE PRINT:

sales tax rule in MA

So before finalizing the order, he called the Walgreens 800 number to see if they could adjust the total to the correct amount. They could not, but said to call back after making the pickup and they would provide a credit.

Upon pickup the next day, I asked the store manager to correct the bill but he could not because it was an online order. Then I called online customer service again and asked for the credit as I had been promised the day before. “Oh, we don’t give back sales tax” was the customer service person’s response. After she started saying that they base sales tax on where the company is located — in Illinois — a total misunderstanding and misrepresentation of how sales tax works, I asked for a supervisor. All that representative was able to do was fill out a form to be sent to the Walgreens tax people for their review.

Of course, MrConsumer’s long-held belief is if a company was going to overcharge anyone, they would never choose him alone to do it to.

So I went back to the Walgreens website to try to figure out the extent of the tax overcharging in Massachusetts. I put some test purchases of various nontaxable items in my cart to see if tax would be charged. Here’s one of the them.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Walgreens taxed cookies and crackersConsumer World Photo Illustration

Sure enough, it appears for some unknown period of time Walgreens.com had been charging a 7-percent sales tax on cookies and crackers here wrongfully. And that isn’t even the right sales tax rate in Massachusetts. We pay 6.25-percent on taxable sales, while 7-percent is the meals tax rate.

After a total of four or five unsatisfying contacts with Walgreens’ 800 number and their online customer service department, four days after placing the order, they corrected the website. And the day after that, I was issued a $1.79 refund for the tax overcharge and a $50 e-gift card for bringing the matter to their attention.

tax refund

Consumer World asked Walgreens PR folks how such a taxation mistake could happen, how long they have been overcharging customers, how much money was collected, and what they were going to do to refund the overcharges. They first said that the problem was limited just to that one brand of butter cookies. But after suggesting they were minimizing the extent of the issue, further research they did revealed the problem was much broader affecting baked snack foods like Twinkies, as well as all cookies and crackers.

In a conference call with two Walgreens officials in December, the company admitted the problem was of their own doing and not of an outside contactor. They explained that they erroneously categorized certain snack foods as bakery items which they thought were taxable.

When pressed to answer the rest of our questions, they later said that they could not determine how long the overcharging had been going on, and due to system limitations, they could not make automatic refunds.

The company also provided this emailed statement which said in relevant part:

If customers believe they have been impacted and now owed a sales tax refund, please contact 877-250-5823 for assistance. We ask that impacted customers who call this number have on hand the order number found on their receipt to assist with the query. Walgreens does not profit off sales tax errors of this kind, as all tax collected is turned over to the state and local taxing authorities.

Consumer World is pleased to see that Walgreens at least fessed up to the problem and corrected it relatively quickly after our contact. We’re disappointed they can’t make automatic refunds since they already have two-years-worth of receipts right on their website. Shoppers should not have to scrutinize and recalculate the tax on every sales slip to figure out if they have been overcharged.

This is not the first time Walgreens has been accused of overcharging on sales tax. They were sued or called out for improperly charging tax on toilet paper in Pennsylvania last year, on COVID test kits in New York in 2022, on milk in Massachusetts in 2019, and on bottled water and certain unsweetened beverages in several Illinois areas in 2015 and 2017.

Many retailers have been accused of overcharging on sales tax over the years, so getting this bit of retail law correct has been a challenge for stores because of the complexity and varying nature of state and local rules.

None of that, however, excuses stores for not getting it right.

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Don’t Let the Pill Bottle Quantity Fool You

When you see the number of pills in a bottle, along with the strength, you reasonably assume that is what will be inside. So a bottle of 100 aspirin that says 325 milligrams should be just that.

Last year we showed you examples of calcium supplements that didn’t meet that expectation. Now we turn to a similar issue with with these CVS melatonin gummies.

CVS Melatonin Gummies

Here the label clearly says there are 60 gummies in the bottle and it notes the strength as 10 mg. in two places on the front label.

*MOUSE PRINT:

CVS back of label

The dosing instructions on the back say you have to take two gummies in order to get the 10 mg. promised on the front of the label. So in essence, if you thought this bottle would last you two months, it will only be good for one month.

Another CVS melatonin gummy product makes a slightly different representation on the front saying this product is 10 mg. per serving. While a slight improvement, shoppers still could be easily misled.

10 mg per serving

What do you think… shouldn’t the strength of the medication displayed on the front of the bottle be what you get in each pill, capsule, or gummy inside?

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Here We Shrink Again – Year-End 2023

NOTE: The next new Mouse Print* story will be published on January 1st.

Some big brands are continuing to downsize their products despite some easing of the inflation rate… so shrinkflation continues as we wrap up 2023.

Huggies Baby Wipes

Better get those very young grandchildren potty-trained because there are 64 fewer Huggies baby wipes in every carton.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Huggies baby wipes


Downy Fabric Softener

Through the miracle of modern chemistry, P&G has reduced the size of Downy fabric softener by seven ounces a bottle, but you still get 60 washloads out of each bottle. Presumably they concentrated the product and adjusted the hard-to-see dosage lines inside the cap.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Downy


Equate Liquid Hand Soap

One of our readers, Steven T., discovered that Walmart’s brand of liquid hand soap recently seemed skinnier. It lost more than 10-percent of its contents, going from a 56-ounce bottle down to only 50 ounces. Remember, it is not just name brands that shrink — stores brands continue to get into the act as well.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Equate hand soap


Folgers Breakfast Blend

Coffee has historically been one of the categories of groceries that has been downsized repeatedly through the decades. This time it is Folger’s Breakfast Blend, which went from 25.4 ounces to 22.6 ounces. And through the magic of modern science, you still theoretically get the same 210 cups of coffee out of every canister. Thanks to Herb W., the Consumerman, for this submission.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Folgers Breakfast Blend


Pepperidge Farm Gold Fish

There are fewer of those happy little goldfish in every Pepperidge Farm carton these days. The old large 30-ounce carton was reduced by almost 10-percent and is now only 27.3 ounces. Thanks to Richard G. and Reddit for this submission.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Gold Fish


Peanut M&Ms

M&Ms, like many candies, have changed bag sizes so many times, it is impossible to keep track. Some months ago their “sharing size” package went from 10.70 ounces to 10.05 ounces. Who comes up with these crazy weights? Whatever happened to simple eight, 12 or 16-ounce bags?

*MOUSE PRINT:

M&Ms


Stacy’s Pita Chips

Potato chips have not cornered the market on snacks that have been subject to shrinkflation. Pita chip bags have been downsized also, including Stacy’s pita chips that have lost two ounces.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Stacy's Pita Chips


Tide Oxi

Since P&G downsized Downy, how could they leave Tide behind? The oxi-version of Tide in large jugs went from 154 ounces down to 146 ounces, and you even get fewer loads the new bottle!

*MOUSE PRINT:

Tide Ultra Oxi


Walgreens Toilet Paper

It is not just name brands that downsize their paper products. Walgreens recently lopped off 40 sheets on their Ultra Soft toilet tissue with no fanfare.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Walgreen Ultra Soft


Charmin Ultra Soft

When Charmin added a scalloped edge to Charmin recently to make sheets tear more easily, they also cut off 30 sheets sheets from each mega roll. Thanks to our ace shrinkflation spotter, Richard G. for this submission.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Charmin Soft


Pennysticks Pretzels

A dollar store staple has been has been Prennysticks brand of pretzel sticks and twists. They have been sold in 12-ounce bags forever, it seems. Then for the past couple of months they disappeared from Dollar Tree. But now they are back … with two ounces less in every bag.

*MOUSE PRINT:

pretzels


Arm & Hammer Detergent

In what may be one of the largest downsizings ever, Arm & Hammer Sensitive Skim detergent took 49 ounces out of their 189-ounce jugs, but magically you still get 140 loads out of each bottle. One gets the impression that we must have been paying for an awful lot of water in the jugs for years.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Arm & Hammer Sensitive Skin


Nutri Source Dog Food

Phil L. reported that Nutri Sounce large breed dog food downsized from 30 pounds to 26 pounds this past spring, so he loaded up before suffering a four-pound loss on every bag. The price remained at $61.99 for him.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Nutri Source adult dog food


Campbell’s Home Style Soup

Richard G. spotted a complete change in packaging for Campbell’s Home Style soup. The can is smaller and it lost two-and-a-half ounces.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Campbell's Home Style soup


Apologies to other readers who sent in submissions that we did not use this year. Some were regional brands, or more obscure products, or changes that were not recent.

But in 2024, if you find a product that has recently downsized, please send clear before and after pictures including the net weight or net count to Edgar (at symbol) MousePrint.org .