21 May 2024, Las Cruces, New Mexico, Steven Zimmerman – For many, Walmart can be the only place to purchase groceries for miles. For others, it’s the most convenient way to buy groceries and household items. It’s also become the home of the Rollback scam again.

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In 2017, a California resident claimed that Walmart’s price adjustment process had manipulated prices to make it seem like consumers were saving money on purchases by using fake original prices.

Another lawsuit initially filed in late 2022, and subsequently amended in 2023, alleged that Walmart “falsely inflated” the prices of certain sold-by-weight products, including those that feature the retailer’s “rollbacks,” or discounts.

As a regular shopper at Walmart, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend. The store again offers fraudulent rollback prices, including items I frequently purchase. 

We have a couple of puppies who cannot get outside during the day when we are not home. We’ve been purchasing the Vibrant Life Training pads for them for a couple of years now. It’s a box of 100 for $50. The price stayed the same at that time. 

I had to stop at Walmart in Las Cruces, on South Valley Drive, where most of the pet aisle had Rollback tags. The problem is that the prices stayed the same.

The pad we use is $50 online. When there is an actual rollback, the price drops online, and the old prices are crossed out, like the puppy pads below.

Other items we purchased also had Rollbacks that didn’t occur. Our sticky rice says the Rollback back price is $4.42, down from $6.42. Yet, our receipt from last week, pre-Rollback, shows the price was still $4.42.

We also had to purchase Mr. Clean, which is oddly less expensive if I buy it online and pick it up. Its Rollback price is $5.49—we paid the same price last week. 

I pointed out this trend within the store of using Rollbacks when not changing the price, and all the employees did was remove the tags. 

“They do it all the time,” says the employee who didn’t want me to use their name for fear of termination. “We get a list and have to put them up. Most people ain’t going to notice them.”

Walmart recently had a solid first quarter driven by consumers seeking bargains, showing that inflation is still an issue. Walmart is driving those profits by utilizing the Rollback to keep consumers paying the same price while thinking they are getting the same product at a lower cost.

Walmart knows what it is doing when it places these red Rollback tags on products. “They go on things that used to sell and now don’t sell. It gets people to grab them,” says the Walmart employee we spoke to.

“Our combination of everyday low prices plus many rollbacks is resonating,” CEO Doug McMillon told investors this past Thursday.

Walmart reported profits of $5.10 billion, or 63 cents per share, for the quarter that ended April 30. That compares with $1.67 billion, or 21 cents per share, in the same period last year. According to FactSet analysts, adjusted earnings per share was 60 cents, far surpassing estimates for 53 cents per share.

These gains come with a false sense of saving money and stretching your dollar, all under the illusion of a Rollback that never existed. 

Lawsuits and fake Rollbacks are not the only tactics they use; there is also the forward. The following image went viral last year when Walmart called a rise in the cost of onions a Rollback. 

These business practices are not only wrong but also run afoul of the law in many jurisdictions. It’s time that we, the consumers, begin to hold Walmart accountable.