Stop & Shop Sued Over Pickup Fee Shown Below The Checkout Button; Fee Says It Was Just Shy

QUINCY, Mass.—A federal lawsuit filed in Massachusetts accuses Stop & Shop of charging a $3.95 pickup fee on online grocery orders without telling shoppers until checkout, where the fee appears below the checkout button. The fee, reached by this reporter beneath the button (bottom of the page, past the promo code box, keep scrolling), said it was not hiding. It was just shy.

According to Supermarket News, the suit invokes the state's fee disclosure regulation, which took effect last year and requires businesses to show the total price when a price first appears and to clearly state the nature, purpose and amount of mandatory fees. The plaintiff says shoppers see a running total throughout, but the fee shows up only on a "Fees" line, and an "i" icon explains what the charge is not (a tip) rather than what it is.

"I have always been more of a below-the-button person," said the fictional fee, who asked to be identified only by its amount. "Some charges like to be in the headline. I prefer to arrive quietly, at the end, like a good dessert."

icon explains what the charge is not (a tip) rather than what it is.

Where Shoppers Finally Found The Fee

Below the checkout button, eventually	46%
Behind the little i icon	23%
On the bank statement	17%
In a dream	9%
Never, and they are happier	5%

Source: The Daily SKU Retail Desk; 300 fictional carts, one magnifying glass

Shoppers said they have no quarrel with fees that introduce themselves. "Tell me up top, I will pay it, I will even say thank you," said a fictional mother of three in Brockton, holding a rotisserie chicken (deli, front left, by the warm case). "Do not meet me behind the button like it is a parking garage."

In 26 years on a store floor, this reporter never once saw a price tag ask a customer to click an icon. We hung them at eye level and said them out loud if asked. Store managers, bless them, were usually the ones holding the ladder.

The "i" icon, for its part, said it had done its best. "I am a lowercase letter in a circle," it said. "I was hired to say what things are not. Nobody gave me the other half of the script."

The suit is the latest headache for the grocer, which recently recovered from a cyberattack that shut its website and app for several days and has seen online activity decline since. Stop & Shop has not been accused of anything by the button itself, which issued a fictional statement saying it would like to be left out of this.

Marjorie Pell has worked or covered American stores for 40 years and still knows where the paper towels are. More from Marjorie Pell ›

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