Jun 5, 2008 7:53 pm US/Eastern
Study: Milk Price Gouging Rampant In NYC
City Council Says 86 Percent Of Stores Across The 5 Boroughs Overcharging For Gallons, Half-Gallons & Quarts
Reporting
Cindy Hsu
HARLEM (CBS) ―
There's a good chance you're paying too much for milk. An investigation of stores across the five boroughs found that most of them were price gouging.
That is very much against the law.
There's a state law in New York that regulates how much retailers can charge for milk. That maximum price changes every month. Back in November the City Council checked milk prices at 50 random stores across the city, 10 in each borough, and found most were overcharging.
"Eighty-six percent of the places we visited were charging consumers above the threshold," Council Speaker Christine Quinn said.
"Are you serious? That's not fair. I didn't know that," said Harlem resident Cindy Jones. "They had a law like that on the books."
And that's the problem. No one seems to know about the Milk Price Gouging Law that's been around for 17 years.
So here's the deal, for this month, the maximum price stores are allowed to charge for a gallon of milk is 3.93, a half-gallon $2.01 and a quart $1.04.
The law only applies to regular milk, not specialty categories like organic or soy. The Department of Agriculture and Markets says it sends a monthly letter with the new milk prices to some stores, but not all of them.
The True Blue Deli Grocery in Harlem is one of the 50 places that were found overcharging back in November, but the manager says no one ever informed them.
CBS 2 HD: "There is a law that says you can only charge $3.93 for milk. You are charging $4.29."
Francisco Marte, store manager: "Okay. I will lower it down, no problem."
The City Council says it's up to retailers to know about the law and keep those prices in check. Investigators are also hoping shoppers will report stores that are overcharging for milk.
Once the store is reported, if it doesn't drop its milk prices, owners could face civil and monetary penalties.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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