posted November 23, 2005 04:21 PM         

Contact: Chris Kofinis of WakeUpWalMart.com, 202-486-6422

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 /U.S. Newswire/ -- On 'Black Friday,' the traditional kick-off to the Holiday shopping season, WakeUpWalMart.com supporters are mobilizing an unprecedented grassroots campaign informing consumers about two newly released studies showing Wal-Mart charged customers the wrong price in excess of the federal standard in at least 4 states. The studies raise serious questions about Wal-Mart's pricing practices and have led several Attorneys General to call for an investigation.

WakeUpWalMart.com supporters will take part in a national Wal- Mart Consumer Alert campaign by distributing over 1 million flyers in over 36 states and 102 cities. The 1 million Wal-Mart Consumer Alert flyers announce a new toll free hotline for Wal-Mart customers to call to report being charged the wrong price. The toll-free number is 1-866-253-1350.

"Wal-Mart should not be asking American consumers to gamble with their prices this Holiday season. In at least 4 states, Wal-Mart may need to change its 'Always Low Prices' slogan to 'Sometimes Low Prices, if you are lucky,'" said Paul Blank, campaign director for WakeUpWalMart.com.

Earlier this week, WakeUpWalMart.com and the National Consumers League sent a joint letter to Attorneys General in all 50 states calling on them to launch a full-scale investigation into Wal-Mart's pricing practices based on the findings of two newly released studies conducted by the University of Illinois- Chicago Center for Urban Economic Development and the University of California-Berkeley.

The two studies examined the pricing accuracy, the difference between the shelf-price and the cash register price, at Wal-Mart stores in California, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana and concluded the pricing errors at Wal-Mart stores in these 4 states failed to meet the federal standards set by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). The federal standard, set by the NIST, requires no more than 2 out 100 randomly selected items from any one store may be incorrectly priced.

The study found that almost 85 percent of the Wal-Mart stores in the IL, MI & IN study failed to meet the federal standard for pricing errors. In California, the results were worse with almost 87 percent of Wal-Mart stores failing to meet the federal standard for pricing accuracy.

"Wal-Mart customers have a right to know whether or not they are paying the wrong price. If a Wal-Mart customer has been charged the wrong price they should call our national Wal-Mart consumer alert hotline," said Paul Blank, campaign director for WakeUpWalMart.com.

In the letter to the Attorneys General, the National Consumers League and WakeUpWalMart.com suggest ways Wal-Mart could correct this potential pricing problem, including: requiring Wal-Mart to post notices at each register warning customers that they may be overcharged; requiring Wal-Mart to hire enough employees to accurately price merchandise; requiring each Wal-Mart store to hire an employee solely responsible to ensure accurate pricing; and require item pricing in its stores.