The cash register is linked to a computer system where price and other product information is stored. The computer decodes the symbol and sends price information to the cash register. The cash register then prints the price on a receipt for the consumer and the price is also shown on the cash register display screen. It is human error which causes most pricing errors. For example, stores may quickly and easily change prices in their computer systems but fail to make timely and appropriate changes to shelf stickers and displays, or to price stickers on the product.
Errors can also result at the data entry level when the prices are changed.
Some price scanning errors may be inevitable, but the manual entry of prices by a cashier does not result in better price accuracy. Moreover, the receipts printed by older cash registers merely list a series of prices whereas most electronic scanners specify the item purchased and the price, making it easier for consumers to identify pricing errors and pursue correction. In the summer of 1996, the Bureau conducted a survey of price accuracy in the Canadian marketplace. The survey included national and regional chain stores and independents. More than 15,000 items were checked.