In 2014, California regulators caught Whole Foods overcharging customers, and things have only gotten worse for the upscale grocery store chain, which is currently under investigation for similar allegations in New York (where it also faces a civil suit from customers). That’s why Whole Foods’ co-CEOs issued a joint, heavily qualified, mea culpa about the situation. 
 
 Company founder John Mackey and his co-CEO Walter Robb released the above video on Wednesday, where they acknowledge that Whole Foods did indeed overcharge customers on its packaged food items. 
 
 “Straight up, we made some mistakes,” says Robb in the video. “We wanna own that and tell you what we’re doing about it.” 
 
 Mackey admits that “a very, very small percentage” of pre-packaged food items like sandwiches, fresh-squeezed juices, and cut fruit may have had weighing errors, but Robb contends these that these were “unintentional because the mistakes are both in the customers’ favor and sometimes not in the customers’ favor.” 
 
 “It’s understandable that sometimes mistakes are made,” says Robb. “They’re inadvertent, they do happen, because it’s a hands-on approach to bringing you the fresh food.” 
 
 New York City inspectors have reportedly found more than 800 violations at Whole Foods stores in the city since 2010, with overcharges ranging from $.80 to nearly $15. 
 
 “We’re going to increase our training in our New York stores and around the country because we want to be perfect in this area,” says Mackey. “We don’t there to ever be any mistakes.” 
 
 The company says it is implementing a third-party auditing system to track the progress of its efforts to curb weighing errors and will begin issuing progress reports in 45 days. 
 
 “We want to give a 100% guarantee to our customers,” concludes Mackey. “If you think there is a mistake in any of our fresh products, ask the cashier to check on it. And if there’s a mistake that’s not in your favor, we promise to give you that item for free.” 
 
 Both Mackey and Robb say they will personally read all of the e-mails sent to feedback@wholefoodsmarket.com. That should make for interesting chatter around the co-CEO water cooler. 
 
 Among the California overcharging allegations, which Whole Foods agreed to pay $800,000 to settle, were claims that stores failed to deduct the weight of product containers when calculating the price for pre-packaged foods, in violation of state law. ||||| 
 
 
 
 MEDIA CONTACT: Connie Ress / Abigail Lootens 
 
 Department of Consumer Affairs 
 
 (212) 436-0042 
 
 press@dca.nyc.gov 
 
 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, June 24, 2015MEDIA CONTACT: Connie Ress / Abigail LootensDepartment of Consumer Affairs(212) 436-0042 
 
 Department of Consumer Affairs Investigation Uncovers Systemic Overcharging for Pre-packaged Foods at City's Whole Foods 
 
 
 
 
 
 Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Julie Menin today announced an ongoing investigation into Whole Foods after finding that the company’s New York City stores routinely overstated the weights of its pre-packaged products – including meats, dairy and baked goods – resulting in customers being overcharged. DCA tested packages of 80 different types of pre-packaged products and found all of the products had packages with mislabeled weights. Additionally, 89 percent of the packages tested did not meet the federal standard for the maximum amount that an individual package can deviate from the actual weight, which is set by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The overcharges ranged from $0.80 for a package of pecan panko to $14.84 for a package of coconut shrimp. 
 
 
 
 
 
 DCA’s findings point to a systematic problem with how products packaged for sale at Whole Foods are weighed and labeled. The snapshot suggests that individual packages are routinely not weighed or are inaccurately weighed, resulting in overcharges for consumers. The overcharges were especially prevalent in packages that had been labeled with exactly the same weight when it would be practically impossible for all of the packages to weigh the same amount. These products included nuts and other snack products (flavored almonds, pecan panko and corn nuts), berries, vegetables, and seafood. In some cases, this issue was found for the same exact products at multiple stores. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Several examples of overcharges include: 
 
 
 
 
 
 DCA inspected eight packages of vegetable platters, which were priced at $20/package. Consumers who purchased these packages would have been, on average, overcharged by $2.50—a profit of $20 for the eight packages. One package was overpriced by $6.15. 
 
 DCA inspected eight packages of chicken tenders, which were priced at $9.99/pound. Consumers who purchased these packages would have been, on average, overcharged by $4.13—a profit of $33.04 for the eight packages. One package was overpriced by $4.85. 
 
 DCA inspected four packages of berries, which were priced at $8.58/package. Consumers who purchased these packages would have been, on average, overcharged by $1.15—a profit of $4.60 for the four packages. One package was overpriced by $1.84. 
 
 “It is unacceptable that New Yorkers shopping for a summer BBQ or who grab something to eat from the self-service aisles at New York City’s Whole Foods stores have a good chance of being overcharged,” said DCA Commissioner Menin. “Our inspectors tell me this is the worst case of mislabeling they have seen in their careers, which DCA and New Yorkers will not tolerate. As a large chain grocery store, Whole Foods has the money and resources to ensure greater accuracy and to correct what appears to be a widespread problem—the city’s shoppers deserve to be correctly charged.” 
 
 
 
 
 
 DCA regularly inspects all of the city’s supermarkets for scanner and scale accuracy, pricing, and charging tax on non-taxable items. Last fall, DCA conducted in-depth inspections into how Whole Foods was weighing and labeling its pre-packaged foods and discovered troubling issues with their labeling of the weight of pre-packaged foods. This winter, DCA revisited several stores and found products continued to be mislabeled. DCA’s expanded investigation will further evaluate the company’s compliance with City and state laws. To date, DCA’s inspections have focused on the eight stores that were open during the time of inspections. There are currently nine Whole Foods stores in New York City and they reportedly have plans to open an additional location in Harlem. Nationally, the chain is rapidly expanding and also recently announced that it plans to open a lower-priced chain called 365 by Whole Foods Market. 
 
 
 
 
 
 The fine for falsely labeling a package is as much as $950 for the first violation and up to $1,700 for a subsequent violation. The potential number of violations that Whole Foods faces for all pre-packaged goods in the NYC stores is in the thousands. 
 
 
 
 
 
 An investigation in California, which began in 2012, also found pricing irregularities in the state’s Whole Foods stores. City Attorneys for Santa Monica, Los Angeles, and San Diego brought a civil consumer protection case on behalf of the people of the State of California. As a result of that case, Whole Foods agreed to pay close to $800,000 in penalties and initiate a stringent in-house pricing accuracy effort that included a statewide compliance coordinator, a designated employee at each location for pricing accuracy, and random audits. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) licenses, inspects, and educates businesses, mediates complaints, educates consumers, and offers free financial counseling and safe banking products. DCA enforces the Consumer Protection Law, the Paid Sick Leave Law and other related business laws throughout New York City and licenses nearly 80,000 businesses in 55 different industries. Through targeted outreach, partnerships with community and trade organizations, and informational materials, DCA educates consumers and businesses alike about their rights and responsibilities. DCA’s Office of Financial Empowerment assists low-income New Yorkers with innovative programs and services to increase access to high-quality, low-cost financial education and counseling, safe and affordable mainstream banking, and access to income-boosting tax credits and savings. For more information, call 311 or visit DCA online at nyc.gov/consumers or on its social media sites, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tips for Shopping at the Supermarket
– If you're a New York City resident and have found it odd that all the packages of pecan panko you've bought at Whole Foods seem to always be the exact same weight, you're not alone. And the reason why is something the grocery chain has been in trouble for before: overcharging customers based on overstated weights, reports the Consumerist. And today, the company's co-CEOs put out a video apology—filmed in the store's sliced-fruit section, CNN notes—admitting to the overcharging. "Straight up, we made some mistakes," Walter Robb says in the video. "We wanna own that and tell you what we're doing about it." Those "mistakes" were released in a report last week by NYC's Department of Consumer Affairs, which revealed that tests on 80 different types of prepackaged products at the stores showed all of them were marked with the wrong weight and, therefore, the wrong price; overcharges ranged from $0.80 for the panko to $14.84 for a container of coconut shrimp. The probe suggests that packages are either inaccurately weighed or not ever weighed—the department's press release notes that different packages consistently weighing the same amount should serve as a warning sign that's happening. But John Mackey weighs in in the video, saying "a very, very small percentage" of foods such as freshly prepared sandwiches and juices were affected by the misweighing; Robb adds the errors were "unintentional because the mistakes are both in the customers' favor and sometimes not in the customers' favor." Either way, they're pledging to boost employee training and put an independent auditing system in place, with progress reports to start in a little over a month. And both execs say they'll personally read each complaint, suggestion, and vent sent to feedback@wholefoodsmarket.com. Finally, if customers discover an unfavorable error? The co-CEOs say the product will be free.