Taking Advantage of a Pricing Error, Is it Justifiable Grounds for Dismissal?

[jyan]

If there was a pricing error on the internal ordering system where you can order something for a customer that isn't in stock. e.g. $20-$30 book, but going for $0.88. Whole bunch of employees ordered that piece of merchandise for themselves. No annoucement or bulletin telling anyone otherwise that it was a price error. Everyone who ordered got fired.

I'm not a labour law or HR expert, but this seems just a little extreme from my point of vue in order to "make an example" out of people, in addition to killing existing employee morale.

I'm just dismayed that a company would fire a sizable amount of people over something like this...Can a company like e.g. Chapters Indigo even do that?

[Sylvestre]

tough call. if it was obviously a pricing error, and it was employees who took advantage, you could argue they weren't looking out for the best interest of the company by taking advantage of the error instead of bringing it to a superior's intention.

[rc51]

What is so wrong about a company looking out for itself. I think its good on them to can those people for doing something underhanded.

If you can't trust your employees than there is no reason to have them on staff..

[coolspot]

I'm just dismayed that a company would fire a sizable amount of people over something like this...Can a company like e.g. Chapters Indigo even do that?

Why are you dismayed? The employees took advantaged of the company. In fact it could be argued they stole from the company.

[dark169]

It was very obvious, it it was say 10-15% but 96% off, come on. It doesnt matter that the final $ amount is small, a company doesnt want to employ the type of people willing to steal from the very person paying them.

[coolspot]

It was very obvious, it it was say 10-15% but 96% off, come on. It doesnt matter that the final $ amount is small, a company doesnt want to employ the type of people willing to steal from the very person paying them.


What's the saying? You don't bite the hand that feeds you?

[ClubberLang]

For starters you people need to stop referring to the act as "theft".

[dark169]

For starters you people need to stop referring to the act as "theft".

Why? As employees they are exploting something they have a duty to correct to steal from their company. Rather then books what would happen if it was the invoice price of a car where the decimal was in the wrong spot (2400 vs 24000) and the sales guy wrote up a bill for one with the standard markup and drove it home...

If they where consumers and where given the product at the discounted price its differnt.

[jyan]

I guess the general concensus so far is that as an employee your duty is to be in the best interest of the company which I can accept idealistically. Standards are different for the customer. As a customer I could have went to the order kiosk and ordered that same product and not have been reprimanded in any way.

If it was my call. I would have written people up over the issue. Issued out a corporate communication indicating that if they discover any type of possible pricing error that they should report it and attach a incentive to do so if it turns out to be. At least train them of what they should do as this is the first time this situation has arisen to my knowledge.

I think all this teaches is that next time any possible pricing error is to have a friend that is not employed by the company order the product.

[rborek]

Maybe a firing was heavy handed, but I can definitely see severe discipline. If they know it's a pricing error (ie the book is normally $30, but they see it for $1), then they have a duty to report the error - not to take advantage of the error. Not reporting the error and taking advantage of it shows disloyalty to the employer - which in and of itself can be a firing offense (as the trust relationship will have broken down).

If the book was $30, and they saw it for $25, then it could be argued that they thought the book was on sale or otherwise discounted. A 95% discount, though, makes it kinda hard to argue that point.

[Sylvestre]

I guess the general concensus so far is that as an employee your duty is to be in the best interest of the company which I can accept idealistically. Standards are different for the customer. As a customer I could have went to the order kiosk and ordered that same product and not have been reprimanded in any way.

If it was my call. I would have written people up over the issue. Issued out a corporate communication indicating that if they discover any type of possible pricing error that they should report it and attach a incentive to do so if it turns out to be. At least train them of what they should do as this is the first time this situation has arisen to my knowledge.

I think all this teaches is that next time any possible pricing error is to have a friend that is not employed by the company order the product.

you can't teach people this stuff. it isn't about a pricing error, it's about put their own selfish interest in front of the company that's employing them.
yeah, it was harsh, but betcha everyone else in the company will never try it again, period! and that includes letting a friend or family take advantage either.

[conforf]

If it was my call. I would have written people up over the issue. Issued out a corporate communication indicating that if they discover any type of possible pricing error that they should report it and attach a incentive to do so if it turns out to be. At least train them of what they should do as this is the first time this situation has arisen to my knowledge.



This is pretty ridiculous. Unless the store was emplying 8 year olds then you shouldn't need to train them in knowing that a book priced at $30 and on sale for $0.08 cents is a pricing error. What exactly do you need to train them in? common sense? Clearly since many employees took part in buying the book, they all knew they were getting a good deal, more then the sale price.
Then you say they should recieve incentives for finding errors? How about the fact the are employees and as employees it is their job to look out for the company and find these mistakes. They alaready do get paid for their job.

I think they got what the deserved. They clearly tried to screw over their comapny and got bootted because of it.

[ClubberLang]

Why? As employees they are exploting something they have a duty to correct to steal from their company. Rather then books what would happen if it was the invoice price of a car where the decimal was in the wrong spot (2400 vs 24000) and the sales guy wrote up a bill for one with the standard markup and drove it home...

If they where consumers and where given the product at the discounted price its differnt.

no it's not different. As employees, they are certainly abusing their employer. It's certainly grounds for dismissal but it's not theft, not unless they were responsible for generating the pricing error. Referring to the act as such is erroneous.They could not be tried under the criminal code.

[The_Madz]

If there was a pricing error on the internal ordering system where you can order something for a customer that isn't in stock. e.g. $20-$30 book, but going for $0.88. Whole bunch of employees ordered that piece of merchandise for themselves. No annoucement or bulletin telling anyone otherwise that it was a price error. Everyone who ordered got fired.

I'm not a labour law or HR expert, but this seems just a little extreme from my point of vue in order to "make an example" out of people, in addition to killing existing employee morale.

I'm just dismayed that a company would fire a sizable amount of people over something like this...Can a company like e.g. Chapters Indigo even do that?


I'm curious to know what happened to the person who put the pricing error in to begin with..

besides.. pricing errors are a way of business. It is perhaps unethical for the employees to take advantage of it but its also pretty hard for a company to state that they were "stealing"

I would have suggested the company refused to sell the books and made it known to the employees that they should report the pricing errors. unless of course this sort of memo had gone out and that every employee was aware of the policies.

[rc51]

They could not be tried under the criminal code.

Of course they could be tried....getting a conviction is another matter however.

[ClubberLang]

Of course they could be tried....getting a conviction is another matter however.

No. The police could not lay charges. There would be no trial.

[adehbone]

i agree with most ppl that the employees were at fault...

but how can the company fire everyone without a policy in place? I think this would lead to the company putting a policy in place for this exact reason and building it into the employee training or what not......the amt should not matter if its 10% off or 99% off...if there is a policy before hand....since its based on the character of the employees the company would like

firing that many ppl for "grey-ish" area could lead to bad employee morale and reputation no? The company is at fault as well as the employees for not being prepared for such a problem.

[rborek]

i agree with most ppl that the employees were at fault...

but how can the company fire everyone without a policy in place? I think this would lead to the company putting a policy in place for this exact reason and building it into the employee training or what not......the amt should not matter if its 10% off or 99% off...if there is a policy before hand....since its based on the character of the employees the company would like

It's called common sense. You don't need to have a policy about every little thing, and you shouldn't need a policy prohibiting theft or acts of disloyalty as they are common sense (ie badmouthing your employer in a newspaper, blog, or other public forum is grounds for dismissal - you shouldn't need a policy in place to explicitly state this... same with violations of confidentiality, though these are usually enforced with a non-disclosure agreement).