On the old systems, decades ago, items on shelves had little stickers on them with the item's price so that the customers and the cashier knew how much the items cost. These days, items have UPC numbers and bar codes that the cashiers scan to read the items' prices. And customers read the prices from the place on the shelf where the item is located (which also tells them unit prices for comparison if they are lucky). Reading the price of the shelf tag is better because 1) you don't have to look for it on the product, 2) it's bigger and easier to read, and 3) you can match the shelf tag's description to make sure it's the right product. So what's wrong? Stores still put price tags on products and actually spent time and money to decrease the value of the products and the shoppers' experience.

Whence the problems arise? The first is that the shelf labels are generated by the same computer system that manages inventory and orders and they have effective dates and other fail-safes on them to ensure accuracy. Price tags are set and put on by some person who is supposed to look at the shelf tag for the item, set the price gun, and click all and only those items. The point is that, at best, the tag price matches the shelf price and, at worst, there is an element of user error that generates mistaken prices. The mistakes are always with the on-product tags, not the shelf tags. So if you really care how much something costs then you'd better ignore that item tag and look for the shelf tag. If one had an argument that price tags are there because people care about prices, then that line of argument has just been sunk.

What else do price tags do? They obscure packaging and useful information; they look unattractive and ruin the design effect that the company was aiming at; they put hard-to-remove adhesive on the tops of cans, lids of jars, etc. reducing product convenience and cleanliness; and they use up store employee hours increasing the prices of the very goods they needlessly stick to. Part of the issue is that store employees don't take care when placing the labels and could avoid many of these repercussions with a little effort. But what's the point? I don't want to come off as elitist, but these employees are already the lowest bar for job performance in the employed world. Expecting them to put thought into price tag placement and make appropriate decisions is rather silly. But the overall point is, "Why bother?"

Even if they labels were ideally placed, that would only mean that they would detract less from the value. They still have a negative net effect and they are completely obsolete in the modern age of barcode scanners and computerized shelf labels. If there is a small store that still actually uses the price tags for that information then clearly that's fine (although they should put some consideration into where they put the tag). But for the big box retail stores and supermarkets this practice is just backwards thinking and the propagation of an outmoded business convention from a bygone era. The point of new technology is to stop using the old technology! Stop using price tags.