Or, you know, someone mis-set the dial on the price gun. This isn't a markdown price (since it ends in 50 cents), so someone was just replacing the part of the tag with the price. Not to mention, it's impossible that someone would actually get ripped off, since customers pay according to what's set in the computer, not the tag (unless the tag is lower than the computer). The tag could say "$1 million", and it would still ring up at $59.50 when the barcode was scanned or the product number was entered.

Oof. Only the "actually" was supposed to be italicized. That'll teach me to comment before my third cup of coffee.

The price tag at the bottom is missing - it was probably a return, possibly a gift, and the person repricing it either looked up the wrong price or mispriced it.

Never attribute to malice what can be blamed on incompetence.

After working for a GAP store, I learned the white stickers are for mark-ups (when the price listed on the computer when you scan a product is more expensive than the tag lists). So, the tag's listed price is "wrong" (according to the computer) and in order to make it match, they use sticker guns to "fix" the item's price.

Sale prices are marked by orange stickers and end in 4,7,9 generally.

And what is sad is people still bought them.

@madanthony: The OP's email said the $59.50 tag was the only one of its kind, and all other pants displayed the $69.50 sticker. So probably not a return, although it could be a pricing error with the label gun, as 44 in a Row pointed out.

@44 in a Row: I have worked at the Gap before, and you are absolutely right on all points. The computer will bring up the correct price. A price gun mistake is probably to blame. Another possibility is that the $69.50 pants were misplaced -- there are many similar styles of pants and jeans -- and that they are different styles with different prices. Regardless, the price encoded in the bar code will be what the customer is charged, unless the pre-printed tag was for less, in which case the customer would be able to get the lowest price.

@snoop-blog:
But they paid the 59.50. Like 44 in a row said they go by what the computer says not the tag. Unless the tag is cheaper.

it looks like a new price tag was stuck on there because the original one was ripped off. While I usually think retailers are sneaky, this seems like an innocent mistake. Anyway, the scanner will bring up the right price when you buy the pants.

The other day, I bought some jeans on sale at the gap, which I thought were about $50. THe machine rung it up at $35.

It makes me glad I buy my pants through 4.11 Tactical.

This reminds me of when I was shopping on Black Friday. We went into Pac Sun and the "50% off Store-Wide Sale" had just ended and the employees were going around changing the signs.

I'm standing next to a rack that had a 50% off sign, and the employee came over and took out the 50% sign to reveal a 70% off sign.

The "Sale" was worse than what they were being sold for before!

Goes to show you - Most people are gullible when you put up a sign that says "SALE!"

Here's your sign...

I got a friend who works at Gap, and he told me that the T-shirts have gone up in prices from $12 to $18 as the days got closer to Christmas. So I highly doubt this special "discount" / "sale" was a honest mistake.

@a5un: I've worked at the Gap and I've never seen that. I'm with 44 in a Row, this is not the Gap trying to "pull one over" on the customer.

@a5un: The price that is on the tag is not the sale price. It is the regular/original price. Also sales prices fluctuate. So the T-shirts may have gone off sale or a lower percentage off. Remember if they did not go off sale then people would be complain about the never ending sale the store has.

Funny story. I was buying some pants through Herbergers (a Northern midwest retailer) and put some in my shopping cart about 12/20. I was planning on buying them the next day (12/21), but refreshed my cart (I left the window open) to see that the prices went up about $10, while still on sale. Two days later, the prices again jumped about $20 more. Then, suddenly the prices dropped lower than they originally were by about $5. Highly recommend this process if you're looking to get something "on sale" in terms of clothing, unless it's absolutely too good of a price to be true.

Who the hell would pay $60 or $70 for a pair of frikkin pants anyway? Go to Costco and get great jeans for $13 or $16 for the snazzier ones. Wife just also picked me up two pair of nice jeans at another store for the exorbitant price of $8 apiece. Reminds me of when my kids (who are grown with ones of their own) wanted me to buy them sneakers for $120 a pair... wtf?

This is a waste of a post. As others have pointed out, the correct price (or a lower price if they're on sale) will come up once you get to the register.

I almost fell victim to the same scam. i went on x-mas eve to get two super comfy stretch crew neck tees that i knew from many past purchases to be $16.50 each or 2 for $25. They rang up at $18.00 each!! i pointed out the mistake, and the clerk changed the price manually to $12 each. i got the right price, but how many busy consumers got ripped off??
Here's a pic of the marked up price tag: [www.flickr.com]

@JoseRZ:I guess go and read the other recent topic on Gap prices. That t-shirt is actually exactly what I'm talking about too.

Looks like the original price tag on the $69.95 dollar pants had the "price" part removed - as if it were a gift maybe...you know, how you can keep the tag on it, but remove the price part...

But, it looks like either a) someone isn't that good with a price gun or b) GAP is trying to scam someone here...

This is standard operating procedure in the retail industry, albeit with sloppy execution. As cost of goods increase, retailers increase their prices. One typical method is to "deperf" the original ticket and to re-ticket or sign the product with the new retail price. This is the only way to handle price increases on product that is not seasonal. Unpleasant, yes. Sloppy execution, yes. Scam, no.

I don't understand why Consumerist seems to think that markups are "rip-offs". Supply and demand -- markups happen for the same reason as discounts.