Maybe there’s a localized outbreak of inaccurate grocery store scales happening in Kansas City, MO — or maybe grocery store scales in general are just not very accurate? A local KC news team decided to randomly test some grocery store check out scales to see if you were being charged the correct amount for your green beans and whatnot. 5 out of 30 of the scales tested were inaccurate. The news team also went through 2,000 state inspections and found the most egregious examples of malfunctioning scales.

NBC Action News Investigators poured through more than 2,000 state inspections of Jackson County cash register scales conducted in 2007 finding 30 scales so far out of calibration, agents shut them down.

In addition to reviewing the state inspections, NBC Action News went undercover in 30 grocery stores testing scales all over the metro.

We used a scientifically calibrated weight certified as 2 pounds by nationally known Rice Lake Weighing Systems.

“Two pounds,” said a clerk recorded on hidden camera after accurately weighing our metal cylinder at his register.

Only 25 out of the 30 cash register scales we tested were accurate.

Wal-Mart was the worst offender. According to state inspectors, one of their scales claimed items were 5 lbs heavier than they actually were. The Department of Weights and Measures shut the register down.

There is a silver lining in this story, however. All of the registers that NBC tested itself were weighted in the consumer’s favor.

Scale Inaccuracies Exposed in Stores [KSHB] (Thanks, Bladefist!)

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