MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – A Wisconsin Senate Republican will make another attempt to get rid of the state’s minimum markup law.
Leah Vukmir of Wauwatosa says she’ll draft a bill, after state officials began investigating the incoming Meijer grocery chain for allegedly selling items below wholesale.
The markup law has been on the books since the 1930s, to keep big retailers from using their volume discounts to force mom and pop stores to close.
Vukmir tells WISN-TV in Milwaukee it’s time to let shoppers help their families by finding good deals.
But Assembly Democrat Mandela Barnes of Milwaukee says the law needs to stay so businesses have a “level playing field.”
It requires various markups for different products — but if a competitor cuts prices, others can too. Meijer says it’s in compliance.
An exception was granted a few years ago to let seniors take advantage of price breaks on medicines.
In 2008, a federal judge struck down the markup law for gas, but an appellate court restored it.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
