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Midwest Today, Summer 2000
By Wyatt Andrews
It's no accident that some foods like Doritos are placed at eye
level in the supermarket or sold at the end of the aisle. Manufacturers
like Frito-Lay pay supermarkets big money for one of these slots.
And while this "slotting fee," as it's known, is legal,
the question now is: should it be?
"This is a payment which is usually under the table, unseen,
unheard," says Sen. Kit Bond, (R-Missouri).
Bond sees slotting fees as the payola of the 21st century, a pay-to-play
system that's now used not just in groceries but in bookstores,
music stores and on the Internet. As far as Bond is concerned,
legal or not, slotting limits competition.
"Basically what they are doing is knocking little competitors
off the market," Bond says.
Federal investigators are taking a fresh look at the explosion
of these fees. When Bond held a hearing on slotting fees, two
witnesses hid behind a screen fearing retaliation -- just for
discussing the practice.
One food maker kept records on what it took to get his products
into supermarkets; sometimes what it took was a bribe. "When
I went in, that particular buyer in that particular case asked
for $10,000 personally and between $100,000 and $200,000 for his
stores," he told CBS news.
Even the legal slotting fees hurt the small guy, he says. When
a larger competitor would offer more in slotting fees than his
company could, his products were kicked out.
He says the consumer loses because there's no competition at the
store level, customers are being denied the opportunity of free
choice, and manufacturers are robbed of the opportunity to succeed.
Some of the nation's biggest food chains will not discuss slotting
fees. But one industry lobbyist says stores don't always pocket
the fees as profit; they use the fee to give discounts.
Tim Hammonds of the Food Marketing Institute says the fees are
good for consumers be-cause "anything that comes to the grocer
gets passed along to the consumer."
Others, like Professor Marianne Jennings, say slotting and placement
fees add billions to the cost of goods.
Says Jennings, a business ethics professor: "Name one time
in history when consumers have said, 'Gee, I'm really glad that
behind my back you engaged in these under-the-table payments.
Look what you've done for me!'
"To say that consumers benefit because you've tacked on a
charge is nuts."
Even magazine publishers are being socked "retail display
allowances" or RDA's as a percent of cover price to assure
they don't get lost on the racks -- yet many still do.
"I don't see much difference between this and the old payola,"
says the food manufacturer.
And that's what the U.S. Senate and Federal Trade Commission are
asking: If payola on the radio has been illegal since the 1950s,
why is it legal in retail stores today?
--With permission of CBS
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