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Viral image
Viral image
stated on July 24, 2020 in a Facebook post:

Kroger stores are charging a “BLM charge.”

Pants on Fire!
By Ciara O'Rourke
July 24, 2020

Kroger stores aren’t taxing customers with a ‘BLM charge’

If your time is short

  • This receipt was altered to make it look like Kroger stores are charging a Black Lives Matter fee.
 
See the sources for this fact-check

Some social media users are upset over what looks like a new fee on Kroger grocery store bills: a Black Lives Matter tax. 

On an image of a Kroger receipt that’s being shared on Facebook, a “BLM CHARGE” of 59 cents is circled in red. 

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) 

Kristal Howard, a spokesperson for Kroger Co., told PolitiFact that the image is an altered version of this photo of a Kroger receipt. The original image shows that the receipt reflected a 59-cent “change shortage,” not a 59-cent BLM charge. It was also posted on Facebook days before this version was published as social media users claimed that Kroger was overcharging customers — Snopes has a fact-check on that here.)

Due to a coin shortage in the United States, Howard said, Kroger has introduced alternatives to giving quarters, nickels, dimes or pennies to customers as change. If customers pay with cash, stores can load their change onto cards to spend on a future shopping trip, or customers can round up their total bill to make a donation to the Kroger Co. Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation, Howard said. Customers can also get “coin change at a lane with coins available.” 

We rate this Facebook post Pants on Fire.

 
Our Sources

Facebook post, July 24, 2020

Facebook post, July 17, 2020

ABC 57, Kroger responds to viral picture showing coinage fee, July 22, 2020

Email interview with Kristal Howard, head of corporate communications and media relations, July 24, 2020

 

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