A Rocky Mount store recently paid $2,000 in civil penalties for excessive price-scanning errors.

The K-Mart on Sutters Creek Boulevard has failed multiple inspections in the last nine months by the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Standards Division, according to the department. The recent $2,000 penalty was K-Mart's second state fine since December, when they paid $1,290.

The state department periodically conducts unannounced inspections to check for accuracy between the advertised prices and the prices that ring up at the register. If North Carolina stores don't maintain a 2 percent error rate or lower, more intensive follow-up inspections take place.

Penalties are given if stores fail the follow-up inspection, according to the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

K-Mart had an error rate of 5 percent in September, and inspectors found a 12 percent error rate in October during the follow-up. In February, the state found a 4 percent error rate.

The store could face up to a $5,000 civil penalty for each violation. The money is then distributed to the state's public school systems.