Pay Attention When You Shop, Watch Them Like a Hawk
Pay Attention When You Shop, Watch them Like a Hawk
I had a rude awakening at the supermarket a few days ago and wanted to tell you about it.
First, when we review the weekly store circular we circle the ad of products we want to purchase and examine it closely. Many sale items have a limit on the number of each item you can purchase on sale. If you order too many items you can get stuck paying regular price for those. Other items are on sale by weight, for example, you may have to purchase a package of something weighing more than 3 pounds to obtain the advertised sale price and if you pick up a package of less than 3 pounds it will cost more money per pound. Many times we bag our own groceries while the checker is scanning the order but have found this to be a costly mistake. We try to watch as each item is scanned for the correct price and find one or two errors during each shopping trip.
We recommend that you write down the price of the sale items on your shopping list as well as the specified characteristics of the sale item: brand, weight, quantity, minimum or maximum. Especially if you have a large order you may not remember accurately. And carry your own store circular.
Be careful with store circulars. Some of the stores in my area start all sales on Sunday while others start on Thursday. Some chains are franchises and do not respect each others sales. The Clark Shoprite is a separate franchise from the Garwood and Springfield Shoprites. We get the circular for the Garwood Shoprite delivered weekly, but we found sometimes there are differences each week when we go to the much larger Clark store in the neighboring town. We quickly review the Clark Shoprite flier when we go there.
When we notice a discrepancy during checkout we tell the checker and try to peacefully resolve it and point out the sale item in their flyer. If it cannot be resolved, we tell them to remove it from the order.
Pathmark of Linden had a sale on Bumble Bee Solid White Albacore Tuna in 6 ounce cans in either oil or water for 10 cans for $10.00, a really good deal. We could not find individual cans packed in water, but we found packs of 4 cans of what we wanted. I put 2 packs of 4 and 2 individual cans in the carriage. The 2 packs of 4 rang up at the much higher regular price and the 2 individual cans rang up at the sale price of $1.00 each. They would not let me have the packs of 4 at the sale price. The front end manager said that was the way it was. I had the checker take it off of my bill.
We just stopped in at the Linden Pathmark on the way home from visiting a relative at Trinitas Hospital in Elizabeth, New Jersey. We needed milk and bread and checked out their flyer and found a few sale items we could use. We found only half of the sale items we wanted. The balance of the items were out of stock. The shelf tags for many of the sale items we found were posted on the same brand items but the size was different from the size specified for the sale. For example some ice cream novelties were on sale packed 4, but we could not find them packed 4 but the shelf tags were displayed at the larger quantity sized boxes of the similar item. We could see many people paying much more money for items they thought were on sale, by not watching the prices as the items were scanned.
An older incident at a Shoprite was fresh fish that was advertised for a certain price. Normally you expect prices to be price per pound. I did not check the fine print which was for half pound and was in shock when I saw the price tag on the package. You have to be very careful in the true price and can no longer depend that it is price per pound.
Everything should be individually marked in the supermarket. The shelf tags are sometimes not there or are misplaced for some items or they are just wrong. The majority seem to be correct, though. Each week there are sale items that are not on the shelf...we get rainchecks for many of those items. Instead of getting easier to shop at the supermarket, it is almost necessary to have law school training. Many people shop like they have a lobotomy and just add things they want into their cart. I am sure those are the preferable customers supermarkets want, but most of us cannot afford to shop that way.
I had a rude awakening at the supermarket a few days ago and wanted to tell you about it.
First, when we review the weekly store circular we circle the ad of products we want to purchase and examine it closely. Many sale items have a limit on the number of each item you can purchase on sale. If you order too many items you can get stuck paying regular price for those. Other items are on sale by weight, for example, you may have to purchase a package of something weighing more than 3 pounds to obtain the advertised sale price and if you pick up a package of less than 3 pounds it will cost more money per pound. Many times we bag our own groceries while the checker is scanning the order but have found this to be a costly mistake. We try to watch as each item is scanned for the correct price and find one or two errors during each shopping trip.
We recommend that you write down the price of the sale items on your shopping list as well as the specified characteristics of the sale item: brand, weight, quantity, minimum or maximum. Especially if you have a large order you may not remember accurately. And carry your own store circular.
Be careful with store circulars. Some of the stores in my area start all sales on Sunday while others start on Thursday. Some chains are franchises and do not respect each others sales. The Clark Shoprite is a separate franchise from the Garwood and Springfield Shoprites. We get the circular for the Garwood Shoprite delivered weekly, but we found sometimes there are differences each week when we go to the much larger Clark store in the neighboring town. We quickly review the Clark Shoprite flier when we go there.
When we notice a discrepancy during checkout we tell the checker and try to peacefully resolve it and point out the sale item in their flyer. If it cannot be resolved, we tell them to remove it from the order.
Pathmark of Linden had a sale on Bumble Bee Solid White Albacore Tuna in 6 ounce cans in either oil or water for 10 cans for $10.00, a really good deal. We could not find individual cans packed in water, but we found packs of 4 cans of what we wanted. I put 2 packs of 4 and 2 individual cans in the carriage. The 2 packs of 4 rang up at the much higher regular price and the 2 individual cans rang up at the sale price of $1.00 each. They would not let me have the packs of 4 at the sale price. The front end manager said that was the way it was. I had the checker take it off of my bill.
We just stopped in at the Linden Pathmark on the way home from visiting a relative at Trinitas Hospital in Elizabeth, New Jersey. We needed milk and bread and checked out their flyer and found a few sale items we could use. We found only half of the sale items we wanted. The balance of the items were out of stock. The shelf tags for many of the sale items we found were posted on the same brand items but the size was different from the size specified for the sale. For example some ice cream novelties were on sale packed 4, but we could not find them packed 4 but the shelf tags were displayed at the larger quantity sized boxes of the similar item. We could see many people paying much more money for items they thought were on sale, by not watching the prices as the items were scanned.
An older incident at a Shoprite was fresh fish that was advertised for a certain price. Normally you expect prices to be price per pound. I did not check the fine print which was for half pound and was in shock when I saw the price tag on the package. You have to be very careful in the true price and can no longer depend that it is price per pound.
Everything should be individually marked in the supermarket. The shelf tags are sometimes not there or are misplaced for some items or they are just wrong. The majority seem to be correct, though. Each week there are sale items that are not on the shelf...we get rainchecks for many of those items. Instead of getting easier to shop at the supermarket, it is almost necessary to have law school training. Many people shop like they have a lobotomy and just add things they want into their cart. I am sure those are the preferable customers supermarkets want, but most of us cannot afford to shop that way.
posted by God Bless America - Bob at 11:33 AM
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