Ten Things Your Supermarket Won’t Tell You
Published on - June 28th, 2006 (Modified on - January 5th, 2009) (by J.D. Roth) SmartMoney has a list of ten things your supermarket won’t tell you. Though this was first published five years ago, it’s still informative:
- “We trick you into paying higher prices.” Frugal folk preach “buy in bulk”. But supermarkets have caught on. Now bulk isn’t always cheaper. “We found proof at a store near the SmartMoney offices, where a 12-ounce bottle of Aunt Jemima syrup cost $2.09, while a 24-ounce bottle was $4.65; a quart of Lactaid milk was selling for $1.79, while a half-gallon was $3.85.” Always check the unit pricing.
- “Our ‘specials’ are anything but.” Some stores raise prices on advertised specials. Coupons are often for more expensive brands. Your best defense: shop at one store and learn its prices.
- “Everybody pays a price for our ‘loyalty’ program.” You either pay higher prices by not joining, or you pay with your privacy by signing up. Some experts advise using a fake name when joining these programs.
- “Our stores might make you sick…” Insects, rats, and other vermin are a problem for any place that handles a large quantity of food.
- “…and if they don’t, our employees will.” Cleanliness programs cost money. And people are lazy, in the grocery industry just as anywhere else. Surveys have found that nearly half of all deli and meat workers engage in unsafe practices.
- “Federal guidelines? Who cares?” There’s no uniform standard for supermarket safety. Some of the guidelines are thirty years old, and there’s little enforcement.
- “‘Fresh’ is a relative term.” “Except for regulations about baby food and infant formula, there are no federal laws mandating product dating. In most states a retailer may legally sell foods beyond the date on the package as long as the product can be considered unspoiled and safe to eat. Even repackaging is legal.”
- “We like to play head games.” Remember my review of Why We Buy? Supermarkets use many subtle ploys to get you to buy more than you plan. Sometimes not even shopping with a list will save you.
- “Our product offerings are rigged.” Supermarkets make more profits from manufacturers than from consumers. Manufacturers pay “slotting fees” to have their products placed in desirable locations. Supermarkets say these fees keep costs low for customers, but the manufacturers say the fees result in increased wholesale prices.
- “Our scanners are a scam.” You’re overcharged more than you think. “Over the course of one year, [one man] patronized California supermarkets that give customers an item for free if the scanner rings up the wrong price. By year’s end, he says, he took home more than $4,000 in free good…”
Supermarkets want to make money. You want to save money. Sometimes it’s a battle of wills. Read the entire article for more details.
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This is a great summary for all the supermarket tricks that they play on you. My post of
checking your receipts go over a few other tricks that supermarkets can play on you, such as putting look-alike and more expensive items along with on-sale items.
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Great tips. I am in love with the calculator on my cellphone. I broke it out just the other day to unit price between two brands of orange juice on sale. Love, love, love it.
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Heh.
I’ve stood in the peanut butter aisle before, mentally calculating the cost-per-serving on various brands and sizes of peanut butter.
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I was watching a documentary from FrontLine about Walmart this afternoon.
They have an interesting system they use to lure customers to buy their expensive items. They have a lead item for a category – say a microwave for $30. Then you say – wow that’s cheap. Then you keep walking. 10 feet later you are in the microwave section looking at the premium brand microwaves that are much more expensive.
But you still have the suggestion in your mind that their microwaves were cheap. But according to a former manager there it isn’t the case. Some of those higher priced items are much more expensive than what you would get outside.
Very smart tactic! The same tactic Old Sam Walton used when he first started.
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[...] Choose a grocery store and learn its prices. As I mentioned yesterday, supermarkets monkey with prices. You can’t be sure a sale price is really a deal unless you know what the store usually charges. Once you learn the prices at one store, you can save even more by adding another supermarket to the mix. Learn its prices, too, and note how they compare to the first. Your goal should be to recognize bargains. You want to know when those Lucky Charms are really on sale. [...]
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Why not push for better food regs in the US?
Here in the UK the major supermarkets – Tesco being one of them, who I gather are expanding in the US – label the shelves with theunit pricing as a matter of course.
There are also laws regarding promotions – any price reduction must be backed up by proof that the higher price was genuine and on sale at a given location.
Keep an eye on Tesco, if they don’t do those things in the US, demand them, because the store has these practises elsewhere. Once you’ve got Tesco doing it, the market (you guys) will force WalMart etc (speaking of whom their UK arm, Asda also have these practises) to follow suit.
Go for it…
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[...] Attention, visitors from The Consumerist: This is not the article you’re looking for. Here is the post on Ten Things Your Supermarket Won’t Tell You. This piece is interesting, too, though. Come back and read it when you’ve finished! [...]
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Thanks for the insights about SM article. Yours is a thought provoking post – but there seems to be somewhat less here than meets the eye. Here’s my take. I guess I fall into the category of someone who shops pretty much in one place (Whole Foods) and am wise to their tricks! I’m not looking forward to the day I get outsmarted by product placements!
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[...] Cribcage took exception to a comment I posted yesterday. In the further discussion of things your supermarket won’t tell you, I quoted a Digg-user who works at a grocery store: Since I have started changing prices I have noticed a lot of tricks that Safeway uses. […] Everything at a grocery store is close to double the price of Walmart or Target. [...]
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Many years ago my Mother told me it is illegal (back in the 70′s) for stores to place a higher price label on items already on the shelves and tagged, and that if you can remove the higher label(s) they have to give you the item for it’s original price as it was tagged based on what they paid for that particular shipment. I recently purchased a package of gum (a 3 pack) that had been $1.99 for soome time, this time it had 2 other tags over the %1.99, a $2.29. and $2.49 which I wound up paying as they had a line through the other lower prices although still readable. What is the legal status (if any) on this practice?
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I’m very careful about checking unit prices when I shop, and lucky for me (although everyone else seems to hate it) I’m a picky eater, and shop only for foods I know I will eat, and I don’t buy large quantities if I know they will go bad. I also check what price is being scanned in at the register, and any time I go to a deli/sandwich shop, I make sure that whoever handles my sandwich washes and gloves their hands before handling it. I WILL call them on it if they don’t, and have them remake my food. I worked in food service and I know how nasty most restaurants are in the back area, and what kinds of things the employees do with their hands before they hop out front to helpfully make your sandwich. DON’T trust them if they come out from the back drying their hands on a paper towel, make them wash in front of you. For all you know they were just scrubbing out the mop bucket back there, then just dried off to help you.
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I usually check unit pricing too; is displaying unit pricing some sort of regulation? It seems to be present in all major grocery stores.
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As a grocery store employee:
–Definitely do check your receipts or watch prices as items are scanned. Sale items sometimes don’t make it into the system at the right price. Most of the time this is simply human error, not intentionally trying to overcharge you. Usually once the error is pointed out it gets fixed immediately in our system.
–Store discount cards CAN save you a LOT of money. My store (Piggly Wiggly, a Southern chain) offers big discounts with our card, especially on meat. If you don’t feel comfortable signing up for one (and we do send out good coupons if you give your real address, like $10 off on a $50 order), ask to use a manager’s card or courtesy card. However, using your own card also earns you points at many stores – at ours, you earn Greenbax stamps, which are very useful. You can even save them up and use them for free gas!
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The AARP has online groups to help retirees save money. I recently posted an item there that recited what we pay for meat here in Florida. That generated excited posts from all over the country from folks who pay way less than we do. Is there any other central website with boards for exchange of pricing information and other news from sea to shining sea?
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My Mom shops with a pencil in her hand. She crosses off items from her shopping list and writes the price on the item itself. If it rings up with an error at the cashier’s, she can immediately complain and have it corrected. I was buying tea and went back to the aisle to take a picture of the real price to update the cashier once it rang up the wrong price. I really like all the features of modern mobiles – camera and calculator in one piece
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CHECK your reciepts BEFORE leaving the store! Target stores in Pasco, FL have overcharged our family on six separate items within just two months, especially on so-called “clearance” items.
If you dont catch the fraud within 90 days, you get their standard corporate refund (middle finger). Done with the BullS-eye
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One Acronym – CDI
Calorie Per Dollar Index
It takes a bit more time, but I write down the prices of everything on my list. When I get to the scanner, if it rings up wrong, I’ll know.
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Oh and I have an excel spreadsheet I keep a running tab of. I add each product I buy in a column, and across the top I have the store, the date, the price, etc. No matter what store I’m in, I know if it’s a good deal or not.
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