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.

If you dont catch the fraud within 90 days, you get their standard corporate refund (middle finger). Done with the BullS-eye

–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!

[...] 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. [...]

[...] 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! [...]

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…

[...] 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. [...]

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.

I’ve stood in the peanut butter aisle before, mentally calculating the cost-per-serving on various brands and sizes of peanut butter.