getrichslowly.org — Just like the title says, here are ten ways your supermarket is either aiming to rip you off or potentially messing with your health. Practical information you can use to make wise choices rather than alarmist propaganda. Possibly limited to U.S. supermarkets but still worth reading.
Jun 28, 2006 View in Crawl 4
tehgoochJun 29, 2006
What the hell? I read the blog post, and then see a "read the whole article" link. Thanks, douche.
spyrochaeteJun 29, 2006
Every year Mercedes Benz has a "save 5% on next year's model" sale for a week or two. Guess what their annual markup is right before this sale becomes active?
dmcloneJun 29, 2006
I haven't worked in a grocery store for 10 years and I still can remember the PLU of Bananas (I think)4011?
registereduserJun 29, 2006
Glad we got some input from supermarket employees. Here's my input as a shopper..1. Buying in bulk doesn't pay off unless you do the math and figure out the price per unit or price per weight. As someone else stated, some markets do print out this information on the shelf tags. 2. Be smart and do some comparison shopping.3. Supermarkets don't require you to provide your personal info for loyalty cards anymore. The checker just told me to write "none" on the name field. And that was it. Just don't use your credit card or ATM when you use your loyalty card.4, 5, 6. No comment7. Old news. This has been exposed on many news shows over the years.8. I don't know about that stuff. All I know is, that you should never go grocery shopping when you're hungry. Otherwise, you'll buy a lot of stuff on impulse. Especially, all the promotional items that are conveniently located on the end-caps.9. No comment. But I already knew about the slotting and preferred product placement stuff.10. I don't think it's intentional, but scanner errors do occur. Most of the time it's a software glitch, or maybe the new prices haven't been updated yet in the database. Always be aware of the shelf tag price and watch the display as the items are being scanned. Or just keep a mental tally of what your groceries should total up to. The supermarket that I go to will give you the item for free if it scans at the wrong price.
scottsoJun 30, 2006
Having worked for a company that manufacturers goods under supermarkets brands - they NEVER sell product that doesn't pass a QA test. Never. Those products get returned and destroyed. Even the supermarkets set quality standards for the store brands - not to mention FDA and other regulatory requirements.
scottsoJun 30, 2006
The store also gets "paid" when shoppers buy name brands! Most supermarkets are company owned - meaning that if the HQ paid the store for selling more store brand products... they'd be paying themselves. The logic in your point doesn't make sense!
bilangewJul 23, 2006
@ scottso (2nd post): Ive seen a printed out e-mail (from the HQ to our local supermarket) saying what ive said in the parent post. I had no idea that was possible until I saw this printed out mail, but too bad for me that I dont work here anymore, because I would try to get a copy for you :)nuvem: I know... PC's wellington chicken is quite good for example! But... Ive made a mistake, though... I meant "using ingredients which arent top-notch but still passable " instead of "just using batches that didnt fully pass the QA test." Ive messed that with something else: our local store uses canned products that customers wont buy because of visibles bumps and other damages to the aluminium package (that, and products getting close to its best-before date) to make ready-to-eat meals like sandwiches or microwaveable dishes... and thats totally legal, but risky for the freshness of the products. If a can was too much damaged and had an hole on it for some time... tasty stuff :)
km1982Jun 15, 2009
I noticed you seem to have been at Safeway a long time do you happen to have time to see if you can help me out with a list of PLU codes and are they all the same everywhere? Thanks for any help you can provide. I also relize this is a old posting so maybe you won't get this anyone's help is so cool!