Grocery Receipts

[Jamie Lee]

I love finding previous patron's grocery receipts in my shopping baskets! (Yes I am a nerd)

But post your's here!

I rarely spend this much, but here's my most recent. I don't have a scanner, so dig pics will have to do.

The magazine was a Bon Appetit, the broth was for soups, the "bath tissue"... well you can guess!

I usually buy ramen at my asian market, but I was desperate.

Mountain High Yoghurt is close to Trader Joe's greek yoghurt... full fat, and delicious.

Veggies, are well, veggies. I can't believe I paid $2.29 for a single avocado. Desire, simply desire.

Let is see your receipts, too!

[MarketStEl]

Interesting...this opener has been up for more than a day, and so far, no additional receipt exhibitionists. Contrast this with the grocery list thread Jamie Lee started, which quickly got followups.

I have some theories as to why this is so:

Money anxieties. Unlike grocery lists, receipts tell the world how much you spend on groceries, not just what groceries you buy. Even though people have given rough grocery spending figures in other discussions on these boards from time to time, having the figures in detail in this fashion might make otherwise voluble people squeamish.

Personality. Or, more accurately, lack thereof. The grocery lists are as distinctive as the people who post them -- organization, handwriting, how compiled, level of anal-retentiveness or sloppiness, creativity, and so on. OTOH, grocery store receipts more or less look alike. Looking at Jamie Lee's, I thought, So he lives in Philadelphia? Only on closer inspection, where his store brand purchases read "ALB [item]" -- "ALB" being "Albertsons" -- where mine would read "ACME" (the two are sister chains), can I distinguish between the two.

(Of which speaking, Jamie, have "Supervalu" stickers or signs started appearing at your local Albertson's? I've seen a few slapped on Acme cash registers.)

Pile on, folks, if you care to.

Edited October 23, 2007 by MarketStEl (log)

[Jamie Lee]

OK, Sandy...

First of all, I am a girl (I know, my folks should have spelled it Jaime)

Secondly, I know you are a "boy", so buck up and post a grocery receipt of your own!

This could be an interesting thread, if folks could just get over their phobias!

[Bueno]

I don't mean to be rude, but I think Sandy is correct. I really and truly don't see the point. I could say: "I purchased this month's copy of Gourmet and there are some good articles you should read!", and I could say: "see this photo of a magazine reciept".

Then someone else can say: "I've got one for some soap!"

... etc.

The question is, why?

[Malawry]

I was interested in the way Jamie's receipt was broken out by category--something I've never seen on a receipt. The categories strike me as strange, too: one for meat and one for meat/deli, yet the dairy products are considered "grocery. Jamie, is this sort of categorization common to stores in your area?

[MarketStEl]

I was interested in the way Jamie's receipt was broken out by category--something I've never seen on a receipt. The categories strike me as strange, too: one for meat and one for meat/deli, yet the dairy products are considered "grocery. Jamie, is this sort of categorization common to stores in your area?

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I know you asked Jamie, but since I also shop at an Albertson's-family supermarket, I hope she doesn't mind if I provide one as well.

That system appears to be unique to Albertson's chains -- I don't know whether any of the other chains under Albertson's new corporate parent, Supervalu, have adopted this system of listing products by category.

It is unusual in one other way: As the cashier scans your items, they appear in the order scanned on the cash register's display screen, but the receipt does not print. That only happens once the payment is processed or approved, then the receipt prints in full, with items categorized as above.

They actually have three related categories: meat/poultry, meat/deli, and service deli. Items in the cold cut and breakfast meat cases appear under "meat/deli," sliced-to-order meats and cheeses appear under "service deli," and cuts of meat and poultry, including frozen meat and poultry items, appear under "meat/poultry."

The other chain I shop regularly is a member of the A&P family (Super Fresh). They too have a quirky practice. Their receipts print out item by item as items are scanned, but if you present your frequent shopper card at the start of the order (most Super Fresh checkers scan it just before taking the total; Acme cashiers want it before they start scanning), some of the club special discounts come off as the item is scanned, while others don't show until the cashier takes the total. I can't figure out why this is so.

Acme receipts break down your discounts by category (Value Buys, club card discounts, coupons); Super Fresh receipts show total savings (as "coupons tendered") and then break out club card discounts.

I guess I'm a bit anal too.

[slo_ted]

Albertson's is the only store here on the California central coast that I know of printing a catagorized receipt. It does make it interesting to gaze at it a minute before pitching it in the trash.

[JimH]

Sorry but receipts don't last any longer than those coupons that print out at the register. Jaime, I noticed that you bought all of your pre-packaged foods at one store and all your fresh foods at the other. I'm guessing the former is closer but the later has a better fresh foods selection and worth the extra effort. Am I right?

[JimH]

I was interested in the way Jamie's receipt was broken out by category--something I've never seen on a receipt. The categories strike me as strange, too: one for meat and one for meat/deli, yet the dairy products are considered "grocery. Jamie, is this sort of categorization common to stores in your area?

←

NCR and other register systems are endlessly programable. I like the receipt organized by department, it makes it easy to see whether or not you might have missed an item.

[MarketStEl]

Sorry but receipts don't last any longer than those coupons that print out at the register.  Jaime, I noticed that you bought all of your pre-packaged foods at one store and all your fresh foods at the other.  I'm guessing the former is closer but the later has a better fresh foods selection and worth the extra effort.  Am I right?

←

I don't think so.

Take a look at the produce section in the receipt on the right: I see 'ALB CELERY HEARTS' and 'ALB 2LB CARROTS' among the items.

Still Albertson's, IOW.

Maybe, just maybe, I might break down and share my multiple receipts with you all after my next grocery trip. But don't count on it.

[JimH]

I don't think so.

Take a look at the produce section in the receipt on the right:  I see 'ALB CELERY HEARTS' and 'ALB 2LB CARROTS' among the items.

Still Albertson's, IOW.

Maybe, just maybe, I might break down and share my multiple receipts with you all after my next grocery trip.  But don't count on it.

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You are right, Jaime had to cut the receipt in half to get the whole thing in the picture. I just noticed "Grocery" at the top of the one on the left with "General MDSE" at the bottom.

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

Albertson's is the only store here on the California central coast that I know of printing a catagorized receipt.  It does make it interesting to gaze at it a minute before pitching it in the trash.

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The Safeways in my area do the same thing.

[eskay]

Ok, I'll bite. Here's the receipt from my trip on sunday. Couldn't get everything I wanted to, because I needed some rather heavy/bulky things and I couldn't carry it all. So I went back again on monday

EDIT: note healed cut on index finger and purchase of more bandaids

Edited October 24, 2007 by eskay (log)

[Anna N]

So here you go. This is obviously an "off-week" shopping receipt. I try to keep major shopping to every two weeks and recently had a large Costco bill! (My daughter insists that I admit that she did the shopping while I was out playing with another eG member!)

[Jamie Lee]

Ah ha! Another store that prints receipts by category!

PS: Has anyone else had to recite the old "i before e except after c" adage about a hundred times during this thread?

Thanks to all who have posted!

[Jamie Lee]

Okay, I'll try again!

Most of you know I've been undergoing chemotherapy for cancer... and struggling.

I'm now in between treatments (yah!) and I'd forgotten what feeling good felt like! During chemo I couldn't drink or even smell coffee, but now! First thing I did this am was a grande skinny latte, and off I went!

Grocery shopping spree extaordinaire!

First stop (after a bit of a drive) was my fav butcher. No reciept, they do the "figuring" right on one of your packets:

I can't believe I spent over $17 on short ribs - they used to cut them three to a rib, now they're doing them two to a rib and I asked for 9. Oh well, no short rib in my house goes untouched!

Other buys: Peppered bacon ends, chorizo, bratwurst.

Next stop: My fav asian supermarket:

Top of the list is my impulse buy - a durian, subject of my thread here: here

Next on to Trader Joe's:

Nothing cheap about here!

And finally, a trip to Fred Meyer's. a PNW, "get everything you need" super-mart.

I don't expect you all to understand, but I haven't been to four stores in one day in forever.

I may never be able to cook, or to eat it all, but it was a great day!

[MarketStEl]

I just noticed something on three of the receipts posted on this thread that I haven't encountered before:

Receipts with the UPC and PLU codes printed along with the product description, like Jamie Lee's last receipt in the post just before this one.

Wonder if those companies that ask you to send the UPC code off the package along with your register receipt in order to get a rebate or goodie would take a receipt of this type instead?

[Kerry Beal]

I don't expect you all to understand, but I haven't been to four stores in one day in forever.

I may never be able to cook, or to eat it all, but it was a great day! 

←

The little pleasures in life that you don't realize until you can't do them, eh? Glad you got your coffee back too - another of the little pleasures you take for granted.

[Jamie Lee]

Amen.

[rooftop1000]

Now with a receipt that isn't by category we can tell how you put things on the belt also...Frozen near the end, produce at the begining....etc

tracey

[CKatCook]

I didn't think this would be an interesting thread when I first clicked on it, but I am hooked. But then again I am one of those people that look in other people's shopping cart at the grocery store....

[mizducky]

Congrats, Jamie, on continuing to find unique ways to keep your spirits up while undergoing chemotherapy.

As I too am an anal-compulsive geek--the kind who to this day still occasionally reads dictionaries for fun--I too am capable of finding something of interest even in the impersonality of grocery receipts.

And as an avid shopper of Asian markets, I couldn't help smiling over this register tape:

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I love that the baby bok choy is listed as "choy, baby bok" -- Chinese-speakers correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to recall that "choy" translates as generic term for "vegetable," so listing the baby bok choy this way makes sense! And especially admirable when one considers that whowever originally entered that in the database is navigating between two languages (English and Chinese) that are so different in grammar and word ordering. Not sure, however, what's up with listing tomatillos as "peppers."

I actually hang on to all my grocery receipts except those paid in cash for items exclusively for myself. Anything I run on the ATM or credit cards, and any tape including something I bought for Mr. E, goes in the files for record-keeping purposes. Let me see if I can find an interesting one to post ...

[mizducky]

Okay, here we go--most recent register tape from my local Asian market:

As you can see, I was having a bit of a konnyaku attack. (The "yam cake-black" is actually some more konnyaku, the kind with little flakes of seaweed in it that gives it a dark grayish cast). The "KNR Tamarind Soup BS" is abbreviated from Knorr tamarind soup base--stocking up for the next sinigang soup crave.

[andiesenji]

Here's my receipt from yesterday morning when I visited Smart & Final for "just a couple of things."

I mentioned on the grocery lists thread that I had made a list but failed to take it with me. While wandering around trying to recall what exactly was on the list, I managed to find "a few" other things that I might need sometime in the future. (Probably the far future!)

I did get a rather good buy on celery, which I didn't notice until I got home. They had two large bunches in each bag, I picked up two bags and didn't notice until I got home that they were stuck together, I think by mistake, and I was only charged for one. It is very good celery, very sweet and quite flavorful. And there is a lot of it.

(I am going to make my usual large batch of roasted vegetables)

[CaliPoutine]

That system appears to be unique to Albertson's chains -- I don't know whether any of the other chains under Albertson's new corporate parent, Supervalu, have adopted this system of listing products by category.

Actually, Meijer's does this as well. I shop at the location in MI and I'll try to dig up a receipt and post it.