Grocery Receipts

[Jamie Lee]

I know this thread has been somewhat "controversial".. but check this out:

My receipt:

I never bought "red plums" (at 2.29 per pound) I bought two Idaho Potatoes on sale - (post T-Day) for something like 0.39/lb.

How often do these "mistakes" escape the consumer?

What a windfall for mass grocers!

I have not yet approached the store, but I'll report back!

J

[eskay]

It happens to me all the time! And most of the time I'm already on the bus home before I realise....once I paid for 12 grapefruit instead of two

[MarketStEl]

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

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I couldn't help smiling over it for a completely different reason. Explaining it would get this post reported, so I will simply say that they're selling it way too cheap at 88 cents!

Since I've been commenting on everyone else's exhibitionism, it's high time I did my own paper striptease. I have receipts from the two chains I shop most often, though not from the same week. The results in the savings department are somewhat atypical for this first one, from the Acme at Passyunk and Reed on the Saturday before Thanksgiving:

I went back two days later to buy the $16 worth of groceries I needed to qualify for the free turkey. This freebie, however, remains unclaimed as of this posting:

I'll get to that later today.

The other receipt is also a departure from the norm for where I shopped. I had reserved a car share so I could take a bulk mailing to the U.S. Postal Service sorting facility in Southwest Philly, so I decided to swing by the huge Super Fresh at Pier 70 (known to some as the "Überfresh") instead of my neighborhood Super Fresh at 10th and South. The store has a much bigger selection and variety of products than my local Super Fresh, but that alone is not enough to warrant my getting a car share and shopping here all the time. That said, my haul here was not atypical in amount saved. I used the self-checkout:

And CM_LANE_104 was so polite, too!

One of the things that amuse me about receipts are the abbreviations stores use for products. I probably wouldn't have grabbed a bag of "PUR HAIRBALL" off the shelf for our cats, but I did pick up a bag of Purina One Hairball Control Formula cat food.

Note that despite all the discounts on the Super Fresh tape ("CS" = "club savings," or frequent-shopper-card specials), the total amount I saved with specials and coupons worked out to a mere 17%. By comparison, the amount I saved at the Acme was a respectable 36%, close to the 40% threshold above which the former maintenance guy in my building would treat himself to a drink after shopping. (He characterized his grocery shopping as a game: "It's me versus the supermarket: Who is going to walk away with more of my money?") I have achieved 50% and even 66% savings on some small bills, but have broken 50% on a large trip tab only once or twice. I've exceeded 40% at the Acme often enough to shift the bulk of my supermarket purchases to that chain.

[lucylou95816]

I have to go to the store this week, so I'll post my receipts. Our Safeway breaks everything out too, which was confusing at first, since sometimes I check to make sure I have the "sale" price and you have to find the category it's under.

[potsticker]

Note that despite all the discounts on the Super Fresh tape ("CS" = "club savings," or frequent-shopper-card specials), the total amount I saved with specials and coupons worked out to a mere 17%.  By comparison, the amount I saved at the Acme was a respectable 36%, close to the 40% threshold above which the former maintenance guy in my building would treat himself to a drink after shopping.  (He characterized his grocery shopping as a game: "It's me versus the supermarket: Who is going to walk away with more of my money?") I have achieved 50% and even 66% savings on some small bills, but have broken 50% on a large trip tab only once or twice. I've exceeded 40% at the Acme often enough to shift the bulk of my supermarket purchases to that chain.

This is my favorite game - see how big the percentage can get! I think 82% is my record.

[Jamie Lee]

Potsticker, you are da bomb!

A short story about why you should read receipts:

A terrible pic, but the list says "Red Plums" at $2.29 per pound. What I bought was post-Thanksgiving Idaho potatoes at 0.39 per pound!

The store was kind and even though I had "proof" (dig camera et al) they just credited me the "plums" and didn't charge me for the potatoes!

I think I freaked them out!

[potsticker]

Potsticker, you are da bomb!

I'm ashamed to say I bought a bunch of stuff that I don't need and/or would never eat simply for the savings.

It's a curse, I tell you, a terrible horrible curse.

[MarketStEl]

Potsticker, you are da bomb!

I'm ashamed to say I bought a bunch of stuff that I don't need and/or would never eat simply for the savings.

It's a curse, I tell you, a terrible horrible curse.

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Makes three of us.

Those crackers I posted upthread (or was it in the other thread Jamie Lee started?) will get eaten, though, most likely during the holidays.

[moreace01]

Potsticker, you are da bomb!

A short story about why you should read receipts:

A terrible pic, but the list says "Red Plums" at $2.29 per pound.  What I bought was post-Thanksgiving Idaho potatoes at 0.39 per pound!

Agreed - I once was charged for gourmet coffee instead of potatoes (ahem, $14/lb)! Granted, it was very obvious there was a mistake when I heard the bill total, but still. I look more closely at receipts now.

[Stefferdoos]

I know this thread has been somewhat "controversial".. but check this out:

My receipt:

I never bought "red plums" (at 2.29 per pound) I bought two Idaho Potatoes on sale - (post T-Day) for something like 0.39/lb.

How often do these "mistakes" escape the consumer?

What a windfall for mass grocers!

I have not yet approached the store, but I'll report back!

J

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Jamie Lee, make a game out of it at the checkout. I look at the cashier and try to figure out which ones they won't know. It astonishes me how few kids these days seem to know what a fresh vegetable looks like. Doesn't happen as much at Whole Foods as it does at the standard grocery chains, even Wegmans.

[MelissaH]

Jamie Lee, make a game out of it at the checkout.  I look at the cashier and try to figure out which ones they won't know.  It astonishes me how few kids these days seem to know what a fresh vegetable looks like.  Doesn't happen as much at Whole Foods as it does at the standard grocery chains, even Wegmans.

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Hm. I've never gotten questions at Wegman's, but then again I'm also careful to always weigh and tag my produce in the produce section so it just needs to be scanned. Our local Price Chopper, OTOH, is getting worse by the day. Not long ago, a checker actually had to ask, "Broccoli or cauliflower?"

MelissaH

[Jamie Lee]

Not long ago, a checker actually had to ask, "Broccoli or cauliflower?"

Now this made me choke! (The keyboard is not doing well, either! )

Back on topic (sort of.)

My local grocery makes you load your bounty at one end of a long conveyor belt. I'm busy loading my stuff, while the teenager ringing up my groceries makes whatever judgements he/she is going to make on produce he/she has probably never seen. (rutabega? turnips? brussel sprouts?)

They never mess up on canned goods (Thank goodness for bar codes.)

I wonder how much grocery stores make on erroneous rings. ("They" say stores make a fortune on gift cards that don't get fully used.)

"Food" for thought!

[Stefferdoos]

Jamie Lee, make a game out of it at the checkout.  I look at the cashier and try to figure out which ones they won't know.  It astonishes me how few kids these days seem to know what a fresh vegetable looks like.  Doesn't happen as much at Whole Foods as it does at the standard grocery chains, even Wegmans.

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Hm. I've never gotten questions at Wegman's, but then again I'm also careful to always weigh and tag my produce in the produce section so it just needs to be scanned. Our local Price Chopper, OTOH, is getting worse by the day. Not long ago, a checker actually had to ask, "Broccoli or cauliflower?"

MelissaH

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Melissa, I just noticed your from Oswego. Do you miss the Tops that was once where your Price Chopper is now as much as I miss mine? Its more or less the same but I really miss the old Tops brand Potato Chips.

Edited to say I'm going out tomorrow to do my Christmas dinner shopping and I'll share my receipt with you all then. I'm feeding 18 people so I expect it to be a whopper.

Edited December 19, 2007 by Stefferdoos (log)

[Anna N]

Every once in a while you get lucky!

This was for 4 pig's feet!