It’s no secret that grocery stores are trying to make a buck. And I’m fine with that. Every business has expenses – like inventory, building, and staffing costs – that need to be covered, and the owners should make some profit. But these days, with EVER higher prices, savvy and frugal shoppers must watch out for grocery pricing games!
Every dollar counts and most folks might be surprised to find how much extra they might be spending. Take a look at these things to watch for!
Buy 4 sales
This grocery game means you need to know the policy at any store where you shop. Buy 4 sales (or similar) require that you meet the minimum of 4 items purchased (you can mix and match any items on the sale), and once you reach that, you get the savings. If you buy MORE than that minimum, you continue to get the sales price on those extra items.
On 10 for $10, 3 for $5 sales and others like them, you can usually get just one of the items, and the cost is lowered accordingly. BUT you can’t compare prices on these sales and other items unless you look at the unit (and sometimes even the weight) prices. Memorize the ones you see most frequently so you can do this on the fly to save time, too!
Buy One, Get One
BOGO comes in two varieties. For some stores, they honor ½ price if you buy just one of the items. Each item rings up half price, and you can buy as many as you want. Kroger and its related family of stores do this.
Other stores (Sprouts and FL Publix stores) charge full price on the first item, and the second one rings up free. So, you must buy BOTH to get the deal.
Then there’s the Buy One Get One of Equal or Lesser Value Free variety, usually reserved for meats. Because no two similar cuts are the same exact weight, their prices are ALWAYS different. Most stores will honor half price if you buy just one roast or steak…half price of THAT specific piece of meat.
Other store policies
I check the sales flyers for four stores every Wednesday for 3 geographic areas (see those here). But given the meat and egg prices, sometimes I check those online right before I shop. I’ve recently found that some stores don’t publish their in-store prices. They only publish their online order prices. I sometimes can’t even find what items they actually have in the store!
This seems to happen more with non-grocery items, but sometimes it’s just hard to tell. Walmart and Target (maybe others too) now have a button where you can choose to look at in-store items only. But be sure you’re looking in the right store as they often default to the corporate headquarters store locations. And many prices vary by location…even in the same city!
The ones that really get me are the ones who make it their specific policy not to publish or quote their prices (see one of those here). That works great for them…even the monthly sales mailer only says how much you’ll save, not how much you’ll pay. But it doesn’t help me as the consumer. Be aware!
One of the sneakier grocery pricing games
Recently, I went in search of the Cara Cara Oranges that were on sale. I picked up a bag and found it was Blood Oranges instead! But not only that, the Blood Oranges came in a 2# bag while the Cara Cara were in a 3# bag.
In the sale flyer, Blood Oranges weren’t mentioned as being on sale. So, I tracked down an employee who went to check if they were indeed the same price. Turns out they were…PER bag, but NOT PER pound. The Cara Cara were $1/# while the Blood oranges were $1.50/#. Might not be a big deal if you like one over the other. But if you’re looking for the cheap one, look closely!
Convenience…costs a pretty penny
There are many shortcuts to help you put a meal together faster. I use some and don’t use others. The one I really want you to look out for is rotisserie chicken to pull off the bone for a recipe that uses cooked chicken.
If you’re not getting it at Sam’s or Costco, it’s not very cost effective. Even there, with a 3# chicken at $5, that’s $2.87/# for the meat, not the $1.67 you get if you divide $5/3# as you can’t eat the bones. But $2.87/# is a pretty good price if you’re okay with all the kinds of meat on there.
This store went even further and had it already pulled off the bone for you…great time saver. Granted it’s in California so all their prices are higher but WOW! All I can say is at least they didn’t hide that price in any way. Please don’t pay this kind of price for meat you can buy for $2.99/# or less and cook and shred yourself. That just makes my head hurt!
Keep your eyes open!
Now you know some of the games to watch out for and won’t be fooled. And there are strategies for keeping as much of your hard-earned cash in your pocket as you can. Check back next week, and I’ll share more of those. Have you seen grocery pricing games I missed? Tell me in the comments below!
Wanna see other grocery pricing games? Check this out!
