Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by storewanderer »

Meanwhile back on the regular cleaning aisle, NorCal Safeway ran the $5 Friday yesterday and one of the items was 75ct Signature Cleaning WIpes or 64oz (?) Signature Glass Cleaner at 2 for $5; regular price 5.09-5.49. But then it seems every non-food/non-paper product Signature item is involved in a "buy one get one 50% off" promotion so it ended up at 2/3.75 after that deal.

Then for the Free Saturday today they have a free Open Nature Cleaning Spray of some kind (not familiar with this product and have not noticed it on the shelf before).

So it seems like even the regular cleaning product aisle is struggling at this point to move products.
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by BillyGr »

Bagels wrote: July 31st, 2021, 10:53 am Most of these freebies had been 3 for $1 for awhile. They were able to blow out most of the paper products and hand soap, but at huge discounts. Gotta wonder what the overall loss is. At one point, they were selling the hand sanitizer and cleaning spray for $10 each; the wipes went for $6. Ralphs had similar items and similar stock but priced the items much more moderately, so that they moved much more product. But they have some bargains as well (32oz Safeguard liquid hand soap pump bottles for $1, etc.)
Somehow, one thinks that whatever they did sell at those high prices was making a bit, so hopefully offsetting some of the "losses" from the cheap or giveaways.

Hannaford and ShopRite here did free or cheap items several months back (toilet paper and wipes, anyhow) - but I suppose at some point getting little for it (or giving it out and making people feel they got something for nothing) is better than paying to have it taken away in a dumpster - though you can't really fault them for buying these unusual items when there was little available, as at that point anything was better than an empty shelf.
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by storewanderer »

I think most of these stores did manage to get through the paper products. There were some really big markdowns... but with as consumable as paper products are you can move through it. It was the extra sanitizer and cleaning items that were a harder sell (or are a harder sell).
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by Alpha8472 »

Riley's Brewing makes the hand sanitizer in the U.S. They switched to making lots of hand sanitizer during the pandemic. This is a watery liquid hand sanitizer instead of the gel kind. I saw tons of them at Safeway.
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by Bagels »

Looks like Kroger joined Albertsons - Ralph’s had a digital coupon for two free PPE items. I can’t find it, it may have expired at midnight (the number of available coupons dropped from nearly 800 to less than 300).

The coupons are still valid at Albertsons, though. Shamefully, the super couponers found my local store. As of Saturday evening, it had tons of cleaner and hand sanitizer, but none were left tonight. Still plenty of wipes!
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by HCal »

Bagels wrote: August 4th, 2021, 12:10 am Looks like Kroger joined Albertsons - Ralph’s had a digital coupon for two free PPE items. I can’t find it, it may have expired at midnight (the number of available coupons dropped from nearly 800 to less than 300).

The coupons are still valid at Albertsons, though. Shamefully, the super couponers found my local store. As of Saturday evening, it had tons of cleaner and hand sanitizer, but none were left tonight. Still plenty of wipes!
Same at my store. They should have set a limit of 1 or 2 for sanitizer and cleaner. 4 was too much.
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by CalItalian »

HCal wrote: August 4th, 2021, 1:22 am
Bagels wrote: August 4th, 2021, 12:10 am Looks like Kroger joined Albertsons - Ralph’s had a digital coupon for two free PPE items. I can’t find it, it may have expired at midnight (the number of available coupons dropped from nearly 800 to less than 300).

The coupons are still valid at Albertsons, though. Shamefully, the super couponers found my local store. As of Saturday evening, it had tons of cleaner and hand sanitizer, but none were left tonight. Still plenty of wipes!
Same at my store. They should have set a limit of 1 or 2 for sanitizer and cleaner. 4 was too much.
They wanted them gone FAST. They've been taking up a lot of room in the stockroom for a year. The department manager of a Vons near me was so happy I came in to take the last 12 cleaners (3 accounts) on Tuesday she took them off the endcap & helped me put them in my cart. She still had a ton of wipes and sanitizers. In a SoCal coupon group I am a participant in, one member posted a pic of an Albertsons they shop at which had a floor display with hundreds of wipes (made in China, btw).

SoCal Vons & Albertsons are currently discontinuing a lot of products (see red tags in store) in every department - especially spirits and detergent & other cleaning products (I suspect a lot of product downsizing in that aisle). I've never seen so many at one time.
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by CalItalian »

Bagels wrote: August 4th, 2021, 12:10 am Looks like Kroger joined Albertsons - Ralph’s had a digital coupon for two free PPE items. I can’t find it, it may have expired at midnight (the number of available coupons dropped from nearly 800 to less than 300).

The coupons are still valid at Albertsons, though. Shamefully, the super couponers found my local store. As of Saturday evening, it had tons of cleaner and hand sanitizer, but none were left tonight. Still plenty of wipes!
Two Ralphs in my area, Menifee & Murrieta, have the hand sanitizer at the checkstand. Take as many as you want, free. No coupon. I came back 3 days later & they had more than when I saw it the first time.
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by storewanderer »

CalItalian wrote: August 5th, 2021, 11:39 am
SoCal Vons & Albertsons are currently discontinuing a lot of products (see red tags in store) in every department - especially spirits and detergent & other cleaning products (I suspect a lot of product downsizing in that aisle). I've never seen so many at one time.
Same is going on at NorCal Safeway in cleaning. Frozen aisle is really being gutted too, ton of clearance tags. Entire Signature Select frozen meal line got discontinued, granted it had been shrinking for years.

I think this may have something to do with Albertsons recent move to centralize center store buying.
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Re: Albertsons/Vons Giving Away Sanitation Products

Post by HCal »

Speaking of centralizing center store buying, I noticed that all their private label items have Safeway's old address in Pleasanton, including in the former Albertsons markets where Safeway did not operate. I wonder if they are going to turn that into a centralized buying office separate from the headquarters in Boise.
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