Using an Old Receipt to Illustrate Inflation

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Re: Using an Old Receipt to Illustrate Inflation

Post by storewanderer »

Safeway NorCal has a deal on New York Steak Value Packs in Reno: with coupon-5.67/lb limit 1 package (regular 17.99/lb). If you want the single steak/small pack it is 11.99/lb (regular 19.99/lb).

Only ONE SKU is valid for the deal- the NY Steak Value Pack that is prepackaged in meat. Thin is NOT allowed. Thick is NOT allowed. Service meat is NOT allowed. Roasts are NOT allowed. Unlike where CalItalian shops where they give so many more options with this type of coupon.

These "Value Packs" contain two little steaks. The largest package on the display was 2 pounds, most packages were just 1.5 pounds. This is fine with me, actually I was excited as usually Safeway's "Value Pack" meat sales have two inch thick steaks jammed into a package so large that I have zero interest in it and from the looks of it most other customers have zero interest too as these often end up going brown on them even in a very busy store. But this time it was actually more along the lines of what I am looking for.
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Re: Using an Old Receipt to Illustrate Inflation

Post by SamSpade »

CalItalian wrote: September 1st, 2022, 4:09 pm Quite frankly, none of you know how to use digital coupons to your advantage. Walmart can't hold a candle to the prices I get at Vons. I'm up to 95% or more digital coupon use + apps for cashback or gift cards (such as Ibotta and Fetch Rewards).
I respect your hustle, but as a family of 2 it really is easier to not have to worry about these large quantity buys and just shop where I can generally receive everyday values. Clearly the Albertsons companies have marked you a "P1" as we call them in broadcasting and they are giving you a lot of rewards as thank you for your loyalty (or SoCal really is that much better/competitive). I get nothing like that up here in the Albertsons or Safeway app. The best deal I can get here is to shop the one week a month when they give out the $10 off a $50+ purchase.

I also don't really want to give iBotta or Fetch my data for "free" by having to send them the full receipt for any rebates. I have seen a few targeted Instagram ads on products but that is what they require for the rebate.
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Re: Using an Old Receipt to Illustrate Inflation

Post by storewanderer »

SamSpade wrote: September 1st, 2022, 11:42 pm

I respect your hustle, but as a family of 2 it really is easier to not have to worry about these large quantity buys and just shop where I can generally receive everyday values. Clearly the Albertsons companies have marked you a "P1" as we call them in broadcasting and they are giving you a lot of rewards as thank you for your loyalty (or SoCal really is that much better/competitive). I get nothing like that up here in the Albertsons or Safeway app. The best deal I can get here is to shop the one week a month when they give out the $10 off a $50+ purchase.

I also don't really want to give iBotta or Fetch my data for "free" by having to send them the full receipt for any rebates. I have seen a few targeted Instagram ads on products but that is what they require for the rebate.
Some of these rebate programs may also start to generate a 1099 if a user has more than $600 of earnings in a calendar year. At that point IRS will be under the impression that is taxable income. There is a bit of gray area. Technically rebates are treated like a coupon and should not generate a tax liability to the recipient and that is what these are.

Fair everyday pricing is the way of the future. This Safeway/Albertsons group just keeps doubling down on outrageously high everyday prices with a few deep discount/hitch required (go on a certain day, clip this coupon, or that digital only offer, buy this required quantity but do not exceed the limit, limit one per week, limit one per 24 hours, buy the meat only at this counter or only in this one package prepack, etc.). Kroger does many of the same things but still has significantly lower everyday pricing on thousands of items (though this seems to be dwindling) which eases the blow to some degree. To make matters worse lately with the supply chain and labor challenges these high priced/deep discount promotion chains can't seem to keep adequate inventory to support the demand their promotions generate. In some cases this demand spike is created by folks who try to game the system with multiple loyalty cards or folks who bully the store employees into letting them take more than the limit, etc., so there is not product left for all of the customers who come looking for it. In that case those customers who end up empty handed do see how overpriced everything else is in the store (since they were drawn in with an ad they are obviously to some extent price sensitive) and realize there is no reason to shop at this store when the prices are so much higher than WinCo, or Trader Joe's, etc.

The chains that are expanding that customers like, seem to all operate on a fair pricing model. I do not see these chains with pricing games doing much expanding. I don't think there is any coincidence.

I really liked it when Kroger had a lot of items everyday within 10% of Wal Mart. I didn't mind paying 10% more. But they keep increasing prices at a much faster clip than Wal Mart. That shelf dry grated parmesan in private label- for years Kroger and Wal Mart were real close on it (they are using the same supplier for it, exact same stuff in each private label) but not anymore- now Kroger is 3.19 and Wal Mart is 2.36 though Safeway is way out in left field on theirs at a sale price of 4.99 (regularly 5.99). Now Kroger is at "stamped price" on all Frito Lay products. I'd never buy any of this stuff at "stamped price" anyway but 5.59 for Tostitos and 5.19 for Fritos is crazy expensive and even if it is usually on promotion (usually one of those must buy 3 type promotions) why post your regular price as the outrageous stamped price the same price a convenience store charges? EDLP grocers used to in the 90's always advertise "price priced is re-priced" and discount pre-priced items like that a minimum of 5% everyday, Albertsons was one of the stores that did that in the 90's, which wasn't much but it was something.
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Re: Using an Old Receipt to Illustrate Inflation

Post by Bagels »

I completely agree that the J4U program yielded some fantastic deals, but it seems as if Albertsons has moved marketing dollars away from the program and invested more in their weekly ad pricing. For example, for at least five years, most sale pricing required you to buy 5 or more participating items (“Fab 5”) – these increases sales, allows Albertsons to buy in greater volume & provide larger discounts. But the 5 or more requirement has been dropped in most recent sales (or decreased to three, and this week, four). And the loss leaders have become stronger for consumers - $3.99/lb. for ground sirloin two weeks ago, $2.48/lb. for 80/20 last week, etc.

For years, I received weekly personalized J4U coupons the best pricing on meat & seafood in town. Even in January I received 39c/lb. for bananas, 69c/lb. for various apples, $1.88 for a three count romaine hearts, etc. The deals I get now are $1.89/lb for roma tomatoes (regularly priced $1.49/lb., and available for ~69c/lb. at Walmart & most produce & ethnic supermarkets), $3.92 for romaine hearts (was increased to $3.99 this week), $5.97 for Bob’s Big Boy salad dressing (available for $4 at Walmart and $4.29 at Target), etc. Yes, there are an occasional hot deal – there’s plenty on hot dogs this week, for example.

That said, I started shopping more at Ralph’s in recent months. Ralphs (Kroger) mails out monthly personalized coupons and random flyers – my August package included three free items (Lay’s Potato Chips, dozen large Kroger eggs and gallon Kroger milk), and I also received a flyer mid-month that included three coupons ($15 off $50, $10 off $50, free 36-pack Ralph’s water). Remember when the J4U program use to include free coupons every week (not including the weekend freebies)?

The J4U program has long been flawed. Pre-pandemic, I won a free breakfast that was dispensed via multiple coupons on the app (eggs. Breakfast potatoes, frozen pre-cooked meat, frozen OJ). I didn’t take advantage, but I could’ve used the coupons as many times as I wanted, and they stayed up until the expiration date (so a good 90-days). When I contacted Albertsons as to why I no longer received coupons, they indicated the $1 off produce, etc. were introductory coupons. If you’re fortunate to have a flawed account that produces these coupons regularly, that’s awesome. But many coupon groups encourage people to sign-up for unlimited new accounts to get these coupons, which are replenished when accounts go dormant (along with $5 off $5, etc.). And that’s what I sometimes find concerning about coupon groups – Albertsons is clear that you can have only one J4U account per household, and multiple accounts must be linked; legally, you can be a member of only one household. If the advice people are being give to combat inflation is to sign up for unlimited accounts to take advantage of introductory coupons, it’s no different than saying “to combat inflation, use the self-checkout, and ring up your filet mignon as bananas, carefully covering the bar code.”
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Re: Using an Old Receipt to Illustrate Inflation

Post by Bagels »

HCal wrote: September 1st, 2022, 12:48 am My local Albertsons/Vons has Yoplait cups for 80 cents normal price, or 59 cents if you buy 4. I didn't realize there was so much variation within the SoCal division.
Ralphs went from 80 cents to 90 cents this week, and Walmart 60 to 64 cents, so I suspect the price increase on Yoplait cups is being driven by the manufacturer.
storewanderer wrote: September 1st, 2022, 10:28 pm Safeway NorCal has a deal on New York Steak Value Packs in Reno: with coupon-5.67/lb limit 1 package (regular 17.99/lb). If you want the single steak/small pack it is 11.99/lb (regular 19.99/lb).

Only ONE SKU is valid for the deal- the NY Steak Value Pack that is prepackaged in meat. Thin is NOT allowed. Thick is NOT allowed. Service meat is NOT allowed. Roasts are NOT allowed. Unlike where CalItalian shops where they give so many more options with this type of coupon.
In SoCal, Albertsons started sending pre-packaged meat to low volume stores. I prefer this, since I can buy two pounds and it'll stay fresher longer since it's in two packages that are tightly shrink wrapped. Same thing with chicken breasts - the pre-packaged options are generally leaner and cut smaller. HOWEVER... when it requires a darn J4U coupon to get the sale price, it will not take it on the pre-packaged options. My local store often doesn't carry these options in their meat case... I don't get it.
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Re: Using an Old Receipt to Illustrate Inflation

Post by Bagels »

This week's personalized J4U offers:

Red Yams, $1.75/lb. - 1.69 shelf.
Romaine Hearts, three pack - $4.11 - 3.99 shelf.
Donuts, single - $1.37 - .99 shelf.
Pineapple, $3.11 each - 3.99 shelf.
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Re: Using an Old Receipt to Illustrate Inflation

Post by storewanderer »

Bagels wrote: September 7th, 2022, 4:46 pm This week's personalized J4U offers:

Red Yams, $1.75/lb. - 1.69 shelf.
Romaine Hearts, three pack - $4.11 - 3.99 shelf.
Donuts, single - $1.37 - .99 shelf.
Pineapple, $3.11 each - 3.99 shelf.
I wonder if your donut and romaine deals are intended for Pavilions and would be a discount from those prices?

NorCal gives .79 donut steadily on the personal price. Regular price is .99. Some weeks it is limit 1 per day (guess they are helping with portion control). However NorCal has a separate ongoing promotion where the donuts are .69 each if you buy 3 at a time. The quality and size of these donuts varies significantly by store, by day.
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Re: Using an Old Receipt to Illustrate Inflation

Post by CalItalian »

mbz321 wrote: September 1st, 2022, 6:41 pm
CalItalian wrote: September 1st, 2022, 4:09 pm Signature Select Vegetable cans are .67 each this week.

Quite frankly, none of you know how to use digital coupons to your advantage. Walmart can't hold a candle to the prices I get at Vons. I'm up to 95% or more digital coupon use + apps for cashback or gift cards (such as Ibotta and Fetch Rewards). Rarely use paper coupons - which for food pretty much are non-existent these days. Tear pads in store offer better deals on food.

Last weeks .99 cent produce sale was fantastic and many items were sold out by Tuesday. Using the weekly $1 produce coupon, I got many fresh vegetables for virtually free.
That's great if you want to mess around with those kind of games (and believe me, I've been doing it on the opposite coast with the generous Amazon Fresh coupons they keep pumping out. I use to semi-extreme coupon back in the day too, but there just aren't usually good item-specific coupons these days to make it worth it), but most people don't.

How are you getting 'many fresh vegetables' for free though? Unless you have a dozen different Safeway accounts (ngl, I have two 'Acme' accounts myself and won several $x off $x purchase coupons from their summer game, but besides that, it generally isn't worth my time to bother with Acme).
I've stated many times here I have multiple For U accounts. There is a $1 off digital produce coupon every week. You need more than $1 in total produce - one or more items - for it to apply. It stacks with personalized (Just) For U prices or ad For U coupons.

Most stores play games, certainly Kroger & Albertsons. As you are/have. Based on how particular advertised items are being depleted faster these days in stores LOTS of people are playing the games I do (to a lesser extent, I'm sure). I'm somewhat dismayed because of that because I have had to alter my shopping hours because of this. I've also noticed a great increase in those searching the day old bakery racks at both Vons/Albertsons & Ralphs. They really get cleaned out.

Those Amazon Fresh coupons will soon dry up as they now have in California. They seem to have moved into a new direction with specific items coupons as much as 75% off. Many items. Slickdeals.net is a good source for a discussion on them.

My best deal last ad week (which ended yesterday) was .75 cents for O Organics Uncured Angus Beef Franks. $1.75 clearance (75% off) - $1 Any O Organics item digital For U coupon that is available every (ad) week. Vons/Albertsons/Pavilions right now are discontinuing many items in all departments. Most I've ever seen at one shot.
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Re: Using an Old Receipt to Illustrate Inflation

Post by CalItalian »

Bagels wrote: September 2nd, 2022, 12:15 pm
HCal wrote: September 1st, 2022, 12:48 am My local Albertsons/Vons has Yoplait cups for 80 cents normal price, or 59 cents if you buy 4. I didn't realize there was so much variation within the SoCal division.
Ralphs went from 80 cents to 90 cents this week, and Walmart 60 to 64 cents, so I suspect the price increase on Yoplait cups is being driven by the manufacturer.
storewanderer wrote: September 1st, 2022, 10:28 pm Safeway NorCal has a deal on New York Steak Value Packs in Reno: with coupon-5.67/lb limit 1 package (regular 17.99/lb). If you want the single steak/small pack it is 11.99/lb (regular 19.99/lb).

Only ONE SKU is valid for the deal- the NY Steak Value Pack that is prepackaged in meat. Thin is NOT allowed. Thick is NOT allowed. Service meat is NOT allowed. Roasts are NOT allowed. Unlike where CalItalian shops where they give so many more options with this type of coupon.
In SoCal, Albertsons started sending pre-packaged meat to low volume stores. I prefer this, since I can buy two pounds and it'll stay fresher longer since it's in two packages that are tightly shrink wrapped. Same thing with chicken breasts - the pre-packaged options are generally leaner and cut smaller. HOWEVER... when it requires a darn J4U coupon to get the sale price, it will not take it on the pre-packaged options. My local store often doesn't carry these options in their meat case... I don't get it.
Sorry to hear your local store doesn't offer that option in the service meat case. That's my go to place when there is an advertised item that requires a value pack or 3 lbs. or more price. I get the butcher at my local Vons to package the items in a small quantity so I can pull them out of the freezer for one meal - but still get the advertised value size price or For U coupon price.
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Re: Using an Old Receipt to Illustrate Inflation

Post by storewanderer »

CalItalian wrote: September 14th, 2022, 3:18 pm Sorry to hear your local store doesn't offer that option in the service meat case. That's my go to place when there is an advertised item that requires a value pack or 3 lbs. or more price. I get the butcher at my local Vons to package the items in a small quantity so I can pull them out of the freezer for one meal - but still get the advertised value size price or For U coupon price.
It isn't the "local store." It is the policy of Safeway NorCal Division. They select ONE SKU for meat coupon/digital offers. They are very limiting. There is no flexibility. Tagging meat as something it isn't like selling single steaks with the value pack price, will get the employee fired if they catch it, it would be considered deliberately underpricing merchandise. I have been told there is some flexibility for them to, for instance, break a value pack of 3 steaks into 3 separate small trays, wrap the 3 small trays together, and put the old price label on top of the 3 small trays... they are told they are not to "combine" 3 single pack steaks into a single value pack to get the customer the sale price due to labor waste and packaging waste. Safeway has one of the worst meat departments in my opinion of the major chains. The worst pricing, the worst assortment of cuts, and the worst promotions. Raleys just does a far better job and is a lot more flexible. If Safeway would move NorCal to the more flexible Albertsons model (where you can get thin/thick at a slight .50/lb upcharge from the sale price, where you could get any size package from the service case for the sale price), I would have a different opinion.

Yep, that was how it was before Albertsons sold to Save Mart too. The ad price worked at Butcher Block for any size package and they would do small packs without hesitation. The meat quality varied over the years but for stuff like chicken breasts and ground beef I never had any reservations purchasing from Albertsons (steaks were another matter and seafood was a hard pass) back then. They also would "clearance" all of their ground beef in the service case (85/15 and 90/10) around 7:30 PM when breaking down the case at 1.99/lb or if you were real lucky 0.99/lb. All of that ended when Save Mart took over of course.

I do not receive any $1 off coupons anymore. The past few days in CO even there none came up. I think it is something to do with the Fresh Pass program. Maybe once that ends I will start to receive them again.
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