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Home > Smart Spending > Archives > 2009 > January > 26
Monday, January 26, 2009
Looking beneath the surface at two-for-one grocery deals
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The clerk at the supermarket cash register handed over a receipt that brought a smile to Mr. Cheapskatin’s mug.
My bill: $28. My savings (from sales, two-for-one deals and coupons): $35. If memory serves, the 55 percent reduction was a career high.
Have you ever beat my record?
Still, my main grocery employs a tactic that does not set well with me. On some two-for-ones, it hikes the item’s price.
I noticed it the other day on Campbell’s chunky soup. A can cost $2.39. Since I matched it with a freebie and had clipped a coupon for another dollar off, I shouldn’t complain.
But my secondary food stop, whose prices are comparable, has long offered the same soup for $1.75.
Ditto for Del Monte canned green beans: two-for-one at $1.29. At my alternate store, 79 cents apiece.
Have you detected this phenomenon at your supermarket?
Lesson learned: When spotting an enticing offer, especially a two-fer, compare it to another store’s price. The item may yet be worth buying then, but you’ll know to avoid it when the sale expires.
You can check sales at multiple stores for comparison’s sake — and print out coupons, to boot. If you know of a Web site that lists regular prices for those stores, please pass it along.
Remember, some deals are soup-er, others aren’t worth a hill of beans.
