# New stupid grocery sale ritual **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 23, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257 "2009-09-23T16:58:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/21 "2009-09-24T17:28:23Z")
> [@Taters](#): > > When they first started it, you only had to spend fifty bucks. Then they upped the amount to $100.00. Then, they started “stacking” the 10 cents off. In other words, if I had 50 cents per gallon because I had spent $500.00, I had to use the whole fifty cents at once. I couldn’t say use ten cents and let my husband get a fuel bonus too.:dubious: Our Price Chopper one is super-handy–it works at ONE gas station in the area. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/22 "2009-09-24T17:46:26Z")
I sign up for the loyalty cards with a fake name, address, and phone number. I get the discounts, they don’t know who I am, everybody wins. Especially anyone invested in whatever plastic they make these things out of. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/23 "2009-09-24T17:48:07Z")
I’m not a big coupon clipper, but Ralph’s mails out some good store coupons every so often. I’m not one to pass on a good deal on something I’m going to buy anyway. On one of those “fill the freezer with couponed food” days, I had over a dozen different coupons. After scanning the groceries, the cashier scanned the coupons. All but one cleared–for some reason I had picked up the wrong brand of ice cream. When the cashier handed back the coupon, I said so. He took the coupon back, put in a special manager code, and gave the same discount on the brand I bought. Totally unnecessary and definitely earned the store some loyalty from me. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/24 "2009-09-24T17:49:51Z")
My Kroger card gets me the discounts, but they also send me coupons for _stuff I buy all the time_. Every few months I’ll get about $10-20 worth of coupons for Kroger brand stuff (like bacon, or deli swiss cheese - even bagged spinach!) ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/25 "2009-09-24T18:55:32Z")
> [@](#): > > You don’t want e-mails? Give them a phony address. Nobody will know. On at least some cards, you have to respond to the frigging email they send you in order to activate the card. I have several email addresses, and I only check one of them every day. I check another a couple of times a week, and the others just don’t get checked, unless I’ve given them out recently. > [@](#): > > My philosophy is: It’s not a savings or a really great deal if I don’t want it and wouldn’t buy it under other circumstances. Just because it happens to be on sale doesn’t mean I suddenly need it. This applies to 2 for 1 drink specials at happy hours as well. Maybe I don’t want that second margarita because I don’t want to drive home drunk. The benefit of the freebie starts to be outweighed by overconsumption of products I didn’t need in the first place. I find that just about the only coupons worth clipping are for condiments and cleaning products, when we have a brand preference. We do have preferences for various steak sauces, and I use them in cooking sometimes as well (A1 is good in a meatloaf, and as a glaze on the meatloaf as well), so I’ll clip coupons for those products if I happen to find them. But most coupons are a waste of time. Sometimes I’ll try a product, if there’s an exceptionally good coupon or sale price on it, but that product has to be significantly better than the one I normally use in order for me to keep buying it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/26 "2009-09-24T19:15:03Z")
> [@wierdaaron](#): > > I sign up for the loyalty cards with a fake name, address, and phone number. I get the discounts, they don’t know who I am, everybody wins. > > Especially anyone invested in whatever plastic they make these things out of. Same. They make good souvenirs too. “Wtf is a Shaws?” ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/27 "2009-09-24T19:39:12Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Our Price Chopper one is super-handy–it works at ONE gas station in the area. :smack: Does that surprise you? The Price Chopper company struck a deal with the Sunoco company (or perhaps they are owned by the same parent corporation.) You expect them to make a deal with every gas company everywhere? Besides, it’s one of the better discounts I’ve seen. Ten cents off a gallon per $50 you spend, good for up to the next twenty gallons, IIRC. And I’ve never gotten any email SPAM, junk mail, flyers, or coupons from any of the stores I have cards for, with one exception. I do get a weekly email from Borders, but I want that, cause it has great coupons, often times it’s 30-40% off any book. And it goes to my “junk” email account that I always use when I sign up for things. Honestly, you people make simple things like getting a card out of a wallet, or checking an email sound as hard as a doctoral thesis. “Oh no! I have to _check my email_ to confirm it! Then get the card _out of my purse_ I can’t be bothered to do all that work!” Fine, don’t go through the motions, just don’t bitch about having to pay higher prices. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/28 "2009-09-24T19:42:46Z")
> [@Never\_Say\_Dice](#): > > Safeway grocery chain just added a new “feature” to its elaborate sales strategy. If you log in every week, you can pre-select coupons that will be linked to your record. Then when you shop and swipe your membership card, "the savings are automatic - no clipping That actually sounds like a really cool feature. No “quotes” needed. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/29 "2009-09-24T19:48:18Z")
If you travel, you can play “which out-of-state loyalty card works in which local store?” Often the local store employees will resist, but if you find a bored cashier or a self-checkout, you can have some fun. If you already know which card will work you can tease the employees with their lack of knowledge of their own corporation.“Albertsons? What’s that?” “Trust me, it’ll work” _beep_ “I don’t understand why.” 😃 Last time I tried, in 2008: Ralph’s and Kroger’s cards work with each other. Albertson’s and Shaw’s work with each other. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/30 "2009-09-24T20:13:36Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Does that surprise you? The Price Chopper company struck a deal with the Sunoco company (or perhaps they are owned by the same parent corporation.) You expect them to make a deal with every gas company everywhere? Not one company, one **station**. I don’t have every station memorized, but the word on the street is there’s only one Sunoco. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/31 "2009-09-24T22:48:32Z")
Where is the local Sunoco, anyway? The wife and I have been searching for weeks to find a gas station that will accept that card. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/32 "2009-09-24T23:14:36Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > And mostly I am getting tired of the repeated urgings to sign up for this crap. I go to a store, I want to buy my stuff and get out. It’s not just the grocery store - I am sick to death of going to a bookstore and the staff are trying to get me to buy books in genres I can’t stand, often potboiler “bestsellers” I would probably only open the cover on if I ran out of toilet paper in the middle of a blizzard and couldn’t get to a store. I am tired of going to a gas station and being pressured to buy overpriced shitty snacks and lotto tickets. Etc., Etc. I must be shopping at stores with clerks who hate asking as much as I hate them asking - I’ve never been badgered about getting a store card. Barnes and Noble will ask if I have one as they’re ringing me up, but it never goes beyond that. For that matter, I’ve never had a bookstore clerk try to get me to buy a book I’m not interested in, and I’ve never had a convenience store clerk try to pressure me to buy snacks or lottery tickets. I’ve never gotten the store card hate, either. I just checked - I’ve got five grocery store cards in my wallet. They’re not really taking up any extra space, and it’s no big deal to pull it out and hand to the clerk. (I can throw out the Safeway card, because it won’t swipe anymore, so I just use my phone number.) ---
**Author:** ![MannyL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/33 "2009-09-25T00:29:48Z")
When I’m shopping at a Safeway (none here in NJ) I enter my friend’s ph# it works I get the discount and all is happy. ---
**Author:** ![prettydorky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@prettydorky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prettydorky)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/34 "2009-09-25T02:16:03Z")
> [@smee\_goan](#): > > Bought a dvd player, @ amazon, FREE SHIPPING, arrived inabout 3 business days. Pay the man Shirley > > $59.00 > > Brand new 7". > Couresy cards? Naw, I shop at ALDI’s.\* > > . > \*Speedway exception. still don’t ‘read’ my card there. Is my newbie showing? I don’t understand most of this. What does a dvd player have to do with grocery shopping? Or Amazon? a brand new 7 inch _what_? What is ALDI’s? Or more specifically, WHO is ALDI and what does he have to to with couresy(sic) cards? ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/35 "2009-09-25T02:35:54Z")
> [@prettydorky](#): > > Is my newbie showing? I don’t understand most of this. What does a dvd player have to do with grocery shopping? Or Amazon? a brand new 7 inch _what_? What is ALDI’s? Or more specifically, WHO is ALDI and what does he have to to with couresy(sic) cards? I don’t get it, either. [Aldi’s](http://www.aldi.com/) is a supermarket, FWIW. I have no idea if they use loyalty cards or if they sell DVD players. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/36 "2009-09-25T02:50:28Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I don’t want to be deluged with coupons for crap I’ll never buy - I cook mostly from scratch and when was the last time you saw a coupon for raw spinach or plain brown rice? Last week’s coupon circular. $.50 off a 1-pound bag of brown rice. I forget the brand name, but with the double-coupon policy at Meijer, it worked out to be cheaper than the regular price on the store-brand brown rice. I’m not brand-loyal, so I bought the name-brand stuff with the coupon. I am certainly not suggesting that you use coupons if you don’t feel like it. But it is not entirely true that coupons are only for highly-processed convenience items. They do tend to be for those things, yes. But not all are. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/37 "2009-09-25T02:58:34Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Not one company, one **station**. I don’t have every station memorized, but the word on the street is there’s only one Sunoco. …what? One station? What “word on the street?” That’s not true at all. I’ve used my Price Chopper card at at least two different Sunoco stations, and it’s been fine. Here’s the [official announcement](http://readme.readmedia.com/news/show/Price-Chopper-and-Sunoco-to-Launch-Fuel-AdvantEdge-in-Northern-VT-on-Thursday-October-23/300007) for the Vermont locations. Maybe there’s only one Sunoco near you, and I guess that could be what the “word on the street” is referring to. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/38 "2009-09-25T10:26:19Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > That actually sounds like a really cool feature. No “quotes” needed. I agree. I don’t get what’s so awful about it. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/39 "2009-09-25T12:02:42Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > I don’t get it, either. > [Aldi’s](http://www.aldi.com/) is a supermarket, FWIW. I have no idea if they use loyalty cards or if they sell DVD players. Regular Aldi shopper - no, they do not have loyalty cards and yes, they sometimes sell consumer electronics, including DVD’s. (I bought the keyboard I’m typing on at Aldi’s) > [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Last week’s coupon circular. $.50 off a 1-pound bag of brown rice. I forget the brand name, but with the double-coupon policy at Meijer, it worked out to be cheaper than the regular price on the store-brand brown rice. I’m not brand-loyal, so I bought the name-brand stuff with the coupon. > > I am certainly not suggesting that you use coupons if you don’t feel like it. But it is not entirely true that coupons are only for highly-processed convenience items. They do tend to be for those things, yes. But not all are. Honestly, I have _never_ seen anything like that before. I’ve seen packages of pre-seasoned rice with coupons before, but never standard, unadorned brown rice. I’ll take another look at coupons if Meijer’s - my other regular store besides Aldi’s - starts doing this. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257/40 "2009-09-25T12:14:07Z")
It was for Uncle Ben’s brown rice; I just checked. (Even though it’s Uncle Ben’s, it’s just regular brown rice, not parboiled or processed or whatever they do to it.) I also often find coupons for soy milk, whole wheat bread, and dried pasta, among other things. (Although the coupon price usually cannot beat the store-brand sale price on whole wheat bread. I am sort of a grocery price nerd and keep track of these things.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-grocery-sale-ritual/511257.md?page=3)