my grocery store pet peeve

[school17777]

When the register doesn't show you the sale price with your rewards card until the end, so you can't see if you are getting the sale price or not.

 

We stopped at the grocery store on our way home from vacation. I didn't have the key chain thing that you swipe, so I had to enter in my phone number, which I did as soon as it was my turn. However, I noticed the prices weren't the "reward card" prices, so I asked the cashier if it took my number. He said no. So I entered it again and he said that it work that time, but the prices didn't adjust. I asked him why the prices weren't adjusting and he said they would at the end. I said I wanted to see them as they scanned so I could see that I was being charged the "reward card" prices. He said that he didn't control the computer system and that I could go talk to customer service, or he would pass on my concern. I said I would go talk to custmer service because we were directly across from them and there was no line.

 

I told customer service and they said the cashier was mistaken - he had to hit a button and then I would see the price adjustments as he scanned. So, when I got back to the cashier, he had just finished scanning everything and told my dh, "Just as I told your wife, all the adjustments would come off at the end." I told him that customer service said he was mistaken and that I should have been able to see them come off as he was scanning if he would have hit the total button after I put in my phone number. He said, "I am so sorry that I am such an idiot and didn't know what I was doing. I am just a retired, college educated guy, but apparently am so stupid as to know how to operate a cash register." And he kept repeating that kind of nonsense until we left. I told him that I like to be able to see the actual prices as they scan because this grocery store has made some pricing errors in the past. It is too hard to wait until the end when all the adjustments fly off to see if you got charged the right price and you don't remember the amount to come off, you remember the actual price.

 

Anyway, that is my grocery store pet peeve!

[Jean in Newcastle]

I would have reported his words to his manager.  That said, our prices come off at the end and I'm ok with that.  

[Annie G]

There's a store I visit occasionally that does that. I only go there to get those sale prices but not knowing until the end drives me crazy.   They have really good boneless chicken and the sale price is half the regular price...but I can't tell whether it rings up right until the end and it drives me crazy. Same with buy one get one...both ring up at full price and then at the end it comes off. But it's not always easy (or quick) to scan the receipt and make sure it all the sale prices were applied.   And they don't always get it right and I have to trot back to the customer service desk. It would just be easier to see it as it happens so I could mention it then. 

 

I would have talked to a manager about the snarky treatment.  It's not too late- and it might make you feel better to know you voiced your displeasure. 

[Hunter's Moon]

Honestly? It seems as if you knew the sale prices would show at the end, so I'm not quite sure why you made a stink about seeing them during the actual transaction.

 

With that said, the man was rude, but I still don't understand why you went through all the trouble when the price would be the same either way.

[school17777]

I would have talked to a manager about the snarky treatment. It's not too late- and it might make you feel better to know you voiced your displeasure.

 

I thought about it, going through their website. That grocery store is not close to me. It is also an upscale grocery store with higher expecations of customer service.

[Lara in Colo]

I'll go one step further-- I hate having to have a "card" in the first place-- just give it to me for the price you advertised, No "secret club card" no one price minus the new price here is the actual price you paid.. No-- you could have saved more if you had downloaded these coupons (when I cannot get the website to work with my card and customer service says to just go online and fix things).

 

Just carrots-- as advertised on the flyer you sent to my house.

 

honestly-- this is why I do most of my shopping at Costco

 

[Tanaqui]

"I am so sorry that I am such an idiot and didn't know what I was doing. I am just a retired, college educated guy, but apparently am so stupid as to know how to operate a cash register."

 

Oh, for crying out loud. Registers have a learning curve. I don't know what buttons to push when, and I bet, like card scanners, they're not all identical either. It's not an insult to say "Look, for the future, this is what you have to do!"

 

I would've gone back to the manager over his bad attitude. That was completely uncalled for.

 

Honestly? It seems as if you knew the sale prices would show at the end, so I'm not quite sure why you made a stink about seeing them during the actual transaction.

 

I prefer to see it rung up that way because I want to know what the accurate total was as it rung up, so I knew if I am *really* going over budget or if it just *looks* that way.

 

Additionally, if the prices aren't being rung up correctly, it's going to be a pain in the butt to fix at the end of the transaction. Better to see them right away.

 

 

 

[Butter]

I would have reported his words to his manager.  That said, our prices come off at the end and I'm ok with that.  

 

Yes, this.  Our grocery store doesn't have rewards prices.  We pick up coupons as we go through the store and they are scanned at the end just like any other coupon.  I've never cared either way at places if the rewards card price shows up as it scans or comes off at the end (tbh, sometimes it is fun to watch the total rapidly decrease after everything has been scanned), but his words were snarky.  He should have taken it as a chance to learn about his job (sounds like he might be a little bitter about working as a grocery store checker at this point in his life) and about how his register works instead of getting grumpy.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Yeah I don't know why they have to make that stuff so complicated.  It's almost like they are hoping you don't notice stuff or something. 

 

And now the latest thing...e-coupons.  In theory it is nice, but then I never know if stuff was discounted or not and frankly I've got enough crap to pay attention to.

 

I once literally had someone yell at me because I pealed off the meat discount sticker and handed it to the cashier.  It would have been fine if the person just mentioned that I don't need to, but no she yelled at me.  I told them what I thought about that at the customer service desk.  Geesh. 

[Tanaqui]

I imagine it would slow things down to wade through at the end if you do need to ask for items to be voided or adjusted.

 

I hate when I'm behind somebody at the store who just hangs around after they're rung up looking at the receipt. I can't bag my stuff that way, because they're THERE, and half the time they find something wrong and hold us up longer while they get that sorted out. (Not that I don't have sympathy, of course. If your budget is so strapped that you cannot go $1 over it, well, you have to pay attention. But it's annoying for me.)

 

And at my local store, the cashier can't void anything without calling over a manager. More delays, more waiting.

 

[OnTheBrink]

I can't manage to get through swiping my debit card at the grocery easily, because every store's swiping thing is different. I can't imagine trying to run the actual register. That said, he was rude and unless he has a degree in cashiering, his college education is a moot point. My father has two Ph.D's and can't figure out his iPad, so a college education doesn't mean you can run technology! (I'd have reported his remarks to the manager, too) A little humility goes a long way to soothing ruffled feathers.

[regentrude]

At our store, reward member prices show at the very end only. I don't get why it is such a big deal to wait to see the final prices at the end - you can still verify that everything is correct before paying.

[Tenaj]

That's one reason I don't like the new e-coupons or cards that it seems every store is using.  At my main grocery store, we now have e-coupons which is fine and convenient in that it's a lot quicker to 'clip' coupons, but the same thing happens, on the screen when they are swiping the merchandise you can't necessarily see the discount being applied.  It makes it harder to make sure the discounts were given correctly because you do have to stand there after the receipt is printed to check to make sure the proper discount was applied.

 

I use the self-check most of the time because for some reason, those screens shows the discounts as they are applied to the individual items.  That way if something rings up incorrectly, I know it right away.

 

I'm with the PP - if you're going to put something on sale, give me and everyone else the sales price and quit all the schemes.  Even the e-coupons, at our store, there are only a certain number you can clip and put into your electronic wallet and you have to physically look at it and then tap the screen to select it.  Just put all the coupons in my e-wallet and let me use the ones I want.

 

 

[Tsuga]

When the register doesn't show you the sale price with your rewards card until the end, so you can't see if you are getting the sale price or not.

 

We stopped at the grocery store on our way home from vacation. I didn't have the key chain thing that you swipe, so I had to enter in my phone number, which I did as soon as it was my turn. However, I noticed the prices weren't the "reward card" prices, so I asked the cashier if it took my number. He said no. So I entered it again and he said that it work that time, but the prices didn't adjust. I asked him why the prices weren't adjusting and he said they would at the end. I said I wanted to see them as they scanned so I could see that I was being charged the "reward card" prices. He said that he didn't control the computer system and that I could go talk to customer service, or he would pass on my concern. I said I would go talk to custmer service because we were directly across from them and there was no line.

 

I told customer service and they said the cashier was mistaken - he had to hit a button and then I would see the price adjustments as he scanned. 

 

Okay. So it doesn't do that automatically, which is the Kroger's system as well as some other systems.

 

I'm sorry that is irritating to you, but frankly, you're asking him to take twice as long on your items.

 

 

 

It makes it harder to make sure the discounts were given correctly because you do have to stand there after the receipt is printed to check to make sure the proper discount was applied.

 

No it doesn't. You can usually see all the discounts applied on one screen at the end. I have used this system since like 1996 and it is really not that hard. Really.

 

 

 

I'm with the PP - if you're going to put something on sale, give me and everyone else the sales price and quit all the schemes.

 

Their job isn't to give away food. It's to make money. Sales and rewards bring people in the store which increases revenues because of strategic pricing. They wouldn't do this if it didn't work.

 

That said, the cashier was rude. Yes, it sucks to work in customer service and to be treated by an idiot by every other fool all the live long day. Yes, it does. That's customer service. It's awful. And yes, people with STEM degrees are cashiering because of lack of job opportunities, not to mention English majors. So I feel bad for him. Must be awful. But he shouldn't have taken it out on you.

[Tanaqui]

I'm with the PP - if you're going to put something on sale, give me and everyone else the sales price and quit all the schemes.

 

The reason they do the loyalty program is to track you. If they just want to increase sales, sure, they can give the whole world the sales price. But they don't just want to do that - they also want to track which items sell together, and to target their advertising more precisely.

 

[Guest]

I'm with you; i want to see them as they are rung up. Additionally, I track my expenses in such a way that I want the receipt to show the sale prices throughout the receipt, not at the end. I categorize dog food differently from ground round and I want to put the correct total in my categories.

[Guest]

The reason they do the loyalty program is to track you. If they just want to increase sales, sure, they can give the whole world the sales price. But they don't just want to do that - they also want to track which items sell together, and to target their advertising more precisely.

Exactly. To track you and to build a profile of your buying habits. It bothers me some, in the sense that I am dehumanized by being a "profile category," but I also know that any notions I have of being an anonymous shopper have long since vanished in the wake of Amazon, on-line buying, and credit card use.

[school17777]

Honestly? It seems as if you knew the sale prices would show at the end, so I'm not quite sure why you made a stink about seeing them during the actual transaction.

 

With that said, the man was rude, but I still don't understand why you went through all the trouble when the price would be the same either way.

The price adjustment normally shows up immediately. Not sure why it wasn't even when I confirmed with him that it accepted my number. I had a cart load of groceries and it is too much for me to figure out at the end if all the prices adjusted. This store has occasionally overcharged me b a couple of dollars of an item. There is not really a way to see if you were charged the right price when it comes off at the end because the adjustments fly by and it is more complicated to figure out. For example, non card milk price is $3.57. Card price is $2.99. So when adjustments happen at the end, you never see the $2.99 price, just the $3.57 when it was scanned and then if you watched real quick, you would see a minus $0.58. So, if I wanted to make sure that I was charged the right price, I have to keep three numbers in my head for each item: original price, discount amount, card price. I just have the card price in my head when I shop, I don't pay attention to the original price. I don't recall the discount amount on the tags, so I'd have to calculate that myself. I know their register has the capability of showing the card price as it was scanned, so I was surprised the guy said it couldn't in the first.

[school17777]

At our store, reward member prices show at the very end only. I don't get why it is such a big deal to wait to see the final prices at the end - you can still verify that everything is correct before paying.

Not really until the receipt is printed, which is after you pay, unless the cashier is willing to scroll the screen for you because you can't see everything on at the same time. When it comes off at the end, it happens really fast, in a woosh.

[Annie G]

The store I use that takes it off at the end doesn't make it easy to see if the correct prices were given because instead of listing the item, it has the bar code number. So you have the top of the receipt giving you the shelf price, then at the end, a bunch of bar codes with -$.25 , -$.74, etc.   

 

Our Cub Foods also takes it off at the end, but it prints the discount right under the item on the receipt so I can see the original price and discount together.  That makes it much faster to verify that the correct sale price was given. 

mac and cheese $2.25

                       - $.75

 

However, BOTH stores require you to go to customer service if an error was made, and with impatient customers behind you, it's not a good experience to tell a cashier you want to look at the receipt screen before you pay. They expect you to swipe your card while they're ringing up your order.  

 

I just really love stores that ring up sale prices as they scan the item. I can look at the screen while it's ringing up, correct errors as they arise, and walk away confident that I wasn't overcharged. I really don't think that's too much to ask. 

 

 

 

 

[MyThreeSons]

Do you all really find that many errors? The stores where I shop with rewards cards are accurate. I usually estimate the total as I go along, and it's almost always within a dollar or so of what I had thought it would be. 

 

One time, though, I did make a "big stink", as my son said. This one grocery store had bundled together two packages of meat, and offered it as a BOGO. Of course, the weights of the packages weren't exactly the same (chuck roast, if I remember correctly), and it was the lesser-priced one that was free. There was a big problem: the way they wrapped the two packages together, the cheaper one was on top, with its weight and price displayed, but I couldn't read either the price or weight of the one below it. They had put a sticker over the barcode for the free package, and left the barcode for the other peeking out and scannable. 

 

I could not get the guy in the meat department or the cashier to understand that it was important to me to know what I was going to be paying for the package, not just how much I was saving. All I knew for sure was that it would cost me more than the displayed price. Ideally, I would have liked to see the price and weight for both parts. I finally got a shift manager who understood and agreed that they needed to be repackaged. 

[Tanaqui]

Exactly. To track you and to build a profile of your buying habits. It bothers me some, in the sense that I am dehumanized by being a "profile category," but I also know that any notions I have of being an anonymous shopper have long since vanished in the wake of Amazon, on-line buying, and credit card use.

 

I have a book in my house, a teen fiction, The Killer's Cousin. Read it as a kid, liked it enough to buy a copy. It's a mostly serious book, but it does have its little moments, and one of them is the ongoing conspiracy by the townsfolk to thwart the trackers by swapping their store cards every chance they get. You go to the store, swipe your card, get a different on in exchange and your old one is passed to the person next to you!

 

[Annie G]

Do you all really find that many errors? 

 

 

There are two stores where I usually only go for their sale items, and I generally go the day the sale starts because it's during the week and they're more likely to have the items in stock. By Friday or Saturday they are often out of the sale items.  So if I go the day the sale starts, yes, I often have errors.   Usually it's because the sale price hasn't been entered into the computer yet.  

 

A couple of weeks ago I had to go to the customer service desk because a coupon from their ad didn't ring up correctly. It scanned and beeped as if it was accepted but the receipt showed the discount was $0.00.  I waited in line and the girl said yeah, we've been having trouble with this all week. Wait...you guys have known this for days? How many people didn't get the discount! That annoyed me. 

[school17777]

Do you all really find that many errors? The stores where I shop with rewards cards are accurate. I usually estimate the total as I go along, and it's almost always within a dollar or so of what I had thought it would be. .

Yes, at the bigger stores I do. I have only found one error at Aldi in all the years that I have shopped there. At this point, I am probably more shocked to not find errors on a regular basis than to find errors.

 

At the grocery store that I mentioned in the op, I buy my shredded cheese in bulk there. It used to be $11 something for a 5 lb bag and that is what the tag said. Well, they rang up (I buy cheddar and mozzarella) for $14 something. That was $6 and change difference for the two items. I also was charged $26 for something that was supposed to be $2 something. I didn't catch that while shopping because I had a ton of kids with me and we were trying to get in and out. I thought the total was really high and when I checked the receipt, I saw why.

 

The sales that I shop for at the local big grocery store near me is the $5 of $20 purchase, or $5 off when you buy 8 items. I am very careful about making sure the items I buy fit the criteria, but at this store, I more than not have to go to customer service for the discount because one of the items wasn't keyed in the computer that it qualified, while it said in the ad it did.

 

All of our stores around here did away with their price guarantees. I am guessing because they had too many errors and lost money on it.

[poppy]

I hate schemes and loyalty plans but I always think of the JC Penny CEO who tried the business model of just putting actual low prices our there and was a complete bomb. People seem to enjoy feeling like they've hunted down the bargain .

[Annie G]

I hate schemes and loyalty plans but I always think of the JC Penny CEO who tried the business model of just putting actual low prices our there and was a complete bomb. People seem to enjoy feeling like they've hunted down the bargain .

 

At the same time they introduced this, the clothing choices at our JCP changed a LOT.  Dd and I used to buy a good bit of our clothes there but they suddenly turned really ugly.  Everything was super bright and not classic at all.  That's when we stopped shopping there.  I would have embraced the everyday low price model.  

 

People all know that Kohl's inflates prices in order to be able to have so many sales. And yet we fall for it. Drives me crazy. 

 

What I really really hated when we had a Domino's pizza here was that they'd advertise pizza deals but you had to ask for the price. Large Pepperoni pizza for $5!  Be sure to ask for the price or we're going to charge you more. Annoying. When Walmart puts something on sale I don't have to ask for the sale price.  I'm sure other pizza places are the same way, but when I call in to our Pizza Hut, they tell me if what I'm ordering has a special price. 

[Tsuga]

The reason they do the loyalty program is to track you. If they just want to increase sales, sure, they can give the whole world the sales price. But they don't just want to do that - they also want to track which items sell together, and to target their advertising more precisely.

 

Precisely: for revenue.

 

They aren't tracking me for farts and giggles.

 

As for the twice as long thing, yes, it is, because instead of scan, scan, scan, total, you go scan, total, scan, total, scan, total. Okay, not twice as long, but (n-1)*2 as long.

 

I fully agree that you should be able to see the price before paying. Absolutely. But you can do that even with them showing up at the end. You just have to say, "Hold on, I haven't looked at the total off yet." 

[Wabi Sabi]

I actually get a little thrill out of waiting until all of the groceries have been rung up to use my loyalty card just so I can watch a bunch of money taken off of the total all at once. It's my own little game, I suppose, to guess how much I saved. 

Clearly I need to get out more often.  :o

[Veritaserum]

At the Kroger chain store I use, the sale prices show up as items are scanned if I swipe my card first. I think it's the same if I use my phone number instead, but I almost always have my key chain card. If I swipe the store card at the end, the discounts come off once the cashier hits the total. $5 off 8 type discounts come off at the end either way. I just keep track of how many groups/$5 discounts I should have and check the receipt at the end.

 

That cashier was rude, though.

[Alice]

The cashier was rude. However, I worked as a grocery store cashier the summer between college and medical school and it was the worst job ever. People are so grumpy and everyone yells at you about the prices. I once had an old man stand and yell at me for 5 minutes about the price of his ice cream. I'm sure I wasn't nice to the next 5 or 10 customers who came through my line after that. So, I tend to cut cashiers some slack. I almost never use coupons because I loathed the things when I was a cashier and I try to help bag my own groceries. 

[Butter]

I once had an old man stand and yell at me for 5 minutes about the price of his ice cream.

 

Why?  Why in the world do people do that?  During the school year I go grocery shopping at 6 in the morning on Fridays.  On occasion, price changes on produce are not keyed into the system OR price changes have been keyed in by the display price in the old one at that time of the morning.  So I watch and if something is incorrect, I let the the checker know and they fix it.  No biggie.  No freaking out or yelling necessary.

[Aura]

The cashier was rude, and if he was under me, we'd be having words. There is no excuse for that kind of behavior.

 

Most people do not care enough to follow that closely. Not here. 90% of my customers just want to get in and out as quickly as possible. I have more people like Wabi Sabi that want to scan their reward card last so they can watch the discounts come off at once. 

 

It is irritating to the people behind the person standing there checking their total or their receipt to have to wait, but it is also the prerogative of the person checking out to do that. However, if there's a problem, you're better off taking whatever discrepancies to customer service, at least at my store. The cashiers have limited ability to fix things without having to get an override, so unless you have a supervisor ringing your order, you're probably going to have to wait on one anyway. IME, it's actually easier to fix things after the cashier is finished and the receipt is printed...unless you get lucky and I'm the one ringing up your order. ;)

 

Having said that, I personally HATE gimmick sales. 10/$10 (which you don't actually have to buy 10, they're all just $1 a piece.) B3G2 (with the final price being the really large print and the "in quantities of 5" being in really small print) Buy 5/Save $5 Mega Event (really, just really?!?!) We have enough problems with items not ringing at the right price thanks to a flawed scan system. Those kind of things are just unnecessary and irritating.

[.Michelle.]

I would have been irked at the attitude, but I don't mind not seeing the sale price to the end.  Honestly, I'd rather just get through the line quickly and complete the transaction.  When it's done, I can pull to the front near the service desk and check over the receipt.  It's the person behind the desk who would have to make adjustments anyway, so if I do find an error it's easier to just go straight there.

[Ripley]

My grocery store pet peeve, ugh I'm annoyed just thinking about it LOL -

 

I go in any time after 9pm and there are no cashiers!! Just me, a couple of self checkouts, and the one visible employee there to assist the self checkouts.

 

I don't want to check out by myself. I'm off of work, I want someone else to do it for me - someone who knows the register inside and out; who knows where the barcodes are, who can bag it all smartly, and who doesn't have kids who keep moving the bags around the scale area forcing the stupid register to freeze and request assistance in a loud obnoxious voice.

 

Seriously!  I drive an extra 15 minutes to a store with real, live checkers. They're the paid professionals, I just want to chit chat at checkout, and scan the impulse buy shelves.

 

Whew!

[Veritaserum]

The cashier was rude, and if he was under me, we'd be having words. There is no excuse for that kind of behavior.

 

Most people do not care enough to follow that closely. Not here. 90% of my customers just want to get in and out as quickly as possible. I have more people like Wabi Sabi that want to scan their reward card last so they can watch the discounts come off at once.

 

It is irritating to the people behind the person standing there checking their total or their receipt to have to wait, but it is also the prerogative of the person checking out to do that. However, if there's a problem, you're better off taking whatever discrepancies to customer service, at least at my store. The cashiers have limited ability to fix things without having to get an override, so unless you have a supervisor ringing your order, you're probably going to have to wait on one anyway. IME, it's actually easier to fix things after the cashier is finished and the receipt is printed...unless you get lucky and I'm the one ringing up your order. ;)

 

Having said that, I personally HATE gimmick sales. 10/$10 (which you don't actually have to buy 10, they're all just $1 a piece.) B3G2 (with the final price being the really large print and the "in quantities of 5" being in really small print) Buy 5/Save $5 Mega Event (really, just really?!?!) We have enough problems with items not ringing at the right price thanks to a flawed scan system. Those kind of things are just unnecessary and irritating.

I was told that the gimmick sales are to protect grocery stores against people just price matching at Wal-Mart because Wal-Mart won't do BOGOs or "$5 off when you buy 5" type sales. I'm not sure if that's true.

 

I hardly ever go to Wal-Mart. I much prefer my local grocery store. The customer service is a million times better and they open up a new checkout line if more than three people are waiting. One time I was there with a fussy newborn and they opened a new line just for me, got me checked out, and sent a bagger to load my groceries into my van.

[Annie G]

My grocery store pet peeve, ugh I'm annoyed just thinking about it LOL -

 

I go in any time after 9pm and there are no cashiers!! Just me, a couple of self checkouts, and the one visible employee there to assist the self checkouts.

 

I don't want to check out by myself. I'm off of work, I want someone else to do it for me - someone who knows the register inside and out; who knows where the barcodes are, who can bag it all smartly, and who doesn't have kids who keep moving the bags around the scale area forcing the stupid register to freeze and request assistance in a loud obnoxious voice.

 

Seriously!  I drive an extra 15 minutes to a store with real, live checkers. They're the paid professionals, I just want to chit chat at checkout, and scan the impulse buy shelves.

 

Whew!

 

As an introvert, I LOVE the self checkouts. Nobody asking me how my day is, commenting that I'm buying a lot of avocados so I must be making guacamole...stuff like that. But I'm not shopping after work with kids in tow- if that was the case I'd be like you, wanting someone to do it for me! 

[Ripley]

As an introvert, I LOVE the self checkouts. Nobody asking me how my day is, commenting that I'm buying a lot of avocados so I must be making guacamole...stuff like that. But I'm not shopping after work with kids in tow- if that was the case I'd be like you, wanting someone to do it for me! 

 

:lol:  there is an awful lot of painful small talk at the checkout line, isn't there?!

 

I've learned so many interesting things in line talking to random people! But I think I know what you mean - we're "regulars" at a local dive and sometimes I'm crabby or gross from working out and just want to run in, grab my to-go order, and be on my way.  On those days we go to a McChain instead LOL.

[Word Nerd]

As an introvert, I LOVE the self checkouts. Nobody asking me how my day is, commenting that I'm buying a lot of avocados so I must be making guacamole...stuff like that. But I'm not shopping after work with kids in tow- if that was the case I'd be like you, wanting someone to do it for me! 

 

Me too. I go through the self-checkout whenever possible. (I also don't have to deal with dingbat baggers who put canned goods in with the bread and mix up everything even though I kept frozen items together when I put them on the checkout counter.)

[Acorn]

At the same time they introduced this, the clothing choices at our JCP changed a LOT. Dd and I used to buy a good bit of our clothes there but they suddenly turned really ugly. Everything was super bright and not classic at all. That's when we stopped shopping there. I would have embraced the everyday low price model.

 

People all know that Kohl's inflates prices in order to be able to have so many sales. And yet we fall for it. Drives me crazy.

 

What I really really hated when we had a Domino's pizza here was that they'd advertise pizza deals but you had to ask for the price. Large Pepperoni pizza for $5! Be sure to ask for the price or we're going to charge you more. Annoying. When Walmart puts something on sale I don't have to ask for the sale price. I'm sure other pizza places are the same way, but when I call in to our Pizza Hut, they tell me if what I'm ordering has a special price.

I was thrilled when JCP announced the everyday price plan, UNTIL I saw the clothes. Our store eliminated the brands and styles that I had bought previously and went teeny-bopper trashy for the toddler girls section. I only found a few racks of kid boy sizes when it previously was a large corner of the store, and they were really expensive. I had thought the idea would have been to calculate an average between MSRP and typical sale price. So I thought kid shirts should cost $15- 20 as previously I'd buy on sale price for $10. My son fell in love with a $40 dollar kid tshirt and had an epic tantrum that we wouldn't buy it.

[bethben]

Here's my peeve.  Our local Target has special offers of something like, "20% off when you scan this code" with one of those square scan codes on the sign (I can't think of the name of those things right now).  It automatically assumes you have a smart phone with internet access.  EVERYONE does right?!?!  Nope, not me.  I find that very presumptuous.  I just tell the cashier I would like the 20% off and that I don't have a smart phone but would not like to be discriminated against due to that fact.  I get the discount no problem, but just another way to track customers.  

[Word Nerd]

Here's my peeve.  Our local Target has special offers of something like, "20% off when you scan this code" with one of those square scan codes on the sign (I can't think of the name of those things right now).  It automatically assumes you have a smart phone with internet access.  EVERYONE does right?!?!  Nope, not me.  I find that very presumptuous.  I just tell the cashier I would like the 20% off and that I don't have a smart phone but would not like to be discriminated against due to that fact.  I get the discount no problem, but just another way to track customers.  

 

That's just another form of issuing a coupon. Is it discriminating against people who aren't subscribers if a company offers a coupon in a newspaper or magazine?

[RootAnn]

I once literally had someone yell at me because I pealed off the meat discount sticker and handed it to the cashier.  It would have been fine if the person just mentioned that I don't need to, but no she yelled at me.  I told them what I thought about that at the customer service desk.  Geesh. 

 

At our local (small town) grocery store, if you don't peel off the discount sticker, you don't get the discount. It'll still be on the item when you get home & you didn't get any amount off. So,  :smash:  to the cashier who yelled at you.

 

And  :thumbdown:  for the bring-your-smartphone-with-a-coupon-on-it stuff.

[Guest]

As an introvert, I LOVE the self checkouts. Nobody asking me how my day is, commenting that I'm buying a lot of avocados so I must be making guacamole...stuff like that. But I'm not shopping after work with kids in tow- if that was the case I'd be like you, wanting someone to do it for me!

Where I shop, nine times outta ten, they comment on my five gallons of milk. I'm getting a complex! Yes, I know it's a lot of milk. Yes, this happens every week. I'm thankful it's not five cases of soda. Yes, we could use a cow. No, I don't much want to say this every week.

[Annie G]

Where I shop, nine times outta ten, they comment on my five gallons of milk. I'm getting a complex! Yes, I know it's a lot of milk. Yes, this happens every week. I'm thankful it's not five cases of soda. Yes, we could use a cow. No, I don't much want to say this every week.

 

Yeah, that is a lot of milk! I buy one or two half pints a week. Yeah, the little containers like they serve in schools. They're 58 cents and I usually throw some out because I can't use it all before it goes bad.  And cashiers comment on my little milk purchase, asking me how I can use so little milk.  Just ring it up, lady, and quit quizzing me.   There's some sweet spot between my pint and your five gallons where nobody would comment, I suppose. 

[Hunter's Moon]

As an introvert, I LOVE the self checkouts. Nobody asking me how my day is, commenting that I'm buying a lot of avocados so I must be making guacamole...stuff like that. But I'm not shopping after work with kids in tow- if that was the case I'd be like you, wanting someone to do it for me!

Yes!

 

I know small talk is a normal social action, but I'd rather avoid situitions where it occurs. Not that I blame the one doing it - it's expected. I admit it's fully my own issue.

[AnnE-girl]

Where I shop, nine times outta ten, they comment on my five gallons of milk. I'm getting a complex! Yes, I know it's a lot of milk. Yes, this happens every week. I'm thankful it's not five cases of soda. Yes, we could use a cow. No, I don't much want to say this every week.

I didn't appreciate the slow-moving, seemingly inexperienced middle aged male cashier who commented that my spray whipped cream probably has more chemicals than food. Yeah, buddy, I know, that's why I usually buy the organic heavy cream, but this time I let the kids choose. I shouldn't still be annoyed after two weeks, but I was tired and just wanted to get home and did not need his criticism.

[RootAnn]

Where I shop, nine times outta ten, they comment on my five gallons of milk. I'm getting a complex! Yes, I know it's a lot of milk. Yes, this happens every week. I'm thankful it's not five cases of soda. Yes, we could use a cow. No, I don't much want to say this every week.

 

Weird. Either DH or I get five (or six) gallons of milk every week & no one has ever commented on it or the 2 18-pks of eggs, bags of salad mix, honkin' bags of apples, containers of berries, or any other of our weekly purchases.

 

I did have one cashier comment on how "one of these things is not like the other" when I had a box of PopTarts (or something like that) in with the "healthy" stuff. 

 

We don't have self-checks at either of the local grocery stores in my small town.

 

DH does get comments sometimes from the WalMart cashiers on his two carts of food stuffs when he goes on our "WalMart Run." He's had them ask if he has a big family or runs a small school or daycare.

"Yes."

[hornblower]

Where I shop, nine times outta ten, they comment on my five gallons of milk. I'm getting a complex! Yes, I know it's a lot of milk. Yes, this happens every week. I'm thankful it's not five cases of soda. Yes, we could use a cow. No, I don't much want to say this every week.

 

What you need to do is put c*nd*ms and special 'gel'  with the milk. Add maxi pads or tampons. All conversation ceases. Nobody EVER asks about how much of that stuff you buy.

[Guest]

I hate schemes and loyalty plans but I always think of the JC Penny CEO who tried the business model of just putting actual low prices our there and was a complete bomb. People seem to enjoy feeling like they've hunted down the bargain .

I know, right? What people say they want, and what they actually want, are so often two different things!

[Jean in Newcastle]

What you need to do is put c*nd*ms and special 'gel'  with the milk. Add maxi pads or tampons. All conversation ceases. Nobody EVER asks about how much of that stuff you buy.

I did have a checker at Walmart comment on the pregnancy test I bought that had more than one test in it.  According to her, I should just "know" if I'm pregnant because in her experience there is never any doubt. . . .      

 

I just made noncommittal sounds - not even small talk - finished the transaction and went.  (This was years ago - I'm not pregnant or even suspecting it now!)