Supermarket Games

I seem to blog a fair amount about the supermarket, maybe because it is not an experience for the faint of heart.  I can't tell you how many times I've ended up paying more because of faulty shelving or signage, for instance.  I admit that I'll buy the day old (or more) items (though the wife and teenage daughter are unlikely to eat such inferior fare, of course), but don't assume that all items on the rack are marked down. I don't blame the supermarket for that, though, as most likely a selfish and inert shopper sees the marked down item, places it in his/her cart, and places the full price item on the mark-down shelf, where it just waits for an unsuspecting bargain hunter.  But how many times does the unwary shopper fall for the item above the sale sign that is actually a closely related item but not the one on sale, or the one that is simply mismarked or has an out-of-date sale sign?  And when an errant price is charged at the check-out (always in the market's favor), it's up to you to spot it.  And on the odd chance you do, then you have to get in line at customer service, or even come back to the store, to get your money back.  Most of the time it's just not worth your time to do that, especially since some supermarkets now only give you the difference in price rather than getting the errant item for free.  I feel like I should win something if I can get out of there with undamaged items at the correct prices.

And the mental mathematical calisthenics are designed to trick you into making a mistake, whether it's pricing prompting you to buy more (do I need to buy 5 to get that price?) or just to mess with your head (so $9 for 4 is better than the $7 for 3, right?  But what about the $1.69 for the 14 oz. rather than the $2.19 for the 18 oz. size?).  And would it kill them to put a unit price on a sale item so we could make a comparison without having to do 3 digit division in our heads?  It used to be that the aggravation was due to having the sale/coupon items out of stock, but now the promotions are so complicated you almost wish the items weren't there (did I buy $25 of P&G products to get $3.00 off my next visit, and did I bring the coupon stating I bought enough gallons of milk in the last month to get a free gallon this time, and did I buy 8 of the qualifying items to get $.20 off per gallon of gasoline, as long as I come back sometime between tomorrow, when the points register, and a month from now, when the points expire, and did I remember to get the cheese that's $2.00 off because I bought 3 bags of crackers, and not too manyn or too few 12-packs of soda to get the program deal, and did I buy $120 worth to get the $5 off, and I sure hope I qualify for the free turkey three months from now, and...).

There are a lot more things, like adventures at the self-checkout, but maybe another time.  I'm hungry, so it's time to go play fruit roulette.