Every week grocery and drug stores put out a sales flyer. The flyer is a marketing tool. Most likely you will find a few loss leader products- items at rock bottom price. The retailer uses the loss leaders to get you into the store. The rest of the ad may contain products at mediocre prices or even some at regular price. Remember just because it says sale, doesn’t mean that it is a good price!
The other advertising trick is the so called 10 for $10 sales. Kroger is famous for this type of advertisement. In most instances, you do not have to buy 10 items. The item will ring up at $1 whether you buy 1 or 10. Now, if it is a Mega Event (like the current Frozen Food Mega Event), you will need to buy the specified number of items to get the discount. The sales flyer will tell you in small print if you are required to purchase a certain number of products to get the discount.
The other thing to watch out for when the 10 for $10 sale is advertised is that some of the items are normally priced at $1. For those items it is not really a sale, it’s the normal everyday price.
Deceptive Advertisement Tips
- Check with your store to see if buy one get one (B1G1) free items ring up at 50% off. At many grocery stores like Kroger, Harris Teeter and Food Lion, the B1G1 items ring at 50% off. This means that you do not have to buy both items to get the discount. Note that all drug stores require you to buy both items to get the discount.
- Is the item listed in the sales flyer really on sale? Knowing your prices is a huge help in this area. Make sure that you start a price book and track prices for items you buy regularly.
- If you are unsure if you need to buy a certain quantity of items to get the discount, ask at the customer service desk. At Kroger you will find 10 for $10 signs all over the store trying to entice you to buy more – it is just a gimmick though!
- Larger quantities are not always better priced. Manufacturers often make different sizes of products. Instinct tells us that buying the larger package will net a lower per ounce or item price. In most instances buying a smaller item combined with a coupon is going to be cheaper.
One of the easiest ways to make sure you are getting a good deal is to visit a blog that does coupon matchups for the store you shop at. I cover the Kroger Mid-Atlantic deals. Check out the Resources for Store Deals page for a list of fabulous bloggers that cover other stores around the country!
Make sure you check out the rest of the Couponing 101 series! What are your couponing questions? I would love to answer them!
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Great tips and advice. We have a local market that puts out a weekly ad flyer with ‘one’ unbelievable meat sale. I tried and tried to get there in time and have NEVER found the ‘big sale’ in stock and they don’t issue rain-checks. I asked the store manager and he said they only put out a few packages and when they’re out – they are out. To make matters worse they don’t even have a particular time to put the sale item out. I won’t call it a scam but it’s not too far from it either. I won’t spend a penny in that store.
Brain,
That is an awful policy that store has! I wouldn’t shop there either! Most of the stores I shop at do issue rain-checks- which sometimes work out to be an advantage. My guess is that the store employees grab up the “big sale” items since it is such a limited quantity. I bet it never even makes the shelf!