# Watch Your Money When Shopping!



## SeaBreeze

After I retired, I started paying more attention to the prices I was paying for food, etc. in the stores.  I am amazed at how many times the wrong price is scanned into the checkout register, sometimes it is the fault of the cashier, and sometimes it is improper labeling of sale prices, but there could be other reasons also. These mistakes don't only just happen once in a blue moon, they happen all the time!

Yesterday I was overcharged $6 on my bill, after reviewing it by myself at the side of the aisle, I had to wait in line again at customer service to get it straightened out, and get my refund.  Sometimes I look over the receipt when I get home, and see something that was supposed to be on sale, was charge to me at full price. 

It seems nobody really cares anymore either about customer service, many store clerks that are supposed to update signs, etc. are not interested to take pride in their work and do what's right. As far as an apology for their mistake, don't hold your breath!  There are exceptions, but I'm not seeing good things these past few years.   Goodness knows how much money I've been ripped-off in the past, because I didn't double check what the stores were charging me. 

Okay...rant over.


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## SeaBreeze

Today I bought some peaches at Walmart at 99 cents per pound, at the register I was charged $1.59 a pound for nectarines.  This time I caught it at the register, so I didn't have to wait in another line to correct the mistake.


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## loriann

Yes this happens at lot at the mall that I used to go to shop. I used to buy some shirts from a little depot store and they were always marked up when I got to the register. I wonder how many businesses do this kind of stuff intentionally.


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## SifuPhil

I think it's all part of the downfall of Western civilization. 

The kids they hire to take our money often don't care because they never had the work ethic instilled in them - they were given everything. They trust the machines to do their thinking for them, thanks to the schooling they've received. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if the stores intentionally marked-up some of the prices, either - they could always claim it was "an honest mistake".

They hate when _I_ go shopping - by the time I get to the check-out I've already figured the total in my head.


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## SeaBreeze

We like to eat salmon, and unless there's fish on sale, I'll look at their 'manager's discount' items first.  I've noticed at times there's fish, exactly the same, same expiration dates and description, but different higher prices.  There may be 6 packages of salmon at $5.99lb, but there will be 2 at $7.99. 

 Once I told them that I wanted the higher priced piece, but wasn't going to pay the increased price.  They said it was a mistake, and corrected the sticker on my package.  I grabbed the others out of the display and told the lady to change those also, as they were also "accidentally" priced higher, and she did.

Many people don't notice these things, and I'm sure there's many times I overlooked this also and paid more money.  I think these big supermarkets do this stuff on purpose, if they can get away with it they do, if someone picks up on it, they claim it's a mistake.   I also try to add things up as I put them into my cart, so if there's a big difference, I'll review the receipt and collect my refund.


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## Elzee

And for the women... never leave your purse in the grocery cart. I have noticed that, especially with elderly women. They put their purses in the child seat of a grocery cart and turn their back on their grocery cart to look at items on the shelves. Always keep an eye and a close hand on your purse. It only takes seconds for someone to remove your wallet.


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## SeaBreeze

Elzee said:


> And for the women... never leave your purse in the grocery cart. I have noticed that, especially with elderly women. They put their purses in the child seat of a grocery cart and turn their back on their grocery cart to look at items on the shelves. Always keep an eye and a close hand on your purse. It only takes seconds for someone to remove your wallet.



I stopped carrying a purse many years ago.  Since I wear pants nearly every day of the year, it's not a problem.  I keep my wallet in my pant pocket, makes things more simple when it comes to money and credit cards.

Just had another incident where they charged me $4.19 for a jar of Smucker's Simply Fruit spread, instead of $2.50 sale price.  Same visit was charged .99 a pound for gold potatoes, instead of .69...nice to catch these little things, no sense getting ripped off at the cashier.


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## SifuPhil

I remember watching a "senior self-defense" video back in the '70's that had a vignette with a little old lady in a supermarket who had had her purse stolen several times from her shopping cart. She finally thought to _tie_ it to the cart, and the video hilariously showed a young guy snatching the purse, the cart coming flying at him and him falling into a stack-display of canned beans, knocking himself out. It was hilarious!


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## TWHRider

SifuPhil said:


> I think it's all part of the downfall of Western civilization.
> 
> The kids they hire to take our money often don't care because they never had the work ethic instilled in them - they were given everything. They trust the machines to do their thinking for them, thanks to the schooling they've received. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if the stores intentionally marked-up some of the prices, either - they could always claim it was "an honest mistake".
> 
> They hate when _I_ go shopping - by the time I get to the check-out I've already figured the total in my head.



^^^Ditto, ditto, and ditto.

Our local Kroger is pretty good.  Like Phil, Mr. TWHRider has the exact amount already tallied in his head, so they'd better be spot-on - lol  As for me, I know "about" and if the disparity is more than my "about", I pull to side and start looking at numbers.

I either carry a small shoulder bag or a "b**ch bag" around my waist.  Somebody's got to be awfully quick to cut either off with knife - not impossible except my hands can still move PDF and I look like the Old Lady that can walk into the local Biker Bar, where the EXIT light's been shot out, and get a drink without getting hassled.  Not that I do that anymore but I still "got the look" - lol lol lol


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## SeaBreeze

I'd get a general ballpark figure in my head, but it's not always accurate enough to know there's a mistake right away, that's when I go off to the side and pull out my readers.  I'd have no problem either walking into a biker bar, also, looks/attitude mean a lot when someone is scoping out an elderly person to steal from, they look for easy targets for sure.


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## teamrose

I used to think it was the clerks and other store help which caused the over charges. Because if it were the help causing all the problems then, every now and then the prices would be wrong in error of the customer. Always the errors are overcharges. That is certainly not coincidental. When one customer finds an error on the receipt from not putting the prices on the items correctly, why doesn't the store make sure the changes are made for the rest of the customer.


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## mermaid

It would seem to happening wherever we live. Whilst not a Supermarket fan and prefer to do my shopping at source where possible I have experienced all that has been said about overcharging at their tills. 

What must they must be making in overcharging!!!


http://www.hotukdeals.com/misc/supermarket-overcharging-75956


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## SifuPhil

Being a "monk" I only purchase the few items I need from either the convenience store up the street or the discount store 1/2 mile away. While the discount store ("Family Dollar" for those who have them) has never ripped me off or even been off as much as one penny, the convenience store has double-charged my debit card several times due to a drug-abusing clerk they keep on out of pity and, I suspect, the hope that they can rehab him. I now know that if I go there on a Sunday (when they leave him there by himself all day) I should bring cash.

Then, when the owners themselves are there - a husband and wife basically, but being Hindu they have their extended family working there at odd times - something as simple as a loaf of bread can cost several different prices depending on who's running the register. I've paid everywhere from $1.99 to $2.49 for a loaf of bread over the last month - and no, the marked price never changed. 

Then I bought a pack of cigarettes one day and the price had gone up 7 cents. At least, that's what the husband told me. Ever since that day when I buy them the price is back to where it was when I buy from the wife, but from the husband? Always 7 cents more. So now I don't buy cigs unless the wife is working.

I'm thinking of making a spreadsheet / database on this, so I can get the best prices. I think the phase of the moon factors in there somewhere as well ... 

I will then offer the program for sale to the customers, but the price will vary depending upon the price of tea in China that day.


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## teamrose

Phil you certainly are interesting. A monk that smokes seems quite odd to me. But then again, I know nothing of monks. Do you also drink alcohol?


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## SifuPhil

Well, I'm a lay monk. See, there's two main kinds of Taoist monks - those who "stay on the mountain", removed from life and focused upon their own development; and the "lay" monks, who go out into the world and teach.

I used to drink alcohol - haven't touched a drop in years. Taoism, though, has a long, proud history of drinkers - one of religious Taoism's gods is a drunkard who carries a huge gourd around with him all the time, taking hits from it.


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## teamrose

The world is so large. There is so much to learn and so little time to do it. Now I'm off on a quest to learn as much as possible about Taoism and their monks. What did I do before the internet? What did any of us do before the internet?


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## SeaBreeze

Today I went to two different Kroger supermarkets because I noticed they had the 2L. Canada Dry plain seltzer on sale again, and I like to haul home as much as I can at once, and forget about it for awhile.

Well, one store showed on the shelf tag that if you bought them in groups of 4, they would cost 88 cents a bottle, so I bought 12.  Well, they didn't ring up at the regular price 2 for $3, nor did they ring up as 88 cents each.  I left the register to check the receipt, and ended up getting the difference they owed me at the customer service.

The second store had a sale where if you bought them in groups of 6, they would be $1 each, still a good price.  So I put 18 into my cart, which should have been $18. for all.  Sure enough, they overcharged me again, I had to wait for the (oh so slow) cashier to mosy on over to the aisle to check the shelf tag.  She comes back and says, oh...Canada Dry, I have Schwepps....then mosies on back to look for the right price tag.

Well, after that, she still was in total confusion and couldn't understand why the register wasn't giving that sale price.  Soooo...she calls a manager over to help her, and the manager is scratching her head too.  I'm far from a math whiz, but I explain very clearly to the both of them that I have three sets of 6, and at $1 each, the total should be $18.

Then when I told her I wanted them in paper bags, I thought her head would blow up....but if you double bag the paper, 5 can nicely fit in each bag.  Too many times they put two in plastic bags, and by the time I get home, there's bottles rolling all over my Jeep.  So, I grab the bags and start bagging the bottles just to get the heck out of there. 

These overcharges have been happening all along, but I only post when I get hit with a double whammy like today. layful:  I've said in the past that before I retired, I must have gotten ripped off many times and wasn't even aware of it.  They must make a lot of extra money off of unsuspecting, trusting customers.

PS:  they're supposed to start charging 5 cents a bag soon where I live, and there are nearby areas that are already charging 20 cents a bag.  Are they charging for bags where you shop yet? :dollar:


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## teamrose

*Senior rip offs*



SeaBreeze said:


> Today I went to two different Kroger supermarkets because I noticed they had the 2L. Canada Dry plain seltzer on sale again, and I like to haul home as much as I can at once, and forget about it for awhile.
> 
> Well, one store showed on the shelf tag that if you bought them in groups of 4, they would cost 88 cents a bottle, so I bought 12.  Well, they didn't ring up at the regular price 2 for $3, nor did they ring up as 88 cents each.  I left the register to check the receipt, and ended up getting the difference they owed me at the customer service.
> 
> The second store had a sale where if you bought them in groups of 6, they would be $1 each, still a good price.  So I put 18 into my cart, which should have been $18. for all.  Sure enough, they overcharged me again, I had to wait for the (oh so slow) cashier to mosy on over to the aisle to check the shelf tag.  She comes back and says, oh...Canada Dry, I have Schwepps....then mosies on back to look for the right price tag.
> 
> Well, after that, she still was in total confusion and couldn't understand why the register wasn't giving that sale price.  Soooo...she calls a manager over to help her, and the manager is scratching her head too.  I'm far from a math whiz, but I explain very clearly to the both of them that I have three sets of 6, and at $1 each, the total should be $18.
> 
> Then when I told her I wanted them in paper bags, I thought her head would blow up....but if you double bag the paper, 5 can nicely fit in each bag.  Too many times they put two in plastic bags, and by the time I get home, there's bottles rolling all over my Jeep.  So, I grab the bags and start bagging the bottles just to get the heck out of there.
> 
> These overcharges have been happening all along, but I only post when I get hit with a double whammy like today. layful:  I've said in the past that before I retired, I must have gotten ripped off many times and wasn't even aware of it.  They must make a lot of extra money off of unsuspecting, trusting customers.
> 
> PS:  they're supposed to start charging 5 cents a bag soon where I live, and there are nearby areas that are already charging 20 cents a bag.  Are they charging for bags where you shop yet? :dollar:


This type of thing happens all the time to us seniors. There should be an easy way to stop the problem. Of course when you complain the store always says it was an honest mistake. Amazing how the mistake always happens in the stores favor.


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## Happyflowerlady

Oh, Sea ! I am sitting here, reading your posts about Kroger shopping mistakes, and wanting to pull my hair out !  

One of the things that I miss out here where I live is that there is NO Kroger store in miles and miles, in fact, all the way back to Huntsville, where I used to shop exclusively at Kroger. 
My Kroger made all those mistakes , too....all the time, just like yours does.... But I LOVED it when they did that and I ended up standing in the customer service line there.

You see, Kroger has something called the "Scanrite Guarantee". (Look for it posted on a sign near the CS counter, and hidden way up near the ceiling)  The Scanrite Guarantee says that if they overcharge you on an item, you get the first one FREE , up to $5, and if it is more than that, then they give you a gift card for that amount instead of cash back.

After I discovered this, I always let the cashier ring up anything she pleased for my food, paid, and then looked on my receipt for the mistakes. When I found one, which was often, I headed for the CS counter to get it free. 
I almost always came home with free items, and sometimes actually saved quite a bit on my groceries. If you have bought more than one of a mis-charged item, the first one is free, and the rest are price adjusted for what they should be.

 Then, they are supposed to send a clerk to reprice those items, but sometimes that is not done.  I have gone back a second time, and received another one free, simply because they didn't change the price.
Sadly, Kroger is the only store that I have seen offer this guarantee. ( It is possible that the Fred Meyers stores, which are Kroger owned, and are out west, might offer the same guarantee. )
There may also be others, so wherever we shop, it doesn't hurt to at least ask. 

 Even so, I always read through my receipt every time I finish at the checkout line, and at least get the money refunded, all the while wishing I was at a Kroger, getting it free...


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## Diwundrin

> I have gone back a second time, and received another one free, simply because they didn't change the price.



Atta girl !!!  I like that kind of thinking. 



I haven't seen that kind of deal offered for donkey's years, unfortunately.

Aldi don't supply bags at all so it doesn't pay to forget that when shopping there.  (voice of experience.)  They charge for bags in some places I think but most are going with those built in self destructing after a few weeks plastic ones now and that seems to be on hold.

The local Independent supermarket has a 'Tightarse Tuesday' discount deal for seniors, it's just a matter of remembering to shop on the right day to get a few bucks back.  Their checkout has proved pretty spot on though, nothing outrageous at all so far, but I always watch the register when the 'specials' go through just in case.


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## teamrose

Well that was most informative. I never noticed that sign about getting the first item free. I certainly will take notice of it on future trips to Kroger. This is why the internet is so darn helpful. We learn something new just about daily simply from signing on.


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## Diwundrin

> We learn something new just about daily simply from signing on.



You're right about that, best free education around.  I've learned more in the last few years than would have been imaginable without it.  There's  a whole world of weird and wonderful out there that we would never have known even existed without the internet.  A laugh and a lesson a day alone, is well worth the cost of running it.


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## Happyflowerlady

Another terrific thing about Kroger is that they have what they call "manager specials". These are dated items that they sell at half price, or often even less, in order to sell them before the expiration date. They seem to do this on the off days, mine were Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. They had different days for sales on meat, dairy, bakery, and produce. I would go in around mid-day, and they had usually just been through and marked things down.
 Be sure and check the top shelves. I often got some great cheeses on sale because they were hiding on the top shelf. The specialty cheeses are there, so more likely to last long enough to go out of date. 
Same with high priced specialty items in the deli. 

They also occasionally have close out on non-perishable, and those will have tiny little red/white close out tags instead of the regular price tags. 
I have gotten $9 bags of premium coffee for a couple of dollars , and things like towels and dishes almost free, you just have to look for the little red tags. If you find those on a Wednesday, you also get the Senior Discount.

Another  really great Kroger  thing is that you can look online at the coupons, and add them to your Kroger card, and at checkout it is taken off automatically , so you don't have to print and save coupons.


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## Diwundrin

Our 'out of date' and damaged specials land in a shopping trolly near the door.  It's fun rummaging through to find the treasures.  Got a huge 13 buck can of "crawling insect 'n eggs" spray for 5 the other day because the fancy plastic hood over the nozzle was cracked.  2 cents worth of duct tape fixed that little problem. Laughin'.


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## Ozarkgal

My only choice of supermarkets is Kroger and Walmart. I've had the same experience frequently with Kroger in my area.  I got so frustrated the last time this happened I had them call the manager up and shared with him that I was tired of having to stand in line at the customer service counter every time I shopped there to correct their overcharges.  Of course, he apologized and said the next time I was in to look him up and he would make it right.  How about making it right while I'm standing here? 

 I shop mostly at Walmart now, as they honor competitors ads, and I can say that not once have I ever been overcharged for items there, and I get Kroger's sale price no questions asked.  Kroger has lost my business with their shenanigans, except for the occasional must have item that Walmart doesn't carry. 

 I have a hard time believing that these are all honest mistakes, as it happened almost everytime I shopped at Kroger.  I think they see a good profit margin from all the people that don't notice they are being overcharged.


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## TICA

Well, after reading this thread, I had better start looking.  I hate grocery shopping and get in and out as quickly as I can.  We had a store here that started charging 5 cents per plastic bag or you could buy a cloth one from them to use over and over.   Although I do use the cloth ones, I quit going along with lots of others.  I always use the plastic bags in my small garbage container under the sink and in the bathroom so I just switched to the other local grocery store.  That didn't last long as they lost so much business so they are back to free bags now.

Another scam to look for is when paying for meals in a restaurant and using a credit card.  I had a friend who checks her statement every month against her receipts and noticed that more than once, the waiter had changed the tip amount.  She reported it to the manager and that employee was fired over it.  I hardly ever use my credit card but that is something I look for now.


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## That Guy

As for the bags . . .   Ya gotta bring your own or they sell ya one for 10 cents and the price will soon go to a quarter.  There's been concern about salmonella and other nastiness being spread by unwashed bags (not the unwashed shoppers . . . the containers they carry...)


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## That Guy

SifuPhil said:


> Well, I'm a lay monk. See, there's two main kinds of Taoist monks - those who "stay on the mountain", removed from life and focused upon their own development; and the "lay" monks, who go out into the world and teach.
> 
> I used to drink alcohol - haven't touched a drop in years. Taoism, though, has a long, proud history of drinkers - one of religious Taoism's gods is a drunkard who carries a huge gourd around with him all the time, taking hits from it.



It's my understanding there are different levels of monk:  Monk A, Monk B, et cetera.  And have determined that you are a Monk E, sir . . .


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## nan

whenever I go shopping I always add up the items mentaly as I go along, I have been over charged many times,and I believe if you have been over charged for an item then the policy is that  you get that item for free.


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## That Guy

nan said:


> whenever I go shopping I always add up the items mentaly as I go along, I have been over charged many times,and I believe if you have been over charged for an item then the policy is that  you get that item for free.



Very smart way to go, nan.  I'm just too lazy...


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