Smart ways to fill the cart
Lists of grocery-shopping tips have become commonplace in economic coverage in the past couple of years.
But Consumer Reports brings a fresh eye to that old staple, with a relatively new list of 13 ways to save at the grocers. The list includes some well-worn and valuable advice -- such as focusing on the unit price -- but has some fresher ideas about ways to consider the store's strategies of where it places certain items in making your choices.
For example:
Look high and low: Supermarkets are in the real-estate business, and prime selling space includes the middle or eye-level shelving. Vendors sometimes pay retailers hundreds, even thousands, of dollars in slotting fees to take on new products or display products prominently. There are differing schools of thought on slotting fees, with critics contending that they stifle competition and boost prices. In any event, check whether similar products on top or bottom rungs are less expensive.
Eye end caps: Some shoppers assume that products on aisle ends are on sale, which is why those displays can boost sales by a third. But end caps can highlight items about to expire or those that aren't a bargain. At an A&P near our Yonkers, N.Y., headquarters, we spotted an end cap loaded with Pepperidge Farm cookies, all at full price. The end-cap tie-in is another trick: Related items are featured, not all of them on sale. Take the Tostitos display we saw at Stop & Shop. The chips were on sale; salsa and dips weren't.
Read the whole story here -- you've got to scroll down past a bunch of distracting stuff first.
Here are a few other tips:
Look at the location: The same food might be sold in several places throughout the store. At Stop & Shop, "premium" store-brand Swiss cheese was on sale at the deli for $6.99 per pound with a bonus card. In the refrigerated case, the same sliced Swiss was $5.58 per poundno card necessary. A chunk of the same cheese was $4.69 per pound, also without a card.
Check the receipt: In our 2008 survey, 6 percent of respondents said that they were overcharged at the register. That's in line with what readers told us in 2005. Both surveys also revealed that no chain stood out as particularly accurate or inaccurate. Many chains will give you the item free if it scans at the wrong price, but the onus is on you to point out the error.
Buy bagged produce: Some produce is much cheaper by the bag than by the pound. A ShopRite recently offered a 5-pound sack of potatoes for $2.99, compared with 99 cents per pound for loose ones in a bin. If the product has a long shelf life, bagged produce is a better buy, unless, of course, the only alternative is the 20-pound behemoth at Costco.
What about you -- what's your strategy when you enter the grocery store? Do you think about where items are placed on the shelves and within the store's layout -- or are you just following your list or your impulses?
