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Supermarkets Drop Prices, But Remember When Groceries Were Really Cheap?

lower pricesLast week, Stop & Shop, the leading supermarket chain in the Northeast, announced that it was dropping everyday prices on thousands of grocery items. Just weeks earlier, a few Albertsons Companies divisions including Star Market and Shaw’s in the Boston area introduced “New Lower Prices, Every Day.”

Interestingly, Albertsons even defines what it means by “lower prices” in the fine print on the homepage of all its divisions.

*MOUSE PRINT

Definition of "lower prices"

All these price cuts are certainly good news for inflation-weary grocery shoppers. But this move is reminiscent of similar price cuts done by various supermarket chains over the decades. (Funny how they don’t ballyhoo price hikes in store ads.)

Ace supermarket guru, Bill Wunner, who runs Coupons In The News, found this Stop & Shop ad from over 50 years ago when the supermarket made a similar announcement cutting prices:

Stop & Shop prices 1971

Look how low grocery prices were then.

Gold Medal Flour – 10 pounds was $1.15. Today $11.99.
Stop & Shop Butter – 1 pound was 77 cents. Today $3.99.
Skippy Peanut Butter – 28 ounces was 91 cents. Today $4.99.
Coffee Mate – 16 ounces was 87 cents. Today $3.99

And if you turn back the clock some more decades, there were supermarket price wars then too. And you could find even more amazing prices because back then groceries literally cost pennies (but wages were low too).

Piggly Wiggly ~1959Piggly Wiggly – (~1941-1944) – Palm Beach Post

Eggs – 21 cents a dozen
Maxwell House Coffee – 19 cents a pound
Maine potatoes – 21 cents for 10 pounds
Sirloin steak – 29 cents a pound
Carrots – 5 cents a bunch
[Piggly Wiggly does not show today’s prices on its website]

Ah, if only groceries were this cheap now.

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Albertsons Baits Shoppers Then Discloses the Real Deal

Star Market and Shaw’s in New England are part of the Albertsons family of supermarkets. They recently send emails with the subject line: “Get up to $20 off groceries this August.” With the price of food, who wouldn’t be interested? Similar offers were probably made to customers of their other supermarket chains.

The main offer was inviting customers to create a Sincerely Health profile and you would receive a $10 off coupon (among other money back opportunities).

Get $10 coupon

Of course, there is a nasty asterisk after the $10 off promise which leads to not very helpful fine print.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Star Market fine print

That tiny type says to see the rewards account for minimum purchase requirements.

Only when checking the terms online, do you learn that a $50 minimum purchase is necessary to use the $10 coupon.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Star Market offer details

A company that values playing it straight with customers more would not play games like this. They would simply say, “Create a Sincerely Health profile, and get $10 off a $50 a purchase.”

Is this too much to ask?

We asked Albertsons some pointed questions about this promotion twice, but they did not reply.

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Sometimes Good News Is Buried in the Fine Print

Last year, a UK-based nonprofit tax policy organization decided to protest a legal requirement that it had to have a posted privacy policy. Its director, Dan Neidle, wanted to make the point that no one reads these things so what was the point of even having one.

So, he launched his personal protest in February 2024 by inserting an offer of a free bottle of wine into his privacy policy:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Privacy policy - free wine

It took three months before anyone noticed the free wine offer and claimed it.

After the wine was claimed, Neidle commented, “Every tiny coffee shop has to have a privacy policy on their website, it’s crazy. It’s money that’s being wasted.”

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