Grocery Pricing.... I don't usually shop... Don't forget your phone

[White 6]

I don't usually shop for groceries, but this time did, as granddaughters spent the night. Needing bacon, I went to Kroger just to pick up bacon and eggs, so I ran to Kroger as a "mission shopper" for those two items. Low and behold, just inside was a chill cooler, with Smithfield bacon with a SALE!, 22 oz./ $3.99.
Cool. Numbers and theories ran through my head as if sitting at my desk, back in the day, and having been a purchasing/sale mgt geek in wholesale. Theories, right/wrong as different industries operate differently: Never sell in mass below cost and always include overhead into cost. Figured, right or wrong Kroger owns a hunk Smithfield, but that was just a random thought. So, hmmmm. $3.99 unit sale price became unit cost somewhere in the $3.84 range making GPM around 3.8%, a low fixed overhead in anybody's book and a heck of a sale price at $3.99. Still, I wasn't there to load up and store, just get breakfast (mission shopper). I am cutting back on fats and cholesterol, as my medical people are wanting to abuse me, after almost 69 years of me abusing myself, so 1 pack of bacon.

Eggs have dropped dramatically from last year. Dozen eggs were selling (everyday priced, no discount) $1.09 / Dozen, (last year possibly the last time I personally grocery shopped), and then just to see what everybody was rightly bitching about.

Cool. Inflation is cooling! I can see it.

Went to self-checkout, as that time of early morning in almost empty store, not a single human cashier on duty. Hmmm... Life in the 2020s. Eggs checked fine. Bacon? SHOCK! Now $8.99 instead of $3.99! Hmmm, lets look at that display inside the door again. I leave the two items there and go check. Hmmm... Sale is a digital coupon sale. NUTS! This was just a mission trip, 6 blocks. Iphone is on the desk. You put on a top shirt to cover shoulder holster and 9mm, but didn't slip the Iphone your pocket? Dumbass!!

Scratch the sale Bacon, as not paying $8.99 for 22 oz of thin sliced bacon. I'll get real bacon. Oh, well. Real bacon (thick sliced country bacon) probably also packed by Smithfield for Kroger under the Kroger brand, but more like grandmother cut from the smokehouse out back on the farm, now $8.49/ 24 oz. pack. At least the price isn't that much different than before the consumer driven inflation hit, as all the retailers, wholesaler and producing plants figured, with this much free or cheap government money in circulation, it was a good time to make up for pandemic days of lower overall sales. OK. Similar items have similar costs, no matter the price. Hmmm... Cost around $3.84 everyday priced $8.49 for GPM of maybe 54% plus/minus, yep sounds like a targeted GPM to me. There be gold in them there grocery businesses if you have your shit together and Kroger has always seem to have their shit together, a nice steady but slow growth stock over the years. Screw it. You ain't Gods gift to marketing theory or industry insider in this industry. Cut the internal dialog and get the heck outta here, you just want PJ to be able to make a nice country breakfast for the granddaughters!

Jeez! Shoulda put this in the hack Writers Forum of random semi-pointless thought. Comp teacher was right. I am better suited to "How To" manuals or writing SOPs.

 

[toobfreak]

Went to self-checkout, as that time of early morning in almost empty store, not a single human cashier on duty.

Screw the self-checkout, the store pockets the savings on not paying a cashier while you do all the work and don't see any discount!

If I ever go in a store with no one on hand to ring it up and take my money, I take that as a refusal of payment and just walk out. You are under no obligation to ring up your own groceries.

 

[JoeMoma]

Screw the self-checkout, the store pockets the savings on not paying a cashier while you do all the work and don't see any discount!

If I ever go in a store with no one on hand to ring it up and take my money, I take that as a refusal of payment and just walk out. You are under no obligation to ring up your own groceries.

I remember growing up in the 70s that the local grocery store had bag boys to bring the groceries the customers car for everyone. Times are changing.

 

[Oddball]

Screw the self-checkout, the store pockets the savings on not paying a cashier while you do all the work and don't see any discount!

If I ever go in a store with no one on hand to ring it up and take my money, I take that as a refusal of payment and just walk out. You are under no obligation to ring up your own groceries.

Overpriced UFCW thralls, negotiating themselves out of jobs.

 

[White 6]

Screw the self-checkout, the store pockets the savings on not paying a cashier while you do all the work and don't see any discount!

If I ever go in a store with no one on hand to ring it up and take my money, I take that as a refusal of payment and just walk out. You are under no obligation to ring up your own groceries.

Life in 2023. Rare for me to shop, much less at 6:30 in the morning. It is actually unusual for the local Kroger, but at that time of morning, nobody is rolling around with full carts doing their weekly errand. They had one lonely attendant overseeing all the self-checkout lanes and me the only person checking out with my big 2 item mission purchase, though it looked like they had a small army of stock people in every aisle, I passed, getting ready for the real day. They used to be open 24/7 before the pandemic, now, I think they are 06:00 to 22:00. Like you, I would not check out PJ's average $170 - $250 weekly trip, by hand either, and neither does she, as never been necessary. Overall she likes Kroger a lot, and we love getting 50 cents plus discounts on our fuel purchases at the pump.

 

[okfine]

Screw the self-checkout, the store pockets the savings on not paying a cashier while you do all the work and don't see any discount!

If I ever go in a store with no one on hand to ring it up and take my money, I take that as a refusal of payment and just walk out. You are under no obligation to ring up your own groceries.

I can see you now ya fn grumbler.

 

[White 6]

I remember growing up in the 70s that the local grocery store had bag boys to bring the groceries the customers car for everyone. Times are changing.

Heck, in the early 70s, I was one of those bag boys for a summer when I shared an apartment with my brother, in downtown Paducah, 150 miles from home, not a parent in state, much less in sight. Gas was cheap, maybe .30/ gallon at times, rent was affordable between the two of us and we were the kings of the world, that summer between my junior and senior years of high school.

 

[whitehall]

Too much work and conspiracy to save a dime or two.

 

[toobfreak]

I can see you now ya fn grumbler.

I bet you can. You were probably the check out cashier at my last food run.

 

[toobfreak]

I remember growing up in the 70s that the local grocery store had bag boys to bring the groceries the customers car for everyone. Times are changing.

Yes, you had grocery boys, gas stations had full service, fast food came out to your car, and companies had customer service departments ready to serve you when you called, not one 70 year old indian on hand in another country where you get a message they are experiencing unusually heavy call volume, to leave a message and then they will call you back in two hours or two days while you wait at THEIR convenience.

People have no idea how companies and government are shoving more and more work and responsibility onto the customer as a hidden fee or charge now because it doesn't show up on your bill yet costs you more.

 

[okfine]

I bet you can. You were probably the check out cashier at my last food run.

Real bad comedian. You. Suck.

 

[toobfreak]

Real bad comedian. You. Suck.

Clean up, aisle nine, ford-boi. Also, price check on this can of stewed tomatoes. Skip the oil change.

 

[okfine]

Clean up, aisle nine, ford-boi. Also, price check on this can of stewed tomatoes. Skip the oil change.

I can see some guy driving away in an old Ford Taurus. All pissed off at the world...

That is you, Toobie Bloobie.

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

I don't usually shop for groceries, but this time did, as granddaughters spent the night. Needing bacon, I went to Kroger just to pick up bacon and eggs, so I ran to Kroger as a "mission shopper" for those two items. Low and behold, just inside was a chill cooler, with Smithfield bacon with a SALE!, 22 oz./ $3.99.
Cool. Numbers and theories ran through my head as if sitting at my desk, back in the day, and having been a purchasing/sale mgt geek in wholesale. Theories, right/wrong as different industries operate differently: Never sell in mass below cost and always include overhead into cost. Figured, right or wrong Kroger owns a hunk Smithfield, but that was just a random thought. So, hmmmm. $3.99 unit sale price became unit cost somewhere in the $3.84 range making GPM around 3.8%, a low fixed overhead in anybody's book and a heck of a sale price at $3.99. Still, I wasn't there to load up and store, just get breakfast (mission shopper). I am cutting back on fats and cholesterol, as my medical people are wanting to abuse me, after almost 69 years of me abusing myself, so 1 pack of bacon.

Eggs have dropped dramatically from last year. Dozen eggs were selling (everyday priced, no discount) $1.09 / Dozen, (last year possibly the last time I personally grocery shopped), and then just to see what everybody was rightly bitching about.

Cool. Inflation is cooling! I can see it.

Went to self-checkout, as that time of early morning in almost empty store, not a single human cashier on duty. Hmmm... Life in the 2020s. Eggs checked fine. Bacon? SHOCK! Now $8.99 instead of $3.99! Hmmm, lets look at that display inside the door again. I leave the two items there and go check. Hmmm... Sale is a digital coupon sale. NUTS! This was just a mission trip, 6 blocks. Iphone is on the desk. You put on a top shirt to cover shoulder holster and 9mm, but didn't slip the Iphone your pocket? Dumbass!!

Scratch the sale Bacon, as not paying $8.99 for 22 oz of thin sliced bacon. I'll get real bacon. Oh, well. Real bacon (thick sliced country bacon) probably also packed by Smithfield for Kroger under the Kroger brand, but more like grandmother cut from the smokehouse out back on the farm, now $8.49/ 24 oz. pack. At least the price isn't that much different than before the consumer driven inflation hit, as all the retailers, wholesaler and producing plants figured, with this much free or cheap government money in circulation, it was a good time to make up for pandemic days of lower overall sales. OK. Similar items have similar costs, no matter the price. Hmmm... Cost around $3.84 everyday priced $8.49 for GPM of maybe 54% plus/minus, yep sounds like a targeted GPM to me. There be gold in them there grocery businesses if you have your shit together and Kroger has always seem to have their shit together, a nice steady but slow growth stock over the years. Screw it. You ain't Gods gift to marketing theory or industry insider in this industry. Cut the internal dialog and get the heck outta here, you just want PJ to be able to make a nice country breakfast for the granddaughters!

Jeez! Shoulda put this in the hack Writers Forum of random semi-pointless thought. Comp teacher was right. I am better suited to "How To" manuals or writing SOPs.

Evolve. Check your sale prices online, particularly digital deals. We can save up to 45% at times, and we don't have to at all but it's nice anyway.

 

[White 6]

Evolve. Check your sale prices online, particularly digital deals. We can save up to 45% at times, and we don't have to at all but it's nice anyway.

We use digital coupons or at least PJ does, at Kroger more than elsewhere. I just fkd up and left phone on the desk at home, as was only going 6 blocks for maybe 10 minutes to get two items and didn't think it necessary. Ah, ya snooze, ya lose.

 

[toobfreak]

I can see some guy driving away in an old Ford Taurus.

Yep, old, though it looks good as new, loaded with more features than a Cadillac and runs like the devil.

Probably because it never had you work on it.

A testament to how great a car it is! Bad cars don't last so long w/o so much as a glitch.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

We use digital coupons or at least PJ does, at Kroger more than elsewhere. I just fkd up and left phone on the desk at home, as was only going 6 blocks for maybe 10 minutes to get two items and didn't think it necessary. Ah, ya snooze, ya lose.

Why, at my grocery I just enter the phone number for the digital deals. I don't have to use the phone.

 

[White 6]

Why, at my grocery I just enter the phone number for the digital deals. I don't have to use the phone.

Interesting. You can do it at home and then when you use your loyalty card the system at the store automatically picks up what coupons you clicked, whether the phone is with you or not? Sounds cool, but I don't know if Kroger's system works that way or not, but of course PJ does most of the grocery shopping. I had not planned, since only going on a two item mission.

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

Interesting. You can do it at home and then when you use your loyalty card the system at the store automatically picks up what coupons you clicked, whether the phone is with you or not? Sounds cool, but I don't know if Kroger's system works that way or not, but of course PJ does most of the grocery shopping. I had not planned, since only going on a two item mission.

Krogers' system works off the loyalty card or your phone number.

 

[White 6]

Krogers' system works off the loyalty card or your phone number.

Yep. We always use the loyalty card, and answer the survey once a week, so we can get 50 extra fuel points.