A while back a friend of mine, we’ll call him Frank for this example, tipped me off to a new scam that was happening at his local Safeway. I take scams very seriously and I always try to shed light on them if there is substantial evidence that it is indeed a scam, so I told my friend to get back to me in a month or two and report his findings.
Well Frank got back to me and not only has the scam continued, it has actually increased at his local Supermarket. From his findings, I can only concluded that this is once again a bait & switch tactic to get consumers to purchase items priced higher than advertised.
At first Frank had though the store was miss-pricing items, which is a natural occurrence with a store with that many items, but after a few weeks he realized that was not the case at all.
At hi-traffic stores, many low price items sell out and are not able to be restocked right away. This leads to empty spaces on shelves next to higher priced items, which is generally seen as unattractive and is usually avoided if possible.
The new tactic at Frank’s store solves that problem with simply “fronting” the higher priced item in place of the lower priced item.
Instead of paying $4 for two items (2 for $4 deal), you end up paying $12 for two items ($6 each)! This is a real example he gave me.
Frank is a meticulous budget shopper. He scrutinizes and reads almost every receipt he gets. This was what helped him uncover the switch.
The best advise I can give to any shopper is too know what you are buying. Don’t simply trust that the item above the price tag, is the item on the tag.
This could be a isolated store that is attempting to boost profits in hopes of getting larger bonuses or pay raises, but my suspicion is that it is happening more often then we think. So please, read your receipts and make sure the item in your cart is the item on the tag.
Is this happening at your local supermarket? If so leave a comment below with the details of your experience.
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