Typically, the teeth that I have broken had huge filling in them, so yep.
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I was surprised at the lack of pushback, too. I canceled by phone and the agent asked why we were canceling. I told her that (a) the kids were grown, gone, and had stable jobs and lives of their own, (b) the mortgage was paid and we had no other debts other than monthlies, (c) we both have pensions that have annual COLAS plus investment accounts (IRAs et al) we haven’t yet touched and have not started tapping social security, and (d) our health insurance is probably as comprehensive as possible. I don’t think that particular carrier sells long-term care or similar policies, mostly life, so they really didn’t have anything else to sell us.
She actually congratulated us on not needing them any longer!
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Our store, HEB, has scales which allow you to enter the SKU and print a label. I have some light mesh bags with a patch where I can stick the labels. I have learned the numbers for my regular purchases. More and more things, even cilantro and flat leaf parsley, have tiny tags with bar codes. Things like peppers and tomatoes have stickers with bar codes.
You are fortunate. My wife and I often find ourselves in a teachable moment w check out clerks.
ShopRite has gotten rid of the sheet of “supercoupons” at the entrance. Not sure why, but they still have five different sorts of sales even without it.
Shoprite drives me crazy with coupons and sales. There are sales, sales only with their loyalty card, clip coupons, manufacturers’ coupons that will or will not double, digital coupons that have further limits, must buy 5 to get the sale price sales, limit of so many per household sales, coupons and sales that ring up when the item rings up, others that don’t show up until you pay, discounts on price per pound items that the machine calculates at the end, others that calculate on scanning, and heaven help you if you have rain check. Aarrrgh!
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You are 100% correct…
There is one particular grocery store that I frequent and at least one (digital coupon) item doesn’t ring up properly (every trip). The excuse is always the same – that someone didn’t put it in the main computer.
I’ve gotten in the habit, that when I go to this one particular grocery store, I do an Excel spreadsheet in advance. That way I know what my bill should be (give or take a few cents). I also print out my digital coupons, so if there is ever a dispute (about an item) – I have it in writing for the checkout person.
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And scanning or calculating errors are never in the customer’s favor. I am certain there is a lot of unwarranted errors in every full shopping cart that are never caught.
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I’m convinced it is that way by design…
I can remember one time when I was purchasing some trim molding from Home Depot and the price rang up in my favor. I did tell the clerk, as I had calculated the cost of this job (before the purchase). She just shrugged her shoulders and said it was fine, so I left. At that time, I was living in a cold weather area and the large doors were stuck open with this bitter cold wind blowing in. This checkout clerk was cold and miserable. She was screaming at the manager to do something about the stuck doors. I imagine the price of my molding was the least of her concerns.
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today I was shopping for crimini mushroom.
all the packages on the ‘top’ showed ink jet printing:
“Best used before 06/29”
in the realm of ‘dating’ stuff - there’s three concepts:
- Sell By
- Best By
- Use By
something that is 1-2 days past “Sell buy” I have no problem buying if it is on the ‘tonight’ menu.
fresh produce that is a week past “Best By” is nothing I would buy.
fresh produce that is past “Use By” is nothing I would buy.
the recent trend I have observed, supermarkets are no longer monitoring / doing anything about expiring product - produce or fish or meat. it is absolutely essential for the buyer to be checking dates…
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YES !!! I’ve learned to do that also.I just figure out how many sandwiches I need and how many slices per then just ask for say…10 slices,12 slices.6 slices etc…I do the same with the cheese also! Works perfectly every time !!
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I’ve gotten stuff from Instacart that was totally beyond the use by date. Shame on the shopper, but bigger shame on the store.
. . . now that would irk me!
I went to the store early yesterday morning to take advantage of some sales. Apparently, some of the employees decided to call out sick and they could only open the self checkout line. One young kid was trying to man (6) self serve check out kiosks. A lot of individuals were having difficulties trying to ring produce up, along with other items. The line stretched half way down the aisle.
I was lucky as I had printed my digital coupons. The code for my produce was on the print out.
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I hate to ding the shoppers, and have only done it once. This was the time. I got a refund. Yes, it’s primarily the store’s fault, but I read codes and labels when I shop.
Especially when I tip well, in advance.
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We are at the beginning of peak tourist season on outer Cape Cod. When we shop for the next 7 weeks, we have to prepare ourselves for swaths of empty bins and shelves because there are too many people buying groceries and only a few grocery stores. In the summer, we tend to do our major grocery shopping in the middle of the week, in the middle of the sunniest day when most of the tourists are at the beaches.
Summer is my least favorite season of the year. We are overwhelmed by it. This past week has been the worst in memory.
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Has this area always been your home, or have you relocated there from elsewhere? Our formerly quiet little tourist village has become 24/7/365 madness. We’ve found it difficult to purchase what we really want, when we want it. ‘Putting up’ more and more the foods we desire. Putting up with the visitors is another thing. But where shall we go?
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I don’t see dates on most fresh produce, with the exception of brand-name sealed green beans, bagged salads and the like. Most of rest isn’t usually dated.
But I’m pretty much aligned with your thinking on what I will/won’t get, for those items that are dated. As long as it still looks good to visual inspection.
Luckily I rarely see meats or poultry past a sell-by date where I shop most often for them. Sometimes something gets shoved to the back and buried, and I just toss it to one of the guys behind the meat counter. This store will not put meats in a clearance bin, which is too bad because I’m very much a spur of the moment cook, and could readily make use of stuff a day past its sell-by date.
The local Aldi seems bad at rotating its jarred stuff. I’ve several times seen pickles, mayo and the like past use-by sitting next to another jar with a date 6-12 months in the future.
So it definitely pays to check dates on everything, just in case.
our local Giant often has a big yellow ‘re-priced for quick sale’ sticker on meats - I watch for those because the savings is usually substantial - and I put that meat on ‘tonight’s menu’
agreed - in the produce it’s bagged stuff. contrary to my standing ‘make it yourself’ theory’ - buying a bag of mixed salad greens is seriously more economical than buying all the components , , , the remainders of which will like not get eaten . . .
the mushrooms are always a picking point for me - I like to have at least a week before ‘best if used by’ as the package size typically is more than a one meal prep.
individual fruits/veggies - apples/oranges/brocc/cabbage/cauliflower/leeks/scallion/(and the rest…)
are not marked - one has to use one’s own judgement as to whether the stuff is way past prime . . .
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