Sneaky Supermarket Tactics To Get You To Spend More Money

 Yesterday, Safeway's new sales ad came out. They advertised 5 pounds of russet potatoes for 47 cents as a digital deal with their Just For U program. I knew I wanted to partake of that deal and I wanted to get some other things that would finish up my holiday shopping for Thanksgiving. I can just sit back now and start cooking ahead of next Thursday. No stress. I like that.

I noticed a few things that gave me pause yesterday. The first thing is that Safeway no longer sells their onions by the pound. They sell them by the unit. I used to pay 69 cents per pound for their medium yellow onions. It's now 69 cents each. I haven't bought onions for a while, as I grew a lot of them in my garden and was simply using those. But, I ran out. I knew I would. I know I want to plant a lot more next year, but that's a different blog post.

The tags in the store still look as though onions are 69 cents per pound, if you don't read the fine print. I think it's sort of sneaky on the part of Safeway, too. They could have just been on the up and up and put a sign on their website that they were no longer selling by the pound. They didn't do that. So much for transparency.

So, for a week's worth of onions, it cost me $5.52. I used to pay around $3 for that amount. The cashier said that they implemented this just a few short weeks ago.

Next, I noticed the eggs. I haven't bought eggs for several months because we have awesome friends who gift them to us. Bob does handyman type stuff for 3 or so people who love to send eggs home with him. I'm completely grateful for them, as well. But, with all good things, that has come to an end for this year as chickens do take a break from laying. We are on our last dozen and decided to buy some more to stock up a bit.
Yikes.
That's all I can say about that.
Yikes.

Normally, if I purchase eggs from the supermarket, I buy them by the 18-pack. At Safeway, large eggs are $3.69 per 18-pack. I buy eggs 3 dozen at a time. I don't like to run out of them. Three dozen eggs, if I purchased them by the 18-pack, would have cost me $7.38!
Holy Expensive, Batman!!
I glanced over at the large 12-packs. They were $1.89 each.
Hold up!
If I buy 3 of those vs. buying 2 18-packs, it would be cheaper. It's like almost $2 cheaper. To be exact, it's $1.71 cheaper.

Here is the link to view yellow onions being 69 cents each on Safeway's website.
Here is the link to view the cost of buying an 18-pack of Lucerne eggs.

The moral of this blog post is to make sure you're doing the math. Use a calculator, if you must. There's no shame in it.If you have a smartphone, you have a calculator.  Read the fine print on the tags to make sure that they are selling by the pound or if it is the price each. Supermarkets are going to try to squeeze every cent from you that they can. If we remain vigilant, we can keep those extra bucks in our pockets and not into the coffers of non-transparent supermarkets, especially going into the holidays.
I hope this post helps you out and makes you aware. These supermarkets are, quite literally, banking on the fact that most people are rushed and not going to look that closely at what they are doing. Well, that rat race is going to have to make do with one less rat. I always take my time to get the best prices that I possibly can and, when I find something shady, I'll let you guys all know about it.
Take care!