How to save money on groceries

I knocked this off in a few minutes for our department newsletter, which is usually about Information Technology and rampant nerdism, but the Editor in Chief will accept just about anything, bless her heart:

In these lean times, watching food prices and shopping for the best values is a necessity [she let that pass; I'm the Copy Editor]. Besides developing a grocery list (donotforgettoiletpaper donotforgettoiletpaper donotforgettoiletpaper), or basing your shopping on a weekly meal plan, don’t be shy to clip discount coupons. Try http://www.save.ca/ for lots of hygiene, skin care, household cleaning, and baby care items. And enroll with http://www.free-samples.ca/ to get, well, free samples of stuff. Don’t miss the in-store manufacturer’s coupons, either---they’re sometimes way better than the ones in the flyer.

And you can actually get money back!

If you have a good memory for shelf prices and examine your receipts, at many major chains (hardware, pharmacy, grocery) you can yelp at the cashier: “Oh, the price on the shelf was $N.NN.” She/he will normally start to argue, and you shrug apologetically at the people behind you in line, but you stand your ground and recite: “I’m claiming my entitlement to a refund and a free product based on the Scanning Code of Practice.” In stores that participate, you can see the big sticker on the entry doors and often on the cash register itself.

http://www.retailcouncil.org/advocacy/cp/issues/scanner_acc/print/scanner_accuracy02_eng.asp
If the shelf price is different from the register price, you should get a refund of the REGISTER price and you get the product for FREE. This applies only to the first item if you bought more than one, but you get the sale price for second and subsequent items.

If the price of the item is more than $10.00 the same rules apply but you only get the ten bucks AND the free product.

Case study: I decided to try a major name brand all-natural peanut butter recently, and because the sale price hadn’t made it to the register I got the jar for free and a $4.99 credit on my bill.

But the stuff is runny. I don’t like my peanut butter to actually pour out of the jar, even after thorough stirring and refrigeration. And it tastes funny (punch line to joke about why we don’t eat clowns). So late last week I e-mailed the company through their website, asking about the consistency: “…it pours! It has never had the creamy but firm consistency that I expect. Is it always very liquid?” (I’m such a gourmet.)

I got a response last night from the Associate Director, Consumer Relations: “I'm sorry to learn that you were disappointed with our Peanut Butter having a watery texture. I'm sending you reimbursement, via first class mail, which you should receive in 10-14 business days.”

I didn’t tell them I got the jar for free plus the credit of the sale price. Crafty, am I not? Case closed.

It pays to complain

That's if you do it right.

Mostly I've written e-mails to companies to complain that their stores don't follow the Scanning Code of Practice (The Scanner Price Accuracy Voluntary Code or "The Code"). I've used The Code over the past 11 or so years in grocery stores and pharmacies right at the time to get free groceries and health products for which the register prices were higher than the shelf prices. Probably a few hundred dollars in refunds and free products by now (I get the product for free [or the differential amount if the product is more than $10 CA] plus the refund). It's not necessary to claim the entitlement at the time; but you really need to produce the receipt right away or within a couple of days to get the entitlement, in case they have corrected the price database.

So after I complain in writing (e-mail) I usually get an e-mail back in a few days or weeks from the relevant Customer Service after claiming to them that the store wasn't honouring The Code.

This time, however, was a bit different. I bought wine from the LCBO that had a big-time AIR MILES reward bonus before Christmas (7+7+15) for buying two different products from the same Australian winery. Nice stuff, went down well. But when the AIR MILES were credited to my account (to the LCBO's credit, they do update my rewards within a few days after a purchase), I noticed that I was missing the 15 bonus reward points for buying the two different products at the same time. DANGER, WILL ROBINSON! I fired off an e-mail mentioning this to Air Miles Inc. and THEN I checked my receipts. I had been charged for two bottles of the same wine, twice, at the same LCBO. While I got the 7+7 bonus, I missed out on the 15 bonus rewards---twice.

In terms of Air Miles rewards, 30 is not a big whoop. It might get you part way to the 401 in terms of a trip from Toronto to anywhere. And there are no gift cards worth anything for less than 85 (I only use my rewards for grocery certificates from Metro).

So I composed a one-page letter that I sent to LCBO, Air Miles, and Industry Canada. A nice lady from LCBO actually looked me up and phoned me at home to help me out (I still have her number). The next result was from Industry Canada, who returned my letter and photocopies and gave me an alternate address for recourse. Finally today I checked my account online and noted that 30 reward miles had been credited to my account from "SHOP 2 STORE BONUS."

My complaint process: tell them what I thought should have happened; tell them what DID happen; then tell what what I want to happen. This gives them an out or a way to negotiate. If you don't give them a way to satisfy your beef, how can they respond? "Sorry, that won't happen again, here's a free in-flight meal"?? Yeah, right.

A letter from a disgruntled passenger to India on Virgin airlines has been spiralling virally around the net for a bit. While the passenger amused himself mightly at the airline's expense (photos provided), I didn't notice him actually asking for anything in recompense. And I didn't notice whether he even got anything (regular English curry like we get at 'ome?). Silly git.

Eww, I just found a hair in my soup! Fire up the e-mail...oh, wait---it was one of mine.