The Safeway grocery chain had been sued again in California for overcharging consumers through deceptive pricing and advertising.
It’s far from the first time. Similar successful consumer lawsuits go back more than a decade.
The latest lawsuit accuses Safeway of advertising “Buy one-get one free” (or BOGO) specials that regularly bumped up the price for the first item so that the “free” item was far from free, often almost at full price.
Here’s how it was described by an article in SFGate.com:
On April 14, Caleb Haley went to his local grocery store in McKinleyville to buy the ice cream, paying $7.49 in a buy one, get one free sale that he was eligible for using his Safeway Club Card. But the price of the ice cream was lower than that prior to the promotion, costing $4 – a price that returned as soon as the BOGO deal ended, Haley alleged.
These promotions have been offered at 243 California Safeway stores over the last four years, according to the lawsuit filed by Haley against the grocery retailer and its parent company Albertsons. The lawsuit accuses Safeway of raising the cost of goods included in special sales so that customers have to pay more for their product of choice – and buy more of it than they typically would – in order to get what is being advertised to them as a better deal.
Although the lawsuit doesn’t appear to include Hawaii, it seems likely similar tactics could be used by the company’s stores in the islands. This is a ploy that is hard to catch, because it relies on either knowing the price before the BOGO special, or going back to check the regular prices when the sale is over.
I did notice another interesting issue recently when we were shopping for toilet paper. Safeway often has specials on paper products, but it pays to examine them carefully.
For example, on the day we were shopping at the Kapahulu store, large packages of TP were on sale, with the biggest signs on the largest packages, which you might reasonably think would indicate the lowest prices.
With different numbers of rolls, and different sizes of rolls as well, it was hard to compare prices of different brands, including others that were on sale.
Luckily, Safeway does offer a way to compare. The little signs stating the price include, in small print, the cost per 100 sheets of TP. This makes it possible to compare the actual costs of the different offerings.
On this particular day, the biggest package on sale was actually about twice the price of some other packages when compared on the “per 100 sheets” measure.
So buyer beware!
Safeway was purchased by Albertsons in 2015, and then the combined company and all its brands were in turn gobbled up by Krogers last year, which I believe makes it by far the largest supermarket chain in the U.S.
When we lived in Kaaawa, we used to shop at the Kaneohe Safeway quite often. But in recent years, we have found Safeway’s prices on most items to be significantly higher than other stores, and have shifted our shopping to Times. We now shop at Safeway only for certain specific items which, in our experience, are well priced. Even Whole Foods beats Safeway prices on most vegetables and many other items as well.
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Don’t know what the heck you’re buying but I pay attention to grocery prices very closely. My friends say I’m obsessed. FOODLAND prices are ridiculous. It’s not even close on most items. Times is just ok but you often times get what you pay for. Quality products is an obvious weakness.
What you describe is definitely happening at the Safeway in Menlo Park.
Because there are just two of us, we shop often and have relatively small “baskets.” Therefore, I do the self checkout and can catch the “mistakes.” I then call the person over and when I do, they touch a few buttons and give me the sale price. I believe this would be hard for many with children and definitely, also impossible when being checked out by a store checker with the speed at which they are moving. It would be a challenge to be able to track the sales. Also, I believe that at the official check-outs, the sales may not appear until the end. Also, I am not one to hold up the line. I still shop at Safeway because, over the years, even though it is a HUGE store, the main clerks have come to know me, and they are always helpful.
I had pricing issues w/ Target in the past year or so back with a few things. I bought some Bonne Mamam jam and 5 pack of ramen the prices listed on the shelves was like a dollar less than what I was charged at the register. The first time it happened I let it slide, but when it happened again the clerk advised to take a pix of the shelf price and she would adjust it. Whatever their pricing procedures, I don’t get upset with the clerk (it’s a pricing management issue), but try to keep an idea of what the price should and go over my receipt before leaving. I still shop at Target they have great things.
ps Times supermarket is the place to go when Bonne Mamam jam goes on sale it’s the best price.
The word “free” is a blinking yellow-warning sign that should arouse suspicion. Very little is “free”. Merchandising is all about creating urgency, but never forget that truth isn’t free.
“. . . in small print, the cost per 100 sheets of TP.”
I usually find the sq. ft. information helpful, as some sheets are smaller than others. In addition, sometimes the numbers on those little signs are incorrect, even at other stores.
Bought 4 Gardenia at Lowes last week, for a marked price of $5.99 each. They scanned at $9.99 each. Had to go deal with customer service to refund correct amount. Beware.
I never shopped at Safeway on the Mainland. I agree on Foodland prices. I watch closely the sales and that’s my buy. Toilet paper is cheaper at Walgreens. Have you priced light bulbs lately? Unbelievable!
Location often comes into play with respect to grocery shopping. The Hawaii Kai Foodland closed quite a while ago, as well as the Times that was in Niu Valley.
One thing I still don’t understand, however, is why we don’t have more big farmers’ markets. On the mainland, they have dozens of vendors at markets that stay open for five or six hours. Here we often have just a handful that are open a few hours.
Opps. Not sure why that posted there. I was replying to Kateinhi.
Not understanding residents who have the resources yet don’t consider buying local more important than saving nickels and dimes. Times and Foodland have more local produce, which support the local farmer so we can help get over our scary reliance on shipping.
And, in the case of Safeway, the imported produce is usually priced higher than local produce at other stores.
Every Friday Safeway is Five Dollar Day. It always includes DELI and Bakery goods that seem to run out around Noon.
The best prices I’ve found are at Tamura’s in Wahiawa and Hau’ula.