This past week I hosted a webinar (check your emails, members!) on “How to Live With Inflation While On A Fixed Income.”
During it, I talked about the struggles seniors are facing at the grocery store, especially with those tricky digital coupons. We talked about what to look for, what to do, and how to get the price the items is actually advertised for.
After all, inflation is crazy these days and every little but counts.
Here’s a story that one of our members shared.
She went to her local grocery store for a few items, armed with the advice I gave about taking pictures of the sales coupons hanging on the shelves. The idea is that if the register rings up the wrong price, you’ve got proof of what it should be.
So, our member took photos of all the coupons and sales tags.
At checkout, she carefully used the store’s app to check off items with digital coupons, just like I suggested. But she hit a snag—some items weren’t listed on the app at all, and it took forever to find the ones that were.
The Self-Checkout Clerk 
When she flagged the issue to the self-checkout clerk, he acknowledged the problem and gave her a discount for the items missing from the app. He mentioned, “They don’t always work. I’ll fix it for you.”
But the surprises didn’t end there. While checking out other items, she noticed two products scanned at higher prices than what was marked on the shelves. She called the clerk over again, and he explained that sometimes management doesn’t manually input the discounted prices. Fortunately, he adjusted those prices too.
Scanning Prices Were 44% Higher
Thanks to her diligence, she ended up paying $9.54 instead of $17.09—saving $7.55, or 44%! While it might not seem like a lot, imagine if this was for a full week of family groceries. A 44% discount could make a big difference.
Your webinar and this member's experience highlights the importance of questioning these new "scanning prices" systems.
Shouldn’t we be calling it “scamming prices” instead?
It’s time for us to take action: pull out your phones, snap photos of shelf prices, and make sure you’re charged correctly at checkout.
I'm not convinced technology is all it's cracked up to be. I still vote for the self-checkout clerk and a human experience.
