Sort of a twofer

[Kittish]

Doing my shopping thing, the local Mart does price matching on local competitor ads. One store is out of one of their sale items that I want, the other one only has a couple of things. The Mart has them all.

The one item the first store was out of was store brand boneless skinless chicken breasts. I've price matched chicken at the Mart several times in the past year, never even a momentary hiccup. Which leads to part one- the cashier. Now, I'll cut the girl a fair bit of slack, she seemed to be very new (as in maybe in her first week new) and she seemed to be pretty hazy on what the store policy actually was. Suck on her part was offering up three (!!) different reasons why she couldn't do a price match. "We package our products differently." Um, no, this is clearly packaged and priced per pound, same as the stuff the ad is for. "Our meats aren't priced per pound, just a flat price on the package." Take a look at that package right in front of you sweetheart. See on the label where it says weight and price per pound and total price? "I um, I don't think we do this." If you don't, it's a new thing to me. "Do you want me to call someone over to see if I can do this?" Yes, please. While we're waiting, you can ring up this other stuff I've got. I'll even bag it for you. Supervisor sort comes over a few minutes later, takes a look at the ad, says "Yes, but so you know our policy has changed and we no longer match prices for meats or store brand items." Ah, good information to have, thank you.

The possible suck on my part was that my transaction took something like twice as long as it really should have because of my insistence about the price matching. *shrug* Money is tight and every bit matters. I apologized to the people in line behind me when I was done and got the heck out of everyone's way.

[greek_jester]

The possible suck on my part was that my transaction took something like twice as long as it really should have because of my insistence about the price matching. *shrug* Money is tight and every bit matters. I apologized to the people in line behind me when I was done and got the heck out of everyone's way.

FTSTS here; you were polite but firm about it, and unless there were signs up somewhere (at the tills would be ideal) then you had no way to know that the policy had changed. When you were informed, you politely accepted and paid for the food.

A SC would have stamped, howled and cried to the heavens over the change and demanded that it be honoured anyway.

[Kittish]

FTSTS here; you were polite but firm about it, and unless there were signs up somewhere (at the tills would be ideal) then you had no way to know that the policy had changed. When you were informed, you politely accepted and paid for the food.

A SC would have stamped, howled and cried to the heavens over the change and demanded that it be honoured anyway.

I'll agree, my behavior toward the cashier and the supervisor wasn't sucky. Though toward the end of dealing with the new girl cashier I was having to work at it a bit. But the folks in line behind me were looking a rather impatient, especially the guy next in line. From their point of view, I can see the suck, sort of. They don't know what the hold up is. And I can understand their impatience, pretty sure I shared their 'just wanna get out of here' state of mind.

[eltf177]

I agree, you weren't sucky as you didn't know about the new policy.

OTOH a true SC, having been TOLD about the new policy, will keep coming back and pushing for a price match claiming "I WAS NEVER TOLD THIS!"

[Kogarashi]

I'll agree with the others, your response wasn't really sucky. Understandably frustrated, sure, but not sucky.

And I can sympathize. When we moved to CT nine years ago, we ran into one particular Mart that couldn't seem to agree with itself on the price match policy. One manager claimed that they couldn't price-match anything that required a store's savings card. Another manager claimed they could only price-match items that required a store's savings card. Yet another manager said they couldn't match store-brand items at all, since the brand had to match exactly and, of course, the Mart's store brand isn't a perfect match to other stores' store brand*. It was frustrating to say the least.

*Nevermind that I've actually discovered in the intervening years that, with pantiliners at least, the Mart and the Red Circle have identical products inside the packaging. The liners are identical right down to the quilting design on the product itself. It's actually quite amusing to note (and is most likely because, as I believe I've heard, many generics are manufactured by the same company, then packed into different labels for individual stores).

[computeraide]

I make it a habit at our local Mart never to price match unless I am at a regular register--which means I usually am in for a 5-10 minute wait before my turn. I don't do it at self checkouts, in an express lane, etc. So when my turn comes--and I waited for that turn in line like everyone else--whatever my transaction involves it is no one else's business and it will take as long as it takes.

[CorneliaMarieRocks]

I have a question (and I genuinely AM curious here)...Is it truly worth using up however much gas as it takes to go to 3 different stores trying to price match vs. just picking one store & making just one trip?

I could see where if one store is out of something that you really gotta have, obviously that's different

[Kittish]

I have a question (and I genuinely AM curious here)...Is it truly worth using up however much gas as it takes to go to 3 different stores trying to price match vs. just picking one store & making just one trip?

I could see where if one store is out of something that you really gotta have, obviously that's different

That's not quite how I do it. Price matching (here, anyway) is done only from actual printed adverts from the chains in the area, so it's not a matter of running from one store to another comparing prices. There are three major grocery stores and one small local owned within less than 5 miles of each other. Typically, the way I do price matching is if that's the only thing I want to get from one of the other chain stores, and I'm going to the Mart anyway, I'll just get it there. The other one is if the other chain is out of whatever item (like the chicken breasts in my OP) and I'm going to the Mart anyway. My standard grocery run hits all 4 stores, starting with the local owned place (dent and scratch discount place), and ending with the Mart.

[CorneliaMarieRocks]

oh ok, thankies for the info

[Kogarashi]

Yeah, as Kittish explained, most price matching (at least with the Mart) is done via printed advert rather than actually going to the other physical stores. When I was a Mart cashier, we couldn't even price-match printouts from online stores, and couldn't just take a customer's word on what another store was selling things at. If you say the Bullseye is selling that video game for $5 less, I'm going to actually have to see a dated receipt proving it before I can match it, meaning you've most likely already bought it, so why are you even trying to match the price now?

[raudf]

Upon reading this thread, I had to go check the price match policy for Walmart. When I was a cashier 13 years ago, we did price match the store brands, albeit under certain circumstances. These circumstances were vague (it was a long meandering list that included electronics twice in what we could and couldn't price match!) and irritating, because you'd have one CSM or manager that would chew you for doing them at all and other for not doing them!

Apparently, the suits finally decided to kill price matching for the store brands under the heading of "Private brand Price Matches" in the list of "We Do Not Honor." Kinda sucks, from the customer view point, but from the cashier? Pure bliss. One flat answer that isn't going to get the cashier's butt chewed by management.

I also recommend getting the Walmart app and using the Savings Catcher app. I use it in conjunction with price matching, because I usually shop in Town A (small town) and they take from stores within 30 minutes of me, so I get price matches from major stores in Town B (large-ish city) and Town C (college town). I use the two mom and pop stores to price match with in store, as they don't have circulars online. I also go to the mom and pop stores to pick up beef products, because they have butchers in store.