Rarely, I am not paying close attention at the grocery store. I watch for in-store specials, hunt for corresponding coupons, and scan the discount carts for half-off items too good to pass up. I always look at the checkout computer screen to ensure I’m not being overcharged. Sometimes the sales price hasn’t been entered into the system, and the full price is charged instead. If this happens, I ask the person working at the checkout to double-check the price. If there is an error, according to the Grocery Code of Conduct, you’re entitled to get that item at no cost.
Sometimes a 50-percent-off sticker can go unnoticed. I always ensure these stickers are facing the cashier so they can’t be missed. If they have gone unnoticed, I politely ask the cashier to fix the pricing on the discounted item. Before leaving the store, I check my receipt to ensure everything is as it should be and that I haven’t been overcharged for my purchases.
If there is an error, I go to customer service and show my receipt. They’re happy to make any necessary adjustments. Many grocery stores are willing to provide rain checks on sale items if they’re sold out. Most will allow up to 12 of any one sale item. To avoid any confusion, it’s good to ask the store for its policies on these matters.
As I said earlier, I am always on my game whenever I am shopping. Recently, however, I was pressed for time and not paying close attention while at the checkout. As a result, I left a four-litre container of homogenized milk behind. I didn’t notice it was missing until I arrived home, which is 40 minutes from the store. I called customer service, and they assured me I could pick another up the next time I was in the store.
Several days later, when I returned to town, I went into the store and headed for the dairy aisle to get another jug of milk. Since I was in no hurry, I went through the store looking for coupons and discounted items.
It wasn’t long before I spotted Dairy Farmers of Canada coupons, which offered 50 cents off each dairy item bearing its logo. I took several of them, thinking they’d come in handy later. It wasn’t long before I found a use for them.
In the store’s organic section, I found 500-gram containers of grass-fed yogurt with half-off stickers. I never would have considered buying them at the full price of $6.49 each. However, at $3.25 and with the 50-cent coupons, I was willing to buy four of them for $2.75 each.
While at the meat section, I found a package of sundried tomato sausages reduced from $7 to $3.50. I immediately knew these would make a great pasta dish with the pasta, red peppers, and home-canned tomato sauce I already had at home.
A quick look through the discounted personal care items resulted in half-off hairstyling products my family uses. I knew my store loyalty card had enough points on it to take $10 off my bill.
Added up, at full price, my purchases would have come to $41.85. With the discounts, coupons, and loyalty rewards, I paid $12.57. That’s a savings of $29.28.
Join me next week when I will share how zero-waste food practices can stretch your grocery dollars and lead to big monthly savings.
Laverne Stewart has spent her entire career as a writer, journalist, and communications professional.She’s won multiple literary and journalism awards for her work. After a year in radio, she made the move to TV news, spending 11 years with CTV in Halifax, Saint John, and Fredericton. Stewart has also worked in government communications, most recently in the Office of the Premier. Stewart is a published author and now works on feature stories from her community and beyond. Her life is full and happy thanks to the people who are in it. She is married to her husband Robert. She is mother to Mary Louise and Nicolas. Also included in her family is Sally, a Labrador retriever, and three cats; Dusty, Joe, and Clancy. She can be reached at lavernestewart24@outlook.com.
