Interesting. I think that the savvy person will end up coming up with a way to circumvent this but if you don't, maybe the company deserves to make extra money off you?

 

Interesting. I think that the savvy person will end up coming up with a way to circumvent this but if you don't, maybe the company deserves to make extra money off you?

How will you know? Spending time price checking every item in a grocery cart could use up more life than I want to spend. That does not mean that I'm ok with being charged more unless I'm willing to do that.
Probably why I mostly avoid Safeway anyway, even though it is by far the most convenient. The price paid there for most items, even with "discounts" is about 20% more than anywhere else here.

 

I think people will network and mechanic the system, just like every other system to try and get ahead of it.

If my grocery store does that with me, tracks what price point I buy at they will be very disappointed. I buy milk when it is discounted because they will throw it out the next day, same with fresh bakery items and produce. I wait until the last day they think they can sell it, buy it and can or freeze or use it immediately.

Canned vegetables were 2 for a dollar just recently so that's my new price point on that for purchase. I work hard to be frugal and will continue to do so. If you feel it's not worth your time then you choose to pay more.

 

As an example...

 

You can tell a good price now by it's reduction from full price. But what if you always see the full price that is 20% more than another's full price?
It would need people to constantly check with each other to see and even then, if the company is selling at a small discount to someone else, how will you know that for each item? Will you be be forced to shop in herds so you can ask for the full discount on every item by all checking the same item to see the lowest given? The company computers can breeze through those calculations but can you, if this becomes a widespread practice?
It is simply a practice that makes sure that the small change falls on the company side on each item each time purchased.

 

I too shop like crater. With the lost leaders I shop. Here on Fridays we have five dollar days and that works for me. I know that I can make pasta and sever that many ways from orenital --itailian -- soup or caserols for a while when there is a few weeks of lost leaders that do not meet my needs.

I find that Fred Myers / krogers is not a store to shop for meat. Sales in the groc. dept are more to cleaning, personal hygenie, and stapels for scratch -(that way they have ads that seem great and fill the pages and yet the majority pass right by them)

 

Yes, we can breeze through those calculations... it's not that difficult to get a programmer to create an app for just exactly that function. People will network, as they do right now about coupons and store specials and so forth. smart phones and tablets with photo or video capability will make it a lot easier to gather the information too.

 

All that is true IF the prices are standarized. But again, what if you are given a full price for something, then have a "customer discount" card that reduces the price? You check and find that the discount you get is 10% off.
Whoopee you say and buy it.
You will probably never find out that the "customer discount" on the next guy through the check out is 15%. Or maybe the next one is only 5%?
It could even get more complicated- what if you get 10%off X but are then offered 15% off if you buy Y too?
And, since the computer can do this for every individual, how can you possible check it out? It will be nickel and dime advantages for the store that would not be worth the effort of complicated checking for you. But the total cost to the public could be sizable.
This is not buying something off the 1/2 off shelf. This would effect everything that is not so perishable.

 

All that is true IF the prices are standarized. But again, what if you are given a full price for something, then have a "customer discount" card that reduces the price? You check and find that the discount you get is 10% off.
Whoopee you say and buy it.
You will probably never find out that the "customer discount" on the next guy through the check out is 15%.

Yep, you can be sure that the stores have this kind of thing figured out to the highest detail, and they are now using predictive behavior patterns of the majority of shoppers to further point point the maximum dollars they can squeeze out of us.

Consumer behavior patterns are usually pretty accurate and extremely valuable to business, and that's why we see such extraordinary efforts to collect the various bits of this information.

As it is, there has already been pricing game playing with varying the units-of-measure between like products to confuse the consumer and make the shopping task so burdensome that they just give up and pay whatever price. Yes, we take the time to do the math and determine the best value, but next time you are at the store look around you and see just how few people do this. The other thing is the price (if there is a price listed) on the bottom shelf items (often the best value) are in such tiny print that I can't read them unless I get down on my knees to do so. And at my age, getting back up off my knees can take awhile.

 

Firstly, you are paying too much for anything if you shop the isles instead of the outer walls of the store.

Computers are not something that only large companies have. The system will be circumvented, if only by some companies marketing themselves as the guys who _don't_ do that. You have to be a savvy consumer if you choose to participate in the market place. It's as simple as that.

If you have Amazon Prime, it's cheaper to just buy anything not fresh from them anyways--- soon enough they will deliver right to your doorstep via drone too. So I won't even have to pay for gas to run to the post office.

 

Our grocery store just started doing this. They already know what you are buying so there is no more of an intrusion into our privacy then there was before. These coupons and point systems can be of considerable value to you for the items that you actually buy but you have to be careful.

Our store gives points, not dollars. $1 equals $1000 points so if you buy olive oil that gives you 1000 points then you are saving $1. You can cash these in to buy more groceries.

Of course people still need to be clever because if you are only getting 500 points (50 cents) off a jar of jam at the regular price you are not getting a good sale price. When the product goes on sale you get a better reduction. However the coupons you use on products will never be co-ordinated (available to you) when the item is actually on sale.

You really need to know your prices and take advantage of the best sale prices - don't get sucked into buying items at regular price just to get the coupon.

 

I still have not seen any comment that indicates understanding of the change this will make if widespread. This means that the old strategies for bargain hunting will not work so well.
This will, of course, mean much tighter inventory because the store will know from hour to hour who buys what when. They will know that if the Mr. Smiths of the world buy product X, he will statically never buy product Y. They will be able to tell that buying something one week means that the same will or will not be bought the next.
But again, they will know that if you give Mr Smith, and only Mr Smith, a 20% off X, he will buy it but typically, if you offer 15%, he will not. So Mr Jones, who will typically buy at 10% off, will never ever get a 20% discount that is offered to Mr Smith.
They will know that if Mr Smith always buys a turkey at a discounted price the Monday after Thanksgiving, he is so used to this, he will never be offered a 30% discount because they know he will be buying with a lesser amount discounted. They will know he will buy at a higher price while Mr. Jones will only be tempted at the 30% off- but that he will buy stuffing mix, and extrta eggs, etc too at the full price.
They will know you better than you know you. And if they know you only buy at a price that is a loser for them, they will offer to Mr. Smith,Jones and Brown at a smaller discount to clear out as much inventory at a higher price and only then will there be a universal discount. You will not be offered this opportunity.

 

I still have not seen any comment that indicates understanding of the change this will make if widespread. This means that the old strategies for bargain hunting will not work so well.

I understand your point and it makes sense as I mentioned in my post. As it is right now there is not an overly large percentage of the population that is willing to do the work to be a savvy consumer. The added use of the detailed predictive behavior and pricing scheme creates a nearly transparent screen and hides some of the data that would be traditionally used by said savvy consumer. Here again, while there are certainly savvy consumers on HT, the percentage of the overall population who are willing to do the work needed is relatively small.

The Albertsons stores around here discontinued the discount cards several months ago. Over the last three years we have shifted a large portion of our purchasing to Amazon as they most often provide the best value for our dollar. That doesn't mean we don't do pricing comparisons (including gas and wear and tear on the vehicle to drive to the sticks-and-bricks store).