PSA: I just realized my local discount grocery store has been price gouging me on eggs

I always thought I was saving money by shopping at SaveMor in Austin instead of HEB. But last week I actually added up my receipts and saw I paid $6.49 a dozen there while HEB sells them for $3.99. They just bank on people assuming discount stores are always cheaper. Anyone else check their receipts and find a similar surprise?

3 comments

3 Comments

terry_thomas22d ago

Wait, are we supposed to be checking receipts now? I thought the whole point of discount stores was that you just throw stuff in your cart and hope for the best. I actually had the opposite thing happen at a fancy market near me where I thought I was getting ripped off on milk but it was actually cheaper than the regular grocery store. It's hard to keep track these days with prices jumping around like crazy. I just buy whatever looks clean and hope I'm not getting totally hosed.

terryf6222d ago

I saw a news segment a few weeks back that said some stores are using dynamic pricing now, like how airlines do it, so the price on the shelf might not match what's in the system. At a chain grocery store near me, they had a sign for apples at 2 bucks a bag but when I rang them up at the self-checkout they came up as 2.50. I had to call a manager over and she just shrugged and changed it manually. It's gotten to the point where I'll check two or three items on every trip, not just because I'm paranoid but because I've been overcharged more than a few times lately. Your mileage may vary but it definitely feels like you have to watch your step a lot closer than even a year ago.

michaelchen20d ago

That actually happened to me last week at a big box store, I grabbed a bag of frozen chicken that had a big yellow clearance sticker on it for $7.99 but when I scanned it at self-checkout it came up $11.49. The funny thing is I was so used to prices being wrong that I didn't even bother calling someone over, I just walked over to the meat section and grabbed another bag that didn't have a sticker on it and that one scanned at $7.99. My wife says I'm getting too cynical about grocery shopping but honestly I'd rather be cynical than overpay on stuff I know is cheaper somewhere else. I keep thinking about how stores must be making a killing off people who don't notice these little differences, especially older folks who might not think to double check everything. It's wild how much the whole shopping experience has changed in just the last couple years.