Grocery Shopping

[xoxoxoBruce]

The local grocery store I frequent is running a monopoly game again. For each $10 I spend they give me a game piece. Open the game piece and there's a coupon for cents off on shit(slam dunk trash can), a serial number to check for wins on the website(that's what the gmail acct is for), or a coupon to get 2 more game pieces from the store. Each game piece contains 4 sticker to match spots on the playing sheet. I can win grocery cards for $5 to $25, up to a half million dollar house or a million in cash. It's free(cost hidden in prices), I shopping there anyway, and no way buying extra to play more, so why not... I might even win something.

Then I found this...

Perhaps some of you living in the U.S. are playing the Safeway/Albertsons/Vons/etc. Monopoly game, which runs from Feb 3 to May 3. (For those not playing, it's a promotion in which you receive game pieces when you shop at these stores, and if you get the right combination of pieces you win various prizes).

Those playing might be interested in the experience of the "Slot Sisters" who committed themselves BIG TIME to the game when it ran last year.

By making mass purchases of Ramen noodles, they managed to acquire 42,000 game tickets. They also toured through 6 states, driving close to 3000 miles, because they thought that getting tickets in different locations would increase their chances of winning.

Their final grand total of winnings was $365 in gift cards and $800 in free groceries. Not a great return on investment. As they note, it's "not a game for people on a food budget."

And yet they promised that they'll be playing again this year.

While this doesn't alter my circumstances, it does lower my expectations of winning anything.

[glatt]

We've been collecting those tickets too. We are at the point where we have won nothing and need just one more ticket for each of the two dozen categories. At this point, every single ticket we get is a duplicate of one that we already have.

We'll keep playing, because you never know, but I am not spending a nickle more on food that I wouldn't already be buying. The store knows what it is doing. It's not giving anything away.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Another trick this same store has been doing lately is mailing me coupons, 2 for the coming week and two for the following week. Of the two for the coming week, one is always $5 off any order over $50. The second is a free item. Of the two for the following week, one is always 10% off any order over $80, and the second a free item.
The free items I remember have been a Pineapple, pound of bacon, pound of butter(twice), case of spring water, and 4 lbs of sugar. I kept the water and gave the rest to a friend. He kept everything but the sugar, which he gave to one of the plumbers working for him.
I believe this started about the time another chain closed, so it's probably a scramble to lure those customers, now I'm curious how long it will last.

A couple weeks ago I stopped to pick up a few things, and the two women it front of me took forever. The first had a huge order and insisted on paying with exact change. I'm amazed how many places she had change cached to go through. The purse, wallet, and coin purse were just the tip of the iceberg. The next wanted to split the order, and pay with cash, a check, and two plastic cards, while carefully applying coupons between the two orders.

Of course by then I had my shit on the belt and waiting. I got a sympathetic eye contact from the cashier, reassuring me I wasn't being unreasonable. While she finally was ringing my order a woman came up with one item, and laid a $5 coupon on the cashier to apply to my $52 order. I'm often on the other end of those kinds of things, and it felt strange to be on this end, but it made my day, and from the smile, hers too.

Hey, wait, the $5 coupon knocked my total from $52 to $47, which means I only got 4 game pieces instead of 5.