Discussions

Suppose you see tomatoes or beets or the like advertised in the weekly flyer for 99 cents a pound.  
Would 2 or 3 such items have you leaning toward buying all your groceries there this week?  
Suppose the item(s) weren't there....not even shelf space where they were supposed to be!  
Suppose you ask if they will give a rain check and without even looking up, reply "nope!"  
If this had happened once, I'd chalk it up as possible delivery problem! Twice, same thing: but, after repeated times, what would you call their 'loss leader'?

What exactly is your question?  
 
To answer your first line, If two or three items were advertised for a rock bottom price at a store that normally has good prices, I would indeed limit my stops and shop for everything in one place. Then again, I'm also an educated shopper...If a store consistently has the highest prices around but offers one or two items at a lower price, (like Co-Op), I would still avoid that place and pay a higher price elsewhere, knowing my end grocery bill will be lower than Co-Op.  
 
If I went to get these items, and there was no shelf space andor items werent there, I would just buy elsewhere. It would be stupid to repeatedly go to a store to find cheap tomatoes knowing they didnt have them the last two times.  
 
Please read the FINE PRINT in the bottom back of the flyer...Walmart, Superstore, Safeway/Sobeys, Co-Op, GT, CT, Save-On, Shoppers....they all say "NOT ALL ITEMS AVAILABLE IN ALL STORES"

There's too many variables to make a decision based on that occurrence, besides the reasons you and others mentioned also add that maybe they do have sufficient stock of those items and other shoppers stock up on them before you get a chance to., depleting the shelves.  
 
Unless you are literally the first person shopping every single morning after restocking happened it would be hard to judge, maybe ask to speak with staff next time, they might have info on those items.

I'll go with first response - it made sense.

That a “particular” store should be allowed to be named. According to eBrandon etiquette I believe

.....I was one of the first in today!  
 
I want to add that in the past this store gave rain checks but never once was any one of them good because they had an expiry date that ended before stock came in.  
 
Again, refer to my last sentence.  
 
PS before anyone says I should have got updated rain checks - I tried that too: but stock still never came in!  
 
Edited by Smoothie, 2020-12-09 18:25:03

I didn't have to mention their name!!  
My letter was simply there to let this chain know some people don't like going all the way to their store, only to find they were a victim of a marketing ploy!

First off, as far as I know, a loss leader is what brings you in. The front and the back flyer items are what are meant to entice you to fill up your cart on the more profitable items.  
 
As for items being out of stock, it happens in a first come first serve system. Though it happens everywhere, the general rule is the early bird gets the worm.  
 
Another aspect can be that not all chains carry everything in their nationally distributed flyer.  
 
If in doubt, just call ahead and check if the stock is in or not.  
 
Edited by Simonwalcal, 2020-12-10 12:50:14

I worked at all 4 local chains + my independent grocery store and call all this BS to suck in the low IQ.

As my dear departed grand pa used to say , '' SUCKER BAIT '' !!!  
There is a law against these dubious practices . Google Consumer Affairs and False or Misleading Advertising !!!

^^  
 
This is why I am glad to be out of retail.

I wonder how many people whining about this actually know how things work? It's like people think there's infinite storage space to contain 20,000 units of everything on sale PLUS everything that isn't on sale.  
 
The store I work at, I have very little space to work with in terms of storage and can only hold a few hundred of a SINGLE big-ticket item at a time. Then customers get angry at me when said item runs out, as if they expect me to just throw out all my other stock to cram the storage completely full.  
 
It also doesn't help when people keep gaming the system and go "oh, a limit of 4? Well, I need 4 for me, 4 for my spouse, 4 for my kid, 4 for my friend, 4 for my dog, 4 for my fish..." and stagger their visits so staff don't notice as easily.  
 
Also of note: if the store orders, say, 1200 units of a certain big-ticket item and ends up with 700 left at the end of they week, they're NOT going to order 1200 for the next time - more like 7-800. (Also, when you have to order a month in advance, you don't have much more to go on than what you sold the last few times)

Okay, let me break it down for you:  
 
I have enough space in my cooler for approximately 12,000 units of a specific item, assuming I carry absolutely NO OTHER STOCK for the entire week.  
 
Let's assume a limit of 4 per person and an average of 10,000 customers a week.  
 
That means that if even if I remove all of my other stock that people might need, there's still people who will have to miss out, on top of complaints of other essential stock not being available because people like you are getting antsy over not being able to overload on a sale item.  
 
And "while quantities last" means that when the item is sold out: that's it, no more.  
 
Then throw all the recent supply issues on top of everything as well.

Seems like a lot of emotional energy to waste on some tomatoes. Good luck on your future shopping trips, TC.