Disguising Price Increases(No Politics Please)

[worth1]

The idea of paying 60 dollars for a tomahawk steak is outrageous.
When I built my Argentine grill I paid I think 25 dollars for the same steak to celebrate the grill.
I thought it was a little spendy but what the heck.
Back when my wife and I were really poor we could afford a good steak.
Now the darned things are almost half the monthly rent payment back then.

[Danny]

Newish and young front end manager at one of the local stores today, was almost comically ignorant about his own store sales and dates. Checking out, picked up 2 shank end hams ( my fave end) and it rang up at the marked price, not the sale price in the weekly advert. Cashier knew the price was wrong, I knew, PIC knew, and we all were telling him to look at the store advert ten feet behind him, LOL, and he kept telling me the price was for a spiral cut ham, not the ones I had. Difference between hams, mine at 97 cents a pound, his was $2.49 a pound.

Finally, he quit looking at his phone and got the advert and was surprised we were all correct about the price and dates of the sale...
if he is married, his wife does the grocery shopping I bet.

I DID resist the strong urge to say "Duh uh." when he was surprised that the sale lasted ALL week. Bless his heart.

[Sue_CT]

In Connecticut, if a grocery item, a “consumable“ rings up for the wrong price you get one of that item for free. The grocery stores hate it, of course, but they do fix things pretty quick.

[JRinPA]

wow, that is a good law. Is it wrong price, or over the marked price (i hope the latter).

Hey uncle feist, were those pork butts 1.94/lb at the sale price or the original price. Were those only 2 - 3 lb butts? Usually butts are 6-7 lb each.

[Uncle_Feist]

wow, that is a good law. Is it wrong price, or over the marked price (i hope the latter).

Hey uncle feist, were those pork butts 1.94/lb at the sale price or the original price. Were those only 2 - 3 lb butts? Usually butts are 6-7 lb each.

@JRinPA I didn't look at the per pound price butt they were around $30 each original price. They had been marked down the day before to around $20 each and didn't sell. When I walked by that morning I noticed that the sell by date was that very day so I asked the meat manager to scan em again. Meat gets cheap when it hasn't sold by SBD.

[Sue_CT]

That law only applies to items that scan over the sale price.

[karstopography]

I try to really pay attention to what the price is for each item and then what it scans for. I’ve caught them before with prices scanned at register being above the price displayed at the shelf. How come the error is essentially always in the store’s favor? An accident or deliberate, what do you think? I thought so, but I don’t get huffy or anything, but will stand my ground when I am certain I’m in the right.

HEB has been good about this mismatch of price at register vs. at the shelf and will generally take my word for it. Once in a while they will send someone over to the shelf to confirm and that’s fine. I want to pay whatever was displayed at the shelf or I would not have picked up the item.

HEB has even honored coupons that technically they don’t have to, maybe the coupon was expired by one day or that the size was slightly different or the coupon refuses to scan in and match the product for some reason, they will send in a manager to override the system. Overall, HEB has been fair. Some errors are likely just input errors and I do believe these errors happen more at the start of a sale when maybe the kinks have not been corrected.

[Sue_CT]

They were getting so frequent around here and they were getting so many complaints that they passed the law because there was a high level of suspicion that it could have been either done on purpose or simply not corrected on purpose because a lot of people don’t catch it. So it isn’t just the sale price, but if it rings up for more than the posted price in the aisle, same rules apply.

[Danny]

In Connecticut, if a grocery item, a “consumable“ rings up for the wrong price you get one of that item for free. The grocery stores hate it, of course, but they do fix things pretty quick.

Makes a good incentive for the store to keep prices as advertised/posted. Good law, though I know margins are thin at the grocery stores overall.

I always check my receipts as mistakes happen, both pro and con, and I have caught a couple of doozies in the years past. Always polite about it, but sometimes my eyes are internally eye rolling so bad, Ha ! I think I have seen the roots of my hairs in the back of my head a time or three. If it is just a few cents, either pro/con, I ignore it, but I have tried to pay what the store shorted themselves a few times, too, though as best as I recall, the managers always wave it off.

Down here, if the product sticker is one price and it rings higher, or back in the day when groceries used sticker guns ( now you all KNOW I am old Ha!), if one can had say a price of 79 cents and the other cans were marked higher for the same brand, item and size, you pay the lower price for all of that item you bought. Also, the sticker guns made a "thwacka, thwacka" sound and you could find an employee real easy by following the sound !! That and I can recall when the stores all had ashtrays all over and people smoked in stores. I'm getting to be a dinosaur !

[JRinPA]

Yeah, dinosaur, I haven't used a sticker gun to tag since...last weekend? Yeah they are still around.

Stock prices are always going up, so if you find old stock on display that is tagged cheaper, fine, but don't expect same newer stock items tagged 50 cents higher to be honored at that lower price from a month back

It is interesting reading this thread, especially regarding the meat prices.

[JayneR13]

Head's up people! We're likely to be seeing Covid-era shortages again very soon. FYI. Plan accordingly.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/22/busiest ... affic.html

[Sue_CT]

Hopefully, they won’t last long. Once shortages hit the shelves hopefully Trump will pull back on his demands with China and ships will be running again. Hopefully it will only be a few weeks before supplies increase again.

[JayneR13]

There's nothing wrong with hoping. There's nothing wrong with planning either IMO.

[worth1]

What would one even know to stock up on?
Most of the stuff I buy isn't from China when it comes to food.

[Sue_CT]

Any Asian countries actually. Rice is one item.

[GoDawgs]

From: https://www.usarice.com/thinkrice/disco ... rice-facts

U.S.-Grown Rice Facts
- The U.S. is the 5th largest rice exporter in the world and the largest rice exporter outside of Asia.
- 95 percent of all sushi eaten in the U.S. is made with U.S.-grown rice.
- 80 percent of all the rice consumed in the U.S. is grown in the U.S. I would think some of the rice that doesn't do out can be diverted to US use.

That last one kind of surprised me.

[karstopography]

We like rice. The Basmati we eat comes from India and Pakistan, the Jasmine from Thailand, the long grain from the US. The US is a net exporter of rice. Texas is one of the places in the US where rice is grown commercially and Riviana in nearby Freeport TX exports rice around the world.
Arkansas is the biggest rice producer in the US.

I deliberately avoid any food from the PRC.

[worth1]

We like rice. The Basmati we eat comes from India and Pakistan, the Jasmine from Thailand, the long grain from the US. The US is a net exporter of rice. Texas is one of the places in the US where rice is grown commercially and Riviana in nearby Freeport TX exports rice around the world.
Arkansas is the biggest rice producer in the US.

I deliberately avoid any food from the PRC.

Ditto for me too.
I've got basmati rice I bought during the pandemic.

[worth1]

Speaking of rice.
What was he thinking.

[JayneR13]

How you prepare is entirely up to you. FYI the US actually imports quite a bit from China. They're our third largest trading partner, or at least they were. My OP showed no boats in any port, east or western US. Lots of our trading partners are not shipping to us right now.

Here's a partial list of the stuff we import from China, courtesy of the Google AI:

The United States imports a wide variety of goods from China, including electrical machinery, textiles, apparel, toys, and electronics. Some of the most significant categories include electrical and electronic equipment, machinery, toys, plastics, and furniture. China is also a major supplier of lithium-ion batteries, with the U.S. importing $13.1 billion worth in 2023.
Here's a more detailed breakdown:

Electronics and Electrical Equipment:

--Electrical machinery and TV parts: $124.97 billion in 2024.

Nuclear reactor parts and mechanical appliances: $82 billion in 2024.
--Semiconductors: China is a major importer of semiconductors, including central processing units assembled in the US by companies like Intel.

Other Key Imports:

Textiles and Apparel: China is a major supplier of apparel and textiles to the U.S., though its market share is decreasing as manufacturers shift production to Southeast Asia.

Toys and Games: Over 70% of toys sold in the U.S. are made in China, with imports totaling $11 billion in 2023.

Plastics: China is a major supplier of plastic products.

Furniture, Lighting, and Prefabricated Buildings: This category includes a wide range of furniture and related products.

Vehicles: China is also a significant supplier of vehicles and vehicle parts.

Lithium-ion Batteries: In 2023, the U.S. imported $13.1 billion in lithium-ion batteries from China, accounting for 70% of all U.S. imports that year.

Iron and Steel: China supplies various iron and steel products to the U.S.

Optical and Photographic Parts: China supplies a variety of optical and photographic equipment.

Other: China also exports a wide range of other products, including pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and various manufactured goods.

Examples of Products Highly Dependent on Chinese Suppliers:
baby carriages and umbrellas, children's coloring books, and fireworks.