Food Fight: Combat Rising Costs
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Shawn McKee
Staff Writer
I check my stash. It’s low. I need to re-up. Eggs, milk, butter and bread -- that’s all I need, but it’s not that simple when you’re dealing with the shopping cartel. They want you to buy more, spend more and use more of their products than the last time. In short, they want you addicted to shopping.
As I walk into the compound, I feel their eyes on me: “How much will he spend? Does he know about our two-for-one deal on aisle 5?” I can hear them whispering. That’s when the most industrious of product pushers approaches me.
She looks like my grandma -- sweet and unassuming -- a slight woman who looked as if a strong breeze might sweep her away. “Would you like a sample, sir?”
Ha! I bet she’d like that, but I know that’s how dealers get you hooked. The first time’s free; then, I’m stopping by every day to get my honey-bun fix, spending hundreds a month on the sugary snack. So after I have a few samples I add honey buns to my cart.
I’m so high on sugar I don’t even notice the price of these sweet snacks. I am a weak man -- and an impulse purchaser. The cartel knows this, they prey on it, but that’s not the only ploy in their grocery bag of tricks.
They know they’ve got a captive audience, after all, who among us does not eat? And they’re not just targeting adults. They want to get your kids hooked, too. So, to expose these unscrupulous grocers and free sample fat cats, I risk everything and go undercover.
I’ve got a man on the inside, a supermarket snitch, but if it got out that he helped me, he’d be knocked back down to bag boy before he could say, “Paper or plastic?” He said he would speak with me on the terms that I kept his true identity out of the article.
I contact Mexico Mike -- as I call him -- and I ask him when I should come by? He speaks in a thick Honduran accent, “Sunday afternoon, if you can handle it.”
Two days to prepare -- I feel like Donnie Brasco.
The day arrives, my palms are sweaty and I barely slept the night before, but it’s too late to turn back now. I glue on a thick fake mustache, a la Magnum PI, and head out to meet my informant.
As I enter, I feel the cameras on me, I smell the freshly baking bread and I see the brightly colored “Sale!” signs. I am instantly hungry. I’ve entered Thunder-dome, my stomach knots, my palms start to sweat, I don’t see Mike anywhere, but I do find a great deal on cereal, six boxes for $10.
Then, I remember what Mike told me: “The smell from the bakery makes you hungry; never go to the grocery store on an empty stomach. You’ll buy way more than you bargained for.”
I start loading boxes of Crunch Berries into my cart. Out of the corner of my eye I see Mike approaching, he’s shaking his head.
“What are you doing? You don’t even eat cereal.” He’s right, what’s going on here? Why am I buying six boxes of something I wouldn’t normally buy one box of?
Mike explains that hungry people tend to shop more impulsively, so the bakery smell is all part of the plan to empty your wallet and fill your cart. Studies have proven this to be true.
Impulsive, who me?
“Surveys find that about 40 percent of what we actually buy (in the supermarket) are impulse items, products that were not on our list,” says Phil Lempert, a supermarket industry expert, apparently not afraid of the cartel.
Mike explains why bargain-shoppers (and who isn’t?) are easy targets for these cereal slingers, “Two-for-one deals are great if you were going to buy that product anyway, but if you’re buying in bulk something you weren’t going to buy, how are you saving any money?”
I hope this is rhetorical, but he just stares. Mike’s been hardened by the shopping cartel, he sees right through me. I fear what he knows, but we press on.
He goes on to explain that cereal is one of the cartel’s top earners. For most parents it’s a staple, so what some slick supermarkets do is put candy on the same aisle so when parents are shopping for sugar swirls or marshmallow-sugary-yum-yums, the kids are scoping the candy -- diabolical.
Plus, notice the location of the cereals on the shelves he points out. Expensive cereals at eye-level, kids’ cereal at a child’s eye level and the cheaper store brands pushed to the very bottom of the shelf. They don’t want you to know about this inexpensive alternative and grab the first thing you see.
Knowing the cartel is infiltrating the minds of our children shoots a chill down my spine. “Leave the kids at home, they shouldn’t have to see this until they’re older,” Mike warns. The cereal aisle is not the only place this occurs, he continues.
“Clean up, aisle 12,” blasts over the intercom. They must be onto us, I think.
Mike speaks into his earpiece and shakes his head.
“We’ve got a problem I have to take care of, stick to the perimeter of the store. Stay out of the aisles; they’re too dangerous for an impulse shopper. I’ll be back in a minute,” and he disappears. Here I go again on my own.
Staying on the perimeter is fine for a while, I get milk, eggs and find a deal on yogurt. Things are going swimmingly, then, the urge to splurge hits again when I see a display at the end of aisle five. SpaghettiOs, 10 cans for $10, I can’t pass this up. I start loading my cart. Out of nowhere Mike slaps a can of SpaghettiOs out of my hand.
“Control yourself man. This is not a deal. These items are usually a dollar. They just put them here on the ‘end-cap’ (end of the aisle display) to make these items more visible and try to pull you into the aisles. It’s usually an overstocked item that the store needs to sell more of, not a super deal.”
That’s when our cover’s blown. Two men walk up and Mike pretends to check expiration dates on milk. I can see the label guns they conceal behind their aprons. A roll of ammo, red sale stickers, hangs from one’s pocket.
“Can we help you, sir?” I’ve heard this before and I know what comes next. I quickly avert my eyes and start to walk away.
“No thanks, just trying to spend as much money as possible,” I reply. They smile menacingly and whisper something to Mike. The sweat returns, I’m reeling from the encounter and hypnotized by the soft music. Mike is gone.
I decide to leave before I disappear as well. Waiting in the check out line I add a pack of gum, a lint roller and a magazine to my cart. Then, I notice a piece of paper in my cart. It’s from Mike, I make sure the coast is clear and slip it into my pocket.
Once I get outside with my $76.92 worth of groceries, I take the piece of paper from my pocket and open it up.
Helpful advice
Here are a few more tips to keep your cart lean and your wallet fat:
Staples like milk, meat and eggs are on the perimeter to pull you through the aisles where you’ll impulsively buy junk food on a whim. Take a lap around the outside first.
Just because something looks like a good deal doesn’t mean it is. There’s a trend toward putting less product in the packages and charging the same price. Check the cost per unit on the price display, this way you can compare how much each brand charges per oz, gram or pound. Now you can really compare prices.
Buy generic if you can. A lot of these products are made in the same factories as their name brand cousins, but you don’t have to pay for advertising costs.
Make a list and stick to it.
If I ever see Mike again, I’ll thank him for making me a savvy, informed consumer. One cashier told me that now Mike, “works with the fishes.” I hope that means he’s in the seafood department.
Shawn McKee graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a BA in Journalism and has written for The Broward and Miami New Times. He’s now in the shopper relocation program.
I thought I had seen it all! Great way to keep interest and give information. Keep up the creativity!
One of the funniest things I've read in a while and full of great information!
very injoyable article, but you forgot to mention that while stores have all those tricks to get you to buy more they have one big one trick to get you into the store in the first place, its called the lost leader. this is actually very advantages to the shopper because the store actually takes a beating on one product in order to make it up selling other products to you. so know your prices and know whos offering the lost leaders and plan a field trip to cover all those store and make a killing. also sometimes , somebody will price an item incorrectly, boy thats icing on the cake. signed a retail worker.
Very witty and informational. As a recovering "shop-a-holic" myself I have found the best way to combat the sneaky strategies of the supermarkets is to only carry a specified amount of cash with your list. No matter how strong the impulse when the money's gone, the shopping is over.
you say to only shop in the perimeter of the supermarket, but what about the health food section & the cereal section. If we were to only shop in the perimeter where would we get our WHOLEGRAIN cereal, rice & pasta from? and what about frozen fruit and veggies to save money? they contain as many nutrients as fresh ones.
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