Krogering

Yesterday we needed enough food to feed 10 or more people. So we needed to "go Krogering," our new store is right down the road, just a few miles west of us near where we used to live in Blanchester.

Now we didn't need preserves like our good friends produce in Greene County, shown in the picture at the Greene County Fair.

We needed fresh food, fast. We depend on our local Kroger store to provide that again and again and they do give us fresh food, fast. Not as fast as McDonalds but a better selection of food we can serve to our friends and family and ourselves.

I spent $33 to cover our quick menu of fresh salad, fruit, pizza and even a sweet dessert. Not too bad for 10 plus people, right?

I am a receipt studyer so I quickly looked at it when I got home. They got me again. The 69 cent lettuce was billed at normal price, so were the cucumbers and a couple of other items. I know I need to check it at checkout but who has time to check it then? It is a mad rush to get through any checkout, even when slow and leisurely which never seems to happen.

The center of the fruit bowl was full of green and orange melon, low priced items they make a profit on for usual $10 plus fruit bowl. We have bought one per week for a long time. It was better than last week, someone had shoved off over ripe green melon in the fruit bowl LuAnn wouldn't eat. I don't blame her, it was soft and mushy.

Earlier this summer I bought two boxes of cereal with a blue dot on them so I could get a gallon of milk with it for "free." There is no free anything as we all know and they charged me for the milk. I never knew it until I got home and checked my receipt.

The soft melon is one thing but the item not matching the price at the pickup area is a real problem at Kroger's and across the country. Fast moving items change price so quickly they claim they can't keep the computer updated quick enough. So we get gouged a little, one item at a time.

One gas station had gas for $2.79 on the sign by the street but I go to fill up and and the pump says $2.89. Who has time to squabble with the cashier who probably doesn't even know it is going on?

So I am writing a letter to Kroger and mailing it with the discrepancies on it and mailing it to the manager at the local store. I know they will make it right, they always do. But I shouldn't have to.

Some farmer quoted the attack on corn sweeteners by Hunt and many other companies at his local WalMart Grocery at the sweetener talk at Southwest Corn Growers yesterday. I don't know why anyone would shop there if they knew the whole story but that is their choice.

We don't shop WalMart.

This is all of waste of time because my money is in my $500 per acre crops and the cost to produce them. A ten cent difference there amounts to thousands of dollars. I need to stay on my buyers and suppliers and believe me I try. That is where real money is lost or made.

The same principle applies to all of us every time we shop.

Are you a smart shopper?

Ed Winkle