Chat with freebie shopper Alana Lipkin

Alana Lipkin: Hi. I'm the shopper in Bruce Mohl's August 20th column, and I'm happy to answer your questions. To start off I'd like to provide some additional background information.
Alana Lipkin: It's important to understand that I was not banned from the supermarkets because I "abused" some "policy." There's a law involved. Many people are unaware of the reason why Shaws and Stop & Shop have the price accuracy guarantee. They don't do it because they believe their pricing is accurate. They don't do it because they're good corporate citizens. They do it to save money. Lots of money.
Alana Lipkin: These stores are subject to inspection by the Department of Weights and Measures. Each violation can result in a fine of $100-unless they have a "qualified price accuracy guarantee." If they have such a guarantee the fine is reduced by 50% to $50 per violation. The maximum fine per inspection is $2500 without the guarantee, and $1250 with it.
Alana Lipkin: http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/gl-94-toc.htm
Alana Lipkin: Link to MGL section 94, chapter 184 which covers price accuracy guarantees.
Alana Lipkin: http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/gl-94-toc.htm
Alana Lipkin: Link to MGL section 94, chapter 184 which covers price accuracy guarantees.

brian: i saw two nearly identical packages of Shaws ground sirlion 85% lean 15% fat , one was $1.07 and the other was $4 something
Alana Lipkin: Assuming that the prices per pound on both were correct, this sounds more like an issue with an inaccurate scale.

mompinchingpennies: The expense of groceries for a family of four is sometimes more than our monthly mortgage. What can we do to get our food spending under control?
Alana Lipkin: Make sure that you're checking prices. It was rare for me to shop at either Shaws or Stop & Shop without getting overcharged. See if the price on the shelf tag matches the price marked on the item. If items aren't being marked, complain to the Division of Standards--the phone number (by law) will be posted in the store.

seashore2006: How do you know what to look for?
Alana Lipkin: It's really very easy. Check the price on the item and compare it to the shelf tag. If the item price is lower, chance are it will be free. (It takes less effort to change one tag than to reprice all the items.) Also check the date of the sale tag--often the store is lazy about removing them. And finally, some of the items put on sale with the card were previously that same price without the card, and some will probably be incorrectly marked.

Joker14511: Don't you think that you're abusing a policy they installed to protect the customer? Just because you found a product and you get it for free, doesn't give you the right to abuse it. Do you have a response?
Alana Lipkin: I absolutely have a response--please re-read my introduction. This isn't some "policy" they have because they like to be nice. It's based on the law referenced in the beginning of my chat--MGL 94, section 184. You can find the link there.

Maureen_2 :I've taken advantage of pricing errors and sometimes gone back into the store later on andgotten the same item free again because they hadn't corrected the error.
Alana Lipkin: This is part of my outrage! After getting hundreds of dollars of free stuff, I'd go back to the same store and get many of the same items. I would even use my old receipt as a shopping list. For a time I tried to keep track of what I got, but it became too tedious. At one time I had 14 boxes of Triscuits from the Framingham BJ's! My kids cringe when they see those crackers.

msl: who determines if its free, the cashier? this sounds like alot of work and time which most people don't have
Alana Lipkin: Print out a copy of the law when you go shopping. Nobody has to determine anything--if the item rings in higher than it's marked or signed, it's free. (The exception is if it rings in over double AND was not sold at that price within the last 30 days.) If you don't assert your rights they will sometimes try to over-ride the price. Show them the copy of the law, and be willing to file a complaint.

BBP :When you get free merchandise, what do you do with it? Is it typically something you need or use? Or do you turn around and sell it again?
Alana Lipkin: If I don't need it today, then chances are I will need it someday, or know someone who can use it. I've donated tons of stuff to my kids' current and former schools, to the food pantry, and other charities.

jennykate :How many of an "error" item do you "buy" at once? LIKE - did you buy 14 boxes of triscuits in one sale?
Alana Lipkin: Good question. The law limits you to 1 of each item. An item is defined by its UPC. So this involved 14 different trips to the same store to get the same mis-marked item.

willisan :Why would you need 14 boxes of triscuits? Just because you can take advantage of a buisiness, does not mean you should.
Alana Lipkin: The point here is that the store had 13 chances to correct a mistake, and chose not to. Most of the triscuits were donated.

Neen :I love it I must say I do feel like if they can't find responsible employees to mark the items correctly then why should we feel like we are doing anything wrong. I get free bred from my grocery store because the price that it rings up is 10 cent more than the actual price on the bread. Now I have been getting free bread for nearly 2 months because to this date they haven't change the price of the bread.
Alana Lipkin: Again the store is choosing not to fix the problem, and their other shoppers are getting ripped off.

Danielle :How good is Market Basket's pricing in comparison to the other two?
Alana Lipkin: In my experience Market Basket is much better at accurately pricing things (and also cheaper), but they don't have any sort of scan guarantee. bob $200 in free stuff is an awful lot. How do you do it?
Alana Lipkin: $200 isn't much at all when a tin of olive oil is $25.99 and many non-food items such as vitamins, batteries and seasonal goods are also expensive.

seashore2006 :what is the highest price item you have gotten for free?
Alana Lipkin: I've gotten lawn furniture from Stop & Shop, including a nice swing. Recently I have gotten $46 Proctor Silex grills from Shaws.

wayside: Do you believe stores are intentionally mis-pricing items in order to entice you to buy something?
Alana Lipkin: That's a tricky question. I don't think that anyone wakes up and says, "I'm going to mis-mark the bread by 10 cents to sell more loaves." But when the store chooses not to fix a problem, their inaction becomes a sort of intent. It's also interesting to see the variation between stores within a chain--you won't find many mis-marked items at the Ashland Shaws because they finally cleaned up their act after I left with over $2000 of free stuff last month. You also won't find much at the River Street store in Waltham, or the store in Canton, because the managers there do a good job.

bob :This chat could provide a little motivation to the supermarkets to pay attention to the law. You might not be able to pull this off much longer is enough people start copying you to get the stores' attention.
Alana Lipkin: I would love it if more people held the supermarkets accountable. I would expect them to be busily trying to fix the stores now, but my experience has shown me that they have very short attention spans. A store that's in good shape today may be a disaster in a month or two--unless the manager is on top of things. And very few are either able or willing.

saver_ :Often times items aren't marked with price tags, isn't that the supermarkets way of trying to ban this sort of thing...
Alana Lipkin: If items are not marked in the grocery store they are not complying with the law and should be reported.

johnny_v :hmm, I dont agree. With your Triscuit example, the Nabisco rep is the person who marks the boxes no the store employee. therefore he is making an innocent mistake and will be reamed out by the store manager
Alana Lipkin: Ultimately the store is responsible for the pricing of the items, and if the rep did indeed make a mistake it's up to the store to fix it. I can see the store manager blaming the rep for the first box, but after that it's the manager's responsibility.

manfmnantucket :do they have to honor the price when they UNDER price? I tried to get Walmart to honor a price for a PC game it had labelled wrong on the rack but they refused
Alana Lipkin: No, and Wal-Mart does not have a price accuracy guarantee. They will however give you up to $3 off per item if it rings in higher--just make sure the cashier uses "reason code 1" and not "reason code 4." Many of their food items--when they are marked at all--are marked incorrectly.

Mocean :Instead of banning you, those 2 grocery chains should be thanking you for keeping them on their toes and ensuring that they don't continue to steal from the shopping public. I'm with you all the way. Keep searching and saving!
Alana Lipkin: Thanks.

seashore2006 :The article only mentions Shaws and Stop and Shop. Have you found many pricing errors at other retail locations?
Alana Lipkin: Good question. As far as I know, the only grocery stores with price accuracy guarantees are Shaws, Stop & Shop, Hannaford and Big Y. I've spent very little time at Big Y so I can't evaluate them. Of the other 3, Shaws and Stop & Shop were generally awful. Hannaford wasn't usually as bad. Costco and BJ's also have a price accuracy guarantee, but not all items apply in the clubs. Only grocery items apply--this includes food, pet food, cleaning supplies, disposable paper and plastic and light bulbs. This is all detailed in MGL chapter 94, section 184.

jj :Are there any items in particular that are usually priced incorrectly?
Alana Lipkin: I suspect that by posting the answer to your question that they will no longer be incorrectly priced, at least for a while. Check out olive oils (especially the expensive ones), film, batteries, household goods and any types of products that have seen a recent price increase. Also check out the boxes that are dusty or damaged--you know they haven't been sold for a while.

AmyLyn :If you are allowed 1 "error" item that you "buy" how long to do usually wait to go back to the store to get to see if they've rectified their pricing problem?
Alana Lipkin: I usually give the stores a night to fix the problem, but the problems should be fixed immediately.

yarrr :What are the most common ways that consumers are being ripped off by grocery stores? I feel like I'm a smart shopper but now I feel like I should be more vigilant. What should I look for?
Alana Lipkin: I think the rewards cards are a big rip-off. The grocery stores sell your purchasing information (not your personal information) so that companies can target you with coupons. I only use the rewards card when I gain something--when I know something will ring in on sale with it. I get the targeted coupon either way, and if I don't use the rewards card the store isn't making money on my purchase history.

johnny_v: Alana, I am all for taking advantage of this but when you are taking advantage on such a large scale as you do, isnt there a morality issue here? Dont you realize that someone is going ot have to pay for this mistake? Most likely the 16 yr old employee who is going to school full time, playing sports and working to try to make some money. I agree with your "snagging" but only to a point. You need to think about the people who are getting fired because of your exploitation
Alana Lipkin: I am unaware of any employee being fired as a result of my getting free stuff, but I also have no tolereance for incompetence. The 16 year old employee in your example would be learning a valuable lesson. The moral of the story is: Do good work.

TF: Alana, according to the article you selected 15 items that you thought might be mis-priced, got two of them for free, and insisted that the store reshelve the other 13. I do not see how a supermarket can possibly make a profit on your behavior no matter how accurate their pricing. If they are perfect (and perfection is impossible), you will simply dump the items on the cashier and walk out of the store.
Alana Lipkin: This is a good point. On the one hand, 13% of the items did ring in higher than they were marked, which is still unacceptable. On the other hand, in this trip I was choosing items that I had frequently found to be mis-marked as examples to the Globe reporter.
Alana Lipkin: I also pointed out some errors to the store manager for items which I didn't actually purchase. If the store had been a mess I would have gotten the items for free instead.
Alana Lipkin: In my earlier post listing grocery stores with a price accuracy guarantee I neglected to mention Whole Foods. I don't often look for stuff there because they seem to really try and price things accurately, and because they are, for the most part, polite. abchat so, how many hours are you in the grocery store each visit to discover $200s worth of errors?
Alana Lipkin: Another good question. It all depends on the store manager. It seems like some managers will prolong the process, hoping that I'll give up. I usually will pay for a basket of items, bring it to customer service, and tell them that I'll continue looking for things until they're done. Then I'll get another basket of things, and eventually they will realize that it's to their advantage to quickly take care of me. If the manager is good (Canton or River Street in Waltham) their employees will get you out of there quickly just because they're courteous.

jennykate: Sometimes (I shop Stop & Shop), when something rings up wrong, customer service refunds the total amount. Other times, they have refunded the "difference". Is it that they just don't "know" what they're supposed to do?
Alana Lipkin: This is where it's hard to tell what's ignorance, and what's incompetence. Unless it's a gross and obvious error (see the earlier post) you should get the item for free. Was the employee just misinformed? Were he/ she too lazy to fill out the paperwork? Were they trying to avoid complying with the scan guarantee? I don't know. By the way, the paperwork is tedious, but the law doesn't require any paperwork. We'd all be better off if they skipped the paperwork and just fixed the problem.

dallaschick: You say to check the price on the item. A lot of times, there is no price on items, right? How do you check then?
Alana Lipkin: Then it's more difficult. The first thing you must do is file a complaint so that they start marking items. And then you must remember what the shelf tags says for each item to see if it rings in wrong. My memory usually isn't quite that good.

nicky: If you have a cents-off coupon for an item that is priced incorrectly, will the store give you money back?
Alana Lipkin: In that case just ask for the coupon back so you can use it if you need to purchase it again.

jennykate: (I don't), but have you done the "grocery game" or any of those other coupon "helps" out there?
Alana Lipkin: I'm not sure what you're talking about, but it sounds interesting.

jennykate: Not necessarily for this, but I wish the grocery stores had those "price check" scanners in the aisles like Target. It would be SO helpful when there's a missing sale sign and I "think" something is supposed to be on sale.
Alana Lipkin: If the grocery store did a good job in pricing things the scanner would be unnecessary. I'm sure the grocery stores would love to use scanners instead of item pricing, but who wants to take their groceries to a scanner? If you report the stores that are incompetent and/ or lazy, hopefully you won't still hope for the price check scanners.

BBP: Have you thought about turning what you do into a consulting business? Something that the stores would be interested in paying you to do? Or do you like it the way it is now?
Alana Lipkin: Since I've been banned from the two largest grocery chains I couldn't make much of a business out of it. It's something that would interest me if I thought it would work. The bottom line is that I don't think that the stores care about accurate pricing. If they did, they would have thanked me instead of banning me.
Alana Lipkin: Let me close with this comment:
Alana Lipkin: Since I was banned from chain wide from the stores for using the scan guarantee, it's only appropriate that their fine discounts be rescinded effective that same date. I would hope that the Department of Weights and Measures and the Attorney General both have the will to do this. I am also working toward a law that would ban stores from retaliating.