Hidden Grocery Store Discounts

[jeffrey]

Most people who shop look at the price of a product when trying to save money. While on the surface this makes perfect sense, there are ways to get certain products for less money even when they are priced higher than competing brands. The key to accomplishing this is finding "hidden discounts."

Take cereal for example. You're walking down the grocery store aisle and come to the cereal area. You find two boxes of cornflakes that are exactly the same unit volume size, but one costs $4.95 while the other costs $3.95. Which one do you choose?

Most shoppers would answer the box for $3.95, but those who know how to find hidden discounts would answer, "It depends - are there any give-away items in the higher priced box?"




A little known secret is that certain collectible items given away as part of product promotion can mean a deep discount on the product and sometimes even mean getting it for free or making money from it. While it takes some time and research to learn which give-away products are likely to sell well to collectors, learning this skill can result in greatly lowering your grocery bill.

If you resell the promotion products on online auctions, timing is everything. Most collectors want the items right away so the sooner you have them up for auction once they have been released, the higher the price you are going to get. The other option is to hold onto the item for a period of time when it is no longer available in stores and most other sellers have stopped selling it.

It also helps to find promotions that are not nationwide. When a promotion is nationwide, it's easy for collectors to go to their local store and get the promotion item themselves meaning the price that you can get for the promotional item will be limited. Regional only items, on the other hand, mean that many people in the country can't get the promo item and this will likely increase the amount you can sell it for.

If you have a friend that lives in a foreign country, you can often times trade food related promotion items and easily have them pay for themselves even with the added shipping costs. Since foreign promo items are much more scarce than those found in your home country, a barter system with a friend overseas can mean you get a lot of your food for free.

So the next time you're walking down the grocery store aisle and see a promotion, you might want to take a few minutes when you return home to see what price people selling that promo are getting on the online auctions. You may be surprised at the hidden discount you never knew about before.

[kafiske]

It also pays you to know the store's policy on mismarked items and expired items. Some stores will give you a free item if you find one that is out of date (usually dairy items). My local store's policy on mismarked items is that you get it free PLUS a dollar if it doesn't ring up at the marked price. I just got a package of large tortillas for free, they are usually around $2.69 and they were marked $5.99. Even though they rang up at the usual $2.69, they were marked the $5.99, and therefor free PLUS a dollar! Yippee!!!!!! I look for these items and get about 1 a month. It takes time to look for these things in a store.
Andrea