Monday, January 12, 2009

Grocery Store Geek

I am a grocery store geek.

There, I admit it.

What does this mean? I actually enjoy grocery shopping. I like walking down each aisle, selecting items based on price and need, and doing my best to be a good home economist. When the Hoos was in law school and I was left to my own devices on nights and weekends while he studied I would review the circulars for all of the local grocery stores and plan a whirlwind tour that would assure me the best deals and the best stocked pantry.

I come by it honestly, as both my parents also enjoy going food shopping as well.

Today I think I achieved grocery store geek nirvana. I checked myself out at our Stop & Shop. This is not just your regular self check out, this is where you carry around a scanner and scan and bag your groceries as you go. IT WAS AWESOME.

For those of you out there who are always looking for the best deal, it was so sweet to be able to scan items to find out their sale price without hunting down an inept sales clerk.

Also, because they are trying to entice people to use the funky mechanism, they provide on the spot discounts outside of the usual deals and coupons. I saved $1.25 this way (not much, but when you consider my bill went from $94 to $74 thanks to coupons, discounts, etc. you can see how every little bit counts).

I can already see AK and LP loving using the scanner. I will make grocery store geeks out of them yet!

5 comments:

Lori said...

This technology is likely my mother's biggest nightmare.

How does this work? How do they ensure you aren't shoplifting - scanning only half the items? I don't mean "you" of course, but the general public.

AmyBow said...

I thought about this, and I think since you are required to have a store card they must somehow keep tabs on when you visit and inventory. I would guess that the funky thing also has a GPS in it so if say, lobsters, going missing on any given day they can see which scanner and which shopper were near the lobster tank. Totally big brother. But I still love it.

3XMom said...

I know! Some of our Giant grocery stores have the same thing. LOVE it!

For those wanting to know...they do random audits of people using the system to check for fraud.

A's Mom said...

I want one of those things. I love going grocery shopping and SAVING money. Unfortunately, I lose all concentration when I have LMA with me, so I try to do it by myself at night.

KiKi said...

My name is Kiki and I'm a grocery store geek. (Hi, Kiki!) It's one of my favorite chores... and I get ragged by my family for the amount of time I spend in grocery stores. When my sister calls my cell, the first thing she asks is, "are you at Stop & Shop?" But I love taking my time and saving, even if it's only a dollar. Hey, it's MY dollar.