That's a great price! I haven't bought beef in months, but notice the prices have skyrocketed. I just got back from the grocery store, and was thinking the same thing about discounts being available only to those with cell phones. Or those with phones but without the know-how to use the apps. My elderly mom, for example, has a cell phone and does pretty well with it, but she hasn't figured out coupons yet - or maybe she just doesn't want to since they tailor things to one's interests/purchases. I definitely check the available coupons and always use "shop and scan" with my phone, which wills tell me about coupons for items I add to my cart.

I just purchased a pack of prime NY strips at Costco for $13.99 per pound and felt like I won the lottery.

For our family, Publix has decent BOGOs which I purchased often. I don't use their app. Some of their regularly priced items are $$$$. Wegmans is the next closest store and their loyalty program is worthless.

Once a week I log into my accounts for all the stores I shop and clip all the digital coupons. I don't clip those that I know I definitely won't use. That way I don't have to clip them while I'm shopping.

I guess clipping coupons on the app are the new clipping coupons from the paper. I find it annoying as well. At least my supermarket makes it clear that there’s a better price to be had, but even then it sometimes takes time to ”take.”

I say ”at least” because I’ve had experiences before where it wasn’t clear. I’m looking at you, Target! You can’t tell, at the store, that there’s a coupon to clip. You literally have to check everything you buy, on the app. At least that was my experience, and confirmed by the store manager, when I was ”overcharged” for a toaster oven a couple years ago.

Sushipup what a great deal you got! I haven't seen that low a price in a long time!

Between Aldi, Costco and Trader Joe's, I rarely shop at a conventional grocery store. But I did recently get roped into Jewel Osco's clip coupon thing when I went in on a whim and saw berries on sale. You had to clip the coupon, so downloaded the app and had the cashier show me how. The whole structure is odd... an item is either fully price (not on sale), on sale for everyone, or on sale only for those who have the app and clip it. I understand rewarding customer loyalty, but clipping and the app seem to be unnecessary hassles. Just give everyone the sale price.

We use phone apps but mostly it's stuff we don't want.

I have the loyalty card for Kroger, you get the sale price and fuel points, and I occasionally get gas there so the discount on the gas helps. I think they got a lot of complaints about their "digital deals" because not too long ago they gave every cashier a barcode list for the week's DD's that could quickly be scanned if the customer asked. You could always ask the cashier for the discount but they had to look up the sale price, now they just scan the barcode. I don't know exactly what prompted that change, maybe too much hassle with the app or people not wanting to use the app. I don't use the app so request my DD items get scanned for the special price by the cashier.

"The whole structure is odd... an item is either fully price (not on sale), on sale for everyone, or on sale only for those who have the app and clip it. I understand rewarding customer loyalty, but clipping and the app seem to be unnecessary hassles."

^^ This x 100. I'm kinda surprised no one's gotten sued over this. Or maybe they have and I don't know it. It's an equitable access issue. What if you're an out-of-towner who needed something, how is that right that you have to pay more? What about elderly folks who aren't comfortable with technology. What about folks who don't want their purchases tracked? (FWIW, the cashiers at some Krogers will scan a loyalty card barcode they have at the register for you if you're not a member and you ask them, but maybe not everyone knows this).

One of the other major chains here has a loyalty program, but you don't need to be a member to get sale prices -- everyone gets the sale price, but loyalt program members get other perks (like earn enough points and get something).

ETA: I think the DD's barcode sheet is also at the self-checkout but honestly I don't remember. Regardless, you still have to be a member to get the special deal.

What about elderly folks who aren't comfortable with technology.

That's me. A family member tried to show me, but I just don't cotton to it.

That’s a great price for ground beef! I recently paid $4.99/lb. and thought that was good. That was with a club/loyalty card at Vons here in SoCal. As much as I love TJ’s I think their meat prices can be high. I buy most of our meat at our regular market and Sam’s Club. Our regular market had tri-tip and London Broil (top round) recently for $5.99/lb. I think the usual price for each is $10. I well remember the days when both were well under $2. I bet most of us can remember ground beef for MUCH less than it is now!

I mostly go to the fairly expensive grocery store a couple blocks from me and get what I want. I am not a good bargain shopper. I will notice whats on sale and buy the sale item. i enter my phone number for whatever thats worth.

I get percent off the final price coupons in the mail and I am proud to say I remembered to use it.

I honestly dont buy much because its just me, although my son stops by and eats everything in the fridge.

The Acme stores near me are awful, one in particular. I needed something and was nearby so I stopped in last week. I couldnt get out fast enough.

I do not like being tracked. Until recently I didn't have a personal cell phone and used my work phone which does not allow apps. if there is something I occasionally really want on sale at my local grocery store they have a way to sign in on at a device at the courtesy desk to 'load' it on one's card. but then they are tracking, including if using their store card at checkout. I highly resent this and also feel specials should be available to everyone. I shop there as little as possible esp as they don't carry as many organic items, but my trips to prefered WF and TJ is over a half hour away. WF has seriously declined in special products they used to carry since A took them over.

Yeah, I've experienced this and it's a PITA. In SC I do most of my shopping at Aldi and Kroger. I love that Aldi just has low prices and you don't have to jump through hoops to get them. Kroger at least has signage telling you there's a coupon so I will download it at the store. I look through the coupon deals in advance but there are like a hundred of them and maybe three for something I'd buy - big waste of time. I also shop at Costco sometimes - they just give you the discount too.

I shop at Ralphs which is a Kroger store here. I do use their loyalty program faithfully.

I have the app, but prefer to use their website. I check through their coupons the day before we shop, adding anything that we normally buy. They also have a cash back program for some items. We do save a lot of money on things we buy at that supermarket. I also shop at whole foods and trader joes.

I only have a loyalty program with one store (Safeway) and I've had it for many years. And I use it weekly, as I accumulate points which can be used to get gas discounts. Today, I got $.30 off per gallon and that's a big savings!

I also take advantage of their digital coupons when they are available for things I normally buy (note: I am elderly and do not find the technology the slightest bit complicated).

As it is just me, I don't buy a lot of meat and almost all of the meat I do buy at Safeway I get from a discount area that is marked down 25-50% as it has reached (or almost reached) its 'best by' date. I use the meat right away or freeze for future use. I haven't paid full price for ground beef in months!!

Every Tues our Fresh Market has Chicken and Chuck $3.99/lb. Boneless skinless chicken breasts and ground chuck - you can watch them in the butcher shop grinding it fresh. Used to be $2.99/lb about 3 years ago.

I have loyalty cards and use them if something I would but anyway has a special offer. I don't do store apps and the only phone number any of them have for me is my landline which they can sell to their hearts content.

About the same as dedtired. Larger chains, like Whole Foods, it take 10 seconds to enter the Amz Prime account phone number or store customer account and many discounts and subtractions just happen. I think it's foolish to not do that. In many cases, "member price" is the real, intended retail price the store wants to receive and the bumped up "regular price" is what they're happy to charge lame and lazy shoppers.

Neither of us has ever been inclinded to spend any time in the Coupon Clippers Club, whether that was paper versions or electronic versions, or to look at weekly specials. We buy what we see and want in the quantity we intend to use soon. We've never needed to manage household spending or have budgets for food costs or other items.

I use the "Safeway" loyalty card all-the-time! They give me FREE items as well as discount coupons and cash off. Right now I need to spend $9 in order to have 1200points, then I can get a $20 off cash coupon. I love it! They had boneless pork tenderloin for .99cents a lb about a month ago. I purchased the limit of two, cut it into 3lb roasts and have been making all sorts of wonderful...flavorful meals.

I do agree tho...it is a game. Anyone with a cell phone can play it. Buuuuut.....it's FREE money! Why pass it up!

Dh and I love deals. We do buy what we like to eat. Enjoy the game. We have also become relatively small eaters. We are fortunate in many ways!

I’m a terrible shopper. I just buy what I need when I need it. I admire the bargain hunters, though.

We have one card at a local store. Every so often, the cashier will say ” You have enough points for $10 off. Do you want to redeem your points today?”

I’ll say that I would like to do that, and it’s done.

I have no idea what happens if I don’t redeem them.

You folks give out your mobile phone #? Do you then use a burner phone?

I don’t like giving my mobile # out ==> marketing calls.

Petalique, I haven't received a marketing call on my cell phone in ages. I'll get a spam text once in a while, but no calls. I registered on the Do Not Call registry ages ago, and it seems to have worked.

∧∧∧∧∧∧

Petalique, it's never been a concern of mine either. I personally do not know of anyone that still has a landline and you have to give out your phone number to do almost anything online - pay bills, order goods and services, track mail or deliveries, download apps. In all the many years I have given some organization my cell phone number, I have never received a marketing call. I sometimes will get some unwanted or uunnecessary text messages but you can typically opt out of that.

I still have a landline, and that's the number I give out. I have only ever gotten two spam calls on my iPhone. No one knows that number except my kids. Not my doctor, dentist, anyone.

We have bonus points at our large Giant market, which has a gazillion stores around here. We shop at the flagship store and get points for gas. Then apps appear on his iPhone, giving the bargains of the week. I buy most of my food from Traders.

From an article I read today,

”Apps usually come with a quid pro quo: Download our app and save. But that isn’t quite the bargain. You’re not saving money so much as being paid for information about yourself: what you buy, when you buy it, where you are when you buy it and what inducement might persuade you to buy it again.

Sometimes this seems like a good deal. Fine. I punch my “alternate ID” into the self-checkout register every time I go to the grocery store, and it knocks a little off my tab. I’ve probably saved hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.

The grocery store is not doing this because it is a big-hearted institution that values my friendship and wants me to be happy. In its judgment, the information I provide is worth more than the savings I enjoy. Every time I enter my number, I add another line to a 20-year account of what I eat and drink, the brand of dog food I buy, and how easily I can be induced to switch mayonnaise.

The store doesn’t merely know what I bought yesterday. It can make a pretty good guess about what I’ll buy tomorrow, when I’ll buy it, and how much of a discount it will take to get me through the door. I thought I was saving 60 cents on coffee. It was building a case.”

^^ Yep. Marketplace on NPR just had a piece on this yesterday, in relation to McDonald's.

Link: https://www.marketplace.org/story/2026/08/21/how-mcdonalds-compiled-515page-dossier-on-one-reporter

Some people don't mind being tracked. Some do. I don't like it but it's hard to avoid anymore. I've had the Kroger loyalty card since way before tracking was so sophisticated, I figure they have so much on me already so oh well.

Stores track in other ways, too. One of the chains here mails store coupons, so of course when I scan those at the checkout they link the order to the address and therefore "me". But, I do use those coupons -- lots of free stuff or super-duper $$ off.

When I sign up for loyalty cards I make up a phone number. I don't know who they're tracking, but it's not me.

"When I sign up for loyalty cards I make up a phone number."

I do the same nowadays if I sign up for something. Fake birthdays, too, if a place requires it (though not many do -- places like salons usually do).

People may know about this, but I just saw it....30k lbs of imported beef have been recalled. https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/beef-texas-florida-recall-8-11-2026/

"Shoppers in Texas and Florida are being asked to check their freezers for beef imported from Argentina that is now being recalled by federal officials.

The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)announced Friday that Corte Argentino – a company based in Aventura, Florida – recalled nearly 30,000 pounds of raw beef products produced in May that have use or freeze-by dates between Sept. 15, 2026, and Sept. 20, 2026.

The FSIS said the products were imported without the benefit of import reinspection into the United States. The service said the issue was discovered during routine inspection activities."

this is why everyone had better rethink buying ANY beef even from a local source. USDA inspected does NOT mean what it used to mean. Due to the closing of so many abbatoirs there are only 5 major ones left in the US and they are foreign controlled/ owned. The local owned don’t have to meet the USDA standards as long as they aren’t shipping across state lines.

We are definitely NOT in a good or safe place with our food supply in the US and it is getting worse by the day. c

With a shoppers card, you will be notified directly about recalls on any products you purchased. I’ve been advised twice, once on a non-food item.

I shop at a Kroger in HHI, my vacation place. They send, to my primary residence, coupons for items I routinely buy. I’m not near any Kroger brand stores so if I’m not going to be in HHI to use the coupons, I send them to my HHI cleaning lady or my sister in a western State. If they are also tracking ”my shopping” by the use of the coupons, not just my shopper card, they do not have an accurate picture of where I shop or what I buy.

My SIL signs up for every restaurant card for a free or discounted birthday meal. I suggested she use a different birthday at each place to get the deals all year long, but she likes the drama of ”having” to celebrate her birthday repeatedly the same month. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Chloramphenicol

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramphenicol

I have a fake birthdate I use every time a birthday is needed. Use the same one so I don't forget. On a rare occasion this date has been involved in a password reset, so I wanted to be able to remember the date.

I do have two grocery cards. One for Ralphs and one for Albertson's. If you spend enough at Ralph's you get a discount on their gasoline. But I really dislike the Ralph's store layout so I rarley shop there unless I am ordering pickup. Albertson's has better discounts overall, including the dreaded Digital Deals, and the store layout and parking are much nicer, so I tend to shop there when I need a regular grocery store. A year or so back a friend told me I was paying to much at Albertson's, being retired with a bit of extra time that day I decided to look in to it. Took my top 15 most purchased items in the typical quantity I buy every two weeks, using the regular price, I did a comparison between the three regular grocery stores nearest me. My favorite Albertson's total cost was in the middle of the three. The most surprising outcome was that the price total between the highest and lowest grocery total was under $2. This comparison did not include the butcher department. So Albertson's remains my go-to, but I shop other stores as needed or convienent.

I use fake phone numbers and fake birthdays. What do you care why people do it? No one owes you a reason.

I have the app for the supermarket that I usually use. And I am the type of person who likes to look at the weekly flyer for sales. I have no problem loading those digital coupons onto my account. It sure beats clipping them and remembering where I put them! But tracking does have its postives. Last week I got an email, telling me that I had purchased an item that was now subject to a recall. The specific item was not the one I had purchased, but the heads-up was appreciated. Any money saved is a plus--it's sort of a challenge or game. Then I feel I can buy things I need that are expensive without guilt