Which A2

Which A2 Store Rips You Off The Most?

One of the things clearly shown by the SUN grocery survey is that the smaller stores are more expensive than the larger ones. By nearly 50%, which is truly outrageous. One exception is Pepper's meat department, where the prices are competitive with the larger stores and the quality is often better.

What the smaller stores offer is convenience, faster service, and items not available in other stores. At Capitol Market, you can buy package liquor until the wee hours of the morning. Pepper's has its meat, smoking supplies and munchie food. Ralph's is kosher and here you can be intimidated in the classic style of Campus and Village corners.

In the larger stores, the prices are overall about the same, with A&P running somewhat higher.

Check-cashing policies in the stores vary from presentation of suitable I.D. (driver's license) to check-cashing cards and fingerprints. You're usually safe with a check for the amount of the purchase accompanied by a driver's license, particularly at the small stores.

A&P will not cash anything without a "check-cashing card," or a filled-out application. On the application, you've got to put your name, address, phone number, place of employment, bank, bank account numbers, and all kinds of stuff that isn't any of their business.

All the big stores have check-cashing cards, and they will pressure you to get one. Along with the cards come special privileges such as the right not to be harassed while trying to cash a check; the right to cash i checks for more'than the amount of the 'purchase; the right to cash your pay check.

If you're a real security freak, you'll love Great Scott. You'll be on camera the whole time you're there, and if you pay by check, they'll take your fingerprint. You come out feeling like you've been raped. Apparently Meijers is also considering the fïngerprint business. The system is called "Identiseal" and it works with some kind of inkless transfer so you don't get your thumb dirty.

One thing the stores had in common was disorganization. You can't find things. There seems to be no pattern except that the coolers are always next to the wall, somewhere. Shelves, particularly at Meijers, are too high for shorter people. There are signs indicating where things are, but they are placed so that you can't see them.

Shopping the big stores in the evenings is nearly an impossible situation. The mornings were found to be much nicer, with very few people to bump and hassle you. Additionally, the stores get their produce at night, or early morning, and the morning shoppers get the first choice. The big stores, excepting A&P, get produce every day; A&P and the small stores get it on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

All of the large stores had made some attempt at Unit Pricing, which is required by law, but it was difficult to understand, obsolete, or totally unreadable. The only honest effort was seen at Meijers. The rule for the small stores is no pricing. Particularly for dairy and produce.

Some stores have health food sections, but often the same item is available under a different brand name elsewhere in the store for less money. If they put a health food section up, they generally double the prices. In Kroger's, for instance, whole wheat flour in the health food section was $2.39 for a 5-lb. bag. Over with the regular flour, they had whole wheat flour for S 1.09 for 5-lbs.

Eggs are graded medium, large, and extra-large. There is no such thing as a small egg. Actually the whole egg-grading trip is a rip-off. A big egg doesn't cost any more to produce than a smaller one. The prices quoted here are the average price of the sizes offered.

In the meat department, the more they cut, the more it costs. Whole frying chickens are ten cents a pound cheaper before they are cut up and re-bagged as cut frying chickens. Thin-sliced chops are ten cents higher too. So if you've got a knife at home, cut up your own chickens and save some money.

Overall--Kroger was average to better on everything. Great Scott was a hassle. Messy, fingerprints, and they don't have anything anyway. Meijers was crowded, noisy, mostly young people. A mass-produced shopping center. Probably will be the first chain store to play rock and roll music on the intercom. Wrigley's had lots of stuff hanging from the ceiling. Was a little dirty, but what's a little dirt. The A&P on Maple was empty. The A&P on Huron was very unfriendly, particularly to younger people. Their fresh fish looked good. Capitol Market has package liquor, wine, and is next door to the Adult News. Ralph's had the highest prices in town. Sgt. Pepper's is small, stoned and stocked to the gills.

The items surveyed here were in most cases national brands. Campbell's chicken noodle soup. Chicken of the Sea tuna fish and so on. You know, all that crap your muthas fed you. In some cases, the size or brand offerings differed, but an attempt was made to choose items of equal size and quality. For instance, there was practically a different size and brand of honey in every store. In all cases the price quoted is for 16 ounces of pure clover honey. Incidentally, some stores are selling an imitation honey which looks like the real thing, but tastes like corn syrup. Actually it is corn syrup. So watch out. If the price was thrown very far off by the size or brand chosen, it is marked with an asterix(*) so you know what happened.

The size of an item is an important factor in determining the price. Manufacturers of an item try to induce the consumer to buy larger quantities of items by raising the prices on the smaller quantities. The reason for this is not necessarily that larger quantities are that much cheaper to produce. The fact is, that a guy with a big jar of salad dressing puts more on his sandwich than a guy with a little jar. So if he can be convinced to buy a large jar, he will use more of the product.

The stores' returnable bottle status was determined by whether or not you could buy pop in returnable bottles there. If you couldn't, the store eot a "no."