If you recently tried to purchase a gift card and were told you had to use cash or had to stick to a smaller denomination, you’re not alone. The way in which retailers sell gift cards has changed in the five months since new credit card rules went into effect. [More]
grocers
New York Wants Grocery Stores To Sell Wine
By 6.27.10
Fresh off boosting cigarette taxes, New York is ready to give smokers a replacement for their beloved lung shredders: wine! The state’s latest budget gap killer would allow nearly 20,000 grocery stores to sell bottles of vino, hauling in up to $300 million. [More]
Customer Says Supermarket Sold Rotten Chicken With New Sell By Date
By 5.18.10
A woman in Brooklyn has accused a local grocery store of slapping a new “sell by” sticker over an expired one in order to unload some old poultry that was past its prime. [More]
Find Out Where Your Dairy And Produce Items Came From
By 3.8.10
A longtime reader sent in a couple of links to websites that let you find out more about your food supply chain, if you’re into that sort of stuff. Where is my milk from? matches carton codes with a list of dairies published by the FDA. FoodLogiq is less user-friendly and requires free registration, but you can apparently use it to track produce from participating growers. (Thanks to Cy!) [More]
Grocery Store Just Can't Stop Selling Expired Yogurt
By 6.17.09
Esther doesn’t want much. She just wants to buy some yogurt that hasn’t expired. It seems that’s too much to ask of her local Safeway near Baltimore.
Gas And Ingredients Are Cheap, So Why Are Grocery Prices Rising?
By 3.3.09
With the the cost of ingredients, gas prices, and interest rates dropping, why are food manufacturers continuing to hike prices and shrink products? According to the L.A. Times, supermarkets don’t know, but they’re as pissed as we are.
A More Helpful Big Brother: Grocery Store Loyalty Programs Used To Notify Customers Of Salmonella Recall
By 2.9.09
According to Consumer Reports, some grocery stores are using their loyalty card registrations to get in touch with customers who bought recalled peanut butter products.
Kroger Apologizes For Calling You A Thief, Banning You From Store For Buying And Eating Their Donuts
By 2.3.09
Every Saturday morning, Beth’s father walks to…
Whole Foods Seeks To Define Its Prices As Bargains
By 8.11.08
As the economy sours, premium stores like Whole Foods are struggling to keep customers, reports the New York Times. To remain competitive, the pricey natural grocery store is offering guided tours to customers who want to cut costs but can’t stand to set foot in Winn Dixie.
New Nutrition Label Coming To Some Supermarkets In '08
By 11.29.07
The Overall Nutritional Quality Index (ONQI), a supplemental, easy-to-read nutrition labeling system, will be introduced on a voluntary basis next year by participating Wegmans, IGA, Hy-Vee, and Food City grocers. ONQI was developed by a bunch of nutrition and health experts and assigns products a value from 1 to 100 by scoring a number of good and bad qualities of the food. Shoppers can then compare similar products easily to see which one is more nutritionally sound.
Chinese Goods No Longer Welcome At Trader Joe's
By 10.20.07
Caving to xenophobia, Trader Joe’s announced that it will purge its shelves of all single-ingredient Chinese products by January 1. Will consumers be any safer?
Kroger Just Needs a Warm Body
By 7.25.06
Desirous of being a productive member of society and needing a way to subsidize his Marlboro Light addiction, Bill got himself hired at Kroger supermarkets. The strenuous application process required he walk up to the customer service desk, express his interet, fill out a form, take an oral drug test and be able to fit into a “cotton-poly blend Kroger polo shirt. “
All The News That’s Fit To Self-Immolate
By 7.10.06
• It’s like that children’s game, would you rather have your hip disintegrate, or your jaw? [CT] “Lawyers gear up to attack Fosamax”
