Whether you’re one of those shoppers with way too many grocery store loyalty cards or just a few, swiping those at checkouts could be doing far more than just giving you a few cents off your favorite cereal. Stores like Safeway and Kroger are building up their research on how their customers shop, developing customized pricing on the things you like the most. So is that a creepy invasion of privacy or worth it if you save money? [More]
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Safeway Says This Tiny Pile Of Sad Chicken Covered In Gloop Is Supposed To Be A Gourmet Meal
By 8.1.12
We aren’t sure in what world a paltry pile of pale chicken covered in some kind of gelatinous gloop accompanied by a whole lot of rice with bits vaguely resembling vegetables could be considered part of any “Gourmet Club.” But Safeway said its “Safeway Select” branded Orange Chicken meal is fine frozen dining and showed a lovely picture on the package to that effect. Consumerist reader Doug in Seattle sent in evidence to the contrary after he purchased the family pack meal. [More]
Advice To Aspiring Counterfeiters: Print The Correct President On Your Bills
By 7.31.12
We’re not normally in the business of giving advice to criminals, but some aspiring counterfeiters in Arizona might want to study up on their American history. They allegedly tried to pass fake $100 bills with the image of Benjamin Franklin on the note, but a watermark of Abraham Lincoln. Oh, those Founding Fathers all look alike. [More]
The Safeway Hot 100: No Refund Until You’re Proven Innocent
By 7.2.12
Michael’s fiancée sent him to the grocery store late one night. He came home with the wrong moisturizing cream, which happens all too often during shopping expeditions based on someone else’s instructions. No big deal. They just brought it back to Safeway the next time they visited the store. He paid cash, but it was still all sealed up and had a Safeway sticker on it. Only the cream’s price tag and popularity with shoplifters meant that the store’s Loss Prevention staff would need to review surveillance tapes to make sure that Michael hadn’t stolen the item. [More]
Safeway Reinstates Employee Who Stopped Man From Beating Up Pregnant Girlfriend
By 5.23.12
Last week we told you about the California Safeway employee who had been suspended after intervening in a fight between a man and his pregnant girlfriend. Now there’s some good news to report, as the grocery store chain has given the employee his job back, along with pay for the weeks during which he was suspended. [More]
Safeway Suspends Employee After He Stopped A Man From Hitting Pregnant Girlfriend
By 5.16.12
We’ve gotten multiple tips from readers expressing disgust at Safeway, after an employee in California was suspended without pay for intervening in a domestic assault situation inside the store. The police called the worker a hero for stopping a man from hitting his pregnant girlfriend. [More]
Safeway's New 'Easy Scoop' Ice Cream Easier To Scoop Because There's Less Of It
By 5.14.12
Safeway’s Lucerne house brand ice creams have been repackaged, and now come in a round container branded the “Easy-Scoop Package.” That’s a nice redesign, and round containers are easier to scoop from. Only, as reader Ryan points out, maybe the ice cream is easier to scoop now because there’s now a half-quart less of it. [More]
Safeway Says It Is Moving Toward Crate-Free Pork Suppliers
By 5.8.12
Safeway is joining the ranks of other food providers, announcing that it plans to stop using any pork suppliers that put pregnant sows in cages as part of the production process. Animal rights groups call caging or crating pigs inhumane. [More]
There Are Now 900,000 Fewer Pounds Of "Pink Slime" Being Produced Each Day
By 3.26.12
With several supermarket chains — including Kroger and Safeway — opting to stop selling ground beef that contains “lean, finely textured beef,” the ammonia-treated filler affectionately known as “pink slime,” the company that pumps out the stuff has had to suspend production at three of its four slime-making facilities. [More]
Kroger Joins Ranks Of Supermarkets Who Won't Sell "Pink Slime"
By 3.22.12
More than a week after clarifying which of its ground beef products do and do not contain the ammonia-treated beef trimmings known by two wildly different names — “lean finely textured beef” or “pink slime” — Kroger, the country’s largest grocery store chain, has decided to nix the controversial filler altogether. [More]
Safeway To Stop Selling Ground Beef That Contains "Pink Slime"
By 3.21.12
It’s been a bad year for “lean finely textured beef,” better known by the less-tasty moniker “pink slime.” The ammonia-treated beef trimmings that have been used as ground beef filler for decades is quickly becoming a pariah at U.S. grocery stores like Safeway, which has announced it will no longer sell the stuff. [More]
Safeway Security Guard Bans 4-Year-Old From Store For Eating Dried Apricots
By 11.28.11
Three decades later, I still have a very vivid memory of the day I learned about shoplifting. My mom was in the checkout line at Acme and I was eye-level with the candy rack and oh man did that Rolo look tasty. So I took it, because that’s what I thought you did. I was wrong and was told so by my horrified mother when I offered her some chocolate a few minutes later. She took me back in, paid for the Rolo and explained to me about shoplifting. I’m just lucky I didn’t pilfer that treat from the Safeway in Everett, Washington. [More]
Child Seized After Fainting Mother Forgot To Pay For Sandwich
By 10.31.11
A Hawaii couple was tossed in jail and their child taken by protective services for 18 hours after the mother forgot to pay for her sandwich at Safeway. [More]
How Local Is That "Locally Grown" Produce At Your Grocery Store?
By 8.1.11
Last October, Walmart announced a pledge to double the amount of produce it purchases from local growers by 2015, with the three-pronged goal of saving on fuel costs, reducing spoilage and catering to a growing consumer appetite for local produce. But while Walmart defines “local” as grown and sold in the same state, your grocery store might have a different definition for the term. [More]
Washington, DC Safeway Store Introduces Receipt Checks
By 2.15.11
Know what American retail needs? More receipt checks. DCist reports that a Washington, D.C. Safeway store has traded uniformed security guards posted at the door for plainclothes Walmart-style greeters who politely block shoppers from exiting until their receipts are checked. There’s an almost literal escape hatch, though: for now, tipsters say that there are no receipt checkers posted at the exit to the parking garage. [More]
Safeway Pharmacist Accidentally Gives Abortion-Inducing Drug To Pregnant Woman
By 2.8.11
If you never thought to double check that bottle you pick up from the prescription counter, here’s a story that will probably stick in your head the next time you’re getting a ‘scrip filled. [More]
Should Supermarkets Be Responsible For Notifying Club Card Members Of Recalls?
By 2.4.11
A new class-action lawsuit being brought against Safeway claims that the supermarket chain failed in its duty to actively notify members of its Safeway Club card program about recalls for food sold at the store. [More]
Shopper: I Was Banned From Safeway Because I Asked For Large Chicken Breasts
By 8.23.10
A man in Colorado claims he was given the boot — and a trespassing notice that bans him from the property for one year — from his local Safeway. But it wasn’t over shoplifting or anything like that; he says it was all because of a misunderstanding about his poultry order. [More]
