I discovered a great frugal hack the other day while trying to use a “weekly digital deal” coupon at Fred Meyer. The store, which is part of the Kroger chain, offered six-packs of 16-ounce soft drinks* for $3.49.
Some days I don’t drink soda at all, and some days I’ll have two. Lately I’ve bought bottles rather than cans, so I don’t have to drink an entire serving at once. Tightly capped, a Diet Pepsi will hold over until the next day.
When I see a price like this one, I limit out until the next big sale. Unfortunately, the store didn’t have any Diet Pepsi. It had every other Pepsi flavor imaginable (and some I don’t like to think about**), but not the one I wanted.
No Diet? No problem! I headed off to another Fred Meyer and found the same empty spot on the shelves. A grocery manager looked everywhere and sadly reported they, too, were out. Damn those weekend barbecues and salmon-fishing trips!
Sometimes, disappointment is the mother of invention. “I would completely understand if you don’t want to substitute for a weekly digital deal,” I said to the manager. “But would you be willing to let me have eight-packs of 12-ounce Diet Pepsis at that price?”
“Of course!” he said. “We want to make it right.”
He made sure that a checkout clerk manually overrode the eight-pack’s normal $12.99 (!) price to $3.49. I went home with the same number of ounces – just in a different configuration.
Frugal hack = inflation fighter
Fred Meyer’s “Make It Right” policy premiered some time ago. The gist is that they’ll do what’s needed to keep the customer satisfied.
I’ve had store employees cite this policy before, mostly when a downloaded coupon wouldn’t apply at checkout. Until the other day, however, it never occurred to me to ask for substitutions. But I will remember this tactic from now on.
For example, another digital deal this week was two-pound blocks of Kroger brand cheese for $6.99. Up here, $3.50 per pound for mozzarella et al. is a pretty great price. They had the variety I wanted, so it wasn’t an issue.
But if I can’t find what I need in the future, I’ll ask to swap: “Two-pound blocks are advertised for $6.99 but you’re all out of Monterey Jack. Could I substitute two one-pound blocks at the same price point?”
Sure, I could have come back in a few days to see if they had what I wanted. But if the store is willing to save me the time – and the gasoline it costs to get there – then you bet I’ll bite.
This “new” frugal hack might be obvious to truly savvy shoppers. But it was new to me, and might be to some of you as well. Not every market has a similar policy, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Even if there’s no rule in place, a wise manager will look at all the competition out there, then make the decision to keep inflation-fighting customers satisfied.
Readers: Do you ask for substitutions? What are your best wins?
* Yes, I know soft drinks aren’t good for me. But we make 99.9% of our meals from scratch, including things like Greek yogurt, cookies and other sweets, rustic bread, sodium-free soup stock (from cooking scraps that would otherwise be tossed), beans, coffee and iced tea, enchilada sauce, and various cookies, cakes and pies. We also can, freeze and dehydrate foods from the wild and from our garden and greenhouse. Things balance out.
**Nitrogen-infused vanilla draft Pepsi just…isn’t for me.
Related reading:
As someone who was on Ozempic for a year, lost over 50 pounds, then realized I simply couldn’t deal with the side effects and gained half the weight back, I struggle with sugar cravings (can’t take diet anything). I find a good meal or snack is fat-free Greek Yogurt with a big handful of red grapes stirred into it. The grapes give it a wonderful sweetness, and it’s good for me. Does this count as a substitution? I used to put a big glob of honey in my yogurt!
Have you ever frozen a few red grapes? It’s like eating sherbet.
Never thought of asking for that, as I live 24+ miles from the nearest decent priced stores. I usually go once a week and try to take in as high as 6 depending on the sales. Since I am that far away, I don’t go back a few days later when shelves are empty, because of gas prices! I used to drink all diet coke and Pepsi and now can’t stand the taste. I drink, what is probably worse, Diet Moutain Dew. Even worse with red food coloring, I used to drink the Diet Code Red Dew. For some reason you can only find the Regular here now.
Often wondered about the side effects from those shots. One doctor suggested I try them, but I can’t afford them for one and at almost 73, I don’t know if I would want to. Already had other health problems like cancer.
Yum – gotta try that!
That is a great hack. Maybe some of your readers already have tried asking for substitutions on out of stock loss leaders, but I had never thought of that. You can bet the next time I find the store is out of stock on an advertised sale item, I will remember to ask about a substitute. Thanks, Donna, for a timely hint that is really a time and money saver.
Just couldn’t help sharing this one. It’s obvious, in retrospect, but…just didn’t think of it.
Great idea! I will use this technique myself in the future!
Great idea! I could have used this idea this week..Thanks for sharing
This is a great idea! I never thought of asking for a substitute.
I’ll check at our local King Soopers (part of the Kroger chain too)! They quit allowing substitutions during Covid, and I haven’t checked since. Thank you!
We don’t have any Kroger family stores, Publix has the monopoly around here. They have a pretty generous “customer satisfaction” policy regarding returns, and a raincheck policy – not sure if they allow substitutes as I have never tried.
#ChallengeUnlocked
Never thought about asking for substitutions. I have asked for rain checks.
Rain checks are good, too.
Nothing to add but I am here to say I am glad to see you back with a new post.
I second that!!!
Thanks to you both!
I do not buy sodas at all. It is lemonade and ice tea here. I buy Stevia in bulk, as it (so far) does not seem to be harmful. Also, cucumber skin and water overnight are so refreshing.
I’ve successfully done that at least once, as I recall, at my local Albertsons. I think they let me get 2 of a smaller size that equaled 1 of the bigger size that they were out of.
I do that quite often at Walgreens, if their vitamins are BOGO but they only have one container left. I ask if I can have it for half price, and they always say yes, of course I can.
Noice!