I stopped in last evening to pick up a prescription and ended up buying a few things I'd mysteriously forgotten I needed. (Why does this always happen to me at the grocery store?!) While standing in line, I decided I'd buy a pack of sugar-free Orbit Gum. I've been buying this particular confection for years, usually for about $1.09 a pack. Sometimes it even goes on sale for 99 cents.Not at Safeway, not anymore. Orbit Gum is now a whopping $1.49 a pack. That's a 25 percent increase in price! Is there some cartel I don't know about that's protecting and ratcheting up the cost of gum? According to Reuters, Wrigley increased prices by 10 percent in 2007:
Wrigley said the increase was due in part to rising costs, but did not specify which costs. Food companies have been hit by higher costs for natural sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup as demand for use of crops in ethanol has sent prices soaring.
Okay, so what about the additional 15 percent increase? That's Safeway gouging its customers. According to Forbes.com, Safeway focused this year on costly real estate investments. "Chairman and Chief Executive Steve Burd said Safeway chose to work less on lowering prices in 2008 to keep its earnings guidance intact in the current economic environment. Now it is planning to cut more prices heading into 2009." It's going to have to as shoppers to reduce their spending during the recession/depression and look for more frugally priced grocery stores.
Hopefully we consumers can encourage Safeway and its ilk to drop prices by taking our dollars to discounters such as Wal-Mart, Bottom Dollar, Target, and the like. Here's one cost-savings tip: buy your Orbit Gum at Walgreens. It's only $1.19 a pack.
16 comments:
If you think they suck as a customer try being an employee or better yet a Slaveway. Abusive, incompetent and unrealistic corporate managers saving the company right into bankruptcy.
Safeway used to be a great place to work.but lately as pressure from the district manager and his superiors has caused, employee abuse, incompetent management technics such as yelling and screaming have become commonplace at least at the Springfield Oregon store 0311(5415 Main street ) I have seen good people demoted and criticized, demoralized Safeway has turned into what wal-mart used to be.
better to shop at albertsons. until they start treating their people Like human beings
OMG Safeway DOES suck. I wish this blog could get more views. I have the awesome pleasure of being a vendor for many different stores. I love it! Then there is Safeway. One Safeway in my area I refused to service today based on the most, rude, obnoxious, holier than thou, less than 25 yrs old manager. Oh, he insisted I DO work for Safeway, and for him; I said to him he is sadly mistaken and watch his mouth. They better clean there mess of stores up and kick thier less than high school education managment out the doors. I, as well as many, many other people will convince shoppers to not shop there. I feel SO sorry for people that do work there and hope they can get better jobs soon. What a pathetic way to run a business.
The Sonora, CA Safeway store sucks!
Sneaky corporate greed, plain and simple!
That's nothing compared to allergy pills [Benadryl knock-off] $13.99 at Safeway for 100 count. In the real world they are $2.99 at Target, same pink pills, same bottle, same factory makes them all. I wrote an email to Safeway asking what gives and why are they ripping people off... they replied that the price is fair. When asked about the high prices, the store manager told me that they are union and have to pay union wages... which is only 75 cents over minimum wage! That's some union wage.
I feel sorry for people who don't live near a Trader Joe's. Safeway offers low prices on some items, but in truth it's actually a very expensive store - especially if you're buying something other than staples. Besides, I don't need a choice of 50 ketchups. TJ's just stocks a single really good one at a great price, but if I want choices, Whole Foods is very competitive and the experience isn't ghetto like Safeway. Safeway is all about advertising and image. Think about it: Their "ingredients for life" include cigarettes and cheap processed garbage.
I have seen it all people wonteven adress you when in the store,tried to cash my pay check the man entered the wrong info woulndnt cash my check and told me to try somewhere else,boughta money order went back next day to redeem it said to bad corp made the rule had to pay 5 dollars to get my money back
i knew safeway sucked the day they bought dominicks which i work for. they ruined the company from the start and it never got better. many people ran right away when they took over. it was like godzilla showing up in japan. i wish i had taken the buyout when they did offer it. right now i am working on business plans of my own. i want to see safeway crumble which is one of my missions in life. i hope the government does investigate the company soon before they get away with more underhanded things. steve burd needs to end up in prison and lose every penny that trash ever made.
Safeway is a truly horrid place to work. I have recently resigned (thank God!!) because I could no longer stand to work for such a dishonest company. They treat their employees like garbage and pay them worse. There is even management theft going on, and to get away with it they blame the "lesser" employees. The company is completely corrupt. They fire people they don't like by making up ridiculous accusations. Safeway's CEO's make the most out of the grocery chains and they pay their employees the least. With the current contract negotiations Safeway wants to take away more benefits from employees, make it take longer to qualify for decent health coverage and do away with shift differential. My advice is to stay far from Slaveway. You will get better prices and more honesty at Albertson's and Winco.
lol Safeway is so fuckin bad they make Microsoft look like good guy's in comparison.
Nobody hasn't mentioned the fact that your club card is linked to your phone and you have to blech out your # in front of all these damn stranger's.
Like c'mon why the HELL do you need to say your god damn phone # in front of a hundred people.
Safeway truly is a dump. They treat their employees like TOTAL garbage.They will schedule them for hardly any hours, and then at the last second (like the day before, or often the day of) they will call or TEXT and ask you to come in. If you don't drop whatever other plans you made and come it, they will just be mad at you for days... telling you how you don't help them out and you're a bad employee...whatever.
Also, their costumer service "dialog" is so extreme and jacked up that most customers hate it. Its a dump of a place to work for... do yourself, and the employees a favor and don't come in. Also, complain on their website...they sort of take that seriously.
I was really suprised to find how backwards the Safeway help desk was when I began work there. Half their support staff is based in the Phillipines, and they always provided terrible service. When I started work there as a manager, there was one manager trying to supervise almost 75 phone agents! I was told that my predecessor, a long term employee, had quit and the company had "laid off" the other two managers as a cost savings means! I found the company extremely political with rampant destructive relationships among co-workers, and working it's IT people very hard with substandard pay. After working there 6 weeks, I left because I was very unhappy. Please-- if you are considering employment for corporate Safeway-- do you diligence and investigate the environment-- It is not for everyone and other people I have known that have worked there wished they had not done so.
So I work for a third party company that does night time resets for Safeway. For some reason everyone thinks that we are Safeway. We are not Safeway Employees. We are treated just as horrible as their employees. Sad part is.... Safeway Corporate offices don't know what is going on. Hell they don't even follow their own rules. Safeway... whether at store level or Corporate level... are constantly breaking their own rules and guidelines. If they can't be honest about what is set forth by their own Company then how can they try and make everyone else follow suit. SAFEWAY more than sucks they are just out right one of the worst grocery chains ever.
I have been an employee with this awful company for over three years now and I can't wait to leave. They are horrible to the people that work for them unless you suck up to them, that's the only way you can get ahead working there. This company tries to do everything they can to not have good morale with their employees. In my view, they do not have a winning attitude, especially management who always fake how nice they really are. You can even see how fake they are. I also wish I had never worked there, I am working very hard now to find a new place to work and a better change of scenery because as far as I am concerned, I am due. If you ever think about working there, do yourself a favor and bypass them because they are not nice people, you will hate every waking moment you are there and I just don't want you to do something you'll regret later like I have. Shop at Save Mart, I hear they're very nice people.
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