Such a Deal!

In past years, a catchy advertising jingle used by the Kroger stores was “Let’s Go Krogering.” Henri and I “go Krogering” for groceries and household items quite often; in fact, Kroger is probably our primary social outlet. We know the layout of the store, the prices are reasonable, there is a 10% senior discount the first Wednesday of each month, and Kroger doubles coupons up to and including 50ȼ manufacturer coupons. Kroger also gives one point for each dollar spent and 50 points for each prescription filled. When the points total 100, Kroger offers a 15ȼ per gallon fuel discount if we use our Kroger Master Card.

Henri likes to read, especially the morning newspaper as well as various and sundry newspapers on the Internet. He also likes to read any books written by John Grisham. The May 23 Kroger circular advertised John Grisham’s newest book, Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer, which would be available in the store on May 25. I was surprised that Henri didn’t mention this because he usually memorizes the grocery circulars in the Sunday papers. On May 25, I went to Kroger, looked at the book, picked it up, and then put it back because I knew I could get a 10% senior discount if I waited until June 2 to buy it. Yesterday, I purchased the book at Kroger as a surprise for Henri, but I was also surprised at the outcome.

If an item scans incorrectly at Kroger, the customer gets the item FREE! The list price of the book was $16.99. With the usual Kroger 25% book discount, the book’s price was $12.74. Until June 20, however, the book’s special price is $10.19. When I self-scanned the book at the checkout, the price showed $12.74. Because the item scanned incorrectly, I got the book FREE but had to pay the tax. On a purchase of $10.19, the 8.5% tax should be 87ȼ. I’m not sure how the checkout supervisor calculated the tax as $1.01, but I certainly wasn’t going to complain about a tax overcharge of 14ȼ. Henri was surprised with his gift, especially because he didn’t know about the book, and is now enjoying it even more because the price was right!