Digital Coupons at Kroger

[BakerAunt]

We shopped Kroger today in order to get a 59-cents per pound turkey with a $25 additional purchase, which is not hard, since Kroger carries some items I cannot get elsewhere, and King Arthur flour is on sale. However, when we went to select the turkey, there was a note that it was 99 cents per pound with a Kroger card, but it would require a "digital coupon" for the lower price. I do not even know how to get a digital coupon. I asked the cashier, and he and the manager, went ahead and gave us the lower price.

I have had a Kroger card for nine or ten years. Over the past year or so, they have started pushing digital coupons to get better deals. I find it irritating. I assume it is their way of collecting yet more information than they can get from just the card, and I do not know if I want to play this game.

Have other people encountered this digital coupon business? What is it all about?

I also know that if I try to read their ad online--and they no longer do print ads--I get a message that I need to allow them to track my location, even though I have given them the city in which the Kroger is located. I am not keen on disabling security measures.

Kroger seems to be getting awfully pushy with its customers.

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[Mike Nolan]

Walgreens has pulled the digital coupon pricing only thing on me, too. Hy-vee has digital coupons but they're (in theory) tied to their preferred customer program, which they're in the process of modifying in ways that aren't clear yet.

I probably buy more things at Super Saver, which is closer and usually cheaper (chicken is one exception), but we don't like their dairy products.

We bought our turkey through the animal science graduate student association, not the cheapest option but it helps support a good group.

[chocomouse]

I love using digital coupons! I can go to their (whoever) website at home, at my leisure, and select (click on) the coupons I will use. When the cashier runs those particular items through the scanner, the coupon deduction is done automatically. You do have to make sure you are buying the correct product, such as a 15 oz box, not the 20 oz box, for example. I find the grocery store staff are not able to make corrections, because the company that manages the system is usually on the other side of the country. What that has to do with it, I don't know! But I love not having to cut coupons and remember to take them shopping with me.

I'm pretty careful about sharing information, but I assume they already have access to most of it. And sometimes I will receive special "selected just for you" coupons, which are for things I buy often and are not posted publicly. If a company sends me an email requesting information, (e.g. my physical address) I do not respond. Rather, I go to their website and look at my account and then add the info - if I want them to have it.

[BakerAunt]

I don't mind the digital coupons from CVS, as they do not make me go through all sorts of gyrations in order to receive and use them. My only complaint there is that it is best not to put the coupon on my card unless I am going to use it on that particular trip, as I have had some coupons vanish when I tried to save them for later.

I was going to talk to someone at the Kroger concierge desk about the digital coupons, but when they remodeled the store, they got rid of the desk--and put in a lot of self-checkouts. They also split the baking section into two half aisles, which is very inconvenient.

I'm curious as to what people think about self-checkout. At Aldi's, it is faster to let the checker do it!

[Mike Nolan]

I will use self-checkout at the grocery store if I don't have a full cart to do or produce sold by weight. At WalMart, I often don't have much of a choice, they might have just one checker working, sometimes none. That has probably impacted how much I've bought at WalMart.

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