DAVE ROSS

Ross: Battle against inflation with digital deals at the grocery store

Mar 15, 2022, 5:34 AM | Updated: 9:08 am

inflation...

A person shops for groceries on March 10, 2022, in New York City. The Labor Department reported that consumer inflation rose 7.9% over the past year, the largest rise since 1982, raising the prices of gas and consumer goods. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

(Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

I thought I would take this moment to update you on my battle against inflation.

As you know, I’m driving 55 miles per hour and, thanks to my short commute, I am annoying very few people, and my mileage is now at 39.1 mpg and climbing. So, I count that as a win – and yesterday I decided to take the next step and start couponing.

I went to a grocery store and discovered that I could get a half gallon of 1% milk for 87 cents – all I had to do was click on the QR code in the display case. So, I got the milk, and a few other things, but when I got to the check stand, the checker – who was very helpful – took one look at my phone and said, “that QR code just takes you to the website – it’s much better if you download the app.” Well, by the time I found the app, a line was forming, so I stepped aside to set up the app, and suddenly all sorts of Digital Deals appear! Jackpot!

But to get the Digital Deals, I have to look up everything I bought. Now, if you could just aim the iPhone at the basket and have it automatically scan for Digital Deals, that would be great, but the app doesn’t do that.

So, I had to look up the 1% milk coupon, and then I THOUGHT I saw a coupon for my frozen pie crust, so the checker – God bless that man – had to go back to the pie crust aisle to see if the Digital Deal applied. It was all WAY more complicated than I expected.

Anyway, I finally paid and left with my discounts, but the whole thing was so distracting it wasn’t until I got home that I realized something was missing. I was missing the Kosher Deli roasted chicken! It was on my receipt, but not in the bag. I’m guessing it ended up abandoned at the checkout in all the digital confusion.

So the final tally on my inflation-fighting coupon trip was as follows: total bill, $48.41, coupon savings, $5.92 – minus the abandoned Deli Chicken, which cost $9.99, which meant I saved nothing and actually squandered $4.07.

“Dave, why didn’t you go back and claim the chicken?”

Because to drive back would have been a waste of gas and time.

I’m just hoping that someone explains to management that trying to manipulate a cell phone, a credit card, frozen pie crusts, and a hot dead chicken is a job for an octopus, not a human being …

By the way, I had my optional mask ON during the whole episode, and I’m glad I did for reasons having nothing to do with COVID.

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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