Almost Denied at Kroger yesterday

As a retailer, if I put something on sale, without any posted limits, then I honor the advertisement and make the sale. I'm sure that there are restaurants that will do a low priced special to bring people into their place, with hopes that they will buy a drink, or dessert to help make up any loss of profit that the special might bring. And of course there are customers that will only buy that special, with a glass of water. The restaurant will not deny service to the customer who only buys the special and nothing more.

I will run specials on certain products at little profit in hopes of bringing people in the store. You hope that they might get something else when they come in, but if not, you give them good service and hope they think of you the next time that need something. This is the whole reason that stores like Kroger put items like sodas on special in hopes that it brings you in the store. They very easily can impose limits via their advertising or signage on the shelves. Arbitrarily singling me out to deny me the products, and their overall handling of the situation was the point of my post. I can understand if some people think I am breaking some unwritten rule, and respect their opinions. That is the beauty of a forum like this one. I would guess that they would be surprised at how many small business purchase from grocery stores for products every day. In my case, I ran out of Pepsi 2 Liters, and was not getting a delivery until next week. I made the decision to go to Kroger to get product to refill my shelves until I would get a delivery.

Kroger may not be a wholesaler, but by setting their "loss leader" prices below what average businesses are able to (pricing out the competition wally world style) and sometimes setting those prices below the cost most retailers are paying from their wholesalers (via volume discounts) they are opening themselves up to retailers "buying out" their inventories.

Besides the fact that almost everyone in the restaurant community has made an emergency trip to Kroger for lemons, salt, ice, etc

There are no laws regarding the purchase and resell of soda products in Indiana that i am aware of, although it is illegal for me to purchase beer from stores like Rite Aid or Kroger to resell at the CPC.

Honestly, it would be cheaper (and thus more profitable) for me to buy mass produced domestic swill from any of the chain groceries/pharmacies than from my beer distributors.


shawn

volume discounts - that's the key phase. First, having been in the retail business, I wouldn't be surprised that at the end of the Kroger-Pepsi contract year, Kroger corporate made more money on those 28 bottles than Todd did reselling them. Second, from the individual store manager's point of view, and ultimately his profit margin report, I also wouldn't be surprised that the volume discount does not "hit" his individual store financial report (his report card), but corporate's. If I'm a betting man, if the manager had refused to sell him the 28 bottles and Todd had complained to the corporate offices, corporate would have honored the retail, no limit.

As for Kroger limiting, or forgetting to post a limit, Kroger corporate offices did not forget. Walk the store, there are limits on other purchases, just last week they had Pepsi 24 packs with a limit. There were no limit on the Pepsi sale because Kroger corporate did not want a limit on the sale. They are not dumb, they know the competitive retails out there, and the "off invoice" costs to all retailers; and that they were pricing below that invoice cost.

And yea, I used the word corporate repeatedly for a reason. Other than flexibility to mark down retails on close dated perishable items, my guess is that Kroger store managers have absolutely no control over any pricing, limits, display placement, etc. Go to three different Kroger locations. Sure, the physical building and store layout may be different in each one, but for example, look at the soft drink displays. They will be in the exact same placement order in each store, Pepsi first, then Coca Cola, then RC products. Same with beer and all other items. And based on negotiated contracts and sale pricing, the displays will change position next week.

Just my experienced guess on the situation. And if I was a Kroger manager, well I was a Kroger "bag boy" back in the 60's, I would have honored the sale as posted, period, and if I felt that it would do any good then later questioned it with management. Stop and think about previous posts about poor service in a restaurant and everyone's response as to how the host/server/manager/owner should handle the situation, same principles here, serve the customer, honor the ad/price/quality of the establishment.

Sorry for the long response.

There are unwritten rules and standards of behavior.

Should I stop tipping my waiter because there's not a rule written down anywhere? Can I bring my brown bag lunch into a restaurant and help myself to a table for my lunch hour? Should be OK since the rule is not written down, right?

I know of no "unwritten rule or standard of behavior" about taking advantage of a store's below-cost pricing. If they posted a limit, then absolutely they could deny Todd. Otherwise, it's a failure on their own part- which like their " if we ring an item at the wrong price, you get one for free", should be honored on one occasion, then corrected so it doesn't happen again. ( It takes 10 secs to add "Limit 10" to a sign.)

Deb

Why do you suppose that Mr. Antz couldn't forthrightly admit that he was buying the soda for resell then?

Why do you suppose that Mr. Antz couldn't forthrightly admit that he was buying the soda for resell then?

I admitted that I was a retailer to them, and asked what difference it would make. Whether I am a retailer or not, I am still their customer. They should hold the same level of customer service to me regardless of who I am. If you start denying sales where does it stop? Again, my main point is that if you are going to have a sale, honor the sale. If you think there should be a limit, then post a limit.

Seems the narrative has changed in Todd's two longer posts recounting the Kroger story. My reading of the first post was that Todd took advantage of Kroger just because he could. In the second post, my reading is that he took advantage of Kroger because he was out of product, needed product, and, like any person would do, bought the product at the lowest price. The first post bothered me, while the second one provided some clarification, although I'm uncomfortable with my reasoning (i.e. supporting the idea that price should motivate buying practice).

Why do you suppose that Mr. Antz couldn't forthrightly admit that he was buying the soda for resell then?

I admitted that I was a retailer to them, and asked what difference it would make. Whether I am a retailer or not, I am still their customer. They should hold the same level of customer service to me regardless of who I am. If you start denying sales where does it stop? Again, my main point is that if you are going to have a sale, honor the sale. If you think there should be a limit, then post a limit.

Then count me as confused. This is from your original post:

(at no point have I said anything about being a retailer)

Then count me as confused. This is from your original post:

(at no point have I said anything about being a retailer)

Sorry, I re-read that original post and mis-worded myself (if mis-word is actually a word ). I had not identified myself as a retailer until they started to deny the sale. Then I did identify that I was a retailer and asked them what difference it would make if I was a retailer or not. At the time, I was one of their customers. One of those heat of the moment things while I was typing out the first post.

Then count me as confused. This is from your original post:

(at no point have I said anything about being a retailer)

Sorry, I re-read that original post and mis-worded myself (if mis-word is actually a word ). I had not identified myself as a retailer until they started to deny the sale. Then I did identify that I was a retailer and asked them what difference it would make if I was a retailer or not. At the time, I was one of their customers. One of those heat of the moment things while I was typing out the first post.

No big deal. I figured that's what happened.

I still can't help but think that Kroger doesn't want to be in the wholesale business. Did you explain that you weren't doing this as regular business, but ran out between deliveries? If so, maybe that's why they agreed to sell them, to help you make it through.

They couldn't afford to make a habit of it though, since they'd not have enough stock for their target retail customers, even the ones throwing actual big parties.

However I'm not sure I condone your actions in taking advantage of another retailer. It does not sit well with me. I guess we all learned a good lesson.

You have got to be kidding. The poor Kroger's being taken advantage of buying their products. AWWWW

Also the term "loss leader" is often misleading. Pepsi is participating in the promotion. Kroger may well be making a profit. The reason that the manager is complaining is that they may run out and can't or doesn't want to reorder at that price. If they want to limit, post it.

When I was a liquor store owner, I used to buy large amount of Pepsi products, which at that time included 7up. The driver was the salesman and didn't like some of the other stores in the neighborhood, so I got the best discount. In a small liquor store, buying 100 cases of cans would stock it for years. I would call a couple of people that I knew that sold soft drinks at GE and they took most of the cases. Even with this so called "loss leader", I made all of my money back and still had about 20 cases left to sell.

Pepsi was happy, I was happy, the GE guys were happy. Everybody was happy. So much for taking advantage of the retailer.

However I'm not sure I condone your actions in taking advantage of another retailer. It does not sit well with me. I guess we all learned a good lesson.

You have got to be kidding. The poor Kroger's being taken advantage of buying their products. AWWWW

I agree with Steve here, i am pretty sure your "poor Kroger" is dripping with sarcasm. If the post had been: Hey i went down to the little Mom and Pop store at the corner and etc. I would feel differently. It was a $28 sale, Kroger did not lose much.

If this was a normal practice, then that is a different story.

However I'm not sure I condone your actions in taking advantage of another retailer. It does not sit well with me. I guess we all learned a good lesson.

You have got to be kidding. The poor Kroger's being taken advantage of buying their products. AWWWW

I agree with Steve here, i am pretty sure your "poor Kroger" is dripping with sarcasm. If the post had been: Hey i went down to the little Mom and Pop store at the corner and etc. I would feel differently. It was a $28 sale, Kroger did not lose much.

If this was a normal practice, then that is a different story.

So it's OK to do this to Kroger, but Mom and Pop is off limits? Doing this a couple times a year is OK, but doing it once a week is bad? I guess I need to lower my standards. I'm thirsty... need me some Big K!

My last statement was: if this is a regular practice, that is a different story.

If he truly was out and just needed some before he got his delivery, yes i think it is ok. Many restaurants buy things from the grocery stores when they run out. If he was doing this on a regular basis just to save money, like i said, different story. That i would not agree with.

As for the Mom and Pop store; what i mean there was that Kroger obviously makes much more money than them. The "loss" would be greater in the long run for them.

last year Kroger told me the samething and said the limit was 10. All I did was buy 10, put them in my car and went back and bought 10 more and they didn't say anything. Pop is usually cheaper going threw the store than going straight from Pepsi or coke. I know its weird but we had reps from the companys come in before and they told me that they can't compete against kroger or meijer. I don't know how that is possible that its cheaper to go to the store and get them than it is getting it straight from the company.

To take a different approach to the subject - would those 28 2-liters have gone unsold? Not likely. Why does it matter if 1 person buys 28 bottles or 28 people buy 1 bottle each? Kroger set the price to sell the Pepsi. They sold the Pepsi. End of story.

And before someone cries that they missed out on their Pepsi, you should have gotten there first. My first wife used to throw a fit when something was on sale at Target and when she finally got there, they were out of her size. Her argument? "They should have enough in stock for everyone!" Ridiculous!

If he was doing this on a regular basis just to save money, like i said, different story. That i would not agree with.

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I see nothing wrong with this practice...I mean what is wrong with a small business owner trying to turn a small profit? Heck, I buy stuff all time from Kroger's and Sam's instead of a purveyor if I can get a quality product that ultimatley saves me a little on the bottom line. I look for things that go on sale that I use all the time and have been doing this for years. Why would anyone have a problem with this? This is how business is generally done...Buy Low, Sell High.