The woman caught my attention as I approached the entrance of Costco, where members scan their membership cards to get in.
Could she, she asked another person, walk in with them? The person gave a shrug and a nod, the woman slipped into the warehouse by their side and I wondered if she was trying to catch up with a family member or friend already inside.
It wasn’t until about 30 minutes later, as I waited in line at a register, did the woman appear by my side with a different question: Would I let the cashier scan my membership card at checkout so she could buy her groceries? Memberships, which cost between $65 to $130 annually, are needed to purchase virtually everything at the warehouse.
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Shocked, I said no. But that didn’t stop her: As she went down the line, she discreetly asked others the same question. I lost track of whether she was successful.
I’ve been thinking of this encounter ever since I compared prices of 20 common items at eight major grocery chains, then published my results — an astounding $76 from cheapest to most expensive. (I also did a separate comparison of Trader Joe’s, the ninth chain I shopped at).
Dozens of readers told me where they shopped and why. With grocery prices outpacing inflation by rising about 30% over the past five years, many said how they felt the pinch to their pocketbooks and how eager they are to save money on groceries. Some shared their strategies for reaching that goal. (Though none were as brazen as the woman I encountered at Costco, the least expensive of the major grocers The Oregonian/OregonLive compared).
That has led me to this story and the following 10 legitimate hacks for buying the cheapest groceries:
1. You don’t need a Costco membership to get in:
Shoppers at Costco can gain entrance to visit the pharmacy without a membership. Non-members can buy prescription drugs at the same price as members at the pharmacy in warehouses or online.
Some states, but not Oregon, also allow nonmembers to enter the warehouse to buy alcohol. Non-members also can buy a selection of food and household items on Costco.com, though a 5% surcharge will be tacked on. In addition, non-members also can shop through Instacart and have their items delivered, though the prices are significantly higher.
Other than that, there’s one more exception to the rules.
2. Use a Costco Shop Card at the warehouse if you’re not a member: If you know a family member or friend who is a member, you could ask them to charge up a Costco Shop Card for you. The Shop Card, which is essentially a gift card, allows non-members to enter the warehouse and buy whatever items they choose, not just medications from the pharmacy.
Costco, however, discourages the regular use of Shop Cards for people who want to circumvent its membership system.
It also might make sense to buy a membership if you plan on spending significant sums at Costco. The $130 annual membership offers 2% back in store credit on most anything you buy, from food to appliances to furniture and vacations. If you spend more than $6,500 in a year, or an average of $542 per month, you’ll get your $130 back. Spend more than that and it’ll be a net win.
While that might sound like an over-the-top amount, nationally, the average household spends $691 per month on groceries. It’s even more in Oregon — $766, according to one recent study.
3. Pay attention to WinCo’s signs boasting cheaper prices because they’re mostly right: WinCo was second only to Costco for cheapest groceries in The Oregonian/OregonLive’s comparison.
WinCo clearly knows it. Signs plastered throughout the store continuously remind shoppers how its prices compare to its competitors: Walmart, Fred Meyer and Safeway. After checking the veracity of 10 of these signs, we found them to mostly be accurate.
One common error was occasionally missing a weekly sale price at another store and instead posting the regular price. For instance, a sign advertising Rao’s Homemade Marinara sauce for $6.98 at Walmart was correct in stating that Walmart was selling the same 32-ounce jar for $8.88 and Fred Meyer for $10.49. But it mistakenly listed the price at Safeway as $10.99, when it was on sale that week for $7.99.
Conversely, we saw WinCo understate the price at its competitors, too — though WinCo’s price was still lower. That mistake was spotted in a sign advertising a 16-ounce bag of Wonderful brand in-shell pistachios for sale for $7.98 at WinCo. The same sign correctly noted the price was $8.92 at Walmart, but incorrectly said it was $8.99 at Fred Meyer and Safeway. The actual price that week at those two stores was $9.99.
4. WinCo doesn’t advertise sales, but it does offer them: Most of WinCo’s shelf tags listing the price of its items are yellow, indicating that that’s the regular price. The green tags mean a product is on sale. But unfortunately, they don’t list for how long. The Oregonian/OregonLive asked a store employee, who said the sale could last for a few weeks, then disappear without notice.
5. Get 20% more in store credit when you redeem cans and bottles at Fred Meyer and Safeway: Fred Meyer, Safeway and a few other regional retailers give Oregonians who redeem cans and bottles for 10 cents apiece under the state’s Bottle Bill an extra 20% in store credit. That means someone who turns in $10 worth of “empties” through BottleDrop’s green bag program can go to a kiosk in the stores, push the “Plus” icon on the screen and print out a store credit voucher for $12, or 20% more than they would have received in cash.
The program is officially known as BottleDrop Push Plus, which on its website offers step-by-step instructions on how to use it.
6. Trader Joe’s offers decent deals on some of its private label products: Though Trader Joe’s was tough to directly compare to the other major grocers because so many of its products are store brand, one reader told The Oregonian/OregonLive that she has found cheaper prices on Trader Joe’s cheeses and oils than another store she shops at, Fred Meyer.
The Oregonian/OregonLive found that to be true in multiple comparisons, including the Kerrygold Dubliner Irish cheddar cheese and the private label brand avocado oil at each store. On top of that, the Trader Joe’s avocado oil was within a penny of the per-ounce price of Walmart’s Great Value brand avocado oil.
Last month, a survey by the American Customer Satisfaction Index found that Trader Joe’s was the nation’s favorite grocery store.
7. Walmart comes close to being cheaper than WinCo, if you use a cash-back credit card: Walmart placed third in The Oregonian/OregonLive’s cost comparison of stores. But it could be cheaper or at least come close to being cheaper than second-place WinCo, if you have a generous cash back credit card.
The Oregonian/OregonLive found credit cards that offer as much as 6% cash back on groceries, such as the Blue Cash Preferred American Express Card, which waives its $95 annual fee for the first year.
Walmart accepts credit cards, including American Express, while WinCo doesn’t — in favor of cash or debit cards.
During one of the weeks that The Oregonian/OregonLive comparison shopped, it found that the 20 items it price checked at Walmart were 5.3% more expensive than those at WinCo. A recent Consumer Reports price comparison found the difference was about 3%.
Some shoppers prefer Walmart because they can use their credit cards and don’t have to bag their own groceries, like at WinCo.
8. Curbside pickup can be cheaper than shopping in-store: Safeway and Fred Meyer both offer the same prices for curbside pickup as they do in-store, with no minimum order fees tacked on for orders that meet a minimum threshold, $30 or $35, respectively in the Portland area.
On top of that, the stores sometimes offer extra discounts. Safeway and Fred Meyer give first-time curbside customers $20 to $30 off $75 orders. Last week, Safeway also trimmed 10% off all “DriveUp & Go” orders. Fred Meyer also offers exclusive sales to pickup and delivery customers, like an extra $10 off two packages of dishwasher pods or paper towels this past week.
9. Whole Foods and New Season have discounts, too: Though Whole Foods placed seventh and New Seasons eighth in The Oregonian/OregonLive’s cost comparison of the eight major grocery chains, there are deals to be had at both.
Amazon Prime members get access to deeper discounts on sale items or exclusive deals, like buy one get one 50% off on ground beef and bread or $12 fresh out-of-the-oven pizzas on certain days of the week.
As for New Seasons, it offers some significant price cuts during some sales. In early February, boxes of Back to Nature crackers were $1.99, down from $3.99.
On Tuesdays, New Seasons gives veterans, military personnel and their families 10% off “almost everything.” On Wednesdays, shoppers ages 65 and older get 10% off.
10. Always download the app and know your passcode: Both Fred Meyer and Safeway offer two tiers of sale prices to shoppers who’ve enrolled in their loyalty programs. The first is the sale price that all registered customers get once they type in their phone numbers at check out. The second is a deeper discount from digital coupons that shoppers must clip on the stores’ websites or apps.
I learned this lesson the hard way while encountering an exasperated Safeway cashier, who couldn’t understand why I showed up to the cash register with a container of Tillamook ice cream without having clipped the digital coupon. After some extensive back-and-forth (“Why hadn’t I activated the coupon? How could I not have the app downloaded on my phone? How could I have forgotten my passcode?”), the cashier finally whispered to me that he wasn’t supposed to give me the discount but he would just this one time.
It was a small win. Digital coupons can slash a sizable amount from the total at grocery chains that rely on these sale prices to draw customers in. In this case, the coupon cut 50% off the price of that container of ice cream, dropping it from $6.99 to $3.49. And it was savings worth the hassle, to this one shopper.
