TO BE or NOT TO BE Kroger??

[hillaryef]

I hear often that it isn't worth going to Kroger. I've been given countless reasons as to why Kroger is just not a store to frequent.

Honestly, I struggled a lot with the above with respect to taking on the moderator job for Kroger: Cincinnati. I just didn't want to be in a store forum that I thought would be a "waste of time". But at the same time, I almost always choose Kroger over Meijer if I'm given the choice. I have to assume there is at least another "me" out there. I know there is, otherwise, Kroger wouldn't exist right?

So I thought I'd share my reasons for choosing Kroger. I would LOVE to hear why you do/don't choose to Kroger as your Grocery store of choice. What makes you love/not love it the most. My logic below is NOT to dismiss the reasons people choose OTHER store. It is just the reasons I choose to pick Kroger.

For me, there are four main reasons I love my Kroger:

1) Location
2) customer service
3) unlimited doubling
4) quality of produce

1) My location is unbelievable. It is literally 2 minutes from my house. I should probably walk and if it wasn't for the fact I had to cross a "major" road, I would. But it is on the way to my kids school and so that has a lot to do with it. My closest Meijer is more than 15 minutes from my house. So in my case, Meijer has to have quite a few deals to get me out there, otherwise what I spend in gas is usually more than the "savings" in items.

It wasn't until I was couponing for quite some time that I realized...OH I should think about things outside of my actual grocery bill when figuring my savings. Carol here (XUFan) pointed out to me one day...you have to figure in your gas bill as well. When my DH and I looked at that as well, we realized my "chasing" the deals was costing me more than just sticking close to home a lot of the time. Sure when Meijer's running the 10/10 11th free deal...and there's a lot of good things...I go. But when there's a $0.10 deal on ice cream...I'm not running out there.

2) Customer Service: My Kroger knows me and my family. They are some of the nicest people I've ever met. I happen to be at one of the testing Krogers, so most of the management teams go through my Kroger before heading out to other Krogers in Cincinnati and the rest of Kroger at large. So I don't know if that has something to do with it? But my Kroger has unbelievable customer service. I've been told that there are other stores that have horrible CS. I believe that's true for each brand. But I have 4 Meijers within a 30 minute radius of me. And only 1 of them has decent CS (I do know, however, that there are more Meijers than those and that some of them I've been told are as amazing as my Kroger...I'm just not as fortunate to live as close to them) The rest are hit or miss.

Sometimes I will walk in and then walk right back out of Meijer if I see who's on in the CS desk. I know that they are difficult to work with and if I have any problems at all, I won't get any support from them. So it isn't worth it. Then I've driven all that way for nothing. I have a great Aldi close to me, but they don't accept coupons. So unless it is very specific items, I don't do a lot of shopping there. There are four Krogers in about a 10 minute radius from me, and they all have awesome customer service. Although, again...I know that's a real issue for some...people say that there are some Krogers here in Cincinnati with horrific CS. I'm just REALLY, REALLY fortunate so far that I've not had to deal with that yet (knocking on A LOT OF wood right now )

3) Unlimited doubling: I've heard through the grapevine that there are Krogers that are limiting some of their coupons, but I've not come across any here. Mine will double forever. And talk about time savings! That is my biggest petpeeve with Meijer. They will have this awesome deal...buy 10 get this or buy 4 get that...whatever, and if you could double all your coupons it would be AMAZING. But you can't b/c they only double the first 2. Or, if you have a great deal on something (like two weeks ago I went there b/c they had really great price on jelly and I had an awesome coupon...lots, but it took me FOREVER to buy them b/c I had to do a bazillion transactions worth it b/c I walked out with DS favorite jelly for each 32 oz container costing about $0.75). When I have 3 kids with me ages 5 and under...my two boys wrestling under the cart and my 17 month old screaming...taking the time to do a bazillion transactions isn't a deal any longer. When I just had my oldest with me who was a model child when he was my only...it was no problem. But now with three...it is almost beyond impossible. Kroger allows me to do them all at once. And I'm done. Or better yet, the fabulous girls at Starbucks love my kids and will even let my boys sit there while I go through the line (love that customer service )

4) Produce: I really love Country Fresh over in Hartwell, but I can't always get there. My Kroger is my second best choice. It is just my opinion that my Kroger has better produce selections than the three meijer options I have to choose from or the Aldi I can go to. Fresh fruit/veggies make up a HUGE portion of our family diet. If my grocery store's produce isn't decent, it just isn't worth going to. My kroger's produce's is really decnet and if I want really, really awesome and I can't make it to Country Fresh...then the Kroger off Plainfield is utterly amazing!

Okay...so that's my ramble. No need to tell me how WRONG I am...but I'd love your opinions. Tell me YOUR experiences and what makes you LOVE or HATE Kroger.

[hapegma29]

I am a Kroger fan. I believe there is a choice for all of us. I live in a small town; our only grocery choices are Kroger, Marsh and Walmart. Also CVS, Walgreens, Dollar General and Family Dollar. Otherwise, we have to drive to Indy. Basically I shop the specials at each store. Our Kroger employees are helpful and friendly. They have been helpful to community events. I love the Mega Sales! The meat and produce selections are good. I appreciate the savings on gas, too. They do only double the first two coupons, but our Marsh has the same policy. I always appreciate what stores do to help us, and try to ignore the rest.

[motherofmolly]

I like that my local area has 12 or so Krogers. So if i can not find it at one, i should be able to find it at another.

and you cant beat a kroger mega sale!

[$Saving!]

If anything should change about Kroger is their corporate coupon policy.

It's vague and as such, each store manager seems to set their own policy on the limits of coupons, how many 'like' can be used etc.

So walking into a Kroger you're not familiar with is a game changing event

For instance, the Kroger close to me is unlimited 'like' coupons - at least I have never found the limit yet, but the most I've used at one time that are identical is 6.

Yet a few miles away, another Kroger limits you to two 'like' coupons, random in fact as it was not always that way, it just happened one week

And all the stores around here at least double all coupons up to 50 cents, no limits on the number of coupons doubled, so far, anyway.

So ... it would be nice if there was a company wide standard set and make it easier to follow policy store to store.

[hillaryef]

I live in Cincinnati and the corporate head quarters is about 15 minutes from my house. There are times when I've told DH I am just going to drive down there walk in and say...do any of you have the first clue whatthe heck you are trying to do.

I agree with you on the vagueness of the coupon policy. And when you want clarification you write corporate and you get a nothing answer bc you can tell they didn't even read you email.

So, I 100% agree on that one. I wish I knew how to work on that one?? But alas...I have not a clue. I have friends at P&G but no one at Kroger (although my friends at P&G tell me they can't help me much on my random questions anyway )

I did have a friend who wrote the CEO of Kroger letter after letter about a store issue she was having after getting no response qt the corporate customer service level. I don't know if it was her persistence, the fact we live in Cincinnati or what...but after the third letter the problem was more than resolved...so maybe that's what I need to do start a letter campaign on the CEO here. Maybe if bug the CEO enough we might get something (hopefully not a restraining order though!!)

I'm loving this input...more thoughts welcomed!

If anything should change about Kroger is their corporate coupon policy.

It's vague and as such, each store manager seems to set their own policy on the limits of coupons, how many 'like' can be used etc.

So walking into a Kroger you're not familiar with is a game changing event

For instance, the Kroger close to me is unlimited 'like' coupons - at least I have never found the limit yet, but the most I've used at one time that are identical is 6.

Yet a few miles away, another Kroger limits you to two 'like' coupons, random in fact as it was not always that way, it just happened one week

And all the stores around here at least double all coupons up to 50 cents, no limits on the number of coupons doubled, so far, anyway.

So ... it would be nice if there was a company wide standard set and make it easier to follow policy store to store.

[434Teresa]

Location
is bad for me I have to drive 30 minutes one way..but do for mega sales

customer service
use to be really great at the store I go to. The last time I was there about two weeks ago they had two cashiers one regular and fast lane. I was told that from now on that is how it would be unless it was the first week of the month. There was lots of people in line I mean like 10 on each with big buggies of stuff for the most part. Usually when this happens a mtg person will open anther lane but there was only one and he was just standing there looking, there is usually two up front.
The women checking me out had to read and reread all my coupons if they were different from the last one. She tried to give lots of them back to me and then had to dig the items out of the buggy to make sure that I was "right" and did get it. This is before she would even try to scan the coupons, with like 9 people in line behind me looking at me like I just shot a cat or something..still the mtg just stood there...I thought if he dont care about the line hold why should I...

unlimited doubling
This store doubles 8 of like coupons per day...

quality of produce
yes for most part the produce is very good.They keep all the bad stuff pick out but the price is also a little higher..

Now unless the checkout line keeps getting worse I will keep driving there for mega sales but for the most part I wont drive there to shop even if I lived in that town for the prices are highier then other stores I have to shop at.

[434Teresa]

I live in Cincinnati and the corporate head quarters is about 15 minutes from my house. There are times when I've told DH I am just going to drive down there walk in and say...do any of you have the first clue whatthe heck you are trying to do.

I agree with you on the vagueness of the coupon policy. And when you want clarification you write corporate and you get a nothing answer bc you can tell they didn't even read you email.

So, I 100% agree on that one. I wish I knew how to work on that one?? But alas...I have not a clue. I have friends at P&G but no one at Kroger (although my friends at P&G tell me they can't help me much on my random questions anyway )

I did have a friend who wrote the CEO of Kroger letter after letter about a store issue she was having after getting no response qt the corporate customer service level. I don't know if it was her persistence, the fact we live in Cincinnati or what...but after the third letter the problem was more than resolved...so maybe that's what I need to do start a letter campaign on the CEO here. Maybe if bug the CEO enough we might get something (hopefully not a restraining order though!!)

I'm loving this input...more thoughts welcomed!

Myself I think that should be left alone for if you "bug" the right person then all stores my go to 2 of like coupons per shopping trip per day.

Keep in mind it could back fire is all I am saying.

[hillaryef]

Myself I think that should be left alone for if you "bug" the right person then all stores my go to 2 of like coupons per shopping trip per day.

Keep in mind it could back fire is all I am saying.

Yeah...I know It is funny to think about though . Imagine someone getting lots of letters from couponers demanding clarification on something. But you are right...the easiest way for someone to deal with that would be to just do something like eliminate it all together. And that would be horrific

[alicri]

My dad retired from Kroger so obviously I am a Kroger girl. One thing I love about Kroger is that they have the little carts for the kids. Both of my kids LOVE these things and it helps on those "short" shopping trips. My Kroger is generally stocked well and coupon friendly. It seems more straight forward too. No Meijer Mealbox to consult (sometimes the mealbox is great- don't get me wrong) but it can be more intricate. I am fortunate enough to have a Meijer and Kroger directly across the street from one another. I prefer Kroger but hey wherever my buck stretches the most I will go.