COMMISSARY Case Lot Sale Discussion

[decemberhill]

Our Commissary is having a "Case Lot Sale" the first weekend in May. I know there have been quite a few in the past few years I have been here, but I have never bothered to go. I want to go to this one...what can I expect? Are the deals really good? What are the best things to stock up on?

TIA!

[Jskell911]

Ours is May 15th to the 17th. Hope we get a chance to go. I've never been able to go during these sales

[mickee311]

Ours is the 16th-19th...I have never been and I've heard it takes a few hours to get in and out, so with a newborn, I don't think so. Bummer. I do know if you don't get there the first day and EARLY, you won't get much.

[Nadia]

I've been to several (at two different commissaries) and to be honest, I haven't been impressed. I've never noticed a huge crowd or the commissary running out of things, though. We don't eat a ton of prepackaged foods so that's probably the reason for my impression. I do remember seeing 12 boxes of brownie mix (whatever brand is in a red box?) for $5.80 last time I went.

[tivaclare]

I've never shopped one, even though I've been to them. I guess the prices are ok for people who use a lot of boxed foods. In my case, I really don't need 24 boxes of Hamburger Helper, etc. Even the soaps, shampoos, etc, I can get better prices on with decent coupons at Walgreens, etc.

It wouldn't hurt to check it out though, if you get the chance. Sometimes my store will put a lot of things on special just because they know the crowd will be in for the case lot.

[jeweltea]

Ours is really crowded with long lines. I have gone a couple of times but that was before I really started using coupons so the deals seemed good to me - now they don't seem that good. There isn't a lot that I need that much of (there is only me and DH) and I am stocked up on so much stuff from CVS.
Doris

[my3littlextras]

Yes, I've shopped the case lot sales both overseas and in the states!! My experience has been it depends on what the items are and when you go! I've had several times were I've gotten stuff cheap because I've used a coupon along with theirs and yes they told me that you could use MFR Q's to get even lower discount. I've gotten juice boxes for $1 and laundry detergent for $2(200 fl oz) and other things really cheap cause they were trying to get rid of overstock!! I have found that the sales at particular commissaries can be better. When I was overseas it was more like shopping at a bulk store cause the prices were still high!! No really good deals unless u had q's to stack with. But then sometimes when i would shop the overseas case lot sales they would be trying to get rid of stuff that was going to expire so they'd price it really cheap!! Now to me if it's chips/cereal/can goods or stuff that really doesn't go stale quickly if it isn't open, then I'll buy it. But again it's all about the timing!!

[ezzie65]

My best advice is arrive EARLY! Don't show up the second day of the sale as most of the good deals are already sold out. These sales are hit or misses, sometimes you score BIG, other times NOTHING! I'm sure I've been to at least a dozen case lot sales.

Also many times the manufacturer's allow multiple coupon use on items. I once got 55 count tubs of Electrasol dishwasher tablets for .99 cent EACH because the price was $5.99 but attached to each tub they have 5- $1 off coupons. This was at least 4 years ago and I'm on my second to last tub right now. I'm getting nervous, what will I ever do when I run out???

[Tiffany]

Also many times the manufacturer's allow multiple coupon use on items.

I don't shop at the commissary so I don't know if this is a special rule there, but I've never heard of any manufacturer's that allow multiple coupons on the same item.

[Curlybwc]

You're right - the case lot sales are a very special case where the manufacturers allow and place the multiple coupons on the products specifically for use at the case lot sale.