Reading The Sales And Store Prices

An in-depth look at how to read the price labels at grocery stores to assess the actual cost of an item and determine the best deal.

Ever bought something because it was on sale and you thought you were getting a good deal? Did you actually check to see whether it was the best deal or did you just assume it was? Don't feel bad - we've all done it; stores want us to do it. But no longer! By learning how to read the price tags at grocery stores you can quickly learn how to find the best deal!

Read The Label

Above is a sample price tag at my grocery store. Have you ever noticed the writing below the the name of the product? Your grocery store should have this amazing feature of price per 100 mL. Here you can see it circled in pink. By comparing the price per 100 mL instead of total cost you can better compare product to product. 

Here is an example of where I found it helpful. I was looking to buy pineapple tidbits and had my choice of 3 different products.  Here are the price tags for all of them. Which do you think is the cheapest?

Product A
Store Brand - Regular Price

Product B
Name Brand - Regular Price

Product C
Name Brand - Sale Price

If you compare all 3 of these products you will realize that Product A (the store brand at regular price) is the most economical. Product C, the only one on sale, is actually the most expensive at 0.365 per 100 mL compared to 0.294 and 0.217 per 100 mL. Even though Products A and B are the same price, Product A has a greater volume than Product B, making it cheaper. So by reading the labels carefully I was able to know that Product A was the best price and was not be fooled by the "sale".

The Sale Label

Sale Label A

Sale Label B

Both of the above are pictures of sale labels at the same grocery store. Sale Label A was located in one of the aisles, while Sale Label B was located at the end of an aisle, in a prominent sale location. There is a lot to learn from these 2 labels.

First you'll notice that Sale Label B does not have the price per 100 mL, while Sale Label A does. When sale items are placed at the end of aisles or in low refrigerated units in the center of outer aisles (you know what I'm talking about), the price tag will not contain the price per 100 mL. This is something I have noticed in several different grocery stores, not just the one I took these pictures at. The reason for this is that you think it's a good deal because it's in such a prominent location, but you can't actually check there to make sure it is a good deal. Generally these items are also available in other areas of the store where the price per 100 mL is included, so buy it from there not the special sale area.

Sale Label B shows that the product is 2/$5.00 or $2.50 each. The 2/$5.00 means nothing, the price is $2.50. This label suggests to the customer that you should buy two of them to get the best deal. In reality, it almost never matters how many you buy because you nearly always receive the sale price for any number, so only get as many as you need.

Sale Label B also shows the product is 2/$8.88 (likely $4.44 each, even though this label doesn't show that), for a savings of $5.10. Wow save $5.10 off cheese, that's awesome! Wait. You're actually only saving $2.55 per bar of cheese. If you buy 2 bars you're savings $5.10 together. By lumping the savings together, you think you're saving a lot more money than actually are, making you more likely to buy it. Again, if you need 2 bars of cheese, buy both. If you don't only buy the one.

More To Come

I hope this has helped you out and that you'll be able to always find the best deal at the grocery store. This is just one of many posts that are coming out this month, so stay tuned for more exciting ways to save on groceries.