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Calling all Tennessee Kroger Shoppers!
After a week of rumors, Kroger officially announced today that they will end their double coupon policy and senior discount day. They news was broke to shoppers via email and on receipts. The Southeast Region, which includes 96 stores in Middle and East Tennessee, was the last remaining region in the Kroger family of stores to still double coupons $0.50 and less. Most regions ended the policy several years ago with little explanation on why they choose to leave it active in Tennessee. It seems our luck has finally come to an end with the program ending on March 15th.
What does this mean as far as savings?
Well, I decided to compare three receipts where I saved a fairly large percent to see how much of it was credited to double coupons. The average savings with “bonus” coupons which is the doubled part of the coupon was $4.59 with a total average savings of $93.25. The number seems pretty insignificant when compared with the much larger total savings but over a year it would add up to over $238.
This news should not come as much of a surprise considering that Kroger was losing money on every double coupon they redeemed. While the manufacturer does reimburse the store for the amount on the coupon, if the store chooses to double it, that comes out of their own pocket. For now, Publix stores, which are a close competitor to Kroger in Tennessee and seem to be growing every day will continue their double coupon policy. It will be in interesting to see if this news changes that.
Kroger is promising to lower prices on thousands of items in every to make up the savings. There were a significant amount of tags lowered throughout the store and in the weekly ad although many other regions report the savings was short lived after the double coupons ended. They are also giving a huge push to use digital savings through the Kroger App and Website. Those savings are much easier to control on their part as most offers are limited to one per shopper where paper coupons usually are only limited to 2-4 per shopping trip.
As for the senior discount, shoppers age 60 and older were receiving 5% off almost everything in the store when they shopped on Wednesday. This was already down from the 10% discount that was offered up until 2014 and will now be discontinued completely as of March 15th, 2017. Many seniors are not as likely to use the digital and printable coupons offered and probably received more savings using the discount day and double paper coupons so this may impact them the most. Hopefully the lowered prices promised will be around to stay and will help make up for the loss of the two programs.
As always, make sure to join our Savings In The South Facebook Group for the hottest weekly deals at Kroger and Publix as well as other national grocery stores!