This weekend I went shopping to a small local grocery store with my mother. We looked in the sales paper before we went and knew that we wanted to get some Bigelow tea which was on sale. Only because we read the paper did we know that the tea was on sale – an extraordinary price –  4 boxes for $5 for black tea blends. The green tea varieties were 2 for $4, which is still a great price.

The tea was on the shelves and there were special displays for the green tea along with signs indicating the price of the green tea. There was no shelf tag for the regular black tea varieties. When we got to the register, the tea was on sale and scanned correctly but unless you read the sales paper you would not have had any clue that the black tea was on sale.

This isn’t the first time that this has happened. Another thing I have noticed in stores when an item is listed on sale, there may be some on a shelf, but you can’t see the item because they are either in the back, behind another similar non-sale item or against the back of the shelf wall so it can’t be seen unless you get down on the floor. Other times, items may not get restocked until the sale is over. Remember the two little words with great purchasing power – Rain Check. If an item that is listed on sale isn’t available and there isn’t a sign stating “no rain checks,” get one. Making it easy to buy something on sale is not what retailers want to do.

At non-grocery stores, the rain check may be a little more difficult to get, but it’s possible to get one. Advertised prices may not always jibe with the scanned price at the register, so pay attention to the price that is being scanned. This is especially true with fruits and vegetables that are not easily identifiable by the check out person or without a sticker on them. Don’t get home and find out that you were charged for Braeburn apples and you had the less expensive Red Delicious.