Lies, damned lies and yellow tags

Not long ago, I went into a local Kroger’s to get some Over-the-counter (OTC) medicine. I saw an item on sale, or so it seemed, as there was a yellow tag.

In the past, Kroger’s has used the yellow tag to denote that an item is cheaper with their loyalty card… but this tag said “everyday low price”. Peeling back the yellow tag, I saw a ordinary white tag… with the same price!

Sneaky.

It reminds me of Wal-Mart’s “endcap” trick, where they put an item on an endcap with a HUGE PRICE TAG, in an attempt to make people think that they are getting a bargain. But as bad as that is, this is more disingenuous.

I was content to let it lie… until last night, when I saw a Billboard boasting “When the Tag is up, the price is down”, with two yellow tags…

…one of which says “everyday low price”. Now I am only an ordinary customer, but from where I am sitting, you cannot claim that “the price is down” while offering the same price as usual.

So when the tag is up, the price is down… except when it isn’t.

I don’t know what disturbs me more; that Kroger’s thinking that this sort of behavior is ok… or that the rest of us are “rewarding” it with our purchases.

Kroger’s’ marketing boys and girls need to get new dictionaries and look up words like “dishonest”, “disingenuous” and “misrepresentation”.

Abe Lincoln once said “he has the right to criticize who has the heart to help“, so I am going to do my bit to help.

Naturally, I will draw Kroger’s’ Customer Service to this post. I will be happy to take it down if and when they change their ways in this matter. However, since most Customer Service Departments are bloody useless (since they essentially exist to tell the customer “no”), and I have little hope of changing a retailing behemoth, I will also offer the following valuable service at no cost to Kroger’s:

If I see a “pointless” yellow tag (same price underneath), I will remove it.
The price will not change.
All I will do is remove the deception.
No Charge.