Quick props for Kroger...

I am usually unhappy with both of our nearby grocery stores. HEB has an awful tendency to be out of two or three of the main things we go there for which frustrates me to no end. I have been known to abandon carts full of groceries there (although I usually tell someone so they can put all the cold stuff away). HEB does have excellent customer service though. Their checkers are usually good about being able to tell that I don't wish to chit chat, I would just like my items scanned quickly. Their baggers are also excellent and I usually don't have to tell them that the insulated bags we got at the commissary (which we visited with McKay) are for cold things. I rather like the Kroger around our house because it is rarely out of what we need (but the items are still fresh) and it has great manager specials. However their checkers and baggers are notoriously slow, eat and drink while touching my food, are incessantly on their phones texting, and never know what the insulated bags are for. I have not noticed much of a price difference (overall on your entire bill) between either store. There are some things that are cheaper at each place and I think it balances out in the end.

However, HEB has been running a major advertising campaign against Kroger specifically and especially that their prices are much cheaper even without a special card. I would like to officially endorse my use of the Kroger Plus Card for a number of reasons:

A) You don't have to actually carry around the card, if it is linked to your phone number you can just type in the number on the key pad.

B) If you use your card enough you get extra free stuff...we always qualify for a free Turkey at Thanksgiving and we have recently been getting tons of Kroger specific coupons in the mail. These coupons are tracked through what we frequently buy so this last visit we got Free eggs, Free cherry tomatoes, a few other free things, and discounts on items we buy anyways. I like that.

C) We learned recently that by linking your phone number to your card and with their tracking (which is probably mainly for marketing research which I am ok with) that if you buy a "tainted" item, they will call you to warn you and you can bring said item back for a refund (if you still have it. Mattie was surprised to receive a phone call that a batch of cilantro (which was gone by two or three days) that we purchased may have been tainted with salmonella. I like that I do not have to worry about these items and that Big Brother Kroger is watching out for me...

So shop where you wish, but don't listen to the advertising scheme by HEB to shop somewhere just because you don't need a card...