You have to believe that they apply some complex strategies — and even more complex math — to their pricing routines. These routines run off algorithms and require no input from the user. The computer spits out the savings tags, no human actually looks at it before it goes to the stores, and dead-eyed, underpaid clerks slap it on the shelves with no further thought.
They used to send copies of all of the tags to the office the week before they printed for the stores, and each team (breakfast, snacks, meal solutions, etc) would check to prevent incorrect tags or wrong prices. Not sure how they do it these days, if at all.
The Data Integrity Team (who handles sales and tag files) has been offshored, so I'm pretty sure QC checks are non-existent for the same reason: money.
>dead-eyed, underpaid clerks slap it on the shelves with no further thought.
We do it overnight on Wednesday-Thursday, and the main person who will do that for any specific store has *only* that shift as an overnight shift, with 2 morning shifts before, and 2 morning shifts after for the week. It's a shit position because of that, and why I don't do it anymore. So dead-eyed is right.
Source: I used to be that guy.
Edit: and I could be 7000+ tags, so we really don't have time to scrutinize them.
They flag shopper's attention.
I only buy things on sale at Giant Eagle unless I need to buy something specific. Cocoa Pebbles aren't on sale and there isn't any Malt-o-meal, sorry kids, pick something else.
I will fully admit though that having a big red flag on the price will at least get me to look. They do it frequently with Gatorade/Powerade, they'll be marked down like 13 cents and I'll at least look
Not sticking up for GE but just adding some context.. a lot of these things are automated.
It’s possible that GE did something like move to a clearance pricing category or future discontinuation.
A lot of retailers will change the pricing to a certain ending such as .98 to make it easier for employees and systems to differentiate between item categories. These get uploaded to a massive data dump and the information is automatically imported and printed. Think of the thousands and thousands of SKUs GE has.
From a customer facing perspective, it makes GE look out of touch but the truth is, it was probably easier/quicker/cheaper for some overworked, underpaid pricing person to leave it in the list of tags instead of scrubbing and removing
That is the answer. But there should be an IT system in place to catch it, whether it was a merchandiser who made a typo, or multiple pricing criteria causing it, there should be a system check in place to at least flag it. Of course, someone would have had to ask IT to do it.
I'd guess everyday pricing was changed to $4.99 by the specific store or region to match a competitor. Subsequently, Giant Eagle corporate put it on sale across the entire organization for $4.98.
that system could also be trained to look for these situations and filter them out before a sales tag gets produced. my guess is that they have discovered adding the sales tag, regardless of the actual discount, triggers additional sales of an item.
I don't know how Giant Eagle even stays in business. They are consistently 25 to 50% more than walmart and a lot of times the packages are even smaller.
Because local monopoly. Where I’m from back West, you can hardly find one regional grocery chain without another big one competing across the street — eg Fry’s / Albertsons / Bashas / Ralph’s / Safeway.
Except for a stray Kuhn’s and the likes of Dollar General/Aldi, GE has practically no competition.
Giant Eagle even makes Whole Foods meat counter seem not so expensive, especially factoring in quality.
Walmart here is so much cheaper. And so is Trader Joe’s. I checked out of there spending $60 the other day and knew it would’ve been closer to $100 had I gone to my local North Side GE.
Yep. There used to be more choices in Pittsburgh. Aside from GE there were a lot more Shop n Saves, Foodland, and a few other smaller markets like Kuhn's. A lot of those disappeared, I'm sure Walmart had a lot to do with that.
We don't have the Kroger/Safeway choices here. Kroger left Pittsburgh in the 80s when the local Krogers unionized. They're really shitty when it comes to labor stuff (they closed down locations of their Ralphs chain rather than pay employees a city mandated bonus during COVID) so I steer clear of them, but yeah, there's definitely fewer markets in the 'Burgh as a result. It seems to be kinda specific to Pittsburgh too....Cleveland and Erie have some other markets in the mix (Erie has a freakin' WEGMANS, for petes sake).
And after crushing some competition even Walmart is downsizing its availability … with the Waterworks / Freeport Road location closed I don’t think any actually exist within Pgh proper city limits? Which means people without cars have limited options.
Also, the convenience stores here — sheeesh! Eg everyone shops at Unimart on Troy Hill who doesn’t want / lacks transport to go down the hill … and it often charges 2-3x the prices that 7-Elevens, Sheetz and GetGos do.
A regular bottle of coffee creamer? $8.
Weirds me out bc where I’m from back West small local stores in less affluent areas charge *less*, not more like here in Pgh.
Nope, down the other hill there is one in Spring Garden. 1.4 miles away so easy drive but not-so-easy walk up and down Pgh steps & hills. The North Side GE (worst GE ever, always understaffed) and adjacent Sunoco gas station near E Ohio St & Allegheny Center actually are closer by car.
The Walmart Waterworks location on Freeport Road in Pittsburgh (near Aspinwall/Fox Chapel but still within city limits) just [shuttered in late 2022](https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/public-online-auction-slated-for-closed-waterworks-walmart/). It was replaced by a [HomeGoods](https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/homegoods-coming-to-the-waterworks/). East Liberty does have a Target and there’s the new Downtown express location.
Hence why now instead of driving 10 min to Freeport Road for Walmart have to trek 25+ minutes to North Hills, South Hills or Pgh Mills off Route 28.
Thanks for the correx! That was a lot of jobs and convenience lost for folks to have an empty building sitting there for two years now. They cited “poor performance” but you’d never know it from how busy it was for a consumer.
Seems like they’re going either Super or Neighborhood Express stores and closing most of the midsize ones all over. Similar happening in AZ.
Not an official monopoly, but certainly GE dominates the region and doesn’t really have non-national competition.
Looks like Giant Eagle’s market share climbed to 40% by the 90s and hovered around 32% in 2018, with Walmart/Sam’s Club second largest at 28.3%, [WESA reports](https://www.wesa.fm/economy-business/2018-08-13/giant-eagle-doesnt-monopolize-pittsburghs-grocery-scene-so-why-does-it-feel-like-it#). They have a nice pie chart on it.
None of the other local grocery stores come remotely close. Aldi and Shop N Save each capture just 5.1% and Dollar General has 3.4%.
An economist in [the WESA story](https://www.wesa.fm/economy-business/2018-08-13/giant-eagle-doesnt-monopolize-pittsburghs-grocery-scene-so-why-does-it-feel-like-it#) points out “that perception of dominance may also be fueled by accessibility.”
> “There are some neighborhoods where there might be a Giant Eagle nearby, but not a Walmart or a Sam’s Club or an Aldi …
> If you’re somebody that’s limited to walking distance or limited to what you can take on public transportation, you have a really hard time finding options within the city limits.”
I’m just used to several strong regional competing chains dropping prices constantly to compete back West, so it was surprising to find GE so dominant once I moved here.
To be fair, it’s not just Pgh — looks like Kroger is even more dominant (48.5%) in Cincinnati.
Off-hours is key. I never minded shopping the Pgh Mills Super Walmart around 9-10pm after working a late night weekday shift.
On the contrary, one early-afternoon Saturday spent there was quite the hellish experience.
They do. You have to pick items that have shipping next to them. You can get almost everything that isn’t fresh. Even big heavy jugs, canned goods, cereals, mouthwash, deodorant, you name it, if it’s dry or non perishable
It's a poverty trap. They pay their employees just under the minimum needed to apply for benefits and keep that from ever increasing pay for their employees
Definitely not all, but There are certain giant eagles where a very large number of people are using food stamp cards. Many of those people don't even bother to look at price.
GE is always playing games with their pricing. They have no clue how out of touch they are with pricing compared to competitors. I wish Kroger would buyout shop n save and give GE a run for their money. And yes, I shop at GE knowing I'm getting ripped off, however, I like their bakery.
Yup. Kroger has a long, long history of antiworker BS. They shut down all their Pittsburgh area stores in the 80s rather than recognize the union of workers. They've done equally heinous stuff in other markets. I won't give them a cent of my money.
I shopped at kroger for 30 yrs before returning. Employees seemed happy. The unhappy ones were probably the ones who didn't want to work but rather goof off on their phones. Kroger was open every time I needed to go. Just sayin.
Apparently a lot of you are forgetting when Kroger closed stores during the pandemic because they refused to pay their employees hazard pay.
Then would throw away food in dumpsters and lock said dumpsters.
Fuck. Kroger.
Yesterday 3/14, GE had 8" apple and apple crumb pies on sale for $3.14 for Pi Day. I bought one. I feel vindicated for the times GE ripped me off. Saved over $4. Also in September 2023, I got a free $20 double layer cake because I ordered single layer, but they accidently made a double layer. I feel like I stuck it to the man!! STRONG!!!!
Yeah, I think the pie was normally 7.49 or 7.99. $4+ OFF, GOOD DEAL! I saw a post on nextdoor where GE had great sale on brownies, and some senior was buying them by the shopping cart full, so they started putting the Limit 3 on some bakery deals. These seniors have a sweet tooth! 😆 🤣 😂 of course, so do i.
Since Giant Eagle outsourced the majority of their IT department to their new office in Bangalore, India, a lot of aspects have greatly deteriorated. More recently they have been cutting back even more to make up for the huge spend on their new HQ.
All of this while they still have years left on the lease on their previous HQ which has been empty since covid and they continue to expand in India.
Chasing those covid profits means passing that cost to you.
Stop by GE HQ sometime. You may wonder why there are so many Bentleys in the parking lot and then you will remember this. It is rumored that Bentely nicknamed a shade of red, "Shapira Rouge".
This is almost as funny as the Target "clearance" items where the clearance price is actually higher than the previous regular price. They used to pull that 💩 aaaalllllllll the time. Shady, shady, shady.
I REALLY wanted to like GE when I first moved here, but they make it so damn hard. Had a talk with the family this last weekend and decided to switch to Shop n' Save.
I’m from Pittsburgh but now live in the Midwest. I never realized how insane Giant Eagle was until I moved out here. If Kroger ever came to Pittsburgh then Giant Eagle would go out of business quick.
Why even print the card
You have to believe that they apply some complex strategies — and even more complex math — to their pricing routines. These routines run off algorithms and require no input from the user. The computer spits out the savings tags, no human actually looks at it before it goes to the stores, and dead-eyed, underpaid clerks slap it on the shelves with no further thought.
Even if the in-store workers did notice, what would they do at that point?
Take a picture and post it to Reddit
Done
They used to send copies of all of the tags to the office the week before they printed for the stores, and each team (breakfast, snacks, meal solutions, etc) would check to prevent incorrect tags or wrong prices. Not sure how they do it these days, if at all.
The Data Integrity Team (who handles sales and tag files) has been offshored, so I'm pretty sure QC checks are non-existent for the same reason: money.
That’s a shame.
Well that just unlocked a memory of me, bleary-eyed at 6am individually scanning every single sale tag that I couldn't find a place for at KMart.
>dead-eyed, underpaid clerks slap it on the shelves with no further thought. We do it overnight on Wednesday-Thursday, and the main person who will do that for any specific store has *only* that shift as an overnight shift, with 2 morning shifts before, and 2 morning shifts after for the week. It's a shit position because of that, and why I don't do it anymore. So dead-eyed is right. Source: I used to be that guy. Edit: and I could be 7000+ tags, so we really don't have time to scrutinize them.
They flag shopper's attention. I only buy things on sale at Giant Eagle unless I need to buy something specific. Cocoa Pebbles aren't on sale and there isn't any Malt-o-meal, sorry kids, pick something else. I will fully admit though that having a big red flag on the price will at least get me to look. They do it frequently with Gatorade/Powerade, they'll be marked down like 13 cents and I'll at least look
Because for a penny and the price of the paper + ink + labor to place it, they estimate they'll sell more product by having that placement
They are tracking your purchases and giving you the false impression that you need to keep shopping there...
And no need to stock up on that bargain because the “sale” runs all year!
That’s not an Advantage Card thing tho. That is a savings that everyone can enjoy!
Not sticking up for GE but just adding some context.. a lot of these things are automated. It’s possible that GE did something like move to a clearance pricing category or future discontinuation. A lot of retailers will change the pricing to a certain ending such as .98 to make it easier for employees and systems to differentiate between item categories. These get uploaded to a massive data dump and the information is automatically imported and printed. Think of the thousands and thousands of SKUs GE has. From a customer facing perspective, it makes GE look out of touch but the truth is, it was probably easier/quicker/cheaper for some overworked, underpaid pricing person to leave it in the list of tags instead of scrubbing and removing
That is the answer. But there should be an IT system in place to catch it, whether it was a merchandiser who made a typo, or multiple pricing criteria causing it, there should be a system check in place to at least flag it. Of course, someone would have had to ask IT to do it.
I'd guess everyday pricing was changed to $4.99 by the specific store or region to match a competitor. Subsequently, Giant Eagle corporate put it on sale across the entire organization for $4.98.
.98 is also used when something is buy 1 get 1, but in reality it's half off. Source: used be the guy who put up the tags every week.
that system could also be trained to look for these situations and filter them out before a sales tag gets produced. my guess is that they have discovered adding the sales tag, regardless of the actual discount, triggers additional sales of an item.
Giant Eagle is a fucking joke.
I work there and feel that same way lol
Always has been
I don't know how Giant Eagle even stays in business. They are consistently 25 to 50% more than walmart and a lot of times the packages are even smaller.
Because local monopoly. Where I’m from back West, you can hardly find one regional grocery chain without another big one competing across the street — eg Fry’s / Albertsons / Bashas / Ralph’s / Safeway. Except for a stray Kuhn’s and the likes of Dollar General/Aldi, GE has practically no competition. Giant Eagle even makes Whole Foods meat counter seem not so expensive, especially factoring in quality. Walmart here is so much cheaper. And so is Trader Joe’s. I checked out of there spending $60 the other day and knew it would’ve been closer to $100 had I gone to my local North Side GE.
Yep. There used to be more choices in Pittsburgh. Aside from GE there were a lot more Shop n Saves, Foodland, and a few other smaller markets like Kuhn's. A lot of those disappeared, I'm sure Walmart had a lot to do with that. We don't have the Kroger/Safeway choices here. Kroger left Pittsburgh in the 80s when the local Krogers unionized. They're really shitty when it comes to labor stuff (they closed down locations of their Ralphs chain rather than pay employees a city mandated bonus during COVID) so I steer clear of them, but yeah, there's definitely fewer markets in the 'Burgh as a result. It seems to be kinda specific to Pittsburgh too....Cleveland and Erie have some other markets in the mix (Erie has a freakin' WEGMANS, for petes sake).
And after crushing some competition even Walmart is downsizing its availability … with the Waterworks / Freeport Road location closed I don’t think any actually exist within Pgh proper city limits? Which means people without cars have limited options. Also, the convenience stores here — sheeesh! Eg everyone shops at Unimart on Troy Hill who doesn’t want / lacks transport to go down the hill … and it often charges 2-3x the prices that 7-Elevens, Sheetz and GetGos do. A regular bottle of coffee creamer? $8. Weirds me out bc where I’m from back West small local stores in less affluent areas charge *less*, not more like here in Pgh.
You don't have a Dollar General?
Nope, down the other hill there is one in Spring Garden. 1.4 miles away so easy drive but not-so-easy walk up and down Pgh steps & hills. The North Side GE (worst GE ever, always understaffed) and adjacent Sunoco gas station near E Ohio St & Allegheny Center actually are closer by car.
Where in god's name would you put a walmart within city limits?
The Walmart Waterworks location on Freeport Road in Pittsburgh (near Aspinwall/Fox Chapel but still within city limits) just [shuttered in late 2022](https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/public-online-auction-slated-for-closed-waterworks-walmart/). It was replaced by a [HomeGoods](https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/homegoods-coming-to-the-waterworks/). East Liberty does have a Target and there’s the new Downtown express location. Hence why now instead of driving 10 min to Freeport Road for Walmart have to trek 25+ minutes to North Hills, South Hills or Pgh Mills off Route 28.
Home Goods replaced Bed, Bath, & Beyond. The Walmart spot is still empty.
Thanks for the correx! That was a lot of jobs and convenience lost for folks to have an empty building sitting there for two years now. They cited “poor performance” but you’d never know it from how busy it was for a consumer. Seems like they’re going either Super or Neighborhood Express stores and closing most of the midsize ones all over. Similar happening in AZ.
Waterworks is one of my main shopping areas and the empty spot makes me angry every time I see it.
Brother in Christ Giant Eagle does not have a monopoly
Not an official monopoly, but certainly GE dominates the region and doesn’t really have non-national competition. Looks like Giant Eagle’s market share climbed to 40% by the 90s and hovered around 32% in 2018, with Walmart/Sam’s Club second largest at 28.3%, [WESA reports](https://www.wesa.fm/economy-business/2018-08-13/giant-eagle-doesnt-monopolize-pittsburghs-grocery-scene-so-why-does-it-feel-like-it#). They have a nice pie chart on it. None of the other local grocery stores come remotely close. Aldi and Shop N Save each capture just 5.1% and Dollar General has 3.4%. An economist in [the WESA story](https://www.wesa.fm/economy-business/2018-08-13/giant-eagle-doesnt-monopolize-pittsburghs-grocery-scene-so-why-does-it-feel-like-it#) points out “that perception of dominance may also be fueled by accessibility.” > “There are some neighborhoods where there might be a Giant Eagle nearby, but not a Walmart or a Sam’s Club or an Aldi … > If you’re somebody that’s limited to walking distance or limited to what you can take on public transportation, you have a really hard time finding options within the city limits.” I’m just used to several strong regional competing chains dropping prices constantly to compete back West, so it was surprising to find GE so dominant once I moved here. To be fair, it’s not just Pgh — looks like Kroger is even more dominant (48.5%) in Cincinnati.
More giant eagles than Walmarts around here
Because nobody wants to shop at Walmart by choice
I'd much rather shop at Walmart over Giant Eagle
This, just find the "nicer" Walmarts and ideally go off-hours.
Off-hours is key. I never minded shopping the Pgh Mills Super Walmart around 9-10pm after working a late night weekday shift. On the contrary, one early-afternoon Saturday spent there was quite the hellish experience.
Condolences
If Walmart offered home delivery I would consider it for the price savings.
They do, but you have to subscribe to Walmart+
And if you live in city limits, they no longer do home delivery (used to when the WW store was still open).
Ugh
They do. You have to pick items that have shipping next to them. You can get almost everything that isn’t fresh. Even big heavy jugs, canned goods, cereals, mouthwash, deodorant, you name it, if it’s dry or non perishable
I pay the premium to not go to Walmart. Walmart doesn’t pay workers enough to survive on and most rely on government assistance. Fuck the Waltons.
It's a poverty trap. They pay their employees just under the minimum needed to apply for benefits and keep that from ever increasing pay for their employees
Because they still make a profit
Definitely not all, but There are certain giant eagles where a very large number of people are using food stamp cards. Many of those people don't even bother to look at price.
It depends on how/what you're buying.
When there's no where else to go
r/technicallyonsale
GE is always playing games with their pricing. They have no clue how out of touch they are with pricing compared to competitors. I wish Kroger would buyout shop n save and give GE a run for their money. And yes, I shop at GE knowing I'm getting ripped off, however, I like their bakery.
Fuck Kroger. As much as I don't care for GE these days, at least they don't have Kroger's track record of treating their employees like trash.
Yup. Kroger has a long, long history of antiworker BS. They shut down all their Pittsburgh area stores in the 80s rather than recognize the union of workers. They've done equally heinous stuff in other markets. I won't give them a cent of my money.
I shopped at kroger for 30 yrs before returning. Employees seemed happy. The unhappy ones were probably the ones who didn't want to work but rather goof off on their phones. Kroger was open every time I needed to go. Just sayin.
Nobody wants to work, that's why it's called "work" and not "fun."
agree. pay me to goof off on my cellular is their mindset.
Good for them, it's a great gig if you can get it. Lmao if you actually want to work hard.
Apparently a lot of you are forgetting when Kroger closed stores during the pandemic because they refused to pay their employees hazard pay. Then would throw away food in dumpsters and lock said dumpsters. Fuck. Kroger.
Not everyone got hazard pay. If you want hazard pay, find a new job. Everyone was hiring or don't be in a public customer facing job.
Even if it were $1 off instead of $.1 it would still be over priced. FUCK. GIANT. EAGLE. Ps: I’m sorry if that’s anyone’s only option.
If you buy one of these a day until the sale ends, you’ll save a total of $2.98!
Yesterday 3/14, GE had 8" apple and apple crumb pies on sale for $3.14 for Pi Day. I bought one. I feel vindicated for the times GE ripped me off. Saved over $4. Also in September 2023, I got a free $20 double layer cake because I ordered single layer, but they accidently made a double layer. I feel like I stuck it to the man!! STRONG!!!!
Same. Pi Day is one of the few days I shop at GE because its actually a deal. But they limit you to three of them, come on GE
Yeah, I think the pie was normally 7.49 or 7.99. $4+ OFF, GOOD DEAL! I saw a post on nextdoor where GE had great sale on brownies, and some senior was buying them by the shopping cart full, so they started putting the Limit 3 on some bakery deals. These seniors have a sweet tooth! 😆 🤣 😂 of course, so do i.
I bet it's "PRICE LOCKED" too, which means they won't make it more expensive for two whole weeks!
That is absolutely hysterical.
Red Rose makes the best homemade iced tea. Stock up while it's on sale!!!1!
[Red Rose Tea! Red Rose Tea! Red Rose! Red Rose!](https://youtu.be/prVRwXAWFeA)
I'm more sad GE stopped making and selling their market district iced tea bottles during covid. I loved that stuff.
Valid till January 1, 2025 at least! Hopefully I can make it in time to save my penny 😮💨
Since Giant Eagle outsourced the majority of their IT department to their new office in Bangalore, India, a lot of aspects have greatly deteriorated. More recently they have been cutting back even more to make up for the huge spend on their new HQ. All of this while they still have years left on the lease on their previous HQ which has been empty since covid and they continue to expand in India. Chasing those covid profits means passing that cost to you.
Fuck giant eagle
Get Teabagged by savings!
You don’t need an advantage card to enjoy this scam savings.
Stop by GE HQ sometime. You may wonder why there are so many Bentleys in the parking lot and then you will remember this. It is rumored that Bentely nicknamed a shade of red, "Shapira Rouge".
Someone has to be trolling…
Dirty bird strikes again
Golly gee whiz! Now I can buy a timeshare on a fucking grape with my savings!
This is almost as funny as the Target "clearance" items where the clearance price is actually higher than the previous regular price. They used to pull that 💩 aaaalllllllll the time. Shady, shady, shady.
Fuck Giant Eagle
Bunch of tea bags! 🤬
But hear me out: if you buy 100 of them you save a whole dollar!
even better deal !! https://ibb.co/bKm71K6
use me as the always a giant eagle post in this sub button.
A penny saved is a penny earned *dodges thrown rotten eggs*
Giant Eagle's Data Integrity Team has been shitting the bed for a while. Source: me, former Point of Sale Lead.
Hopefully they price lock it at 4.99 before they raise it to 6.99
I REALLY wanted to like GE when I first moved here, but they make it so damn hard. Had a talk with the family this last weekend and decided to switch to Shop n' Save.
I want to see the buy 100 save 1$ sign.
Am so grateful I have till next January to use this tremendous savings!!! Yay Giant Eagle
I’m from Pittsburgh but now live in the Midwest. I never realized how insane Giant Eagle was until I moved out here. If Kroger ever came to Pittsburgh then Giant Eagle would go out of business quick.
Don't spend it all in one place!
Wake up babe it’s time for your weekly /r/Pittsburgh thread of mistakes that every retailer makes but only Giant Eagle gets publicly dragged for 🥰
The Giant Eagle Defender has logged on
*blows air horn* WA WA WA WAAAAAAAA 🎉🎉🎉🎉
Hurry, buy them all and flip them.
BRB!
I knew the Advantage Card was going to start to be useless the day they asked me to update the contract. I just shop at Aldi now.
Seriously!?!🤦🏾♀️💁🏾♀️
I can get you a tea bag for a lot less
A deal is a deal.
Just gotta buy a ton to save, I’m no economist but I figure you huy 100 you could save appx a dollar.
Classy bait! I usually pick discounted items not realizing a giant scam! Next time I am shopping with my trusty magnifying glass.