Tom Thumb practices price-jacking deception

Don’t know if Randall’s, Safeway itself, or other grocery chains Safeway umbrella practice this, but Tom Thumb sure does here in Dallas.

By “price-jacking” I mean artificially inflating the price of foods, often to offer a buy-one-get-one-free “special” shortly afterwards. And, Tom Thumb seems to be doing it with foods most hit by recent commodity prices hikes, so they can coattail on legitimate fears of rising food prices.

Here’s two classic examples.

One is eggs. Yes, they’ve gone up — a lot — in the past few months. But, can anybody tell me they pay nearly $6 for an 18-count of eggs? I doubt it.

That one’s been on for a few weeks. It really caught my eye last week, though, when Minyard’s, a Dallas-area chain, had a buy-one-get-one-free on 18-count eggs for about a buck less.

Just noticed by me is flour prices.

I know wheat prices are also going up, but not this much.

I’m running low on, but nowhere near out of, whole wheat flour.

I browsed the aisles at my nearest Tom Thumb earlier this week.

King Arthur whole wheat flour was listed at $6.59 for a standard five-pound bag.

Does anybody else pay that much for it? I doubt it.

Later in the day, I was at Kroger. Price there?

A much lower $3.39.

I smell a buy-one-get-one-free “special” about to strike at Tom Thumb.

In short, Tom Thumb (and Safeway corporate parent, if this is happening elsewhere), I am now fully on to your deception. I will buy no more buy-one-get-one-free “specials” at your stores without checking at Kroger, Albertson’s and Minyard’s first.