The end of the Shaw’s Rewards Card is near
Starting 6/28/13 you can cash in your Shaw’s card and receive a a 12 pack of Coke for doing so. If you still have the $1.00 Minute Maid coupon you can grab it for FREE!
So what does the end of the Shaw’s card mean for us besides a slightly lighter key chain? According to my sources they are slashing prices throughout the store as much as $4.00 on some health and beauty items. While lowering prices throughout the store is great there will be some down falls to loosing the rewards card. We will no longer be able to earn incentives thru uPromise and SavingStar.
Here’s what I think.
Dear Shaw’s,
Lowering prices is a great start. But Stop & Shop has already done that with “Real Deals”. Although Stop & Shop pricing is not as low as Marker Basket. For Shaw’s to be the market leader you need to be competitive with Market Basket pricing AND continue to double coupons. If you go into any grocery store in the North East right now the only one that has a crowd on any given day is Market Basket. The reason is the prices are low and non couponers don’t have to worry about cutting coupons to be able to afford to eat. If Market Basket offered double coupons in addition to low pricing they would need a traffic cop in the aisles just for crowd control. Maybe low prices and double coupons is too much to ask from a financial standpoint. If that isn’t something you will consider then here’s and idea… Go back to the way things used to be. Back in the day I used to go to Shaw’s multiple times a week and fill a mini van for under $4.00 and a lot of coupons. Shaw’s used to be the happening place in the couponing community. Go back to the old school Shaw’s we all knew and loved. The one that doubles 6 like coupons, offered Turkey points at the Holidays , Catalina’s almost weekly , and gas points. And if we are being completely honest here get rid of the attitudes that certain stores have about couponers. The majority of your stores are great but there are a select few that make going to the dentist seem more pleasant. Seabrook, Exeter and Plaistow are the BEST for fast and friendly customer service. They all deserve a raise in my book! Please continue to train your staff that coupons are not coming out of their pay check and that you are being reimbursed the face value plus a handling fee for all manufacturers coupons redeemed. It comes down to customer service and the employees in my favorite stores make you want to shop there. They make you feel like family and that is why people go out of there way to shop there. I grew up in Chelsea, MA and my parents used to drive to a Market Basket in Middleton vs. the home town MB Chelsea store. I never understood that until I started doing the same thing myself. People want to give stores that treat them well there business even if it means driving out of their way.
If you want excitement and Shaw’s to be the hot topic embrace the coupon and the coupon websites. Coupon websites are what get the buzz going. Quite a few of us bloggers get the ad scan on Sunday or Monday and start doing the match ups in advance. If we are getting the ad that early you are getting it to print even sooner. Why not share that with us? Doing so will give us more time to get the word out plan our deals and help your stock managers order enough stock to cover the demand of the hot deals. We can help you with that. I always encourage people to order in advance so they don’t need to be a “shelf clearer”. Lets get the couponers and stock managers working together as a team. Encourage people to pre- order, buy more and move the product from the shelf’s to the carts.
Keep a fair playing field. I am constantly getting emails from people that feel they are being treated differently then other couponers. Again, this is a store to store basis but your coupon policy reads one thing and Dan on Facebook suggests that stores shouldn’t “coupon police”. It needs to be a written policy that is for all guests across the board. Special treatment shouldn’t be allowed for people that state they are shopping for a pantry when there are some many family’s struggling to keep their head above water and provide meals for themselves. I see so many people that are too proud to ask for help and are trying to help themselves that are turned away or not allowed to do separate orders because they aren’t shopping for a cause. When in fact they are shopping to avoid having to be the cause themselves. Don’t get me wrong. I am a huge pay it forward believer and constantly run How to Shop for Free Shop for a Cause events myself. I just want people to be aware that there are people in their neighborhoods or family that may possibly need more help than the local food pantry. If we all work together we can help the people closest to home and then spread it outward.
All in all I am excited to see all the new changes that Shaw’s has planned. Change is needed and I look forward to visiting my good old Shaw’s buddies up in Seabrook , NH soon. I miss them, it’s been almost a year since I have been there where 5 years ago I would lye awake at night in excitement of the new sale.
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