Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt. Today we're talking saving big at the supermarket with Brian Vines.
Yeah, Joel, food inflation is up one hundred percent over the past few years. Okay, okay, that's just that's my family's personal spending at the grocery store. And actually maybe it has to do more with feeding a much of growing kids.
But prices are up.
Prices have increased over twenty six percent from twenty nineteen to today, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is a pattern that most Americans hate seeing paying more for the same old stuff. But luckily we're joined by Brian Vines, who knows all about groceries and how that impacts you as a consumer. He's the deputy editor of Special Projects over at one of our absolute favorite publications, Consumer Reports, and we're going to talk about how you can pay.
Less at the grocery store. Brian Vines, thank you so much for talking with us today.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm glad to hear that Consumer Reports has a place in your hearts and minds.
Like and subscribe please.
It's absolutely It's right next to Matt's Bible on the nice sid in case you're wondering.
So we're happy to be in such good company.
Our first question we ask everyone who comes on the show, Brian, is what do you like to supoorge on? Because Matt and I were drinking the craft beer right now. We like to spend a lot of money on craft beer while we're also doing the smart thing. We're saving investing for our future. So yeah, what's that sports for you?
See?
I slurge with some guides, but one thing is that I slurge on Cheetos and Jesus. The whole thing that is orange and crunches is likely going to make its way into my market basket.
But I do like try to put one.
I only buy them when they're on sale. Okay, that's my splur because they're not the best things for.
Me and how I want to life right now.
So I temper like having that little sheet and splurge at once. And you know PepsiCo and the prices they've been charging us for snacks and those carbonated drinks, it feels like a splurge.
It's it's so on brand tube, So Brian, I really appreciate that.
Yeah.
Okay, so first I got a question out of the gate on groceries, picking up on this obsession of yours with Cheetos and cheese its is when it is on sale, how much are you willing to stock up? And you live in New York City right where you probably don't have like ridiculous amounts of pantry space. So if cheese its are on sale, let's say there, buy will get one free, and you're like, man, that's a good deal. Are you buying like two? A? Are you buying like ten?
Oh? This is the eternal fight the devil question.
When I'm standing in the aisle there, I again, it depends on how I'm feeling and how active I am at the time, and whether I want to get my future yourself in debt to myself, both workout wise and money wise.
But I'll say, if there's.
A buy one, get one, I'm not leaving without getting two deals.
Okay, so I'm going home.
With four bags. Don't tell my husband jeese don't have a lot of room. We don't have a lot of room. I live in New York City, Like pantry space is non existent.
It comes out of premium. I've done this before. I come home with too much of something, and my wife's like, it was on sale. You've got to stick that, like under your side of the bed or something, dude, And so I knew well.
And actually today it's National Financial Awareness Day, which is I mean, of course, we want more and more folks to know me about the good word of personal finances out there. But I'm curious it's kind of related here. But what led you to Consumer Reports, the great organization that they are in the mission of helping folks to save.
Well, The thing that primarily led me to Consumer Reports is at the time when I join in October of twenty twenty, we were in the thick of the pandemic as well as really grapling publicly collectively for the first time in my generation, with what a lot of folks have come to call the racial reckoning here in America.
And I saw that Consumer Reports was making a sustained effort to in their lane, look at and examine and really interrogate some of the systems as well as the practices that were in place and prohibiting folks from access to a free, equitable, more just and safe marketplace. And they were asking the questions and I thought, oh, this is something that I'd like to be a part of.
So while I.
Could talk to you all day about deals in grocery stores and pet insurance, because it is one of my passions at Consumer Reports, I'm able to engage and indulge even sometimes in those pursuits, but also have a focus on some of the larger picture things that are really impacting communities that have been locked out for long time from the market.
Yeah, that's cool. Thanks for sharing. And Consumer Reports has done so much for so many decades now to help inform consumers so they can make smart decisions with their finances or big fans of what Consumer Reports has been doing for a long long time. All right, let's talk specifically. Let's start. Let's get into food and inflation. Matt kind of joked about at the beginning that his food bill maybe has gone up more than others because more kids,
more mouse to feed and buying the organics. I guess right, Matt. But true, grocery prices have gone up for everybody roughly twenty six percent over the last four and a half years. But it's also kind of it makes so many headlines even though it's not meaningfully Food inflation has not meaningfully been above head and shoulders above the average inflation rate. So why do you think the grocery store prices get so much coverage?
By some measures, the price of groceries are the leading economic indicator for a lot of folks, And you really feel it because it's a.
Very visceral experience.
You're going and you're filling your basket, and you're looking at the things that you're used to buying, and you're looking at the prices that you're paying for them, and there really aren't a lot of spaces that we're confronted so just starkly by what our idea of what economizing is and what we used to pay versus what our current reality is. So even though those numbers might not be akin to looking at gas prices or insurance or your mortgage or rent, it just feels like it because
it's such a basic thing. And you know, eggs are a dollar fifty, and then when you see that they're two dollars and seventy, you're like, WHOA, what is going on? Because there are some things you just know and it feels very much like you're being confronted with it when you're buying the same thing.
But you're paying a lot more.
There's a lot of things we can cut back on, foods not really one of the most of the time, Ryan's number one tip is just to eat less. Number one meal of a day. Is that a three?
No?
I think what you said is so true, just the pervasiveness of it. And you're talking about the price per gallon of gas, but when it comes to food, like, there's a like for you. I'm guessing I don't know, maybe I'm assuming here, but a lot of New Yorkers don't have a car, and so the price per gallon probably doesn't affect many Manhattanites.
Is that what you?
I don't know, nearly as much as the price of let's say, twelve eggs. So you you actually wrote an article over in Consumer Reports about obviously saving money at the supermarket, but you said that technology specifically is rapidly changing the food shopping experience.
And you know we're.
Not just talking about you know, getting your groceries delivered. So how has the in person experience change and how do you currently see it continue to change?
Well, technology is marching on, it's never quit and it is touching every aspect of our lives and shopping and food is no different. We have, of course always known about these savor deals that come when you join a store loyalty program, but now you would be hard pressed to find one of those stores that hasn't taken their loyalty program away from the little rip and go sort of coupons that you might have been used to to the realm of online and.
Smartphones as well.
We've also seen the advent of this palm scanning technology is pioneered by the folks over at the megabohemoth Amazon using this sort of network that scans your palm that you actually tie to a payment method, and that is making folks move through grocery stores even more quickly and has the ability to tailor deals that are specific to your sort of shopping patterns as well, and that might represent the opportunity for you to manifest some savings there.
There are also other things like technology at these warehouse clubs that so many of us shop at now, particularly those who are not Manhattan Ice or Brooklyn Nights like myself, who do have pantry space where you know, the days where you have to stop by that person at the door with a little highlighter where they're.
Scanning your card and checking off all the things that they couldn't possibly know are in your aisle.
So in your car, right, all of this performative security is yeah, it's sort of but I've seen long lines there, but that is going the way of the Dodo powered by AI, where they're.
Actually going to be scanning and allow you to just walk through, so reducing the lag of your grocery store experience and the idea of just getting people in and out more quickly and making the shopping experience more fun and relevant.
But one of the most exciting advents.
Is with these smart hearts that have the ability to weigh your vegetables and other bulk items as well as show you any savings that you might be able to get from the products and give you information on them as you just put them into your cart. And these are being piloted at a few different commercial supermarkets across the country. So smart carts seem to be a way of the future, and once they get the price down a little, I suspect we'll be able to see.
A lot more of those.
You have a complete shopping experience and are able to just move your way through the grocery store and not even have to interact with anyone. It charges and pays and keeps the running sabulation the entire time that you're shopping. So those are some of the more forward looking innovations. But yeah, tech has taken over our shopping as well, and hopefully we'll be able to use that to have some savings.
Yeah, yeah, okay, So I want to hone in on that just a little bit because I'm all for greater levels of convenience. I'm all for like smart technology, meaning that I get in and out of the grocery store a little bit more quickly and I'm not waiting in a line to check out or the self checkout, which can be the main of your existence. Depending on how
it's run, maybe that becomes a much smoother process. But is it just about increasing convenience or are we seeing technology legitimately lead to lower prices for people, because that really, at the end of the day, people want to live in the jets and zero, but only if it's going to save them money.
Absolutely, number one, it is about convenience because supermarkets know that they're competing with all of the folks who are willing to ring your door bill and show up at any hour with what it is that.
You ordered, and once they get you in the store, they get to use all of those mind tricks to get you to buy more than you bargain for.
Uh huh.
So they want to drive traffic into the stores and entice people in, and this technology is one piece of that.
But also when folks do get to the store, they want there to be deals that make you come back.
So it's a sort of too prong approach to getting people back in the storage.
Number one will.
Make it convenient and fast, and will also sweeten it a little bit, and most of that sweetener comes now in the form of these store.
Brands that are not the national name brands. It's sort of like, if.
You liked Dorrito's, you'll love Crispy Nazzo tortillas, and if you don't love.
Them, we'll give you your money back.
So a lot of folks who are in the grocery space are sort of doubling down on getting you in with convenience and then trying to get you to engage more with their store brands, which they get more money for. And like we touched on it earlier looking at PepsiCo with their snacks and drinks being even kicked out of some of those grocery store chains in Europe because they won't budge on their pricing. But still in America really sticking it to us when it comes to those foods.
But folks are providing alternatives that they say are just as good, if not better, backed by satisfaction money back guarantees.
I expect to see cheese bits instead of cheese. It's in your Patriot from here on out.
Brian, Listen, I'm not above trying out a new.
Thing, are you not?
Okay, just avoid the Berman's dorrido equivalent at Aldi. We'll get to I caught some flag for that. I'm sure we'll talk about Aldi plenty later on in the episode.
But those things are terrible. But you're talking about convenience, and it's a double edged sword though, because at the same time you're making it more, you're making it easier for the retailer to kind of get their hooks in you under the guys maybe of convenience because it's kind of like, oh, this is going to be easy for you, easy for you to spend money, but also, I mean it makes me You mentioned the how different retailers are, how they're kind of switching up their samples that they
are offering there in the store because and that's a similar thing where it's kind of.
Like, oh no, you get to try it before give a little sample.
Folks set up there like at Costco's what I'm thinking of, But simultaneously, it's another way to get you to spend more. How do you kind of square that, How do you find balance when it comes to the samples that stores are offering.
Well, one of those things is to you know, you're not ever meant.
To go to the grocery store hungry, but you can also think about the timing of when you do go. I know, in my life there are no stores that sample anything where I am.
But when I'm home.
Visiting my parents in Chicago and you're shopping in these places that have actual shopping carts and huge aisles and even huger portions and like packs or you can buy things, there are a lot of samples there that can be tempting. But I think if you really know yourself, and if you're one of those folks who are easily swayed, one of the extreme things you can do is just go with the grocery buddy, someone who is going to keep you accountable.
If it's accountability, yeah, you go, you know, magic a word.
If there is something that you really have no business getting but it was so delicious, just.
Double back and get another sample. You don't need to always be the one.
But one of the things that I love about your podcast and the way you all interact and.
Share with people is that you are here for doing the work.
And I think there are ways to try new things and save money, but you got to be willing to, you know, invest a little time. Yeah, find out who sells the products. Ask the person there if they have a coupon. Beyond that, go to the website, go to their social media, engage with them. Say you know what, I saw this at the store and I was really intrigued.
It was even.
Good and I'd like to expose my family to it or share it with friends. Do you have a coupon that might make it easier for me to pick your brand over the one.
That I usually go for.
And you'd be surprised how many people actually mail coupons. Sign you up for digital thing, send you a buy one, get one, send you just a free coupon period as a way of introduction and saying thanks for being in touch with us. Nice and it's all for the price of a you know, the three minutes that it takes you to send a little emails. Yeah, I saw something being sampled at the store today. I wondered if you might be able to sweeten it a little bit.
Can you help me out with the coupons so I could try it? And they do.
We we regularly talk about how asking for a discount is underrated and whether wellether and it's not always the person at the checkout counter probably can't be like, sure, I'll take twenty percent off your bill right now. But those are the kind of ways in which if you ask the right people in the right avenues, you're probably going to get some sort of savings. And I think that's a great tip. You mentioned generic products, and I'm curious or store brands, right, I guess we'll call them
store brands more than generic these days. How do you have any data, like how much can folks save by buying store brands? Because I think part of it's the it's the oh man, I remember having eating that product since I was a youth, or the advertising just kind of get you, and that's what you choose in the moment, just because you've seen commercials for Oreos instead of the off brand, knockoff or whatever, and so that's just even if it's two dollars to fifty cents more for the package,
you just instinctively reach for the name brand. Why should we consider store brands and how much do we stand to save?
So first off, you should absolutely consider store brands.
And even if you might get burned by those aldibrand.
Costs, it's still with a.
Little experimentation, come on, you gotta give it a shot.
Absolutely, and the kids will eat it, or you just invite the neighbors.
Over and like put them out there. It's not a big deal.
But you can absolutely manifest those savings through what has come to be known as private label.
Like when I was it was.
The generic off brand, no name with the x's in the black and white boxes. But now those products that are private label can really save folks a lot of money. And one of the things about store brands is that you can manifest twenty to twenty five percent savings by choosing to give those a chance. When you're looking at things in the food section and those savings go up even higher when you're looking at personal care like antipersperants or mouthwash or dental floss.
Or any of those things that fall into the personal care line.
You can see savings of up to forty percent when you start to get into those products.
And like we talked about before, there.
Are so many of them that come with those money back guarantees where they'll give you your money and in some instances from stores even replace it with something that is your usual brand. But again, this is one of those followed through things. You might open it up and see, oh, this is horrible, and they're counting on you to just dump it or put it into the kids lunches for the rest of the week, never to be bought again.
But if you take that extra step.
I've been behind the line at someone at Whole Foods who was returning something, someone who was at all the even at Trader Joe's, and they're returning and say not for me, and the process is so painless.
Like I imagine, people build up in their minds that they're going to be in.
Front of some tribunal and be made to answer for why these aren't as good as you expected, or what happened.
We're going to weigh it and like kind of call you out as to how much do you actually consume before you return.
Oh, man, okay, you ain't have to pack, dude, I'm sorry, we can't take I listen.
I've seen people come with the flat bags and like, these just were not great.
It wasn't as expected. Please run me my money, and they do.
And the person behind the counter is much like us, and they are in the position to help you, and I urge you.
I employ you.
If you actually do find yourself in one of those situations, think of that person on the other side of that desk as your friend who doesn't want to see you get shafted by something that you didn't enjoy.
It's not an intimidating or even the long process. They just wasn't for me. I'd like to take advantage of the guarantee.
See them instead as working for the man. See them as like your fellow man. Us more about how they're approachiate you.
You're inside person, You're not standing, You're in the deal. I live by that motto. You have not because you ask, not get in there and ask.
So you kind of mentioned samples and in your writing you've talked to it, and I didn't know this was the case, but you've You've written about how a lot of stores, like you mentioned Trader Joe's, like them specifically, I think you mentioned Whole Foods as well, like a lot of them evidently will will open something up and let you try it just because it's it's something that you've that you're curious about, or maybe if you ask in a in a nice way.
Yeah, these are things that you presumably have never tried, right, like, oh, I'd like to try those nacho chip store this hummus, but yeah, I'd like to stample it and you can take it to the customer service and in the old days those sampling stations that they had at Trader Joe's. But this is still something again you mentioned Whole Foods does. So if there is a product, they'll rip it right open for you. They'll let you.
Drink their teas or munch on their popcorns, all of the things within reason.
They're not going to try the caviar, sir, exactly like.
They're not going to throw wagu at you in the middle of the aisle and let you indulge for a little bit.
But there are, there are policies in place, and yeah, you can try the cheese.
You can try all of these things, all of these and more can be yours just for the price of a mass.
I love it. We got so much more to cover with you, Brian about saving money at the grocer store. We're also going to talk about a controversial money saving topic, pet insurance. We'll get to that and more in just a second. We're back from the break talking with Brian Vines and Brian.
Before the break, you mentioned private labels, which kind of leads me into thinking about specific grocery stores and how
it is that you can save a ton there. Let's talk about where it is that you shop, because on one hand, you could you know, you can spend a ton of time, you can go hogwild on all the different digital coupons out there, but we often talk about how much you can save with some of the And I don't even like using this term discounters, because in my mind, these guys aren't discounters.
They just they just sell affordable Stofinitely, when you think the term is the gunner, you're thinking of some sort of dramatic, awful trade off in order to get the discounts, but.
Like, it's not that big of a trade off in my opinion all the and legal specifically. And so how do you think the I guess, the digital coupons and rotating specials out there, how do they line up with just everyday ultra low prices that are offered at some of these quote unquote discounters.
So one of the things with those discounters like an al do you or Little or even to some extent Trader Joe's, where they can be considered in this lane. They don't do coupons and they don't do sales because they are positing that these are our absolute rock bottom prices and we don't manipulate things at all to bring you in and you can use a coupon or whatever.
So these are places that there's.
Sort of not a lot of room for negotiation and savings.
The best thing.
That you might want to do if you want to manifest even further savings at these places.
Is engage one of the rebate apps like the Eyebotas of.
The World or Fetch Rewards where you go and shop and then you can scan your receipt and manufacturers of products sort of contribute to this rebate system where you get points per item bought that you can later trade for actual visa gift cards and other financial rewards that can come back to you. But the patch with that in some of these bargain spaces is that like aal they or the Littles of the world, they are primarily like ninety percent stocked with their own private label goods.
So whilst you might find those things that the national name brands that you're.
Used to, those sort of come with the season when they can buy them at the price that makes it advantageous for them to platform them on their stores. But the overwhelming majority of those products on offer at these stores that fall into that category are private labels, so they're able to manifest that lower savings. But if you have things that you absolutely have to buy.
In the national name brand sort.
Of space, and you want those products that you grew up with, and one of the things that we found people are most loyal to is breakfast Seal if you can imagine, which is one I imagine one of those as you alluded to earlier, nostalgic things where I grew up eating this. This was in my bowl that made.
Me happy, Cookie crisp every morning, Brian.
Yes, so that's it. That's one of those things and nothing else compares.
It's like going to your friend's house and they have the off brand one. Dude, we got to go back to my house and have the real cookie crisps.
Why are your parents awful? Frank?
Exactly.
But when you're looking at those if you can find them at those stores, take advantage of the price if it works for you. But they really operate in that space and you can manifest savings there. But sometimes it just may not be the same if you had an idea of what the product should taste like and look like from the national name brand.
What about the loyalty clubs that some grocery stores operated. I'm thinking of like Kroger, and I remember when they came out with the Kroger card, and it used to be, oh, it's the sale price and the non sale price. If you shop on the right day when it's on sale, everybody gets the sale price. And now it's like, oh, no, right, only if you fill out this form and you scan your card every time. So what are those loyalty programs Like? How can we get the most out of those loyalty
programs and are they. I don't know. I guess some people feel maybe a little self conscious about giving having that closer tie and divulging some of their personal information because it's like, dude, I'm just Brian Grocey's here, but you want to know everything about me?
Are you?
What's your take on the loyalty clubs that some of these grocery store chains have.
I do belong to a loyalty club at every store that I shop at with any regularity.
I also take advantage.
Of my friend's loyalty club memberships when I'm traveling, like.
I was in La a little while.
Ago, and I was found myself at a Ralph's and like, I'm firmly a East Coast guide for the last twenty plus years. But I know my best friend is as cheap as I am. So when I got to the.
A good friend right there, that's a good friend.
Yeah.
When I got to the check out, I put in his phone number and the savings just started falling off. I'm like, I know, gil Go, so I'm just going to put it in his phone number, and I was able to get those savings.
So this is the thing about those clubs. Yes, you do have to share some level of information with them.
At the most basic, it's your phone number and an email address, your name, and your birth date they might ask for. That's sort of the basic entry level getting to the savings, and they may use that for marketing and sending you things or sort of looking at what people in your supposed.
Demo are buying.
If anyone gives you anything for free, that's because you're usually the product and they're going to make some kind of money off of you or information exchange. So you really have to gauge your comfort level with what you're willing to divert divolge to get those savings and see if it's worth it for you. And that's a very personal decision, and we ATCR often monitor just the state of privacy and what you're exchanging by giving up information
to these free apps. So know that there are people who are minding the store, but your number one loyalty has to be to yourself and your digital hygiene.
So if you don't feel comfortable about it, just don't do it.
But one of the things is I was able to clearly demonstrate the way that these programs have grown when I was at my grocery store which was a stop and shop in Brooklyn.
I walked in and there was a Briar's.
Ice cream pint and they were two for eight dollars or something. If you were to walk into the store just as an unaffiliated shopper like I just landed here. I walked in eight bucks to buy these things. But if you're part of the Loyalty club, you can get them two for six. But if you were part of the Loyalty Club and you have a digital subscription on the app right on your phone, you can get them at two for five. So it's one product, three different price levels.
Yeah, just depending on.
Your level of involvement and engagement with the company.
Yeah, how a trench do you want to be with that grocery store exactly.
So it's like, really, like is it worth it to you to number one sign.
Up number two go a little bit deeper, let them have some space on your phone drive. So it really is the trade off and how much you're willing to give in order to get those savings.
Okay, So you mentioned maybe the rewards apps that the different stores offer, and earlier you mentioned Ibata, like you got some of these different rebate apps. Do you think that those different rebate apps where you're kind of collecting points and finding the discounts and taking pictures of receipts, ay, are there some new ones out there that maybe folks haven't heard about? But then, b do you think that they're worth the additional hassle?
For most people, they are not worth the additional hassle because they don't take the initiative to take it to the next step and actually reap the rewards.
Okay, And I have been guilty of this myself, where I've been scanning receipts and everybody in the house knows that when they get something, there's a receipt on the counter, and I just come in and scan it like hours later. Everyone is trained and you accumulate all these points, and frankly, you need a lot of points for these things to manifest.
Don't think that just because your grocery bill was two hundred bucks and you walked out with three bags this week, that you're going to be balling out of control on.
These rebate apps, because it does take some level.
Of consistency and investment in just maintaining before you can manifest some savings. So you might be thirty thousand points in the tank before you start to see that ten dollars gift card from Visa coming.
Back at you.
So it really is just maintaining and rocking steady with it and completing the loop.
You can get the savings, but it takes some doing.
But I'm sure a lot of these manufacturers are enticing us to go and favor their products with the promise of doing it, but we don't follow through.
Much like those rebates of old right where you.
See you can save three dollars just to rip this and mail it back into us, and people are just not going to do it. They have people crunching numbers there to say, listen, you'll get a ten percent return on this thing.
Like people might buy the product, but the folks who.
Are going to engage fill it out, mail it in, put a stamp on it, and send you the envelope. Those people, it's are diminishing. So the juice is worth the squeeze for them. We just have to make sure that we follow through.
I had not seen a mail in rebate offer at like right like a store for a long long time. I saw one the other day and I was like, I wonder what percentage of people actually like fill it out and get that rebate sent back to them. It's got to be a small percentage. And I think that's largely why they've gone away, is people just it's stopped being an influencing tactic as more and more people said it's not worth the hassle of sending that stuff, and
especially if it's a smaller dollar amount. I'm curious Brian to hear about senior discounts. Chains of all sorts have been offering senior discounts for decades. Matt and I were not quite there yet to the extra five or ten percent off, but yeah, can you talk about how those work? And we do have a decent trunk of listeners who are in that age bracket. How much do they stand to say by shopping on the right day.
I'll go back to that earlier bit of advice that we talked about earlier. You have not because you ask now use that senior status and find out what it is that you can trade on and ride it into the ground. Get all of the senior savings and deals that you can, and that usually starts with going to the customer service desk at the beginning of your shopping trip and being very transparent and saying, hey, I'm a senior,
what if you guys have on offer from me? Are there special days or deals or things that.
I might be able to look forward to?
You engage with people, and you might be surprised as some of the things they offer, especially with bridging these technology gaps that a lot of seniors might find themselves
confronted with. They're not tied to their phones, like these digital natives where your entire life is on a handheld device and looking at things and trying to download a coupon or add it to your wallet, or doing these shopping lists and all of these great things that the apps facilitate might be just out of reach for some people who don't feel as safe and sound with technology.
So there are some supermarkets that are piloting ways that can bring folks who are seniors or not have the sort of technological documen to get the best of the savings, including setting up kiosks where you can get the deals and coupons printed right there for you that would put you on par with some of the digital offerings or app users, as well as lending iPads even to walk around the store and make savings and scan products and
find out about health information as well. And they really are trying to make an effort to keep engaged with those seniors and folks who might find the technology a little daunting, And there are several products and programs being piloted across the country to address that.
I love it.
I'm thinking about something you said earlier, Brian, your stopping shop that's kind of like your go to I guess grocery store.
There in Brooklyn. But is that like, is that your local grocery store essentially, or is that more kind of like a.
Dollar store, Because I wanted to ask about I guess dollar store specifically, because it seems like more and more folks are kind of jumping on these sort of miniature grocery stores right where they can go and get some fresh produce. They can go there and they can get some cereal.
And those dollar stores didn't really used to do groceries, but they've been expanding grocery.
Store out exactly. Yeah, they've been expanding some. Yeah, I'm curious a what life looks like there for you stopping shop. But then, yeah, talk more broadly about dollar stores.
Well, stopping shop is one of the major grocers. Here, they're a full service supermarket with.
You know, the deli counter and there's nine.
Dollars, so it really it's uh, I'm a Chicago boy.
So it's it's a big grocery cart place where.
You got four wheels and you're going all around so too. So yeah, they are sincere full service place. But there are you know a few places in my immediate area, including dollar stores and the bodega's New York City bodegas.
And smaller mom and pop independent grocers.
And I am in the sort of privileged position where I have all of.
Those in my immediate shopping landscape.
And the thing about a dollar store versus a full service grocery store or a cheesemonger or a butcher, that
healthy retail mix is really what is ideal. Where it becomes problematic, especially in the dollar store space, which they call value retail, is you when there's a dearth of other choices, when it becomes your default, when grocery stores that were mom and pop independents have to close because they can't compete if you only go to them for fresh meat and veg but every other thing you're getting at a dollar store because their prices were so cut rate,
so the margins in supermarkets are famously thin, so they really can't sustain themselves if you're only using them to get what.
You can't buy at the dollar store.
So that healthy retail mix is really what is to the shopper and the community's advantage. But dollar stores, is we known, are the home of shrinkflation where their price is it's dollar store is a remnant of the past because you can barely find one that has anything in
it for a dollar. And you talked about that expansion of things where they're going into maybe some fresh groceries or larger portions or those national name brands that we know, and they somehow wind up in the dollar plus section, Yeah, where some of the prices are on par with full
service grocery stores. And you can be tricked sometimes because you're like, wow, when did the dollar store start carrying this brand of frozen pizza or some other thing that your family might be used to, And if you look a little closer, nothing is a dollar.
That's again, I'm glad you brought up shre inflation, because it is one of those things when we're talking about inflation, it's I'm not against it, because I think lots of times it means the price can stay the same instead of going up. But you have to pay a close attention because you might be getting less of the product than you're used to. I start, especially at the beginning
of the pandemic. I remember the toilet paper and paper towels, like those sizes of the packaging just shrunk dramatically because of the increased cost. But I was like, it's better than the price doubling. I guess, but you just have to notice that, And you're right. The trade off my even more severe than a lot of those dollar stores get specialty packaging and so like two paste for a dollar, but it might be like three ounces of two paste versus five and a half or something like that.
That's right, when you're looking at this sort of unit pricing model where they tell you per ounce how much you're actually paying for something, that the fact that it looks like a deal, the scales will soon fall from your eyes if you're looking at these things.
And Senator Bob Casey out.
Of Pennsylvania has been doing a lot of work legislatively to hold manufacturers and stores to account for this idea. Of these shrinking products that we're paying even more for.
And you're very right about the dollar stores.
They deal in such volume that they actually have people making products specifically for them.
So it's that same national name brand. It just might look like Honey I shrunk the products.
Yeah, they might not make the same size for anybody else, but the Dollar store they don't. Right, We've talked so much about about groceries, so much good information here, Brian. We got to talk about pet insurance though, because that's something that you are well versed in and it's a place where we could potentially save a lot of money. So we'll get to a few questions with you about that topic right after this.
A.
Right, we are back from the break talking with Brian Vines. We were talking about saving when it comes to groceries, but let's talk about I guess another expense that a lot of folks have, which is paying for your pet. We were talking a little bit before we hit record, and we're like, all right, we.
Got to talk about this. Our listeners.
They don't love it when we talk smack or when we tell them that self ensuring often makes the most sense when it comes to pet insurance and covering some of those unforeseen pet medical costs. But you've got data on this, and we try to follow that right self ensuring what are the pros and cons of pet insurance and what have you experienced recently.
The pros and cons Number one, you know where your money is and.
You're not paying into something with the idea that you're going to use it and you may not. We've seen the rate of return for the pet insurance here at CR most people just about break even. From the last nationally representative survey that we looked at. People were getting just about what they paid in as a median, So that means there are a lot of people who were paying for pet insurance and their claims never really got to the level of the amount of money that they
paid in. But had those folks save that money and put it into an account earmarked specifically for that pet care that you consistently tended and beneficently left alone.
Until you needed it, that's the trick.
Yeah, you would have the money on hand when you needed and not have to worry that, Yeah, I'm paying in for it and I'm not using it, but I have the peace of mind. I personally have peace of mind knowing that I'm saving money doing something responsible from my pet that I can call on at any time. Because one of these things about pet insurance even is you have to have the money to pay for it anyway,
because it's based on a reimbursal model. So if you are using your own money to pay, why not save your own money and cut out the middle person?
Talk about shopping for pet insurance? How many players are there in the industry? Is there potentially significant savings? I know there are also certain breed types that are more prone to different medical problems. If you have one of those breeds, is the insurance price jacked up commensurately? And so you might say, oh, well, my breed is prone to issues, but maybe insurance makes more sense. But then maybe that insurance costs a lot more, and so that's not the case.
Sure, the age, breed and location of your pet are the sort of biggest factors in determining what your premiums or.
Coverage would be.
So you know, there are certain pets that are predisposed to certain conditions that are pricey to maintain or to address, and insurance companies are in the business of.
Knowing these things.
And there are often these reports that come out at the end of the year where they tell you the largest.
Claims paid or what most pets came into for if it's a gastro issue or if it's a breathing or a hip thing.
So it's something to consider when you are starting insurance that it might be more well.
It's definitely more.
Expensive to ensure some breeds, and there are lists at nauseum on the internet about some of the.
Cutest dogs that you ever saw that are just the.
Most crazy when it comes to their health concerns, and those insurers know it. So shopping for health insurance can be very daunting past and you're inbox will be flooded for months later because you start one inquiry and they never leave you alone, and they ask for your pet's name, and they'll continue.
To say has stought been insured yet? Is not healthy and happy? And you'll start to.
Get these emails all the time, but it's going to be something that hopefully you're directing to your business that's not business email, because it really is something that you have to do is shop around, get recommendations from folks who you know and trust, and find out about their experiences.
Of course, you could always read consumer reports.
We share member stories and catalog some of those things.
But of the top eight insurers to emerge from our member surveys, all of them were pretty mid of the pack. No one was running.
Away with high satisfaction rate. Two were on the very low end. But the best sort of pet insurance feelings that people who actually buy it and pay for it and continue and maintain people feel pretty mid about petit.
Sure, all right, okay, so quick follow up. Then let's combine pets and groceries. All right, fran do you buy your dog food at stopping shop or do you listen?
Now we're getting into the real nity.
Okay, what's your secret?
I make my dogs? Oh so I cook for my dog.
All right, So is it more affordable or is it just more healthy?
Yes? And yes? Okay, so in the long run, right, your health is your will.
And I just used to cook for my dog and it is something that I've done since.
He was a puppy.
We're about three and a half years deep into this love experiment now, but yeah, I cook for him and it's something that works for our family. I have another great friend who I went to college with, who has a farm and she just has every probably once every nine months, they have just a massive day where they're making and freezing dog food. And I've seen other people do it, and you can do it at all sorts
of proportions. I usually cook enough for him to last, one in the fridge and one in the freezer, and when I pulled the freezer went out, I start going back to buy things again.
Smart so there's lots of websites that will share recipes with you and tips for your dog, but those fresh dog foods.
Are really at a premium. I've tried the Farmer's Dog. We tried some other fresh pet things where they send them to you frozen in these sort of blister packs, and those things got pricey very very quickly. And I know that I'm feeding my dog human.
Graid meat and other things. So for me, it's about, you know, that peace of mind that I get, and.
Maybe that's my real sport, although I don't like spend crazing money on it. I get things at great discount price and freeze them until I need them when it comes to his protein, But other than that, it's it's it's a very basic and healthful diet for him.
You can also let him snackle some cheese ites with you. Maybe, Oh try, I don't know if they're good enough for Brian.
He tries, he tries, but never has he ever had one?
All right? Last question is kind of selfish, kind of a joke too, But I have backyard chickens. Do they make any term life insurance products for bad chicken owners like myself?
I'm sure someone would be happy to sell you a premium, but.
I would somebody will sell you a policy, Joe.
I would not advise you to go for it. I don't know.
We should consult Marthus. She's got a bunch of fancy chickens. I don't know if Martha Stewart ensures her chickens.
Hey, maybe I'll reach out maybe so gosh, yeah, I don't want to go off on a whole other tangent, but Brian, hey, we really appreciataking the time today to talk with us just about saving at the grocery store, but also just about pets and dog food as well. I think there's some valuable lessons there. But where can.
Folks learn about what you're up to, where it is that you're writing.
Well, you can always like follow subscribe, become a member at Consumer Reports. We love to see folks pass through and share their experience with us, and we hope to amplify those experiences in the service of creating that fair or more just more safe marketplace for all of the products, especially food and the things.
That we spend our money on.
And we're at consumer reports dot org and that's a great place to find myself and my colleagues some of the smartest people I know doing everything from privacy and online security to looking at cars of course, as well as food safety, recalls, sunscreen, pet insurance, every part of your life. We're over there working to make sure that you get the best deal and that the safety is really up to par.
We actually just started a new baby movement and we're really delving.
And looking at the ways in which baby products can be brought into alignment with greater health, safety and savings.
Nice. Yeah, buying a Consumer Reports subscription is money well spent because it's going to pay back to you many, many fold over the years. So and Brian, we appreciate your writing, We appreciate you taking the time. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you so much for having me this was pure pleasure.
Nice man.
It's always great to talk with some of the folks there, the great folks over.
At Consumer Reports. It's was it? Mike Quincy is maybe the last right we talked car. We had on about yeah, and we talked with vehicles. When we think about Matt people's fumbling trust in institutions, Consumer Reports is an institution we can, I think, still trust and it provides so much good information.
Still doing an awesome job advocating for us as individuals, as consumers. But what was your big takeaway from our conversation with mister Brian Vines today?
So?
I mean so much really, But I think the thing that stuck out to me that he said that I hadn't really thought a ton about, but I have been. It's been like kind of hitting me sideways for lad in the back of your life. Perhaps he said, they want to drive you into the store. They want you to be there in person, because guess what happens when you're in person. You see the end caps, you see
you buy. Yeah, you definitely don't buy when you're not in the store right right, Although you know you can buy stuff online and have it delivered to you, so you're buying if you're not in the store. But if you're in the store, you're gonna buy more, and you're gonna buy the random sports items, so you're gonna buy the Starburst at the checkout count or whatever it is.
And so I guess I've kind of done not a one to eighty degree pivot, but I've done a serious pivot on shopping online for groceries, because I do think the more you're in the store, the more liable you are to not stick to the list to buy stuff
that you otherwise wouldn't. And there was somebody who posted in the Facebook group just the other day and she said, I have saved so much money by doing the target where they bring the groceries out and they stick it in your trunk, because I don't buy stuff that I wouldn't have otherwise purchased. And I'm like, I think that is actually one of the biggest wins in buying online. And if you buy if you buy an instacart and get it delivered, you're paying for a lot of extra fees.
You're paying for higher grocery prices. Yeah, you're paying a premium for that. But there are ways with specific retailers to buy with them directly and go pick it up, but have them put it in your car, and typically you're not paying a dime more for that service, So it's at least worth considering if you find yourself if you're the kind of person who brings home thirty items when there were only twenty on your list. Sure, yep.
I think that's when knowing yourself as an individual and how it is that you're going to save the most because I think for a lot of you know, some folks would push back and say, what about the shopping experience, like I've heard you even talk about it before, like you picking out your individual apples and being able to hand select.
I do care about that.
There's value in getting the ones that aren't bruised, and that's something that you miss out on on somebody who's getting paid by the hour for slinging groceries into a bag for folks. But that being said, if you know you're the type of person who's going to buy all the starbursts, you know, like you said on the end cap, then maybe for you it does pay to I don't know, take one on the chin and get the.
Bruised apple every now be willing to at least accept one.
But uh, okay, So my big takeaway is going to be there towards the end when we were talking about dog food, which I'm sure a lot of folks are gonna say, all right, come on, what's the deal here? How does this actually pertain to me and the groceries that I am taking.
Home from the store. But what he pointed to was a meal plan.
I loved how he when he's cooking for his dog, which I'm guessing there's probably not a lot of folks out there who are doing that, so a lot of folks were probably thinking, I don't know, maybe they started tuning out when they started to hear that, because they're like, dude, I can barely feed myself, let alone my actual pet.
But I've seen so many more commercials for the specialty made making a premium for that stuff, and he's getting similar quality, if not higher, QUI better, But he's doing it for.
A whole lot less because at least one third of the meals that he's making aren't even frozen. Yeah, well, no, two thirds, because he makes one now that he feeds his dog, one another one lasts in the fridge and then the third one is good for the.
Freezer, right.
And so what I'm highlighting here is the fact that the best way to say when it comes to your groceries is to actually have a plan, like a plan of attack, when it comes to how it is you're gonna approach your meals. Not everybody is going to do the meal planning thing, or they're going to make nine breakfast burritos and eat one right there that morning and throw the red in the freezer for the rest of the week.
That little hardcore. That's hardcore.
But I do think with a little bit more planning, a little bit more foresight into what it is you're planning to do with the food, that can keep you on the straight and narrow as well as you're walking through the aisles and trying to figure out what it is you're trying to purchase at the grocery store.
That planning, Matt is going to keep you from making higher cost trade offs, the higher cost train up, which is typically going out to the eavenstance. Yeah, you might say, oh, this mill cost me a little bit more than I wanted it to, but hey, it costs you a heck of a lot less than going out tipping all like all that jazz. So all right, let's get back to the beer that we had on this episode. This one's
called Free Spirit. It's a New Zealand pilsner from the good folks over at Variant Brewing and they collabed with Terrapin Brewing on this one to Georgia Breweries. Yeah, what are your thoughts on this beer? Quite delicious?
So this was so it was a New Zealand pilsner, which means there's a whole lot more flavor in this pilsner than you would find with just a standard run of the mill, certainly Macro produced pilsner.
Man, this was so good, like.
Yeah, there's like florals.
There's fruitiness going on. It's simultaneously dry, but it has also this just depth of flavor that you don't get with the pilsner. I don't know how else to describe it. I feel like I've just went five different directions.
But I thought this one was fresh and light, and I thought the other good thing that you're right like the hops. I don't know why, but from some of the especially IPAs I've had, and they shine forth in this one too. The hops from like the New Zealand Australia region are putting out completely different flavor profile so good. And the truth is hops aren't usually the main feature of appills, but they stood out nicely in this one. So you're getting that pilsner vibe, but you're also getting
some nice hoppy notes at the same time. And they're just these special hops man that really do punch above their weight class.
So there's like this sense of ou mame like I don't know that's what I was tasting like, because it doesn't go in one direction, like really forcefully, but it just has this overall depth that you don't normally expect with a pilsner. Yeah, it's almost like they added like, what is it MSG mono sodium glutabate that you get like Chinese food or some of the different sauces or whatever. But it had like this meaty depth to it that's
hard to articulate. But I don't know, might sound weird to you, but to others they might be thinking, I got to get my hands on that beer.
Yeah.
I really enjoyed it though. Good beer for sure, and a good local one. So all right, that's gonna do it for this one, Matt, we'll have links to some of the resources, and we'll link to Consumer Reports because it is a consummate resource for people throughout the ages we subscribe were. We subscribe to a few publications, Matt, not too many, but Consumer Reports is one that we pay for annuly and it's worthing, so no brainer. And we'll have that stuff all up on our website at
howtomoney dot com. But Matt, that's going to do it for this one. Until next time, Best Runds out and best friends out.