Albertsons Leaving Texas Market to become United. Deals Massive Blow To Couponers.

Last year when Albertsons purchased United Supermarkets in the Texas region, many frugal shoppers were excited about the prospect of the United chain becoming more like the Albertsons' stores with better sale prices, double and triple coupons being offered, and a variety of other things that could help shoppers save a little more than usual and not have to drive out of their way too much.

Well, first, as we broke here at Reality Retail & Couponing, Albertsons in Texas eliminated double coupons back in early April of 2014. It seems to be the industry trend. We did not like it, but with some solace and virtual mourning, we dealt with it.

Effective early June of 2014 and is still ongoing as we speak, the first location to be changed to an "Albertsons Market" in Abilene, Texas offered this as their sale flyer:

This effectively ends Albertsons as we know it in Texas. 

The other locations to be changed over to an Albertsons/United/Unitedsons/Albernited will take place before the end of the calendar year, and also through the early part of 2015.

Here's where their United/Albertsons ad is now located: http://albertsonsmarket.com/

What does this mean for shoppers? Couponers? Extreme Couponers? You are screwed, that's what it means. 

Employees at the Albertsons location in Abilene, TX have reported as much as a 60% drop in sales and numerous cashiers have reported that they "have lost a ton of customers."Also despite the promises of the new holding company that owns this chain many employees have also suffered from a dramatic cutback in hours, with many fearful of losing their jobs.

Also pending appears to be the closing of the United Supermarkets that is less than 1/4 of a mile down the road from the current "Albertsons" location with a consolidation of some variety being the inevitable endgame as it makes no practical sense to have two different stores running the same pricing and sales that close to one another, the volume of neither support it.

It would be like a Wal Mart down the block from another Wal Mart. That just doesn't happen.

This means the following will be dead in Texas: Albertsons buy 1 get 2 free meat deals, Chicken Wing and Fried Chicken deals, B1G2 fish and shrimp deals, 4/$1.00 Albertsons rolls, No more crazy 8 sales, no more Mega Deals, no more Coupon Mania. The list goes on and on.

So combine that with the ending of the double and triple coupons earlier this spring and this new United format, Albertsons for as long as it even keeps that name, will die a slow death in Texas.

Extreme Couponers lose, Couponers lose, every single customer that depended on Albertsons deals to feed their families lose, even the Albertsons employees themselves will lose. The only winners are the stockholders and management of United that despite using a broken business model that got themselves bought out, will still reel in the profits, on less sales, but profits bigger nonetheless.

This leaves, HEB, United and Wal Mart as the only true food shopping centers that people can look for deals at to shop in, and leaves United in a virtual monopoly of this market. And it will do the same as they parade themselves through the state of Texas.

The loss of Albertsons in this region is a death blow to Extreme and regular couponers all the same.

If will also effect other retailers' pricing in the area and anyone that is looking for good sales on grocery and household items.Without a true Albertsons ad to keep them honest, expect a decent percent increase for all "sale" items in this region by stores such as Target, Wal Mart , Sam's Club, CVS and Walgreens.

It is yet another win for Wal Mart, as that is where a vast majority of these displaced shoppers will go, sadly.

If this isn't Retailer's Revenge compounded with greed, then nothing is.

Albertsons Ends Double Coupons And Has To Remind Customers They Accept Them At All

Fresh off the heels of Albertsons ending double coupons in Texas effective 04/09/2014, a story that we here at Reality Retail & Couponing broke first, here we have the first post-Memorial Day ad from our local Albertsons dated 05/28/2014.

And in the header it states as above "We Accept Manufacturer Coupons At Face Value!" Is this supposed to be something new? Are they reminding us of this as a way to say they are doing us a favor by actually accepting coupons at all !??

To further add insult to injury here, they post this advertisement next to their classic "Crazy 8's" sale. This sale used to be a bastion for couponers getting ready for the summer season with dirt cheap or free condinments such as ketchup, mustard, snack pack pudding, barbeque sauce, baked beans, etc.

Under the old Albertsons double and triple coupon policy you could really have scored a good deal here and wow, I know I did and so did many of you.

Now they've resorted to insulting the couponers in this fashion.

Or maybe they have lost business from the couponers and felt the need to reassure them they are still coupon-friendly. Fact of the matter is that I alone have made about 75% less trips to Albertsons since they killed the doubles in early April of 2014. Hazard to guess I am not alone, as often on many days of the week and early on weekends the parking lot just isn't as full as it used to be.

Is it the lack of double and triple coupons? Is it the across-the-board price increases that many of these Albertsons stores in Texas have put in place since early April? Is it the lie of "better manufacturer coupon deals" that their Facebook page promised and has never delivered on? Or is it a combination of all of the above? My guess is the latter.

So now, with Albertsons flying and boasting about how they accept coupons at all,  this ad will be good for one thing and one thing only - price matching at Wal-Mart or Target.

Albertsons may still accept coupons, but they sure won't be mine.

Albertsons Double & Triple Coupons Ending on 04/09/2014

..at least in the Texas region anyway. I saw a sign that was placed on the window of my local Abilene, TX store on 04/6/2014 indicating that effective 04/09/2014, they will no longer be doubling or tripling coupons.

They were the only remaining store in at least my area that continued to double manufacturer's coupons up to 50 cents and triple up to 39 cents. One of the last stores to show their customer they appreciated them still. Apparently their acquisition of Safeway back in early March of 2014 included acquiring Safeway's anti-double and triple coupon policy as well.

The "rumors" posted on the Facebook page are true. And despite the "claim" to lack of knowledge of this happening by the Facebook Albertson's social media response bot earlier this week, the sign I saw on my store this morning was pretty clear and to the point.

What does this mean? For me and my family personally, it means a dramatic reduction in my trips to Albertson's. And it probably will be for you as well. Please spare us the rationale of "we are doing this to lower prices throughout the store for everyone" line of nonsense. Didn't happen with Kroger or Safeway, and it sure will not happen with Albertson's either. Here is their Facebook Customer Service bot response:

Sure we believe you. We want to believe what you are saying. Hopefully it will not be like Kroger who promised to "lower prices throughout the store" when they killed their double and triple coupon programs. In an era of dying doubles, this will perhaps be, the final nail in the coffin since Albertson's now owns United Supermarkets , Safeway and everything under their wing. Who's left ? Depends on your region but the options are falling by the wayside.Hey Kmart still doubles right? Sort of, of course that is a losing proposition in and of itself, so why bother.

But hey, at least Wal Mart price matches still and in my area HEB generally has lower prices even after they eliminated stacking some time ago. I guess I will save my gas and make that extra trip to one of those stores instead of visiting my local Albertson's with the frequency I used to. Shame, I really did like the store in my area. I guess I will still shop there for their mega-deals. Maybe. Or maybe I will just make Target or Wal Mart price match it. Probably the latter. I went out tonight kind of like in mourning of the loss. So I went through my binder, took all of the coupons that made sense to use as a double or triple and headed off to Albertson's. Here is my last receipt ever of them showing the savings using their soon to be ending double and triple coupon policy:

And yes, this will be the last free toothbrush I receive from Albertson's using a .50/1 coupon on a regularly priced  .99 Colgate manual toothbrush:

I said something to the cashier about it also. He simply stated "we can't afford to do it anymore." Of course that makes no sense as Albertson's just purchased both United and Safeway Supermarkets. But no matter. The reality is as follows: No more savings club cards, now no more doubles and triples at Albertson's - one of last safe havens in the industry. This policy saved my family hundreds if not thousands of dollars over the past 3+ years I have been aware and keen to it and shopped accordingly. Now well, just like every other good thing for consumers these days, this too, is coming to an end.

Welcome to Reality Retail & Couponing 2014. These are dark times indeed for consumers looking to save money without question. The good ol CIC has shut down coupon sales on eBay and webstore, eCrater ran for the hills at the end of last year regarding coupon sales, manufacturer's are going digital, tearpads are either non-existent or useless, store policies like the one above are changing and not for the better - the list goes on and on. All in a coordinated mass effort to rip savings out of your pockets and squeeze you for every last penny you can (or more than likely can't) afford. Of course all of this is going on while the corporations continue to just get bigger each day and we are powerless to stop it unless we wise up and shop with our feet.

That or maybe they just want us to eat bagged rice 3 meals a day in America, grow our own food and use wooden utensils to eat and bathe with homemade Lye. At this rate this is all we will be able to afford much sooner than later. They do it in China and they own us right? Go figure.

Thank you for reading.