It’s no secret that grocery bills have been exponentially increasing since COVID-19. With supply chain issues still recovering, a looming recession, and even staffing shortages, the customers are ultimately the ones losing as more money is coming out of our pockets. So when TikTok user @brennasbakery went to Walgreens for what should’ve been a simple purchase of hot cocoa, she was shocked to say the least regarding the price on her receipt.
Brenna starts off the video saying that after a similar experience occurred at Walmart a year ago, she religiously checks shelf tags when shopping to make sure she’s getting the correct price for her groceries. So when she made a random stop at her local Walgreens to pick up some sick-day essentials, she saw Swiss Miss hot cocoa K-cups on the shelf for $3.49. However, when the cashier scanned her order out, the hot cocoa was now ringing up for $12.99.
After showing the cashier the tag stating the hot cocoa was supposed to be much less than that, Brenna goes through the rest of her order. At that point, she realizes nearly every item she picked up was showing up as at least a dollar or more over the shelf price. When she asked the Walgreens employee about this, she is told the store is short-staffed, and the new tags with the correct prices most likely weren’t hung yet as a result. While Brenna acknowledges the validity of the employee’s claim, especially with how ridiculous job requirements are nowadays, she then calls out the company itself for not having a more effective system.
The other big claim in Brenna’s video is that even if the correct tag was posted on the hot cocoa, there’s no reason that 10 K-cups should cost over $12. While we don’t know exactly which location Brenna went to, a quick look on Walgreen’s website does show that the hot cocoa she bought runs about $11.50 at most locations. The rising cost of groceries is something Americans have been complaining about since the pandemic. However, the Council of Economic Advisors for the White House claims that there has been a decline in grocery prices, and the inflation rate of groceries has even dropped below the overall inflation rate.
There may be some relief on the horizon if those statistics from the White House are any indication, but many TikTok commenters are feeling the burn still. One commentor mentioned “This happens to me all the time and then they act like I’m ridiculous for asking for the price listed.” Another claims she sees this all the time at Target: “I always scan items on the app then compare to shelf price. Constantly having them do a price match.” A former grocery store employee even said “Literally worked at Aldi forever (We honor incorrect tags!) and now I check all SKU’s and compare to the tag cuz this!!!”
While there were many who echoed Brenna’s points about checking shelf prices, a lot were doubtful of the price of her original hot cocoa, especially since she bought the K-Cup version, rather than the traditional packets. One commentor claimed they used to work in pricing, and mentioned “$12.99 for K-Cups seems legit. But it’s not the customer’s job to match each SKU with the barcode on the product to make sure.” Another commentor said “Were the K-Cup ones on the shelf where the regular mix-in packets should have been? Cause K-Cups are expensive.”
