My husband is the regional manager for a small chain of discount grocery stores. He started as assistant manager at the store in our small town where everybody knows everybody. He worked there a year, and his customers still miss him, even though they do still seem a few times a month when he's helping out. He moved to manager at another store in a small town where everybody knows everybody, and those customers still miss him even though they still see him a few times a month when he's helping out. Then the boss carved out this position just for him. Regional manager is the best title we could come up, with anyway.
What he does is pinch hit anywhere he's needed from stockboy positions to cashiering to managing (except meat cutting), open or close a store at the last minute when the person scheduled to do that either doesn't show up or has a medical emergency, answer midnight calls for freezer and security alarms, hire and fire, issue reprimands and attaboys, train new employees, order groceries, make decisions about marketing and promotions, meet and greet customers, unload trucks, and sometimes he's just a glorified delivery man, taking groceries from one store that has too many to another that has run low. He roams an area of about 250 miles, working at four different stores, and answering phone calls from employees several times each evening in his 'off' hours and on his days off. It would be really difficult to support his family on the salary he gets if we didn't already have his retirement pay from 20 years of enlisted service in the military, because that's the economy of our area.
He's been ordering and pricing groceries for all eight years that he has worked there. He started with just the milk orders, but now he oversees ordering and pricing for all the stores.
I've posted part of a notice on food prices he received from Corporate over at Frugal Hacks. If you buy groceries or eat, you should find it useful.
Ugh. I just went shopping. I'd like to never do that again. Seems like the bargains are fewer and farther between these days. Beans, beans, and more beans for us. And free steak, because I won coupons. :0)
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that the price of beans is going up also. I have not seen dry pinto beans under $1 a pound in several months. We are definitely feeling the pinch, but in an interesting way. I am not yet spending any more in the stores each week. In fact, I have actually come about $20 under budget each week for the past month. The reason for it is because I don't buy things until they hit my target low price and most things just aren't hitting those prices anymore. So our freezer and pantry are emptying out at an alarming rate and I'm realizing I'm going to have to start making adjustments to my target prices and to our budget.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I know to do is to keep doing what we are doing - to slowly chisel away and to maintain good habits. It's all a bit gloomy, but we remain blessed with plenty to eat and a wide variety.
One thing I'm interested in is a co-op for bulk food buying. It seems like this would get me the best prices for things like oatmeal and beans, but I have no idea where to even begin to look for how to join one or what is in my area. Any tips?
I've been thinking about this, too, or at least about having some kind of buying club (whatever the difference would be!). Right now I buy things like flour and oats from Honeyville Grains in 25 and 50-lb increments; they sell lots of other things which I don't buy because I'm not sure I'd need a large enough increment to make the price worth the trouble, if you know what I mean. I like Honeyville, because their shipping is a flat $4.49, no matter what you buy, and it's occurred to me fleetingly just to ask my friends if they want to go in with me on some orders.
ReplyDeleteI have belonged to a food co-op before (and it is a lot of work for groceries, but we've never eaten so well before or since), which I found by word of mouth. If you google search terms like "food co-op" and your area, you might come up with something, but most of the ones I've known have been really informal and private and had no web presence.
Not very helpful, I know! But maybe the best way to proceed is just to keep your ear to the ground.