you're having a tantrum because you didn't get pick up shops and gas shops? Seriously?

I get being disappointed. But they said one year, and we had pick up, gas station, and inside shops in February last year. I guess if I get serious and want to argue I can look at my records, but I believe they didn't cut out the pick up and gas shops until April. And I believe someone said that they may not return at all. Pretend you're an adult. Running around on multiple threads and saying that Kroger lied and they're just stringing us along is just uncalled for.

I am located 2 mls. from 2 stores and 3 1/2 mls. from a 3rd. In addition, there are 22 Krogers I pass within fewer than 5 mls. while traveling to restock my store. Paraphrasing an old adage, one shopper's meat can easily be another's poison.

A second advantage is the opportunity to save utilizing the red produce bags, the reduced deli food and the aged meat.

I do not believe the MSC was attempting to deceive anyone. In my opinion, the client exercised their prerogative and, concerning both the pick-up and fuel shops, changed their mind. Going forward, they could easily eliminate the competitor and/or 4 visits per location.

Bob. What do you mean by 4 visits per location?

Jas.,

This might be different for other areas, but in SW Ohio, each store is visited on 4 occasions per period; 2 each of self and full service. That does not, though, apply to the competitor shops. As it has been 12 mos., I do not recall if there were multiple visits for the pick-up and fuel. While I was a fuel shopper, the pick-up jobs had no interest to me.

I am both a Kroger stock holder and shopper. I certainly want Kroger to do well as we own some of their stock and hope it has nice returns. I preferred the pick ups obviously as $30 in groceries for little work was appealing. I had issues on many shops not with the actual pick up but with placing the order- the website would not allow me to place the order and there was NO PLACE on the report to comment on this which was frustrating! When I was able to order and go to pick up, I did not find that the quality of employee performance improved despite multiple shops being performed. At one location in particular, the same young lady came out every time without a vest or name tag. She did not greet me or tell me the items were placed in the car nor did she thank me. After about 7 months of doing pick ups there, it became obvious that she was never going to meet Kroger standards. I wonder if the reports were even read as they certainly did not improve quality standards or result in compliance. As for the fuel shops, they were easy enough and the $10 fee was fine. I never found any issue with customer service however stocking was lacking in a few instances. I am not sure how many Kroger gas customers actually shop the merchandise area with soda, snacks as in my area they seldom do. As one location, I consistently found outdated price tags on snack items which results in the wrong price being charged and issues with asking the order to be redone as I was expecting the sales price reflected on the price tag and a price which was in effect after the sale had ended. There was no where on the report to comment on this also frustrating! What baffles me is why when there is an Aldi across the street from a Kroger and within 2 miles of another Kroger location it is not shopped when an Aldi 5 miles from any Kroger location is shopped. Shopping Aldi, Target and Trader Joes which are not full service grocers with deli and meat counters and really no dedicated produce associates baffles me. I have done a few of them and actually thought Kroger was wasting their money shopping such a dissimilar competitor. Local full service stores such as Meijer certainly are a direct competitor where you might find roasted chicken and service dept but not the others- still not idea how they pick competitors. I continue to do in store shops. I do most of my grocery shopping at Kroger anyway. I do not travel out of my way to do such a shop as the cost benefit when you consider travel time and gas does not add up.

We are all disappointed that the pick up shops never came back. I'm a bit of a pessimist and didn't think they would once they disappeared last year. You are free to stop doing these shops anytime you want. The ones around me get snatched up within minutes so enough people still think the in store ones are worth it.

Future MSC plans are subject to changing client/business requirements, and should not be interpreted as promises.

No wonder many MSCs don't communicate well.

Did Kroger shop today with new form. Shop went well. It was great not to note employee descriptions. I made a note as to why one associate did not interact with me as he was coaching another associate.

Yes, it wasn't bad.I deliberately avoided stores with no service departments and chose those where employees have been most likely to interact. Out of habit I noted all employee descriptions but not needed when they have tags. You still can N/A for locked bathroom. I like that we don't have to look for baby backs any more, and that they changed the standard for full chicken case. No more fails for only St. Louis spare ribs and a single 8-piece, LOL.

And yes, all of ours were gone in an instant.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/2026 04:42AM by melg.

Today 02/25, was my third consecutive cycle with nary a speck of a website problem assigning work.

No problems at all for me in the Central time zone. I secured the competitor shops first in my hometown, but there's a recent new competitor shopper here now who took that time to snatch up all the self checkouts at the four local Krogers and schedule them on the only two Fridays currently available on this cycle. Grrrrrrrr!

So excited to get some comps this time! Woo!

no competitors here.. I keep wishing for such things. But we've never had instore competitor shops here, so I'm not going to hold my breath.

We do, but only for two locations. It's weird. And the closest Food For Less is 15 minutes from these two. And there is only ONE Kroger owned In the area. In the city, where there are a million Kroger Mariano's & Food For Less there are no competitor shops.

@Morledzep wrote:

no competitors here.. I keep wishing for such things. But we've never had instore competitor shops here, so I'm not going to hold my breath.

Food4Less is a Kroger brand, at least in CA.

There is a Food For Less here, but it's a mom and pop kinda place, and I think they buy from Mitchell grocers too. But they found, and purchased, Kroger's Food4Less signs and they are using them. I tried a couple times to report them to Kroger, but I guess stealing their branding isn't a big deal to them.

I know Food 4 Less is Kroger, I was just commenting how weird it was that the ONLY two competitors were 15 minutes from that store. And all the 99+ Kroger owned stores in the city (about 45 min away) had zero competitor shops. You would think if there were going to be competitor shops THAT'S where they would be!

@Morledzep wrote:

Food4Less is a Kroger brand, at least in CA.

There is a Food For Less here, but it's a mom and pop kinda place, and I think they buy from Mitchell grocers too. But they found, and purchased, Kroger's Food4Less signs and they are using them. I tried a couple times to report them to Kroger, but I guess stealing their branding isn't a big deal to them.

viv-
And all the 99+ Kroger owned stores in the city
are you comfortable sharing what city?

Chicago

@Rho wrote:

viv-
And all the 99+ Kroger owned stores in the city
are you comfortable sharing what city?

@Morledzep wrote:

no competitors here.. I keep wishing for such things. But we've never had instore competitor shops here, so I'm not going to hold my breath.

Yeah, they are definitely interested in specific areas. I've gotten a one off here and there but mostly they will have a cluster and you can clearly ID which store is the focus. I grabbed my comps first and then went to add the focus stores to the same dates as those comps but someone had already grabbed them. Oh well. You get what you get.