Usually when the company drops the Kroger shops they are gone within a 1/2hr .It's usually like a feeding frenzy in shark infested waters, but today I'm shocked to find lots of shops left in my metro area. Maybe people are realizing the fee isn't worth the trouble and the mandatory time on site isn't worth the time, when there is a lot more stuff out there that takes less time and pays a lot more money.

gas prices too; the $10/$10 is fine if the stores are close, but if you used to build a route to towns further away, the cost to fill the tank might outweigh just getting groceries closer to home.

I suspect the reason is we got an email stating the times the shops will be posted would be later in the day. My area was supposed to be noon, Pacific time. I happened to check the site and the shops were already posted. So, my choices were limited this month since most were taken.

As with many aspects of life, it just depends on the situation. There are 3 stores within 2 to 3 miles of my house, with me regularly driving by all. Then, there are 20+ within 0 to 4 miles of where I am driving on a monthly personal or business basis. It is that old adage again, "What's meat for one shopper, could easily be poison for other folks."

That is not what my email said. It said the start date would be later. The shop drop time for the west coast was the same. I got both of the competitor in store shops I would have wanted and handful of Ralph's. The Self Checkout ones go first, there are still plenty of Full Service. The less popular locations are still there now.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2026 07:20PM by melg.

Were these the shops with the very specific shopping list? I got an email about those but none on my job board. My friend didn’t have them either. I was looking on ISS as I kept getting directed there. Then it popped up on mine. I needed to think about it since I did not need nearly any of the required items and when I went back, the listing was gone. This was within 5 minutes, 3 days after original email and there were at least 20 stores listed. Very weird. Not making anything of it since I really had no need for the items.

My local shops all dropped at the regular times. When the CDT shops dropped there were 101. Now there are 35. The only difference that I've found between this round and all of the rounds before is that it starts the day after the holiday. I didn't read the guidelines word for word, but I did look and skim, I didn't see any changes that stood out. I'm not doing extra shops, but I am doing all of the usual suspects.

I do some driving for the Kroger shops, I go to two different states, and I do 3 shops that are close together, and I add other shops on the way there, or on the way back, or both. I make money going there, sometimes get enough gas from gas stations to cover what I use. I try to find a shop for some kind of food at some point between grocery stores, and if I can't I'll get some tacos, because they are cheap, I prefer finding a red pin at a mom and pop burger place or a chinese take out place.

Local Krogers aren't much different, I try to do as many other shops while I'm out as possible. But if there aren't many or any available it really doesn't bother me, I can put 3 or 5 gallons of gas in my car to make sure it's full when I head for home (one of the rules we have because we live so far from the gas stations).

Kroger shops are how I feed myself and make my car payment. I use my money to buy the food, up to $20. $10 + $10 reimbursement, means I can get $20 worth of food. When I get paid by the MSC, I normally get about $260 - $300 depending on the month. The money from the MSC is direct deposited in an account that is specifically for car payments and things that I need for the car. Sometimes I have to add some $$$ to the account, sometimes I don't. I make that money work, it gets used at least twice, and sometimes a third time for other shops that are related to the car, like oil changes and such.

A small change I noticed, in that I mostly shop the same stores, is the reintroduction of a condition that had been eliminated last year in my area; the need to contact the scheduler for assignment. There were 2 such stores I normally visit, with that requirement.

I just schedule what I can without trying to contact the scheduler. I managed to snag 6 shops easily enough. While I could have picked out a few more, but they just didn't have dates that I was certain I could work with.

nevermind

The pay is a pittance for the work required, and they do not reimburse for groceries like they used to. Kroger is one of the more expensive grocery stores. I can get more for less at other grocery stores.

They went FAST here, same as always.

@AZwolfman wrote:

The pay is a pittance for the work required, and they do not reimburse for groceries like they used to. Kroger is one of the more expensive grocery stores. I can get more for less at other grocery stores.

$20 ($10 reimbursement and $10 shop fee) seems fine to me for an errand I'm going to run anyway. I tend to take my time in certain areas looking for markdowns to begin with. Kroger can have some excellent sale items, and their store brand is generally fairly priced even if there isn't a sale. I figure it's easy work for me, but the same can be said for other shops that I would otherwise avoid. You stick to the jobs you like, and that just leaves more Kroger shops for the rest of us who enjoy them.

jp comments--I just schedule what I can without trying to contact the scheduler.

Bob agrees--Shortly after the current MSC began handling Kroger, I noticed a very few locations were not self assignable. I guesstimate I sent 1/2 dz. requests, but none were granted. Since then, if I am unable to assign, I skip that store.

@shopperbob wrote:

Bob agrees--Shortly after the current MSC began handling Kroger, I noticed a very few locations were not self assignable. I guesstimate I sent 1/2 dz. requests, but none were granted. Since then, if I am unable to assign, I skip that store.

I'm sure their scheduler appreciates this too. I know she gets bombarded with many emails about scheduling for Kroger shops. I was able to get 10 of them on my own for this upcoming round without needing to contact her. I figure that's plenty!

"Kroger is one of the more expensive grocery stores."
In my area Kroger stores are neither the most or least expensive. They can indeed have excellent sale items.

In this part of Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia Kroger is far from the most expensive grocery store. Publix claims that title hands down. Mitchell Grocers has several different store names. Food City is their "flagship" stores, and are their most expensive stores, they also have the best plastic wrapped produce. Next one down is Foodland, that is slightly less expensive, and very close in price point to Warehouse Discount Grocery. All of these are more expensive than Kroger in this area. Then there are the lower price point stores, all owned by Mitchell grocers: Food Outlet, FoodforLess (not Food4Less), Fresh Value, and a few others.

I shop at Kroger because they mark down food for quick sale when it gets close to it's "sell by" or "use by" date. And their prices are more reasonable than Publix. I do NOT shop at any of the Mitchell Grocers stores because of their monopoly on this section of the world.

I shop the sales to keep my costs down, they have great sales. Their shelf prices on staples are frequently higher than other stores, though. I have no loyalty (in spite of my loyalty card) and cross shop to my advantage, I have also looked up prices while in the aisle looking at a number that I didn't expect and found they were 30% higher than literally everyone else on certain things. It pays to be attentive.

Walmart is happy to undercut on their sales, sometimes, too. For example, K put seedless watermelons at $4.99 and corn at $.50 for the weekend, Walmart went $2.99 and $.33. They also marked the 3# bags of onions at $1.99 but didn't put it in the computer so you had to complain to get that price (a frequent problem there).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2026 02:32PM by Deedeezthoughts.

Dee, cool..

Walmart isn't an option, even though there is one that is only 9 miles from me. I do not and will not shop at Walmart except in an emergency where they are the ONLY open store and someone in my household is bleeding to death.

I'd rather go to Target, and I'd like to avoid that also, at least until their CEO puts his head back on straight.

@Morledzep wrote:

Dee, cool..

Walmart isn't an option, even though there is one that is only 9 miles from me. I do not and will not shop at Walmart except in an emergency where they are the ONLY open store and someone in my household is bleeding to death.

I'd rather go to Target, and I'd like to avoid that also, at least until their CEO puts his head back on straight.

I hate them, too. I check weights on meats and produce as well as my receipt before I leave. I've caught them significantly exaggerating the weight on meats to charge more while showing a low price per pound. W is consistently the worst offender for pricing errors overall with K a coming in second. If I'm not getting paid to go, I visit Aldi where the 3# bag of apples always weighs at least 3# and the promo meat of the week actually weighs what it claims and doesn't spoil in 24 hours. I'd get milk at Amazon Fresh every time if they were more convenient, their store brand lasts a MONTH after the stamped date. W barely makes it to the date and K is 3-5 days after. That says a lot about temperature control and processing cleanliness...

What app is this on? I’ve never seen Kroger shops.

Debleanos

The rules are that we cannot say the name of the mystery shopping company in the same thread that the client is named. Since we are talking openly about Kroger, we cannot say which company has their shops.