Kroger reports $875 million 3rd quarter loss | The Columbus Dis...

Kroger is a difficult place to be a customer. From the surley Bs who want to unload my bascart to make certain I don't have anything on the bottom to walk out with, to standing in a line for a half hour to check out. It takes a lot of love to be a Kroger customer.

Now that trying times have hit, their pricing has come back in line. When things were good and the charged whatever the hell they felt like charging, they had plenty of profits to do lots of charitible work - like build a Horse Barn at Buckeye Boys Ranch. A corp who overcharges its customers, and then dumps the profits merely to get out of taxation doesn't earn my respect.

The fact that huge corps like Kroger and Time Warner can fund these programs indicates they're taking in way too much money. But it never occurs to them to give their customers a break. Just donate it somewhere to save on taxes.

I can understand why Kroger's profits have dropped recently. Many items I routinely buy at both Kroger and Giant Eagle have lower prices compared to last summer. Regarding long lines at Kroger, I take that as an indication of better prices. I routinely shop after 8:00 PM to avoid the long lines. Also, if I have several items, the evening checkout clerk scans the items at a register instead of having me do the slower self-checkout. If I forget using a coupon, the service desk has always accepted it at my next shopping visit. I really appreciate the service at the Pickerington Kroger on Refugee Road.

here is something many never thought about

Lets all grow on produce and get the middle man out!

Wow, I've rarely seen Enzyte Bob so worked "up" about a story.

If this story has got your interest up, then maybe you need to ease of the Enzyte, there Bob.

It`s those yellow cost cutting tags. Those things are expensive!!!!!

Eugene_C wrote:

Wow, I've rarely seen Enzyte Bob so worked "up" about a story.
If this story has got your interest up, then maybe you need to ease of the Enzyte, there Bob.

Not worked "up" at the moment. I think Kroger is a pretty good store, but the shopping experience is more laid back at Giant Eagle. Going to Giant Eagle is a lot like going to Target, whereas going to Kroger is more of a Kmart/Walmart experience, and I don't mean that in a bad way. Giant Eagle is just a lot easier on the eyes and less wait in line.

Plus ... like Target, you can see better looking women at Giant Eagle than at Kroger. You gotta like that!

Those "Alpha" type Key Retailing advocates are now recognized as just another hapless bunch of schmucks but this discovery came at a dear price.

Tom wrote:

I find this really hard to believe (although it is true). I mean, during a recession people still eat, right? and they probably eat more at home so they need groceries.

Kroger posted profits for the 2nd quarter. There was a huge write-up in the Dispatch about how well their store brands were selling. I imagine that their stock went up after that because investors bought into the hype. Kroger then used the 3rd quarter to write off their losses in Cali and screwed those that jumped in on the stock after the 2nd quarter results came out. Buy Kroger stock now that the suckers paid for their failure in Cali because their profits will be up in the 1st quarter 2010.

kroger is the best priced store against wal-mart and they pay employees much better thank kroger for making investments in pricing sa as to keep hardworking employees like me working

So a company being honest and writing down their assets (the $1billion loss) is rewarded by people selling their stock. Meanwhile, the banks (who are admitting to faulty valuation of assets) are rewarded with higher stock prices.

Why? Because the government is back-stopping all the banks. I want to know why Citi, Amex, BoA, Freddie and Frannie stock isn't all worthless (all it would take is the government saying the stock is worthless.) It should be--why should stock holders get back money from institutions that should have gone banktupt.

As for prices and service, my Kroger is the best in both categories in my city (Fuquay-Varina, NC) by far. But admittedly that is only one store.

http://www.filmon.com/chat.html is a free chat room with no software to download.

A few of us chat addicts have been trying to get more people to use it so we can chat, talk about anything.

What would be some incentives? Free gift cards?

A contest? Pop in and say hi and tell your friends. January 1st we'll do something !

All stores have their strong suits - Kroger (canned goods, choice), Wal-Mart (price, choice), Anderson's (meats & produce), Giant Eagle (quality, price sometimes). Kroger, however, is the only place I see many high schoolers being paid to "work", standing around or sitting on benches intended for customers, texting and shooting the breeze. They are very over-staffed up until late night hours. And if you go in before 7:00 am, good luck trying to get any assistance.

Scott wrote:

So a company being honest and writing down their assets (the $1billion loss) is rewarded by people selling their stock. Meanwhile, the banks (who are admitting to faulty valuation of assets) are rewarded with higher stock prices.
Why? Because the government is back-stopping all the banks. I want to know why Citi, Amex, BoA, Freddie and Frannie stock isn't all worthless (all it would take is the government saying the stock is worthless.) It should be--why should stock holders get back money from institutions that should have gone banktupt.

Well we really aren't short-term financial analysts but only fudge the numbers hoping that Mid-Atlantic can B.S. it's way into Cincinnati.

Several weeks ago during Kroger's mega sale and the big Kraft sale as well we were at a nearby Kroger's where we usually didn't shop. Really wish we hadn't tried to shop there either. When using our coupons (all Sunday paper coupons) we were stopped by a C/S Mgr and then a Store Mgr. that advised us we could only use 1 coupon per item during the purchase. Example: ROTEL we had 4 cans and 4 coupons and they would only accept 1 coupon. And this went on through our entire purchase. Finally not understanding our usual Kroger policy of unlimited coupons and being loyal Kroger shoppers for many years in Indiana, Butler County, Hamilton County we have met a store in Warren County that doesn't do business like the other 10 stores where we do business.

We sent a complaint to Kroger Customer Service and they did not take the problem as serious as we did. They advised the coupon policy is up to the store mgr.

I see several problems with this theory, Kroger has to lose some of it's hometown business from that store and the store may even close eventually. Also why would you advertise unlimited coupons and allow just one manager in an 11 store area to be different.

If anyone has had this type of problem at Kroger's please comment.