Price Chopper to Stop Doubling Coupons up to $1, Disastrous Impact on Rural Vermont Families

Effective July 1oth, Price Chopper St. Johnsbury will no longer double coupons with a face value of a $1.00.  According to Price Chopper management, the store will only double coupons up to $.99.  Though this may seem trivial to some, it’s a HUGE change with potentially disastrous consequences for rural Vermont families who depend on coupons to make ends meet.

NEK Moms, we’re talking about impacts on REAL Vermont families.  Families who really struggle.  Families who can feed their families each week because when they use a $1 coupon toward an item, that becomes $2 off, instead of $1 off.  This isn’t reality “extreme couponing” television for most Vermonters.  It’s life.

Price Chopper policy has long had different doubling policies at stores.  Now, apparently, a new policy will be consistently applied to all stores, allowing doubling only up to $.99.  But isn’t that good enough, you ask–after all they haven’t ended the policy altogether? And yes, we’re talking corporate policy here, not constitutional rights.

Quite frankly, no.  This policy change isn’t okay for rural, poor, struggling families.  The policy change may be a way to cut down on aspiring TLC extreme couponers, but Price Chopper could have made different policy decisions if this was really the goal it was looking to achieve. Given that so many coupons have a coupon face value of $1.00, and comparatively few have lower values, this policy change hurts everyday rural families.

Not all Price Chopper stores are located in similar communities, with customers of like socioeconomic backgrounds– some are in affluent communities, but others, like the one in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, are not.  If you’ve ever attended a Price Chopper midnight madness sale in St. Johnsbury, where there’s barely any elbow room to squeeze a cart down aisles (no joke, moms), you know that families USE coupons locally.  Sure, maybe some coupon usage is for fun and games–and to score mega deals–but for many it’s about getting good deals that feed families and stretch budgets.

Price Chopper St. Johnsbury is the area’s major grocery store chain.  The store likes to hold itself out as a supportive community member.  To illustrate, just a few days ago over Father’s Day weekend, Price Chopper featured a customer and community appreciation day.  However, Price Chopper’s new, uniform policy undermines any depictions of appreciation.

Other St. Johnsbury and local NEK businesses should also be alarmed by this policy change, as it means that unhappy Price Chopper customers will take their business elsewhere–likely to Shaw’s, which is across the State border in Littleton, New Hampshire. Yet, one more reason, Littleton becomes a one-stop box store destination.  Note: Shaw’s only doubles up to $.99, but if Vermonter’s take their business elsewhere to express dissatisfaction with Price Chopper, as they are known to do, this “little” policy change could potentially impact where Vermonters choose to spend their money in a big way.

So, the net is… Price Chopper will surely lose it’s local, competitive edge, struggling NEK families will struggle more, unhappy shoppers will flock elsewhere, likely across the border to New Hampshire (sorry, probably not to White’s because White’s still doesn’t accept Internet coupons, though at least one store will double up to $1), and families will spend more of their money elsewhere which may impact the local, NEK community.

What Can You Do, Moms? Let Price Chopper know what you think.  Email:  consumerresponse@pricechopper.com.  Post on Price Chopper’s Facebook page.  Talk to Corporate management and local store management.  Take your money to White’s or Shaw’s or elsewhere.  Speak up.  Be bold.  Let corporate America know that moms are a force to be reckoned with… ’cause frankly, without action now, the next policy change announcement could be worse.