The Grocery Discount You Can Only Find At The Customer Service Desk

What do you think of when you think of customer service? Do you imagine someone fielding complaints or questions from a crowd of shoppers? Do you think of someone on the phone, transferring calls from one department to another? These are all correct — customer service is, put simply, the business of providing assistance to customers be they answers to questions, complaints, or resolving certain issues. But what you may not have realized is that the customer service desk of your local supermarket is actually a good place to get a discount on some of your grocery orders.

It's important to note that this trick is most useful when purchasing goods in a high volume, much like what you would buy in bulk at Costco. You may, for example, buy jars of pasta sauce or bottles of water by the case rather than individually, in order to stock up and save money in the long run. Although this practice of buying everything in bulk does indeed save money, you won't exactly be opposed to the idea of saving just a little more money off your purchase, right? 

Although you may not be able to ring up a discount for every single item in your cart at the customer service desk, you can get as much as 10% off your bulk purchase if you use this trick. Keep in mind, though, you'll need to order your item first.

At first, you may think this money-saving tip has you sauntering up to the customer service desk at the front of the store, dropping a case of pasta sauce or canned vegetables onto the counter, and then asking the employee behind the desk to ring up a discount. Fortunately, the real method of getting a discount on your bulk items is much easier.

To get this 10% discount, simply go up to the customer service desk and place your order.  You must have to go through the customer service department to receive the discount or, at the very least, order ahead. This way, all you have to do is pick up your items in-store and check out as usual — the discount will be applied at checkout. You could also skip buying a case entirely and simply get a large amount of your desired items individually. For example, if you need a case of boxed macaroni, you could order individual boxes, say 10 boxes, and still get the discount because you're ordering a bulk supply. 

But where exactly should you try this money-saving trick? A good place to try this out would be at your local Whole Foods. Whole Foods offers a 10% discount on orders purchased in bulk, such as meats, alcoholic drinks, and snack foods. Just be sure to call ahead to make sure it's in stock before you go to the store.

The whole point of this hack is to save more money when you buy in bulk, which usually already saves you money. If you're getting more items, wouldn't you just be spending more than what you normally would?

In an economic sense, the reason you save money when you buy bulk is because the bulk product is being sold at a wholesale price. A bulk order can be sold at a low price because it took less time to manufacture, requires less packaging, and is usually sold at such a low price in order to get the retailer itself to buy more of it. A supermarket would be more willing to pay a lower price for one dozen cases of spaghetti sauce than a higher price for non-bulk shipments. These low prices are then passed on to the customer, as the store wants customers to both reduce inventory and feel like they're getting a good deal. After all, if you were able to get a bulk case of snack foods for $15 when ordering each bag individually would have run you up $30, you'd be more willing to shop there again.

By ordering in bulk through customer service, you're effectively buying what you want at a wholesale price. You're paying more than you would for one individual item, sure, but you're saving more by not having to repeatedly purchase the item over and over again.