The Wegmans Policy More Customers Need To Take Advantage Of

With grocery prices continuously rising, you may delay purchases that can wait until the products go on sale, only to find yourself in front of an empty shelf. For these instances, Wegmans Food Markets, one of America's oldest grocery store chains still in business, has come up with a consolation prize for disappointed shoppers. According to the chain's raincheck policy, if the advertised sale item is sold out, the store tries to replace it with a similar item, and if there isn't any, you are entitled to claim a raincheck that is valid for 30 days.

The raincheck lets you buy the sale items at the advertised price within that time, though you can only buy a limited number. It is also not possible to combine a raincheck with purchases made with your Shoppers Club card, which is a free membership at Wegmans, whose perks include digital coupons. To claim your raincheck, you need to give it to the cashier before checking out, or, if you do self-checkout, alert the attending sales clerk. 

The raincheck rule is something to keep in mind when shopping here because it gives you two opportunities to get the best bang for your buck: either a replacement item (which may be just as good as the original sale item) or a second chance at a product you missed when it was on sale. However, because Wegmans concentrates on what it labels as "consistent low prices" and discount family packs rather than weekly sales, there might not be many sale items that qualify for a raincheck.

Wegmans, with stores in the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast,  is not the only chain store offering a raincheck, a practice that was codified in the FTC Unavailability Rule in 1971. To protect consumers, it prohibited grocery stores from advertising sale items that they did not actually have in stock. The rule was amended in 1989 when it allowed stores that ran out of sale items to give customers replacement products that are "at least equal in value."

Grocery store chains in other parts of the country also offer rainchecks. Publix, known for its made-to-order subs, has a raincheck policy but only for items that have been advertised outside the store, such as on the website or in a mailer. That makes sense, as even in the age of real-time inventory management systems, some advertising outlets might still be promoting a detergent on sale, even though the shelf at a certain store is already empty.

Other issuers of rainchecks include Price Chopper, ShopRite, whose rainchecks are redeemable for 60 days, and Stop and Shop, which issues electronic rainchecks. All rainchecks have limitations as to how many a customer can redeem and how many items they are allowed to buy. Next time, after a super busy week, when you end up grocery shopping on the worst day of the week and realize the sale item you were hoping to buy is gone, consider getting a raincheck.