Submission Number: 00042 

Received: 9/14/2011 12:20:42 PM
Commenter: Chuck Angelo
Organization: 
State: Maryland
Agency: Federal Trade Commission
Initiative: 16 CFR Part 424 Retail Food Store Advertising and Marketing Practices Rule, Project No. P104203
Attachments: No Attachments
Submission Text
Several supermarket chains in the Washington DC metro area operating in that market during 2010-2011 fail to adequately stock advertised sale items. These chains include: Giant Food; A&P/SuperFresh, ShopRite and Safeway. Giant Food places a Temporary Stock Out/Product not availabe sign on the shelf. For weeks during June and July, 2011, bottles of SoBe water were always out of stock. When I confronted them, a company rep said that they were having difficulties with the supplier, Pepsi. A&P/SuperFresh when they operated in Maryland, consistently had stockouts, so much so, that I accumulated over 50 rainchecks in a 6 month period. ShopRite of Maryland constantly stocks out on Fridays and Saturdays, the last two days of their sales week. Hot food sale items for three day sales at Safeway, such as chicken, are sometimes not available for purchase, leaving the customer to wait around, or substitute another product.