Editorial: Giant’s Tricky Stickers
Need groceries? But, you’re trying to find the best deals?
Then come shopping with me at Giant Food at Birch & Broad, 1230 W. Broad Street. The folks here are quite attentive and friendly. And I’ve been shopping here for over 30 years.
Recently, however, I've noticed their discount sticker practices have become quite misleading and need to be called out.
And playing pricing tricks on customers is not new to grocery stores. Kroger was just busted this spring. In May, 2025, The Guardian reported that "Kroger stores in multiple states have overcharged customers by listing expired sale tags and then ringing up regular prices – a practice that adds extra burdens on struggling US families."
Fortunately for Giant Food, the company has managed to avoid international headlines as damning as Kroger's, save for a whiff of "scandal" in the more innocent fin de siecle 1990s, when raising grocery prices to increase profits was frowned upon. In June, 1996, The Washington Post, shamed Giant for having a "pricing strategy" that "gives a lift to profit margins." According to the Post, "Giant's margins increased in part because it raised prices on some items in certain stores," Giant's Senior Vice President for Finance, David B. Sykes, confessed. "It's a rare day in June when an executive publicly acknowledges his company actually raised prices to boost profit margins," grocery store reporter Rudolph A. Pyatt Jr., wrote.
Now, with inflation and grocery prices remaining high, many grocery costumers are paying more scrupulous attention to possible discounts to feed themselves and their families affordably. Given the highly-competitive Grocery Wars in urban areas and Falls Church, however, many grocery retailers appear to be squeezing out as much profit as they can using data-driven pricing models that are much more sensitive to inventory volumes, customer preferences, and purchasing habits. Applying these "discount pricing models," however, often involves confusing the hard-pressed consumer into making less savvy purchasing choices.
It's not as if Giant is financially struggling, however. In a 2023 report – when inflation fears were peaking – Food Trade News reported that the grocer has been the "market leader" in mid-Atlantic food retail since 1979, "amassing [2023] sales of $6.38 billion at its 161 stores, one more than" in 2022.
A Trip Down the Aisles
But, enough of all of that. Let's grab our grocery carts and take a stroll down Giant's aisles...
Invitations to Comparison Shop
Oh, look! Here in the frozen section's "endcap" – where gullible customers are lured by "great deals" – we're enticed to comparison shop! Giant's inviting us to "Compare and Save" on their Self-Rising Crust 4 Cheese Pizza! – How exactly does a crust "self-rise," anyway? They say we can "save" $3.80 with their pizza over DiGiorno's comparable frozen slab.
When we check out DiGiorno's, however....
Not only do we see it has its own "Low Price" sticker pointing conspicuously at it – I thought you had a better deal, Giant! – but it costs nowhere near $9.49 each as you said. To add to the confusion, Giant provides no clear unit pricing on the two items to make a true comparison of what each costs per-pound.
Using Packaging to Divert Consumers' Attention Aways from Unit Pricing
Another trick of the grocery trade is to distract consumers' attention away from unit pricing by using different packaging methods. If you're buying shallots, you might be persuaded to fork over $10.61 per pound when they're packaged in neat pairs by Giant as Fresh Shallots, but you might not notice that just to the left you can buy the same sorts of shallots without packaging for only $3.49 per pound – an over-200 percent deduction! Is it any surprise that Giant doesn't invite comparison shopping in the case of their Fresh Shallots?
More Shifty Unit Pricing
Another source of customer confusion leading to the likelihood of paying more rather than less, is using a different unit price on the discount sticker than the one used on the product packaging itself. Here's a "discount" on Orbit Sweet Mint Gum listed at $13.27 "per 100 count," while the box clearly indicates there are "14 pieces" of gum per box. Why mess with gum-chewers' heads this way? Because maybe they won't want to "chew over" the pricing in such great detail and they'll just ignore the fine print altogether. Plus, they need to chew the gum after all those shallots!
Speaking of messing with our heads by manipulating products' unit pricing, check out this doozie! This deceptively packaged Farm-Raised Atlantic Salmon Portions – if they're "farm-raised," how are they "Atlantic"? – shows a "discount" from $13.98 to $11.18, but it provides a unit price of 1 for "net weight and count." First, it's clearly not a "net weight" of 1, so, most obviously, it's a "count" of 1. But, does this sort of unit price tell the customer anything above and beyond the price itself? No. So, we're left to think we've found big savings, when really we have no way of knowing because we don't know the salmon's price-per-pound. Plus, it's probably stanky anyway.
Here's another example of shifty unit pricing and the usual fog of confusion for customers just trying to save a penny here and there. This Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger Macaroni Made with Real Cheese – Yeah, that's what the word "cheese" is supposed to mean – has a sticker proclaiming you can "Save $1.58 on two," but it lists an absurdly varying unit price of "$4.21 - $6.27 per lb." In the fine print, it also weasels out with: "*Savings amount, Price without card and Unit Price varies depending on item variety and package size.” That's a great help! To top it off, the "discount stickers" proclaim in cocky fashion, "Prices Dropped. Deal Locked." Oh, look at you, Giant! That sounds great, except that, upon close inspection, this deal "expires" on "8/14/25," about a week after this photo was taken. Sounds pretty fickle to me.
And, here's another shifty unit price range on Keebler Club Crackers, with a variance from $3.50 to $6.76 per pound. How helpful is this for the customer trying to scrimp and save?
Mislabeled Products: Another Source of Confusion
Then there are all the mis-labeled product stickers, sowing even greater confusion in comparison shoppers' minds. But you've got to use a microscope on the stickers – just below the unit prices – to see...
The Ol' Digital Coupon Trick
Here's what looks like a great deal on Northwestern Cherries, originally at $5.99 per pound and now only $2.99 per pound!
But, look closely, and you'll see you have to download Giant's app to find a Digital Coupon, something elder shoppers and those without smart phone savvy are of course keen to do. And you have to purchase at least $25 from Giant (with a whole lot of excluded purchase categories) "in a single transaction" on one of the days from 7/11 to 7/17. And, you're limited to only 5 lbs. By the end of all that fine print, who even wants to worry about buying cherries?
Hiding the Pricier Product
Here's another tricky sticker situation. You come upon what looks like a great deal, "25% off" on Beef Kabobs in the meat section! Only to find that the actual product is a much pricier "Brazilian Style Steakhouse Beef Petite Sirloin Steaks."
After digging around a bit, we find the actual price of the displayed item. Turns out the "Brazilian Style Steakhouse Beef Petite Sirloin Steaks" actually costs: $15.20 at $12.99 per pound. But how many customers rushing through the mean section looking for a good deal on dinner for the family are mislead by Giant's tricky labeling and stocking practices here?
Pretending Prices are Low
Then there are the absurd claims of a "Low Price" when there's nothing actually low about the price. Take this Hershey's Milk Chocolate with Whole Almonds bar at $2.79. In what universe is that a low price?
Raising Prices Before Offering Half-Off
Speaking of chocolate. Here's a little trick Giant pulled on the price of Lindt Excellence Dark Chocolate bars. They're pulling the ol' Jack Up the Prices Before Offering an Irresistible 2-for-1 Deal. Since when – before this special "deal" was unveiled – were these scrumptious chocolate bars priced at $4.89 a piece? Never. But, I guess we're all fools for the flavonoid-rich delights.
To Giant's credit, however, I did notice they have some labels for "Black-owned" businesses and "Vegan" products. They also keep their discount stickers up to date (Out of hundreds, I only found one instance of an expired discount sticker on the shelves.) I also understand that some of these instances may have been caused unintentionally by Giant employees.
And, did I mention they're all very nice people there?
For more in-depth reporting on Falls Church's Grocery Store Wars, see our recent article below:
Christopher Jones
By Christopher Jones
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