By Eric Wolf Schoen
ATTENTION SHOPPERS the prices at your local supermarket and Target are out of control. Not all sales and correct prices are in the system. Some rocket scientist came up with the idea of a clip less coupon. But what happens when the clip less coupon is not where it is supposed to be on a supermarkets website?
These and other issues are some of the things I witnessed on a recent visit to the Target and Stop and Shop at Cross County. I bring them to your attention so that they will not break your bank. #1. Make sure you are shopping with a circular so you know what’s on sale. #2. If your store offers Clipless Coupons, do the application on the internet clipping coupons of products you want before you leave home. Refer to it when shopping.
This time of years stores have stocked up for Passover which is coming up in a few weeks. By the way, you don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy Passover Foods with the exception of gefilte fish which is an acquired taste. You can catch gefilte fish from the Yonkers Pier! Couple of days late but April Fools!
Usually for weeks heading up to Passover most grocery stores give you a free 5 pound box of matzah with a minimum purchase, $25-$40 usually. My non Jewish friends enjoy Matzah more than I do. No information on circular I received regarding free matzah. I get to store, signs where the matzah is that with a $40 minimum purchase AND the clip-less coupon you get a 4, not 5 pound box of matzah. They took away a pound of matzah. And somebody forgot to put the clip-less coupon on the Stop and Shop app. Fortunately management took care of me.
Macaroons are packed in a 9 ounce bag vs. a 12-16 ounce can. The 9 ounce bag is the same cost as the old can. They have some of the old cans, close to $2 over last years cost. You do the calculation to see what is your best value. With few exceptions most Kosher for Passover items have prices higher than last year. The pre-packaged Passover Cakes. Their prices break your budget.
Sales starts on a Friday at Stop and Shop. You would think supplies of sale items would be plentiful by Monday night. Shelves in Freezer missing many items. Clip-less coupon items in particular are not available. I pick up a bakery item that is on sale and the non sale price comes up. Go see management to get a substitute for the out of stock sale item. Make friends with the front of store managers. They have a new freezer of items with short dates. Woman complains the vegetables she ordered on line were no good.
Target at Cross County! We love it! Monday night freezer case was half empty. Their sales run Sunday to Saturday. When can we expect store to be at full stock levels. Salad on sale rings up full price. Target Circle, their discounted shopping program items are no where to be found. Many items only on sale when you buy 3 or 4 of the items. Just like the Stop and Shop matzah you have to check package sizes. And all expiration dates!
Some coupons I have won’t go through the scanner. Half the self scanners are off at 8 p.m. That’s why the line is long! Officer Target who was doing some work checking for theft last week back to his position holding up the walls doing nothing.
Fortunately someone who speaks English takes items out of locked health and beauty aids cabinets and understands what you want. No shopping carts at door that opens to Customer Service . So you have to go to end of store for a carriage.
Bottom line. Watch the prices you are being charged at the register where you check out. And the current package weight.
You, too must be the educated consumer in 2024!
Special Report: ROOSEVELT VS. LEFFELL SCHOOL INACTION
I received an enormous response regarding last week’s column on the issues surrounding the Roosevelt vs. Leffell School episode. Comments came from my Former colleagues at the Board of Education to professional colleagues who read my column. Their first issue. I asked specific questions and received answers that didn’t address my questions. As I always say, if I am given a quote I put it in the paper word for word.
Sometimes the responses will generate new questions. That’s what happened here. People in the community did not understand why three months after the incident a facilitator had not been identified and was not working with the students. Why the Mayor had not called a meeting of community leaders as promised. The response was so strange they wanted to be sure Roosevelt students had available to them counselors and other support staff to manage any issues they had.
I wrote early Tuesday morning to Akeem Jamal, the new Communications Officer at the Board of Education. He is the man responsible for addressing media inquiries. I wrote to him specifically to inquire If a facilitator had been identified and if students were receiving support services. Yes or No answers required.
By press time I had not heard back from Akeem Jamal. You may remember he played a roll in re-election efforts for Mayor Spano. Being a courteous journalist I gave him extra time to respond. Bottom line is that I never received a response from him to basic yes or no questions.
Close to 7 hours after he got my questions.
This columnist and all the staff at Yonkers Rising do our best to put the Mayor, Superintendent of Schools and city officials in the best light possible. The goal here is to put out a positive paper that will show Yonkers means business and attract business and new residents to come to the city.
There are many fewer sources of information on city government outside of the internet which is not everyone’s cup of tea then existed when I started out in in the Public Relations field in the 1980’s. Back then the Journal News had 7, 8 reporters covering Yonkers. Crime, City Government, City Hall are only a few beats the Journal News covered. Now maybe one reporter covering Yonkers as well As other stories.
All news is local news. So when I ask a pretty basic question I should receive a pretty fast response. The big NYC media might come in one day to cover a Yonkers story. Papers like Yonkers Rising and the Rising Media group are here every day to tell you the amazing stories of the Valedictorian and Salutatorian of your local high school. Those in charge of responding to the media should give the local media their highest attention.
I know I will receive answers to my questions promptly in the future. A no comment or non response makes the local official look bad in the local paper. Remember that this is Yonkers covering Yonkers and WESTCHESTER stories. Sometimes local P.R. officials think the issues rise to the level of the Watergate, Washington D.C. episode. I hate to tell them that is not the case.
It has been brought to my attention from an internet news source that I received information I should not have received regarding a report being prepared by the head of the Yonkers Human Rights Commission, a lawyer under contract with the city regarding the basketball incident that took place over 3 months ago. Apparently some members of the Commission did not know it was being prepared. With the consolidation of city services I thought WESTCHESTER County was handling Yonkers Human Rights Commission affairs.
This is report to the Human Rights Commission that was to be shared only with the Board of Education trustees. A public report paid for with public funds that the public has the right to know about. I should not have to ‘wander into’ this type of report. I would hope that the city official who gave me this information does not get penalized for its’ release.
Enough of the reports on this tragic incident. Let’s get the students from Yonkers Public Schools the services they need and open up a dialogue with students from Yonkers and the Leffell School and community and religious leaders so it doesn’t happen again. And Pray for Peace in the world!
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com, or friend him on Facebook Eric Schoen…just look for him in the picture with Joan Rivers!
