*photos copyright of Pepperidge Farm
So back from the month-long camping trip, it has taken me a week or two to restock the shelves in my pantry with my usual offerings. On on trip to Kroger, I saw that Pepperidge Farm cookies were on sale. When I say they were on sale, they were 19 cents off their regular price of $3.19 each. But I like them generally, so I bought a package of chocolate-raspberry milanos and a package of Chocolate Chunk (Dark Chocolate) Nantucket crispy cookies. The milanos are just a flavor variation of the traditional milanos and the chocolate chunk cookies are just oversized, glorified Chips Ahoy! cookies.
Get the packages home and a few days later I get a sweet tooth. So I open the milanos. The package includes three layers of cookies, each layer including four cookies grouped together in a little paper cup that looks like a coffee filter. You know the kind. Top layer of cookies are all broken. Second layer of cookies are upside down and have dumped into the bottom layer of cookies, which are also beat to hell.
Twelve cookies, mostly broken. $3.00.
Now I don't mind paying a little extra for quality. And there is something to be said for presentation. But $3.00 for 12 broken cookies? I don't take this crap lightly.
I call up the 800 number on the side of the package. I get a recording of some old man--and trust me, they've tried pretty hard to make him sound like your kind ol' grandpa--telling me that if I want to tell them how much I enjoy their product, I'll have to call back on Monday-Friday. So, of course, I can't let this stuff go, so I call back.
Long story short, I explain the problem, they are sending me coupons for free cookies. Just a tip from your good friend, Liz. If you want free food, complain about the product. I have now received multiple coupons from the Campbell's Soup Company and now Pepperidge Farms. I'm now thinking of keeping a list of companies willing to cough up valuable free coupons for 5 minutes of your time.
But back to the cookies. Now, fast forward to my next sugar jones and I open the package of Pepperidge Farm Chocolate Chunk Dark Chocolate Nantucket Crispy Cookies. (Personally, I think it needs a longer name.) This is a two layer package, but the layers aren't separated by paper cups, but by plastic ones. They at least are intact. However, there are only 8 cookies in this package. 8 cookies, $3.00. That's 37.5 cents per cookie. Ho-lee mackeral! I can make about 60 homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for $3.00.
Coupons or no free coupons, I'm done buying Pepperidge Farm cookies. These people are under the mistaken impression that their cookies taste substantially different than Chips Ahoy! cookies or any other cookie. I beg to differ.
Your humble grocery guide,
Liz
Posts
You could always move to Cache Valley, Utah. We have a Pepperidge Farm factory here. They have a little store at the factory where they sell all of their ugly/broken/otherwise rejected cookies for really cheap. That way you KNOW you're buying broken cookies, but spend a lot less for them.
ReplyDeletePlus if you lived here we'd get to hang out again! :-)
~Kristal