Hello everyone and welcome to America under the microscope advanced. Hi Lulu.
Hi James.
So we're gonna continue our talk today about couponing.
Couponing? Coupon, c o u p o n that's just like some sort of, like a discount voucher, isn't it?
That's exactly what it is actually. Now, this is, in America every week we actually get, if you get the newspaper, these will come in your newspaper but they'll just send these out, these advertisements for the supermarkets and in them there will be coupons that you can use to get discount on different goods. But in addition to this, nowadays you can also find coupons online and download print the QR code that they can scan in the supermarket. You can also use apps to find discounts as well.
I understand all of that because we do have that in China, but you said couponing? ING?
Well I'm gonna get to that, just hold on. Now why it's a verb is the action of using all these different sources of coupons to get the products in the supermarket for as little money as possible, because in a lot of cases you can stack the discounts.
Stack, meaning use them all together.
Right. So you can take something that should cost ten dollars and you use like four different coupons is like two cents.
Is that even possible?
It is very possible and in fact, we have a term called 'extreme couponing' in America where people actually try very hard and they will find these discounts and use them to get as much as they can for as little money as possible.
Extreme couponing, that really does sound like a competitive sport.
Well, there was a reality TV show about in America not long ago where they showed about all this kind of stuff that people bought.
The skill of couponing.
But it tended to be a double edged sword because it almost became addictive because people were just buying things because they could get them really cheap.
Not because they want them …
Or need them.
And you end up buying a lot of things you don't need. Like I remember yes, the comedy '2 broke girls', they had one episode where Caroline initially found it really embarrassing to use coupon because obviously she thought that was for poor people and then she found out extreme couponing and she got really competitive in using coupons.
For some people there might be a stigma about using coupons, but for most Americans they will use them. Although they won't go to the extreme of collecting all of them, like use the one that's in the advertisement.
Why not right?
Yeah, you know, save money save money.
And another way of saving money, I guess it's going to places where you can buy in bulk.
Right, so America has a big thing about membership warehouse as is the term we use and basically these are gigantic supermarkets where you get a membership and you can go shopping at them.
Case in point, Costco.
Costco and Sam's club are the two big ones. Costco is probably the more famous of the two. It usually costs about one hundred dollars per year to get a membership. You can go in and then you can buy large quantities of things, like you can get a hundred rolls of toilet paper or a massive container of dish soap that will last you ten years.
But the thing is, can you actually go in and not buy in bulk? Do they sell things individually or is it everything in bulk?
It's an item by item basis. So for certain things like jeans, yes; individual things, also there are delis selling the individuals. Well so you can just buy one roast chicken or one cake or one pie.
You don't want to go in and buy a…accidentally buy a hundred roast chickens at the same time.
Well depends if you're feeding an army not.
Apart from obviously these buy in bulk warehouse is like Costco and Sam's club, what about other main chains of supermarket? Most people know Wal-Mart.
Right, Wal-Mart is the largest supermarket chain in America, probably the world. But if you go to a big city you're not going to find many of them. Wal-Marts are mostly focus in small towns, more rural areas.
Oh~

They don't have a big presence in large cities.
That is so very different compared with Wal-Mart in China because you do see Wal-Mart in big cities, major cities in China.
True, of course in small towns and small communities in China you tend not to see really massive supermarkets but in America you would.
So what about the urban area?
Supermarket chains are very regional but for once you might find all over the country there are two that are fairly well known. The first one is Whole Foods which their specialty is more organic foods. They tend to advertise to being higher quality, they tend to be in wealthier neighborhoods and they also tend to be more expensive.
So more like, perhaps more fresh produce.
Yes they would sell a lot more fresh produce. They'll have a lot more artisanal foods，locally made cheeses and things like these things …
Targeting people who are perhaps more into fitness and more health conscious.
That is a big target of their business.
The other is Trader Joes right？
Yeah I love Trader Joes. It's a fantastic supermarket. Trader Joes is also more common in more urban areas， but their focus is selling non-name brand things or their own brands of foods and a lot of times this can be cheaper than a lot of the big supermarkets like Whole Foods. They also, Trader Joes sometimes will sell a lot more unique things, things you will not find in another supermarkets. Things like taro chips or unique beers or unique snack foods that just Trader Joes has.
So they have their own features.
Yes.
Right so in the past I think I talk to Alan about in the UK sometimes just by looking at the supermarket, you know people who are going, frequently going into the supermarkets; you know roughly their income level. Is that the same in United States?
That's not too far off. You know the people who shop at Whole Foods probably have higher incomes because whole foods tends to be more expensive and if you notice people shopping at Wal-Mart it's because you're in the countryside and that's where Wal-Marts are.
Supermarkets are also kind of linked with income. But what about like international supermarket chains because in China we have regional supermarket chains, we have national supermarket chains, but we also have international supermarket chains that push their way in like Wal-Mart, for example or like Carrefour that's the French brand.
In America, they can't compete with Wal-Mart.
Uh so they don't stand a chance of survival.
No. Wal-Mart is just so big and so powerful that they just can't compete and like a lot of the supermarkets for every day shopping for most Americans, they are regional. They don't even go to other parts of the country. Where I go shopping for my part of the country, it's very different than I know that Americans from the South or the East coast go shopping at, completely different brands.
Yeah I think that part is similar. In China, you also have regional supermarket brands. But what about, so we talked about the link doing income and the different supermarkets that you choose. But what about for people who are really struggling, then if they can't even afford the regular supermarkets? Do they have a way of getting their daily needs especially food?
Yes there's actual government assistance for people who are of low income, who cannot afford a food of their income or have no income. It's something we call SNAP which stands for the 'supplemental nutrition assistance program'. You also will hear the term if you watch a American TV "food stamps".
Oh so yeah I've heard that, but that's from some old TV show.
Food stamps is much older term, we don't use … It's out of date but it's the same idea. It's government assistance to pay for food although nowadays in America, they give you basically a credit card. It looks like a credit card and you can use it at the supermarkets to buy your basic food needed items.
But only foods.
Yeah, so it will pay for your fruits and vegetables, they will pay for bread, flour, sugar, rice, milk, eggs, meat things like this. It will not pay for coca cola, will not pay for beer, and anything that the government says is unnecessary which is to be fair coca cola and alcohol are …
Not really that necessary …
Not necessary for survival. But the downside of it is it doesn't pay for things that are necessary. Like it won't pay for things like toothpaste, toilet paper and other things we normally buy at a supermarket.
I suppose because it's called supplemental nutrition assistance, is perhaps more focusing on food.
It is focusing on food. So there is people who say that yes it should also cover these daily use items that are necessary for everyday life, but also this is one of those assistance programs that the government constantly changes, they might cut the budget or change what you can and cannot buy, change where you can and cannot use it. So it's constantly changing. So it's really hard to keep up with how it's used.
I suppose the same with a lot of the policies that it does keep on, it does keep changing.
Or anything that costs money that doesn't get the government money will constantly change based on budget.
Exactly, so I think that ends today's episode, thinking these two episodes we have given you some of the basics and some of the quite useful information and tips about supermarket. So if you have anything to say about American supermarket, feel free to leave us a comment.
So thank you for listening everyone.
We will see you next time. Bye.
Bye.

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