SD grocery stores purging digital coupons under new law to make savings accessible

A Vons grocery store. Photo by Alexander Nguyen San Diegans without smartphones can now access digital deals in many local grocery stores, just weeks before a new city law forcing businesses to print online coupons officially takes effect. Three months after San Diego became the first U.S. city to ban the popular — yet controversial — online-only coupons that grocery stores have adopted in the digital age, some local businesses are already offering paper versions of digital deals. Many San Diego grocery businesses have already started to follow the city’s new ban by posting signs pointing out print versions of digital deals throughout stores. (Photo courtesy of Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera’s office) Online-only coupons are set to disappear from all San Diego grocery stores in two weeks starting on July 29, when the ban is slated to take effect. Consumers have for years complained about digital-only deals, which require shoppers to have a device like a smartphone, Wi-Fi access, and certain apps or email subscriptions to save on groceries. Critics have argued that these requirements block consumers who are the most squeezed by high grocery bills from saving money — ranging from senior shoppers with less tech know-how to low-income families who can’t afford phones. The new law aims to respond to these calls by leveling the playing field for shoppers who don’t have the technology or knowledge to access online-only coupons. Once the law officially takes effect at the end of the month, the city is planning to monitor that grocery stores are following the new ban through August. “People are accessing savings that had previously been out of reach or intentionally challenging to access,” Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, who put forth the new ban, said in a Wednesday press release. “This means more money in the pockets of San Diegans.” What is the Grocery Pricing Transparency Ordinance in San Diego? A printed, in-store flyer showcasing the week’s digital deals at a local grocery store. (Photo courtesy of Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera’s office) Under the new ban, all shoppers now have the right to request printed versions of digital coupons at grocery stores, and stores must post signs notifying consumers of this right. Grocery stores that refuse to do so can be taken to court or fined under the new law. Elo-Rivera recommended that San Diego grocery businesses follow the law by offering coupon booklets next to registers, by shelf items or in other visible areas throughout stores, as many have started doing. Who’s left behind by digital-only deals? A handful of states, from New Jersey to Washington, have moved to ban online-only coupons due to concerns that they’re widening the digital divide — or the gap in resources between people who can and can’t access technology. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}})}(); San Diego led the charge once Councilmember Elo-Rivera proposed the new citywide ban in October, after he saw seniors, low-income families and non-native English speakers, including immigrants and refugees, miss out on digital savings in his District 9. These groups make up a large chunk of the city. About one in seven San Diegans are 65 and older, with many of them relying on a fixed income of Social Security, retirement savings and pensions. “What may seem like a trivial exercise of downloading an app or utilizing that app while in a grocery store becomes an insurmountable barrier to way too many people in our community,” Elo-Rivera said at a San Diego City Council meeting about the new ban in March. An estimated 53,000 San Diego households also lack internet access, according to a 2022 city report. Households on this side of the digital divide tend to be lower income. Altogether, these groups are often the most affected by high food costs, which inflation has ballooned in San Diego. But they’re not the only ones who have criticized online coupons. Even tech-savvy consumers with smartphones have complained that slow Wi-Fi or glitchy apps have kept them from online savings, even after they’ve electronically clipped the digital deals. Elo-Rivera cited these concerns as proof of a “rigged system meant to maximize profit at the expense of consumers.” Ban aims to address cost-of-living crisis San Diego’s new ban on digital-only deals makes up one piece of the city’s new strategy to address its cost-of-living crisis, which is pricing many residents out of the city. Inflation is a main culprit ballooning the city’s cost of living. While it has driven up prices across the board, it’s hit grocery bills particularly hard. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}})}(); San Diego’s consumer price index, a measure of inflation, skyrocketed to its highest level in a year in May. San Diegans now pay some of the highest grocery prices in the country, according to the Council for Community and Economic Research’s Cost of Living Index for January to March. Orange juice cost a dime more, parmesan cheese a quarter more and ground beef a dollar more on average from last year. For Elo-Rivera, these steep price hikes mean that access to any coupons available is essential. Sean Elo-Rivera. Photo by Salvatore Giametta “This is an opportunity for San Diego to address what is our most pressing issue, and that’s the ability of people who live in the city to see a future for themselves as a result of the cost of living here,” Elo-Rivera said. The ban’s co-authors, Elo-Rivera and Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, will be hosting a town hall about the new law with the nonprofit Serving Seniors at the San Diego Oasis senior center on July 30, the day after the ban officially takes effect. The new ban was one of the first proposals considered by the city’s new council committee dedicated to addressing San Diego’s cost-of-living crisis, which Elo-Rivera chairs.