8 Precautions Iowans Should Take When Shopping at Fareway
Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, and Fareway pickup runs through Saturday.
That’s handy for party planning, but pickup times are limited, and a few other rules can trip up Iowans who aren’t expecting them.
Here’s what to know before you place your order.
1. Redeeming Digital Coupons
Your Fareway account must be identified during checkout for a digital coupon to be redeemed, according to Fareway’s digital coupons page.
At a checkstand, you can enter your phone number on the pin pad, give it to the cashier or scan the barcode in the More menu of the Fareway app.
If you miss that step, the coupons can’t be applied retroactively once the transaction is completed.
Your unused coupons stay in your account until they’re redeemed or expire, so a missed coupon isn’t lost.
Fareway’s digital coupons page says a coupon redeemed on an in-store purchase is no longer available for an online order, and vice versa.
Redeem one on a quick store trip, and Fareway says it is gone from the pickup order you placed.
If you return the item, your refund reflects the amount you paid after the coupon discount.
On a $6 item with a $2 coupon, you’d get $4 back, since coupon discounts cannot be refunded or reissued.
2. Online Prices and In-Store Promotions
Prices and promotions on your Fareway online order may not always match those in the store, according to Fareway’s online shopping FAQ.
The FAQ also says many promotions will be available only in the store, so a sale price you’re counting on may not carry over to your cart.
If a sale is the reason you’re ordering, check that it shows in your cart before you check out.
3. Weighed Items and Final Totals
If you order a weighed item such as a roast, Fareway bases the price you pay on its actual weight once the store team picks and packs your order.
The total you see at checkout isn’t finalized until after your order is picked, since items may be out of stock or substituted.
A roast that weighs more than Fareway’s estimate costs you more.
If you’re close to a spending limit, leave yourself a few dollars of room.
Fareway’s Two Ways to Order Weighed Items
Fareway’s online shopping FAQ says you can add a weighed item by the each or by the pound.
Ordering by the each lets you pick a number of items, and Fareway estimates the price from the item’s weighted average.
Ordering by the pound gives you weight-based increments, depending on the item.
For whole meat cuts, roasts and other large items, ordering by the pound is available only in predetermined increments.
If you need a weight outside those increments, the Notes feature lets you tell the store, and Fareway says it will do its best to assist.
4. Backups for Substitutions
When an item runs out on your Fareway pickup order, a team member picks a best match by default.
To choose the replacement yourself, use the Backup link under each item in your cart.
Select that link and uncheck the Personal Shopper’s Choice option, and you decline having a team member pick a replacement.
Fareway’s grocery FAQ also says you’ll be offered the option to replace or refund out-of-stock items by text message or push notification.
A substitution can cost you a coupon, too, since the digital coupons page says the original coupon may no longer qualify when a different product is substituted.
Choose before the store does.
5. Pickup Minimums and Time Slots
Pickup at Fareway runs Monday through Saturday, so a Sunday meal needs an order picked up by Saturday.
Fareway says online shopping carries no fee as long as your order meets a $30 minimum, so check your cart total before you pick a time.
Pickup times are limited at each location, and the online shopping FAQ recommends planning your order early to find the best available time.
Arrive inside your time slot, as Fareway advises, to ensure you receive your order.
If you’re going to miss it, contact the store using the information in your order confirmation message.
6. Manager Discretion on Free Coupons
Hand a Fareway cashier a manufacturer coupon marked FREE, and redemption is left to the local manager’s discretion, according to Fareway’s coupon guidelines.
Manufacturer coupons from newspaper or magazine mailings, advertising and the Internet are otherwise welcome.
The same goes for a coupon with a questionably high dollar value or another unusual circumstance, which Fareway ties to a rise in counterfeit activity.
If you’re counting on one, ask a manager before you head to the store.
The guidelines add that Coupons.com is no longer available to grocery store locations such as Fareway.
7. Payment Limits on Online Orders
Plan to shop in the store if you pay with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) benefits or a Fareway gift card.
Fareway’s online shopping FAQ says SNAP and EBT benefits are accepted only for in-store shoppers at this time.
Gift cards aren’t available for online orders at this time either, according to Fareway’s grocery FAQ.
Online orders take debit and credit cards, Venmo, PayPal, Apple Pay and Klarna.
If a payment, cancellation, refund or return problem comes up, contact the store handling your order.
Psst! How much do you know about the groceries you buy? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
Food and Farm IQ
Answer these questions on food, farms and grocery stores. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
The Iowa State Fair’s butter cow starts with about how much butter?
8. Checking Recalls Before You Shop
The food you buy at Fareway falls under two federal agencies.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), part of the Department of Agriculture, regulates meat, poultry and egg products.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates all other food.
You can get FSIS recall updates by email subscription on its website, and you can sign up for FDA recall alerts on the FDA's recalls page.
In February 2018, FSIS announced that Triple T Specialty Meats of Ackley, Iowa, was recalling about 20,630 pounds of ready-to-eat chicken salad over possible Salmonella contamination.
The recall named Fareway's deli sections, and the product shipped to Fareway grocery stores in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota.
The Iowa Department of Public Health and Department of Inspections and Appeals had issued a joint advisory eight days earlier, telling buyers to throw the chicken salad out.
The FSIS announcement listed 37 confirmed illnesses in Iowa, with illness onset dates from mid-January to early February 2018.
3 Casey's Pizza Facts That Trace Back to Iowa
Tell someone from another state you picked up dinner at a gas station, and they'll probably raise an eyebrow.
Here's where Casey's pizza got its start and what's behind the pies locals know and love.
3 Casey's Pizza Facts That Trace Back to Iowa
7 Iowa Landscapes That Look Nothing Like the Flat Cornfield Picture
Iowa's reputation is flat fields as far as you can see.
But locals know the state has more going on than that.
7 Iowa Landscapes That Look Nothing Like the Flat Cornfield Picture
