8 Precautions New Jerseyans Should Take When Shopping at ShopRite

Your ShopRite and the ShopRite a couple of towns over aren’t necessarily run by the same family.

Wakefern’s member families independently own and operate supermarkets under the ShopRite banner.

That means policies differ from store to store.

These are the precautions New Jerseyans should take when shopping at ShopRite.

1. Register Prices Versus Shelf Tags

At a ShopRite register, you can lean on a rule Ocean County’s consumer affairs office states plainly: Promising one price and charging a higher price is against the law.

In a 2023 settlement, the attorney general’s office alleged that Dollar General items scanned above their posted prices, in violation of two state laws.

No store gets every price right.

Check each price against its shelf tag as the item rings up, and speak up before you pay if the two don’t match.

If you only spot the mistake on your receipt, we’d still take it straight to a store or department manager or a customer service representative.

Ask whether your store has a scanner guarantee, since the county says some stores adjust the price while others deduct an additional amount or offer the item free.

2. Digital Coupons and Their Limits

Load your digital coupons to your Price Plus Club card because ShopRite doesn’t accept coupons shown as a bar code on a phone or other device.

If the plastic card isn’t with you, the coupon policy says you may use the phone number in your profile to access the card.

Count your cart against each coupon’s limit before you check out: A coupon with a stated limit of 4 must reach that limit in the same transaction.

Ring up only two of those four items and the coupon is spent for good.

3. Store-by-Store Rules

Under the ShopRite banner, Wakefern’s member families independently own and operate supermarkets.

Under ShopRite’s coupon policy, some stores may double print coupons, and the policy may be modified at a store manager’s discretion.

The policy doesn’t spell out what double printing means, so ask at your store’s customer service desk before you count on it.

Payment options for your online order vary by store too, according to ShopRite’s ordering guide.

4. Receipts and Return Windows

ShopRite takes back non-perishable items within 30 days and perishable items within 7 days, with the original receipt.

A digital receipt counts, and unlike paper, it can’t slip out of a grocery bag on the way to the car.

If you lose the receipt, ShopRite says it will use your Price Plus Club card to verify the purchase.

Failing that, the store may require a valid form of identification.

In that case, ShopRite says it will exchange the item or issue a store credit for the lowest sale price within the last 30 days.

Items marked “reduced for clearance” or “final sale” aren’t returnable, so read the label before you buy.

5. Price Plus Club Recall Alerts

ShopRite says your Price Plus Club card allows it to notify you of a product safety recall, and it asks you to keep your information up to date.

Recall notices on ShopRite’s site can say to return the product to the store for a refund if you have it at home.

Allergy-related notices can add that anyone in your household with the allergy involved shouldn’t eat the product.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also offers email alerts on recalls, market withdrawals and safety alerts, though it says its recalls page doesn’t list every recall.

6. Online Order Problems

ShopRite gives you up to 3 days after your order is fulfilled to report a problem in the app, at select stores.

You can report missing, incorrect, expired, and damaged or spoiled items.

Check the bags and the dates on your perishables when you pick up or unpack a delivery, since a photo is required for anything expired, damaged or spoiled.

ShopRite says it will review your report and usually issue a refund for eligible items.

Refunds go to your original payment method, and it may take 5-10 business days to see the funds in your bank.

7. EBT Checkout Online

Check your Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) balance before you place an online pickup or delivery order because ShopRite says that under state requirements your EBT funds are drawn immediately.

ShopRite makes any needed refund adjustments when your order is complete.

If a total surprises you, your order confirmation page and your order history both show a breakdown of your EBT payments.

ShopRite lists New Jersey among the six states where online EBT payment is available.

8. Gift Card Safety

ShopRite says you should protect its gift cards like cash.

The cards can’t be used in ShopRite liquor stores, and ShopRite won’t redeem them for cash except when required by law.

To check your balance, call 1-800-ShopRite or use a price checker in the store.

The Federal Trade Commission says anyone who demands payment by gift card is a scammer.

End the conversation with anyone who demands a gift card as payment.

State Price Inspections

New Jersey’s Office of Weights and Measures oversees the scales and measuring devices behind purchases like your ShopRite groceries.

Each year, the office runs tens of thousands of random inspections of packaged goods.

It tests commercially used scales and measuring devices too.

The same mismatch you check for at a ShopRite register has drawn state enforcement.

In that Dollar General case, inspectors found more than 2,000 overcharges at 58 New Jersey stores, in some cases as much as $5.95 above the posted price.

Under the settlement, an audit fails if more than 2% of the products sampled at any one store are overcharged.

Filing a Complaint

If a price at your ShopRite keeps ringing up wrong, you have several places to take the complaint.

Ocean County advises talking to the store manager or owner first and writing to the company's headquarters if errors keep happening.

Weights and Measures takes complaints too: Contact the state office or your county or municipal weights and measures office.

The state Division of Consumer Affairs also takes complaints on a Consumer Complaint Form that you can mail in.