News outlets are announcing that Loblaws has agreed to buy Shoppers Drug Mart for $12.4 billion (enough that Galen Weston is rearranging shares to pay for it).  Does this mean the end of Optimum as we know it?  Time will tell.

“This transformational partnership changes the retail landscape in Canada. With scale and capability, we will be able to accelerate our momentum and strengthen our position in the increasingly competitive marketplace,” said Loblaw executive chairman Galen Weston.

Loblaw said Shoppers would retain its name and brand, and would operate as a separate division of Loblaw.

Thought Kashi was a small company that thrived on creating quality healthy natural and organic products? Sadly that’s not the case. Undergroundhealth.com exposes a lot of interesting facts about Kashi including the fact that they’re owned by Kellogg’s while they continue to pretend to be a small company. Even worse, their breakfast products were found to be riddled with genetically modified (GM) and pesticide loaded ingredients.

That’s why you need to be aware of the fact that “natural” or “organic” does NOT necessarily mean more nutritious and less toxic ingredients. It can sometimes be simply a way for companies to trick you into paying more for an equally unhealthy product.

Click here to read “Exposing Kashi cereal for the poison that it is”

Happy Canada Day!

How are you spending your long weekend?  For those heading home from cottages or relatives, drive safely!

RONA have announced more restructuring as they strive to stay profitable.  This includes cutting 125 administrative jobs as well as closing 11 stores in Ontario and British Columbia.

Ontario: Stores in Mississauga, Windsor, Woodbridge, London, Huntsville and Collingwood will close in October. Stores in Scarborough and Aurora will shut down in December.

British Columbia: Stores in Duncan, Kamloops and Abbotsford will close in October.

So if you live in these areas, watch for clearance sales.

Click here for more information

A few people have recently mentioned that they do not have credit cards to shop online.  A few years ago I was given the opportunity to try ZoomPass for free from bzzagent (it came loaded with some cash too).  They do not have $4-$5 fees on each $50 card like ones you would buy in a store and you can reload it right from your bank account.   I use mine when shopping online, especially with companies I am not familiar with (it includes Visa’s Zero Liability promise but reduces the risk of my whole balance being used and waiting weeks to sort it out), so it does work for online transactions.

Some of the fees for account issues (insufficient funds etc) are higher than bank accounts, so be careful using it.  ATM withdrawals are $2 but in-store purchases do not have a fee.

You can find out more or sign up here

While many users got their free Skechers gorun/gowalk shoes without incident, others are venting about the poor communication and service during this promo.  Several users report that Astro cashed their cheques but months later they do not have the shoes but receive multiple calls/emails from the promotional company saying they no longer have the shoe in stock and to choose another one, even though they went through this and chose an ‘in-stock’ shoe a month before!

Others sent their PINs and info within the required time and postmarked within the dates given but their envelopes were returned as late.

What do you think of these ‘item’ promotions where you cannot be sure if they still have the item in stock (or in your size) when you buy the product?

Do you think that after the first ‘sorry we don’t have this colour/size’ they should make it right and honour the second choice that the person chose while on the phone and confirming that it would be sent in 2-3 weeks?

Last week, the Lee family received a sample of Sunlight laundry pacs and their 21 month old daughter found it, opened it and ate the laundry pac (likely thinking it was candy) spending almost a week in intensive care before thankfully recovering.  You can read the full story here.

The family, while taking responsibility for not having it out of the child’s reach themselves, claim that every toxic item should be childproof and Sunlight have discontinued all mail-outs and future sample programs while they look into the packaging.

I don’t know about you, but I take my family’s safety as my own responsibility.  Most laundry detergent is not childproof (and in my case, certainly not cat proof – they will chew through any box of detergent just because it is cardboard), especially once the container has been opened.  I take the little elastics off the sample packages of laundry detergent and put them into a plastic container to keep them dry.  It is second nature, just like writing the date on food I freeze so I know how long it is has been in there.

My heart goes out to this family for the pain and worry this must have caused them, but are sample packs really to blame?  Is it possible to child proof everything?

I want to thank you, Mother,
for your patience…
your encouragement…
your strength…
your generosity…
your unswerving love…
and for those six little words
that helped me through
so many trying times…
“…because I said so, that’s why!”

How are you spending Mother’s Day?

We have all seen posts on the forums with people saying they will never buy a product or shop somewhere again after bad service – but how much do you stick to those threats?

I made complaints to two companies in December, one from a company I had sent a compliment to before but I must have bought an item a bad batch.  It was a polite email letting them know that there was an issue with the batch number and expiry date so they could look into it.  A month later they had not responded at all and after seeing a facebook post from them, I sent the facebook rep a message about my email.  They responded to my original email but did not even apologize for the month it took to reply.  Just asked for my address so they could send me a coupon to replace the item.  We all like coupons but to not apologize for making someone wait a month for a reply and not addressing the wait time?

The other was a store refusing all coupons because ‘they are all fraud’, I got an email back saying they would get in touch with the store and get back to me within 3 business days – that was on Dec 20th.  Yesterday I received an auto-generated email from them saying that they were so happy my issue had been resolved and asked me to take a survey on my experience with their customer service which got them a few choice words in the comment box of the survey.

I honestly think that I will buy neither the product nor shop in that store again.   I didn’t expect anything but a ‘sorry you experienced this’ no freebies etc, just an apology.

Are you swayed by bad customer service?  How many people do you tell about a bad experience and do you wait for them to attempt to fix an issue before you share your experiences?

The Shopper’s Voice 2013 survey is now live.  Make sure you check yes on the first page to be eligible to receive their coupons and samples by mail or email.

If you are not familiar with the Shopper’s Voice survey, it is an unpaid slightly repetitive survey about the items you buy, coupon use etc  but you usually get a nice package of coupons and samples from them a few months after the survey.  You are also entered to win cash prizes or an iPad mini.  For those who prefer the paper copy, it will likely be arriving in your mailboxes soon.

Click here to take the survey

Just a reminder that Canada Post are increase the cost of postage on January 14.  The cost of a regular P (permanent  rate) stamp will increase to $0.63 (and they approved $0.65 for 2014) so if you are running low, buy some before January 14th to save $0.02 per stamp.  If your stamps have a P on them instead of a price, you can use them without additional postage.

Other increases:

• For domestic letters weighing between 30 and 50 grams, a $0.05 increase to $1.10
• An increase ranging between $0.04 to $0.10 for all other domestic letter weight categories, with the heavier categories incurring the larger increases
• For letters, cards and postcards up to 30 grams destined for the USA, a $0.05 increase to $1.10
• For letters, cards and postcards up to 30 grams sent to foreign destinations, a $0.05 increase to $1.85
• For domestic registered mail, a $0.25 increase to $8.50

The new rates for lettermail are as follows:

In July 2013, the cost of a Canadian passport will rise from the current price of $87 to $120-160 depending on how many years it will be valid.  They will be introducing 10 year ePassports at $160 which include a chip for added security.

Starting in 2014 there will also be fees for replacing lost or stolen passports (currently free).

View a full list of the fees here and check when your passports expire, it will be worth sending an early renewal if you can.

Turkeys are popping up in grocery store flyers for the holidays, but there are some differences in the types of turkey that may make paying more worthwhile.

According to the Turkey Farmers of BC:

Turkeys are graded according to quality of appearance. Canada A turkeys are well shaped, meaty with even fat covering.

Canada Utility turkeys are birds with minor skin tears or one or more parts missing which in no way affects the quality. Use these turkeys for cutting up or when carving before serving.  There is no quality or taste difference between a Canada A grade turkey or Utility grade turkey.

All turkeys processed in a federally inspected plant bear a “Canada Approved” or “Canada” health inspection stamp. This stamp tells you that the product is safe to eat.

So do check for that Canada stamp, as the recent beef recall has shown, meat is shipped across the border.  The USDA have imposed different rulings, so US turkeys may not have the same standards based on rating.  There will be some difference in the quality and taste of meat between even Grade A turkeys depending on the age when they are slaughtered, what they are fed and how they are kept (free range vs factory etc).

As far as frozen vs fresh, for me it is always fresh because they take so long to thaw, but they say there is no difference in quality once thawed.

Frozen turkeys are flash-frozen immediately after they are packaged to 0 degrees F or less, and are kept frozen until they are purchased. Once thawed, the meat of a frozen turkey is virtually as fresh as the day it was packaged.

Fresh turkeys are chilled after packaging, rather than frozen. Because they require special handling and have a shorter shelf-life than frozen birds, fresh turkeys are often more expensive than their frozen counterparts.

Happy turkey hunting!

*Bumped from Thanksgiving*

Huggies Pure baby wipes and Merida Cleansing Wipes (makeup remover / cleanser) sold in Dollarama stores across Canada have been recalled due to unsafe levels of bacteria.

The bacteria include various types of Staphylococcus, which can cause infection for those with a compromised immune system or if used on open cuts.

These recalls do not impact other Huggies products sold in Canada, they were bought in the UK by a middle man then sold to Dollarama and they say they passed safety tests when leaving their facility so may have been improperly stored.

Click here for more information

As a precautionary measure, Nestlé Canada is voluntarily recalling five of six Buitoni Pizza Varieties (does not include the Buitoni Vegetale Grille variety).  The recall is due to the potential that the pizza in these product batches may contain small pieces of metal although there is no reports of injury in Canada yet.

I am sure some of you have these in your freezers from the recent coupon for them.

Click here to view the production codes and details on refunds. (Call 1-866-891-0561 for reimbursement)