Was Old But Now is New, Check Out Safeway Just For U #Safewayj4u

Safeway recently re-launched their Just For U. It’s more user-friendly, it can be accessed on your smartphone or tablet, lists can be printed if desired, and it can save you at least 10-20%. I know this because I attended a special blogger event in San Francisco, CA last week. With the Safeway Northern California Headquarters just being over the bay in Pleasanton, we had several heads of departments present including the president, Karl Schroeder.

There was a lot to take in but the basic idea is that your spending habits are already being tracked when you use your Safeway Club Card. While this helps the company figure out what items to stock, they can also use the information to the shopper’s advantage. Weekly ads can be targeted to the area but Just for U can target savings to individual families. Based on what you buy, you’ll get 5-7 extra deals tailored to your family’s needs every week. The program automatically stacks discounts and calculates the best price to save you time and money.

The program is free. All you need to do is enter your club card number or phone number and add a password. You can do this online or at the store. To navigate the web site, here are the basic areas in the Just for U section:

• Coupon Center
  • Online manufacturer coupons collected in one place
  • Loaded to card, no clipping required
  • Can stack with Safeway coupons
  • Cannot stack with other manufacturer/paper coupons
• Personalized Deals
  • Unadvertised specials based on your shopping history
  • Add to card to save and ‘teach’ the program your preferences
  • Can stack with manufacturer coupons
  • May include free items
• Your Club Specials
  • Automatically registered to card
  • Can stack with manufacturer coupons
  • Same as listed in paper ad

The best thing about this new, updated program is the integration to mobile devices. If you don’t have time to plan your shopping trip or need to go unexpectedly, all these features can be accessed on your smartphone or tablet. Sending your husband to the store but forgot to add something? Just add it in the app and it will sync to your husband’s device immediately. Good for you but probably not so good for him. Better yet? Check off the items you already go as you got then clear the list to use it again.

See me in action on our shopping field trip to the local store (the video is flash):

See it on CBS 5 San Francisco.

Here are key areas of the mobile app:

• Savings
  • Check Club Specials in Weekly Ad
  • Add discounts from Coupon Center
  • Add Personalized Deals
• My Card
  • Coupons and deals added to card
  • Sort by Category or Expiration
• My List
  • Shopping list with items added from ‘Savings’
  • Add other, non-listed items
  • Sync with family members
  • Items can be ‘checked’ off as you go
  • Removing specials and deals from your list will not remove it from your card
• More
  • Sign out or in as another user
  • Add other, non-listed items

If you have any questions at all, all 9,000 Safeway employees have been trained on the the Just for U program. If they get stumped, they have a help hotline to get answers for you. Remember, everything is based on your last six months of shopping so make sure no one else is using your card. You can call 1-877-SAFEWAY to clear up your shopping history.

Personally, I really like the program now. Before it was a hassle and just added an extra step before grocery shopping. Now I can save on the fly, without having to fumble through coupons or paper ads. During the short, extemporaneous shopping trip we did during the event, all 17 of us bloggers saved 30-60%. Even the president was shocked with how well we all did. The next time you need to get some groceries, don’t forget about the Just for U program. If you do, you’ll be quickly reminded by all the bright yellow banners hanging overhead!

Safeway sponsored the event and gave each blogger gift cards and a bag of groceries. I was not required to write this post but felt it was beneficial to my readers. All opinions expressed here are my own.