With Priceline.com's online grocery pricing program, you'll save money, but you have to work at it.

By JANET K. KEELER, Times Food Editor

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 3, 2000

No matter what William Shatner says, you can't name your price for groceries on Priceline.com.

Unless you just got kicked off an uncharted desert island, you've probably heard the funky rapping of Star Trek's Capt. Kirk, whose second most-recognizable role now is pitchman for the online bidding site.

How to shop Priceline.com

In spite of Mr. Bust-A-Move, I was intrigued. Capt. Kirk made it sound so easy. Log on, save money, have more cash for movies, clothes, toys for tots, the power bill. I was ready to name my price.

That was my first lesson. "Name your price" should really be "pick one of our prices." Unlike airline tickets or car rentals, you do not offer a price for groceries on Priceline. Rather, you are given prices to choose from.

There is much to learn if you want to conquer Priceline's grocery program. The bottom line is you'll save money, if not time, thanks to the extra step of computer bidding. On two cyberspace shopping adventures, I saved about $25 on 19 items.

Some caveats: To buy groceries through the online site, you might have to change stores. You must toss the phrase "brand loyalty" from your vocabulary. You won't be able to get everything on your list because not everything on the shelves is sold through Priceline. You are at the mercy of your Internet connection, which can be grindingly slow. You must decide what is more important to you: time or money.

Do the math, though. It is impossible to deny the truth no matter the inconvenience. Priceline is a moneysaver, but, like coupon clipping, it is not for everyone.

"There is value in it for those who want to work at it," says Mickey Clerc, Winn-Dixie Stores spokesman.

Priceline, better known for letting users name their own prices on airline tickets, car rentals and home mortgages, began offering grocery shopping to Florida users in May through Winn-Dixie stores. The grocery program is administered by Stamford, Conn.-based WebHouse Club, the retail affiliate of Priceline.

According to company spokespeople, neither Kash n' Karry nor Publix have plans to join Priceline. Lee Brunson of Publix says the chain is concentrating its e-commerce efforts on a program in which customers order groceries online, then pick them up already bagged or have them delivered. The program, which stresses convenience, is scheduled to start next year.

Priceline's grocery program debuted in November 1999 and is now available in 25 states. Caroline Mendoza, WebHouse Club spokeswoman, says that 1-million people have joined, 21,000 in the Tampa Bay area. She says the company will expand to the rest of the country by the end of the year.

The benefit to Winn-Dixie, which is reimbursed full price for every item sold, is more shoppers in their stores. Priceline earns revenue from manufacturers, Web site sponsorships and a $3 monthly membership fee for users.

On my first Priceline adventure, I was befuddled by the pricing structure. For instance, on a 28-ounce jar of peanut butter that typically costs $3.19 to $3.39, the choices were $2.80, $2.63, $2.49 or $2.35. The higher the price, the more likely the bid would be accepted.

Why on Earth would anyone not pick the lowest price, even if there is only a 50 percent chance of getting it? Because, and here's where shopping Priceline becomes a game, you have to wait 24 hours to bid again. Priceline is banking on some of us selecting the higher prices because we've got to have that bag of flour RIGHT NOW. Call it the house edge.

There's an element of Las Vegas gambling and a little bit of eBay in Priceline. A slot machinelike graphic has the words SORRY and YES rolling by as the bids are considered.

The two times I went through the process, there was nothing I couldn't live without, so I bid the lowest prices and was rejected only twice. Two days later, I got both items -- multi-pack yogurt and peanut butter -- for the lowest prices.

Mendoza, the WebHouse spokeswoman, explains that three elements determine whether or not a bid is accepted. The first is WebHouse's agreement with the manufacturer, which sets the high and low price parameters. The other two are the quantity a customer agrees to buy and how many brands she will accept. Shoppers are always offered at least three brands, and two must be considered.

For instance, that pesky peanut butter. The first time I attempted the lowest price, I said I would buy Jif or Skippy, snubbing Peter Pan. I also only wanted one jar. Sorry, rejected. Two days later, I opted for any brand and two jars. Bingo, $1 off the shelf price for each jar. The bonus was I got Jif, the brand I usually buy.

Brand loyalty has no place in Priceline shopping. If you must have Tide, Diet Coke, Cap'n Crunch and Excedrin Extra Strength, you'll need to find your savings elsewhere because you must be willing to accept at least two brands to bid. The willingness to try another brand is part of the draw for manufacturers, who will accept a lower price if they can get you to try their products.

I was frustrated that some of my regular groceries were not among the 1,000 products offered. No cans of mixed nuts, no freshly sliced deli items, not a lot of meat and seafood choices, no Lunchables. Some items are not offered because there is no competition for the manufacturer. For instance, Oscar Mayer is the sole producer of Lunchables, though some chains offer a store brand of take-along lunches for kids.

"We are looking to expand categories (there are 240 now) even further this year," Mendoza says. "We would love to have everything that's available on the shelf available on WebHouse."

Mendoza says that 2-million items are being sold weekly through WebHouse.

When you join WebHouse, you get six half-price tokens that can increase savings even more. Items with little or no competition, such as London broil, lobster and eggs, only can be purchased with tokens. I unwisely used one to buy eggs for 65 cents a dozen and they were on sale for 89 cents, something I didn't know until I got to the store. Nevertheless, the savings would never have been large because eggs are inexpensive. Use tokens for higher-priced items such as meat or diapers.

When you run out of tokens, you can buy more through Priceline or get some through a "partner program." Join Columbia's DVD program and get 12 tokens; subscribe to Time magazine and get 13; switch your long-distance service to Essential.com for 30 tokens. Cancellation fees may be be charged if you join, subscribe or switch just to get tokens and then bag the deal.

I stayed away from the partner programs because I don't want to get any more junk e-mail than I already do. Since signing up for Priceline, my e-junk volume has doubled.

Not being a Winn-Dixie shopper, it took me longer to gather my groceries than it would have at Publix, my regular grocery store. I did my non-Priceline shopping at Winn-Dixie, too, dropping $90 in addition to the $36.13 I spent online. The combined $126.13 was still about $35 less than I normally spend each week. The second time I shopped, I saved 40 percent.

The first time around, I was nervous about checking out. Would the checker be able to walk me through the process? What if my membership card was defective? Could I handle the nasty looks from the people behind me when they realized I was checking out twice, once with Priceline items, another time with everything else?

I made it through the phantom land mines and didn't look back, though I imagined impatient sneers when I fumbled punching in my PIN. The receipt showed the shelf price, not the price I paid, which gave me pause until I realized it's a great way to compare the price I paid, listed on my Priceline grocery list.

I'll shop WebHouse again, mostly for paper products, cleaning supplies and some kitchen staples. The remainder of my shopping will be at my usual store. The savings make it worth it to me to stop at two stores.

Am I a typical Priceline shopper? It's probably too early to tell, though Clerc of Winn-Dixie says participation in the program is growing as people become more aware of it.

"It is a small percentage of our business," Clerc says. "But just like coupons, if there's a program that allows customers to save money, we want them to do it at our stores and not have to go anywhere else."

Leah Pashos, 56, of St. Petersburg, is a regular Winn-Dixie shopper. She has also been known to shop anywhere where items she wants are on sale. Her first foray into Priceline was frustrating, she says, because it took her an hour on the computer to complete her order. She also suspects that she could get the savings by using coupons and buying products on sale.

"But I am going to keep trying it to see if I can save more money than I do with coupons," Pashos says.

Priceline is banking on it.

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