Texas shoppers - HEB Update

[Aquaria]

All coupons have been discontinued, including digital coupons.

They're expecting most supply chains and inventory to stabilize within 2-3 weeks after this initial panic wave dies down, but a warning to all those asshats who bought 2000 rolls of TP:

HEB will probably NOT honor returns of TP and some of the other hoarded items. The majority of non-perishable items have a 90-day return window, but HEB also reserves the right to refuse any returns, when necessary. They don't hide this fact, either. It's right on the website, for anyone to see (scroll all the way down):

H-E-B reserves the right to limit or refuse any refund.

https://www.heb.com/static-page/article-template/H-E-B-Refund-Policy

And they are wanting to put TP at #1 on that list right now. So it sucks to be you, hoarders.

The funny news from HEB:

An item that one would expect to get wiped out hard that hasn't been? Coffee. My husband says it's taken a hit, but a lot less than most items. His store, at least, still has an adequate supply of it on the shelves.

Chocolate, too, is doing just fine.

Go figure. Those are two major food groups in our household!

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. At the Trader Joe today, chocolate and frozen entrees were wiped out!

[Aquaria]

7. I love love LOVE

TJ's Dark Chocolate with Almonds. But I can live without it. For now.

[Karadeniz]

2. Thanks...we'll put off an HEB trip as long as possible!

[dalton99a]

3. Kick

[diane in sf]

4. HEB in Austin had tons of TP last week. I don't know about now. TJs in Concord, CA last

night had an almost completely wiped out freezer section and milk. But there was lots of produce, cheeses and yogurts, nuts and meats left—real food in other words.

[Aquaria]

8. Friday was the D-Day for HEB

Not sure why, but everything was situation normal through Thursday. I shopped on Tuesday of last week, and the only thing I saw wiped out was the HEB Specialty salsa, because there was a $2 off coupon, which brought the price down to $1 a jar. I was miffed, because I wanted the Tomato Garlic flavor. But oh well.

Granted, I spent all of my time in only the food aisles, because that's what I needed. So I can't speak to the TP/paper towel/hand sanitizer situation. For all I know, those were a disaster area, and I simply missed it.

My husband texted me on Friday to see what was going on--his store was a madhouse, during the day. I didn't see any news about anything weird, but the stores were swamped, even before Gov Hot Wheels declared a disaster. All of them.

[Skittles]

5. why would anyone need to return TP

it's not as if you won't end up using it

[Aquaria]

6. Returns happen after every emergency buy situation

Like hurricane prep. People buy a whole bunch, then, when they're short on money after everything settles down, they try to return the excess they bought.

In the past, it hasn't been a big deal, because the panic buying hasn't been as extreme. This time is different because people have overbought so much, so long. So HEB will be clamping down on these returns, because it would overwhelm both their storage and their inventory system.

[Skittles]

9. got it

thanks for the explanation, that makes sense