UPDATE: Was ‘buy one, get one free’ not so free? State suing Safeway
11:56 AM: 
With three Safeway stores in the West Seattle vicinity , a newly filed state consumer-protection lawsuit might be of interest. State Attorney General Nick Brown (a West Seattleite) announced the lawsuit this morning:
The corporate owner of Safeway, Albertsons, and Haggen grocery stores has overcharged Washington consumers in more than 3 million transactions over a five-year period through deceptive “buy one get one free” deals, Attorney General Nick Brown argues in a new consumer protection lawsuit filed today.
Boise-based Albertsons Companies, one of the largest grocery store chains in the country, owns and operates all Safeway, Albertsons, and Haggen grocery stores in Washington, totaling 225 retail grocery stores across the state.
The grocery stores entice consumers through “buy one get one free” (BOGO) promotions on staples such as bread, cereal, fresh produce, and olive oil. According to the complaint filed in King County Superior Court, the stores artificially hike prices of products slated for the supposed specials in the weeks or months leading up to a “buy one get one free” promotion, overcharging customers who purchase in the interim. Then they lower the prices within about 30 days after the deal is over. The net result is that consumers think they’re getting a second item free, but in practice, they’re just paying an inflated price for the first item.
For example, a Gig Harbor Albertsons hiked the price of a bottle of olive oil to $10.99 for the BOGO promotion from $6.99 a week earlier, an increase of 57%. After the “buy one get one free” deal ended, the store dropped the price back down to $6.99. …
From October 2019 to May 2024, the defendants overcharged Washington consumers on more than 3 million transactions, the lawsuit says. The stores brought in as much as $19.7 million by attracting consumers into their stores with these deceptive deals.
This is not the first time the defendants have been accused of unfair and deceptive BOGO promotions in stores in the Pacific Northwest. Albertsons paid $107 million to settle a 2016 class action lawsuit related to misleading “buy one get one free” deals in Oregon stores. The companies also settled a proposed class action case filed in 2023 in federal court related to deceptive BOGO promotions in Washington stores. …
See the lawsuit document (which cites other examples of the alleged practice) here. We have a request out for comment from Safeway/Albertsons.
12:26 PM: Here’s their comment, obtained via email:
We are aware that the Washington Attorney General has filed a lawsuit related to certain buy‑one‑get‑one promotions. We engaged in good‑faith discussions with the Attorney General’s Office and strongly disagree with its claims, which are based on flawed analysis and data errors that we identified and raised.
Albertsons Companies is committed to complying with the law and to offering customers clear value through our promotions. As this is pending litigation, we will address the matter through the legal process and cannot comment further.
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