This is a FYI announcement for those who enjoy Panera (we do!) – get a free bagel with each order as long as you’ve spent at least $2.  So what is that, a small coffee?

The Federal Government has expanded its official site for four more free covid testing kits, so if you got four in the first batch from either source, you’ll still get four more.  I used the USPS site & it took about 5 seconds, tops.  You can score four tests per residential address, so if you’re in an apartment or condo, make sure you add the unit number.

Second shopping trip only confirms my initial thought:  you have to be out of your damned mind to shop this place on a regular basis, unless you’re just running in for cheap dairy and eggs.

Vacuum-sealed salmon fillets were a great deal at $4.80/lb, so a few of those went in the cart, along with dish soap, a Just Bare whole chicken for $4.96, bagged onions and four pints of Ben & Jerry – good lord, Pita! – to hit the $35 price point.  Had two of the pictured bags of red potatoes, since $1.49 was a good price.  Scanned the UPC and it read $3.99; customer service basically said to pound sand, that they had probably sold out of the individual $1.49 red potatoes (to Russian oligarchs?) and refilled the bins with bagged ones…you’d think with all the employees milling about someone could have removed the sign.

One other thing they don’t offer is rain checks, so if they’re out, tough beans.

Maybe if they were operating in a food desert I could understand this strategy, but with a remodeled Aldi across the street and Costco on the other side, they’re only fooling themselves.