US city makes U-turn on ‘digital only’ ban as stores eliminate sticker shock

A PROMINENT US city has eased a ban on a certain shopping perk this month.

The amendment offers five specific adjustments that could eliminate sticker shock for consumers.

In San Diego, California, city council members passed an ordinance earlier this spring that required grocery stores to offer only physical, paper coupons or discounts instead of digital-only versions, per Grocery Dive.

Except, at a July 1 meeting, members voted to loosen their grip around the ordinance.

The changes would, according to staffers for the presiding council members, preserve the ordinance’s “original intent, which is ensuring equal access to discounts while making it more practical and enforceable.”

There are five that were approved at the meeting.

AMENDMENT BREAKDOWN

First, the requirement of having a “printed coupon” was replaced with an “in-store alternative” option instead, making it more manageable for retailers, according to Joon Suh, senior director for strategic initiatives under council member Marni von Wilpert, who helped create the original ordinance.

Stores would need to “offer discounts of identical value upon request, but they could do so in more flexible ways, such as a kiosk, scannable barcodes at checkout, customer service override or another accessible method,” Suh explained.

Secondly, the amendment to the coupon ban adjusts what is qualified as a “grocery store” to “avoid confusion and ensure consistent enforcement” with other related bans.

A third change via the July 1 amendment also says that coupons and discounts offered to shoppers through paid memberships, like at Costco or Sam’s Club, are not covered through the ordinance.

Those discounts are “individualized and contractural in nature, so they are outside the scope of our intent,” per Suh’s comments at the meeting.

Fourth, qualifying grocers in San Diego have an extended period of time to implement changes that follow the ordinance with digital coupons.

Instead of the previous July 1 deadline, they’ll now have until October 1 of this year to “tweak their processes,” according to Wilpert.

Lastly, officials will conduct an annual review process to ensure that grocery stores are implementing changes and that customer feedback is accounted for.

Wilpert emphasized the necessity of the ordinance to ensure fair deals on food and drinks for San Diego residents.

“This is food we’re talking about here. Not luxury items,” she said at the meeting.

BAG BASH

At least 12 states are also part of a strict ban on a grocery essential.

Single-use plastic bags are restricted in several US cities, and retailers like Aldi have their own, but there aren’t many statewide bans.

Except, the list continues to grow after California was the first to do it in 2016.

Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington have joined since.

Oregon was the most recent of the bunch, implementing it like all the others out of an effort to reduce plastic waste and protect the environment.

On average, Americans use about 100 billion plastic bags annually, or around 300 per person per year, per data from Environment America.

Plastic bags also account for around 10% of the debris found on the coastlines of the United States.

An East Coast state could soon be the 13th to issue the ban.

Several states also started a ban this month for a material commonly seen at food vendors nationwide.