• by Steve Ellwanger , May 8, 2023

Grocery chain Safeway Inc. and parent Albertsons Companies have agreed to pay $107 million to compensate Oregon shoppers who bought meat whose prices were alleged to have been deceptively inflated in buy-one, get-one-or-two-free (BOGO)   promotions.

In a suit filed May 2016, Oregon residents and Safeway shoppers Schearon Stewart and Jason Stewart alleged that Safeway inflated the regular purchase price of meat in order to pass along the cost of the supposedly “free” items to its Club Card members.

The plaintiffs claimed that Safeway had violated the Oregon Unlawful Trade Practices Act in BOGO promotions involving beef, chicken and pork by making “false or misleading representations of fact concerning the reasons for, existence of, or amounts of price reductions.”

In some instances, Safeway added “de minimis” services like seasoning or cutting that typically would have been free to Club Card members, according to the suit.

Pork loin chops were sold to Club Card members at a price of $4.49 per pound outside of the BOGO promotions “but essentially the same product was sold as seasoned ‘pork chops boneless’ during a BOGO promotion at a price of $12.99 per pound,” the suit stated.

During legal proceedings, the plaintiffs and Safeway disagreed over potential remedies even though Safeway and Albertsons have made “an admission of liability or wrongdoing.”

In 2016 there were approximately 99 Safeway stores in Oregon.

Safeway and Albertsons will pay $107 million into a settlement fund to benefit shoppers who participated in Buy One, Get One Free or Buy One, Get Two Free promotions at Safeway locations in Oregon using a Club Card between May 4, 2015 and Sept. 7, 2016.

The estimated payment for each person who qualifies as a class-action member is $200.

Claims must be filed by June 23 and a final hearing on the settlement is scheduled for July 10.